empty hotel

Outside on streets of Cairo it is hot and packed with people. Inside this hotel is almost empty. I just ate dinner in the hotel restaurant. There is seating for 100, but I was the only one there. I ate traditional Egyptian food of shish kebabs! (No chilli source, but you can't have everything). I feel like a colonial. Outside are the masses. Inside the prviledged few. The waiters are now ready at 4pm for my bottle of stella. This may be one of the few things they do all afternoon. I did try to find somewhere outside the hotel to eat. I am not so fussy as to what I eat, but some of the places close to the hotel did look as though they would produce major bowel movement afterwards. The hotel food is not so special. THe Egyptian tea and coffee I have had has been excellent, but I am too much of coward to sit down in one of the local coffee houses. I didn't bing a good guide book with me, such as a rough guide. These are good for telling about where to eat and drink. I like the idea of tryig to smoke through one of the big water pipes. The person who drove me around the pyamids smoked one of these while we reasted. This seems like a cool bad habit to pick up from the middle east. There is an Egyptian cafe close to campus at Liverpool, so smoking one of these there would be a good way to improress seminar speakers.