We have arrived in Cairo and after 4 days have managed to get the computer to work. Hence the slightly late start to the blog.

I couldn't start this with telling you about Elspeth great run in the 2 Oceans Marathon. For those of you who don't know this race, it is a 56 km Ultra Marathon run around Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula. Last year Elspeth finished in 6 hours 42 minutes. This year she finished in 5 hours 59 minutes, and got a bronze medal for her efforts. Over 9 km/h for 6 hours is fantastic and we are all very proud of her.

The children were not too impressed with Egyptair business class as there were no films on the TV and the beds only reclined to 45 degrees. Oh the hardship! We are staying in Cairo at the Windsor Hotel which is an old British Officers Club. It is a far cry from the Palazzo at Montecasino. One star with a faded late 19th century atmosphere rather then the full 5 star treatment with 25 metre pool.

Already Morag is proving a hit, with her cute looks and willingness to talk to anyone. Everywhere we go people want to touch her hair, and pinch her cheek. Everyone has been extremely friendly. Travelling with the children, especially with our 4, does set us apart from the usual backpackers and tour groups. The novelty means we are subject to less hassle from touts as they seem not to want to hassle a young family. Alternatively they may just be scared by what they see.

The children have taken to Egyptian food, and our diet consists of lots of lentil soup, schwarma, houmous, baba ganoosh and bread. We have our favoutire restaurant just round the corner from the hotel and we are now well known to all the waiters. Morag has made sure of that.

Cairo is a late night city rather than an early morning place. We are still on South African time so we are up before 0700 hrs and we enjoy beautiful, cool, undisturbed early mornings until around 0900 hrs, when Cairo comes to life. Traffic here is crazy, but somehow it works. There is a lot of honking of horns and gesticulating, but little aggression or road rage.

We have seen a fair bit of Cairo, much of it by foot and metro. The Egyptian museum is a bit overwhelming, but the mummies left an impression on the children. Lachlan and Gilleasbuig were not too impressed, but the girls were intrigued at the amazingly well preserved 3000 year old bodies. Gilleasbuig is now quite the expert on the mummification process, including the storage of the intestines, skin, liver and other organs in various pots.

There is a childrens' museum next door which is very well done. The Danish government donated lego replicas of the main Egyptian artefacts (Sphinx, etc) and there is a mix of lego and original artefacts. The children loved it as it was much more simple and manageable than the hundreds of thousands of exhibits in the big museum.




The children are finding the rubbush and dirt in Cairo a bit of a culture shock. Even Lachlan complained about the lack of litter bins. Walking the streets is great fun as we pass little coffee shops with men smoking shisha pipes.

Yesterday we visited the pyramids which did indeed live up to their billing as one of the wonders of the ancient world. Their size, and the fact they were built 3000-5000 years ago make them truly astounding. And these were tombs. It makes you wonder what compelled people to spend 20 years building these colossal monuments - fear, threats or a passion for construction? You make the call.



While we were there, one guy managed to climb all the way to the top of the middle pyramid. This in itself is quite an achievement, as the pyramid is around 500 feet high, very steep, and the last 50 feet is smooth limestone facade with an overhang at the start of the limetone. Of course getting to the top is often easier than getting down, and as we left, the guy seemed to be stuck at the top, something confirmed by the large group of police at the bottom who were waiting for his descent.

Today is a quiet day as we get packed and ready for the overnight train to Aswan. More to follow when we get to Aswan.

Lachlan say hello to Ciaran, Michael and all his friends in South Africa.
Gilleasbuig says hello to Ethan and all his friends
Iona says hello to Courtney and Shannon and all her friends.
Morag says hello to Nathan, Nicholas, Carris, Erry Berry and all her friends and teachers at Country Readiness.