Cheap as Chips

Salaams People,

I'm in Alexandria at the moment and having a very nice relaxing time here..haven't really done much which is exactly what i wanted to do..!

Visited the quite famous Alexandria Library/Museum (which cost a whopping $355m to build...) and Fort Qaitbay and thats it. Spent most of today on the beach..weather was fantastic - not hot, but warm with a nice breeze and the very few people that were on the beach were all fully clothed which was good. Unfortunately i didn't realise how warm it was so i've ended up with red belt between my elbow and where my T-shirt finished and two red patches on my face...looks quite funny...

Anyway i wanted to say something good about Egypt (finally...) which has hit home here as i've been perusing some of the shops...things are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cheap in Egypt...! (believe me, i'm not being excessive in my use of "o"s here)

For example i got a fantastic en-suite room with awesome sea facing views for how much...? guess..?? SEVEN british pounds!! and thats with breakfast included..

Some other examples(mainly food indicating my interests):

Rice, curry, drink: 70p
Half a chicken, rice, salad: 1 pound
Buffet all you can eat: 1 pound fifty
Decent pair of jeans: 5 pounds
Fake Adidas Trainers (look real): 8 pounds
20 minute taxi ride: (supposed to be 40p)
Train Journey from Cairo to Alex (300km - train same quality as the UK): 2 pounds

Its ridiculously cheap here-dare i say it, i think most things are cheaper than Bangladesh..YES! cheaper than Bangladesh...!! And the thing is, the british pound is continuing to get stronger (i'm an economist-sorry). Untill recently it was 1UK pound = 10Egyptian pounds but now its nearlly equal to eleven...so basically if you want a nice holiday and to buy lots of cheap but very good quality items, but you're on a budget, Egypt is the place.


Anyway off to a small place called Mersa Matrouh tomorrow for two days (heard it's quite nice, we'll see). Will put some Alex pictures up soon inshaAllah

Salaam