Day 16 - Koshary, Stella, disco (Nov 20 Thurs)

G and I started our day at an internet cafe to try and work out some tickets, but to no avail. After a while, we went back to the hostel and met up with Alice and Martin around 3:30pm.

The four of us were escorted by one of the guys at the hostel to a Koshary place for dinner. He dropped us off, and we ordered large bowls of the dish (two types of pasta, rice, tomato sauce, fried onions, etc, that is then topped with chili sauce if you so choose. It's basically a spoonful each out of about 6 different pots.) Well, we learned a large was way too big-but both filling and tasty. We could only finish half, so we had the rest wrapped up for take-away so we could give them to people who were asking for money or food.

We needed a walk after all that food, so we just wandered aimlessly for a short while. We found a sign that said G's last name on it (and got a few goofy pics in front of it), then continued until we saw signs for Stella, which is the Egyptian beer. Turns out we found a pub! They're quite rare in Egypt, but apparently in this downtown area, there are about five. The price was right, too, so the four of us hung out there with some locals and had a few drinks and tapas-like apps (olives, nuts, parsley, cucumbers) that they brought for us. Everyone was so nice and welcoming, including some Nubian guys that we met; Abdallah and his friend, whose name escapes me. They invited us to a disco after the green-walled pub, so we accepted. He drove all six of us just around the corner in his Mercedes (better than a Fiat cab!). We entered the cheesy upstairs keyboard-music environment, had the waitresses pop the beer caps off on the edge of the table, then pour the beers into glasses, holding both in one hand. One of the girls invited me to dance, which seemed harmless enough. Not even ten seconds later, and some guy came and wanted to dance. Forgetting that I was in Egypt, I didn't run away, and when Abdallah's friend pulled me away and put me in G's reach, the guy got angry. We all had to sit down, and eventually it was fine, but it was a rough start to the evening. After just one drink, which Abdallah insisted on paying for, we left and Abdallah took us all home, even walking us to the hostel.

Tomorrow we go to Alexandria, and Abdallah gave us the contact number of Dr. Salagadeen, who works in the famous library of Alexandria.