A must see tourist attraction for the non tourist types.  This sufi meets folk dance performance is held 3 times a week at the Wikalet El-Ghoury in the heart of Islamic Cairo.

History says that Sultan Qonsuah Al Ghoury was the sultan in the Memluk Dynasty. What is the theater today, housed merchants, markets & the Sultans family many generations ago.  Apparently this building has been standing since the 15th century.

The performance is held every Monday, Wednesday & Saturday evenings.  Entrance is completely free of charge and doors open at 7:30pm.  I suggest you get there early as it tends to fill up quite quickly.  The performance begins at 8:30pm and lasts for approximately One and a half hours.

Pictures below:

Fun was had by all, from 1 year old babies wrapped in Egyptian flags to senior women in their niqaabs now sporting Egyptian flag colors.  The absence of alcohol tends to prevent rowdiness and hooliganism normally associated with street parties.

Some photographs below.

Firstup is hardware. I’m using a medium level Asus Notebook – K50ij series with 2gigs of ram, 320g storage, Intel Dual Core T4300.   This has surprised me with its speed and ability to multi-task with Photoshop, Corel draw, Gmail and a few other browsers. Lastly a 500g external usb powered drive for daily backups of all files, settings, software, etc. Watching movies and playing games is not a priority hence a 15” LED backlit screen suits me just fine.

For file management between JHB offices, webclients and myself. We are all using Dropbox.  The 2gig free version is more then enough to keep things going smoothly.  Website updates, advert submissions and text documents are all handled through this. A few successful referrals has bumped me to about 4gigs of online storage.

Now add in Skype, MSN, Gmail and SMS text messaging to keep constant contact with colleagues, friends and family at a near free cost.  Skype to landlines (to south african landlines) costs about R5 for a 10 minute call.  Obviously Skype to Skype is free and preferred. Free Video calls are an added bonus!

Connectivity is where Egypt shines! Broadband is fast, relatively cheap and accessible almost everywhere.

We are using Etisalat’s 3.75g hsdpa post-paid option.  1750egp (about R2360) gets you a high speed up to 7mbps USB modem and unlimited monthly usage for 6 months. Thereafter its 299pounds per month. However their ‘fair use’ policy is good for up to 6gigs. Thereafter throttled to 64k speeds.
In short, 290egp per month for 6gigs & USB modem included.  The modem has a MicroSD memory card slot which allows it to act as a flash drive too.

A cheaper option is a slightly slower USB stick modem and 1gig prepaid for 99egp (about R135) – simply recharge by paying cash at an Etisalat store or scratch cards.

Mobile phones, once again is cheap and cost effective,
SMS costs .25egp local and .80egp international.  Calls are per minute and cost between .25egp and 50egp for local calls.  We are using Skype for international calls

check out www.etisalat.com.eg for the full breakdown

Apparently the apartment we move in tomorrow has broadband at 50egp per month. While I’m not sure about the speed, it would most likely be rather fast due to an internet cafe operating in the same building. Methinks the landlord (who owns it all) piggybacks of their connectivity.

LinkDsl offers extremely cheap broadband – fellow South Africans can sob a tear when viewing their website and pricing.  We will most likely stick to 3.75g hsdpa for easier movements.

Lastly my trusty Canon 300D dslr camera has been replaced by a 1000D.  Added bonus is the SD Memory card storage and my notebook having a built in SD memory card slot.  One less device to carry with.

The evening saw us take stroll exploring the surrounding areas of our hotel.  Far from the hustle that Cairo cities are notorious for, instead this middle to upper class suburb meets city style was quite refreshing. From Ed Hardy boutiques to various sport shops and an impressive boutique bakery.

Some images below.

Earlier today I posted it on Slideshare.net to share the document with more clients.  At time of this post, Slideshare.net has it featured on their Automotive category

www.blogosphere.co.za - No site for this domain, however it could make a great aggregator for South African blogs, more so since theres only 2 competitors locally. Afrigator & Amatomu

www.FoodBlog.co.za – currently a mini aggregator showcasing a few leading South African foodblogs. It’s in somewhat of an autopilot mode but I’m sure more can be done with it

www.ClassicMalema.co.za – featured in the Mail & Guardian as well as nominated in the 2008 Blog awards. – yes, I have this one for sale. Perhaps Helen Zille & crew would be interested in it.

www.MuslimWebHosting.com – You don’t get a more keyword rich domain name like this.

www.NexusPhoneApps.com – With the pending release of Googles iPhone competitor, the Nexus One mobile smartphone is poised to change the tech landscape in 2010.

www.TRDnation.com – TRD stands for Toyota Racing Developments, the domain is targetted at toyota automotive enthusiasts.

Feel free to contact me if you are interested to purchase or create something with these domains.