Cairo

Monday, 8th March 99

The bellowing call to prayer at 5am sat me up in my bed again and unfortunately my stomach didn't feel too well, it was like my body was being snapped in half. A visit to the bathroom helped and I then fell asleep with a raging headache. At 7am we were ready to leave when suddenly I felt sick again so we made the decision to stay for another day, although Dave left for the train station to change our tickets for tomorrow's departure. Three hours later he returned and it turned out that he needed three signatures from various personnel, including the stationmaster. The police were trying to push him into taking the special, and more expensive, night train. The overnight sleeper is an incredible ten times as much as the day train. "Don't worry, your girlfriend will feel better tonight", said one, whilst another was trying to palm off his sister as a good wife for Dave to have. Although we paid an extra E£10 each for the privilege of changing the tickets, Dave came through with the goods, as well as bringing more lemonade and water for me.

I spent the whole day in bed, with a splitting headache and a very upset stomach. In fact I found that I wasn't too interested in drinking. By 9pm I had improved but was still unable to eat. Dave spent most of the day feeling a little off colour himself and found himself either sleeping or reading. With a bit of luck we'll be on our way to ancient Thebes tomorrow.