Stay at the Cairo Moon.

Seriously, you should. It's fabulous. Not in the traditional hotel sense...as I'm sure you could tell by my earlier description of our room...but because the service is unmatched. I found out today that Mohammad, our so-called concierge, is actually the owner and manager of this hotel. Kevin and I (well, ok, mostly me) were enjoying the apple-flavored water pipe tobacco at the restaurant across the street from the hotel when Mohammad approached our table and took a seat. We soon found that our twenty-nine-year-old multi-talented friend was running the whole show and only masquerading as the concierge so the guests would be more receptive to him. Fair enough. Turns out he's been in the hotel/tourism business for quite some time and will soon be opening a new hotel a couple of blocks away. He graciously picked up our tab and we headed back to the hotel to change before departing for the bazaar. 

Service like this is hard to find. And by hard, I mean nearly impossible. Mohammad had arranged everything for us at the hotel. He was constantly introducing the guests to one another and offering baklava and tea. He could arrange for the hotel's preferred taxi driver to take you anywhere in the city at a fixed rate, and even set-up our New Year's plans. He knows what running a good business is all about. He chose to live at the hotel and put his body, mind, and soul into his work, and puts as much profit as possible into accommodating his guests. It's not about the rooms (though we did have to move rooms and landed in a much nicer one with a rim around the shower and a patio overlooking the street :) ), it's about service. 

That being said, Mohammad, like any other normal human being, has to escape the "office" every once in awhile, so he decided to accompany us to the bazaar. I can't even begin to express how helpful it was having a super-savvy Arabic man with us. A lot of these shopkeepers have centuries of haggling in their blood, and I only have a matter of hours. He explained the rules: "Don't look excited about anything. If you pretend that you're not really interested, then they'll drop the price. I'll tell them if it's a bad deal, and if it's still too high then start walking away. Works every time." Based on the prices Mohammad was getting these shopkeepers down to,  I'm pretty sure I was swindled earlier in my trip. I guess knowing how to haggle is no good if you don't know the actual worth of an item. We wandered around the maze that was this grand 14th century marketplace, bouncing around from scarves to perfumes to jewelry to spices. There isn't anything they don't offer, and there are dozens of guys in the aisles all beckoning for your attention at once. 

After several hours, we were taken to Al Fishawy, the mother of all of Cairo's coffee houses, right in the middle of the market. Bustling is an understatement for just how busy this place was. We shoved our way through the crowd and landed at a tiny corner table with mint tea and coffee. This is the place to sit and let the market come to you. Dozens of peddlers offering jewelry, henna, and even packets of tissues repeatedly approached our table, hoping we'd reconsider their lucrative offers. And of course, despite our protesting, Mohammad payed the bill. 

Although sometimes aggressive, Egyptians are actually super friendly. One Egyptian woman, Theresa,  kindly informed Kevin and I about the gender separation rules of the metro while we were standing together. I got on the car with her and we began to chat. She told me she lived in New Jersey for several years while working for the Egyptian embassy/consulate, and how much she loved and missed America. She's a Christian Arab in a Muslim world, and said it's hard to have beliefs that differ from everyone else. In the end, she pointed out my stop and never once asked me for money. It was a relief, but also a shock. She had mentioned owning a shop, so I got the name and the general area of town. Perhaps tomorrow we'll stop by. 

I learned a great deal about Ancient Egyptians today. We decided to dedicate the first half of our day to visiting the Egyptian Museum, located only a short walk from our hotel. After three security checkpoints and multiple tour offers from people off the street, we made it inside. We wondered where we'd even begin. They were out of audio tours, out of guide books, and most of the labels were vague. Moments after we started looking helplessly around, we were approached by Dr. Mohammed Fathy--Egyptologist and tour guide extraordinaire. His official badge hung from a string over his black and white sweater, and showed us the fixed rate for an hour and a half of a museum highlights tour. He was definitely an expert, and well-worth the money we paid. He showed us statues, tombs, coffins, and masks that we had seen a hundred times but never knew the significance of. And, as any good teacher would, he would quiz us on information he had given to make sure we actually learned something :). Every five minute someone would call out "doctor!" and rush up to shake his hand. One of the times it was the assistant manager of the museum, who he introduced us to. This guy was legit. 

Once our tour was over, I purchased a DVD called The Egyptian Vision, which was created by him and widely sold. We paid and thanked him and continued to explore the smaller exhibits on our own. 

Tomorrow is our last day in Cairo. We'll go to the Citadel and back to the bazaar before packing up our bags and heading to Cyprus. Cairo, it's been fun.