Here are my resting post number one for Egypian Thee (with two sugars and milk), and five minutes on a chair. The boys were a bit on stirring on day one, but now it's "As-salaamu alaykum" (may peace be with you ") and hand shaking.

The tough men are hard on water pipes and on the picture you have chief smoker in the backyard (he asked to be taken photo of) Hookah is particularly prevalent in the Arab world. In Egypt it is called "shisha", "hookah" or "narghile". 

Of C!!!  it is harmful! but if you haven't stopped with filth (the smoke) and fails with  nicotine patch, then the water pipe can be something in the right direction. Maybe not practical  if you smoke in the car - and the car is a Nissan Micra, - but you get less of that - you know what - in the lungs ....

No football shirts today, but was a background part (and photo man ) of the prayer, and have got new muslim mates that tells me about Islam.

Jump in and learn;

Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎ al-’islām, is the religion articulated by the Qur’an, a religious book, and (qute; my muslim mates) the verbatim word of the single incomparable God (Arabic: الله‎, Allāh), and by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad's demonstrations and real-life examples.An adherent of Islam is a Muslim, meaning "one who submits to God. (you did not now that, did you??)  The word Muslim is the active participle of the same verb of which Islām is the infinitive.

Islamic law  touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, encompassing everything from dietary laws and banking to warfare, and welfare and the vast majority of Muslims belong to one of two major denominations, the Sunni (87–90%) and Shi'a (10–13%).

With approximately 1.57 billion Muslims, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world and arguably the fastest growing religion in the world.

and The Natioanl Team, ( hey! you did read my last blog about the party last evening? ) all went down and did their pray in front of 50.000 fans yesterday! A popular part of the event!

I'll find my malaria medicine tomorrow.. Inshallah

Bjorn, hunting for a symbol for www.unhcr.org and learning !

PS! Yes! got some help from www.wkipedia.org tooo..;-)

Yasser, the general manager and my new Egyptian mate, guide, and helper, Ahmed  fixed me in on the football-lets-salute-the-african-champion-party yesterday. Face painting, flags, and a crowd of 50,000 singing and moving Egyptians, one Norwegian, and the national team of Egypt with the king of Arabic pop; Amr Diab (!)

When I say fixed me in..  Ahmed, at. 12.00; "you've got a photo together with Sepp Blatter, FIFA is suporting you.. 

 Ahmed takes a few calls and with with a blue neck ties, with FIFA on (ohh yes, got the of Blatter!), and with Ahmed as the official guide for the court reporter Heidenstrom, -  we were suddenly past guards and in the good seats. The seats were not used because it was a jumping, singing, and shouting party. Fantastic crowd! andd they now how to bouth sell and use the flags..... (yes it's a MMS shot..)

1 hour with the national team and then the king of Arabic Pop entered the stage before he was all over the stadium (and a special show in front of the son of the Presiden..) The came up and did a sing along, and even I tried to do my part. (I was great on Habibi!)

I guess the National team is home asleep now, but  you can meet Amr Diab are HERE! - With English subtitles. You should fast forward for about 3 minutes. Diab walks around with his  guitar that long... and you'll jump to the third minute and sing HABIBI !!!!!!!!! ... ( "My darling")

Yours Diab, and:

Bjorn Heidenstrom

PS! My favorite word on this planet is enthusiasm.    Egypt and Diab - you got it!

PSS! If you want to come over and meet Yasser, Ahmed & co, and a stay in Down Town; Try this; Cairo Center Link

The rest is on my Flickr photo album 

Bjorn Heidenstrom, hunting new friends and football shirts for "The Shirt,  FIFA World Cup 2010"

I'm a little back to Russia, or Greece when it comes to signs, but here it is somewhat worse, because the text goes from right to left in Arabic. Could read it easy if it went the other way ...

Fond some good English speaking helpers  in the streets. Have  have also found my own alley. Last tourist on this spot was Cæcar and the roamans.  Avid game of dominoes and cards on the tabels, a huge super cooker  with Thee (which goes to the roof) , and automatic transfer of prayer over a small transistor on the wall. It's  the same broadcast as out in the street, but here you can relax moore.

A cup of super Thee with two lumps of sugar; 0,17 Euro , - and almost better chairs then Starbucks with posh Latte, and much more to see .... That was before I meet Ahmed who works on the hospits and we shared football stories. Now I have the best guide and mate in Kairo - who takes me past that Kentucky Fried Chicken and shows me the real town. 

and helps me with planning of the trip south.

Cairo, I like you!

Bjorn Heidenstrom, on a drive to the Embassy of Sudan (a bit hard to get Visa now ..)

Yepp, it's republishing time...

The fact, and moore of all the photo of FIFA and Sepp Blatter helping the bold man (me) supporting  the project is the one of two pictures who gives me a free cup of coffe in new countries i visti. Michel Platini is the other one. I'm really bad in the Arabic language, but photos helps..:-)

So before I run out.. here is the other, my best pal in Nyon in Switzerland (he gave me chocolate - and his signed shirt - so I call him my best mate..:-)

UEFA and president Platini and Brad Pitt

Now any Egyptian cluba or fans?

We want shirts...

Bjorn and the pyramides

Yes! I'm in the country of the Champions, - 31 January, 2010 the national team of Egypt consecrated African champion for the 7th time, after beating 1-0 Ghana in the final of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations.

The Egyptians did it for the third time in a row, a feat that no other African team managed to accomplish so far.

After a goalless draw during 80 minutes, everyone was expecting that the final would be decided on extra time or on penalties. However, the best scorer of this Cup, Gedo, confounded the expectations of over 40,000 spectators that were assisting the match at 11 de Novembro by scoring the only goal of the match.Marked by the remarkable tactical posture of both teams, this match recorded moments of joy and class of two teams that knew how to dignify the last challenge of the 27th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, although the Black Stars have mastered the Pharaohs during part of the match.

Sourse; http://www.can-angola2010.com/Media/Noticias/Detalhe/CAN_004894?Language=en_EN

PS! PS! The foto is from a brilliant blogger, visit him on;  http://egypt.worldcupblog.org

Bjorn Heidenstrom