One crisp autumnal day, DB & I left England and flew into the heat and dust of Cairo. From our tenth floor bedroom in the hotel, the view was of rooftops covered in a thick layer of dirt and detritus (bricks, timber, pallets etc.). It was as dry as if it hadn't rained for the last thousand years and the number of satellite dishes on each roof had to be seen to be believed. Below us was what appeared to be a bombsite covered in rubbish, guarded 24 hours a day by a guy at the entrance ... every building of any note was guarded.
We took a taxi to a market and found a few new pegs .. at least half of them had been made in China. It was hot and dusty and hard work getting through the overcrowded market so we climbed into another taxi and asked the driver to take us our next destination, the Egypt Museum, the 2nd biggest tourist attraction in Cairo. Recognising us as tourists ... I wonder how? ... he initially agreed a price of 5 Egyptian pounds and then deliberately went the wrong way and pretended to be lost. Then he demanded 20 Egyptian pounds to get us where we had asked. We had such an argument that DB refused to travel any further with him at all. She got out whilst I got him down to 7 pounds. A reluctant DB .... trusty map in hand ... returned to the taxi. The Egypt museum is an absolute must for all travellers ... no pegs though!!
Following an overnight stop in Dubai we flew on to the bustling city of New Delhi. As in all the big cities of India, the traffic and state of the roads is total mayhem. We set off on foot to find the Sadar Bazaar .... what a mistake ....... the heat was oppressive and trying to walk along potholed roads (what pavements?) heaving with bikes, tuk tuks, ox carts, sacred cows and all forms of humanity is amazing. After asking loads of people where I could buy pegs we were directed to a narrow alley which appeared to have millions of people trying to get out of and an equal number trying to get in. We fought, and I truly mean fought, our way up this alley to the peg and hanger wholesaler. Once inside his tiny cupboard of a shop, I attempted to explain that I wanted different pegs to the ones I was carrying. In the end we got 12 packets and a further two from another stall ..... oh life is good!
We couldn't face the walk back so we hailed a sort of pram on the back of a bike and for a mere 20 rupees a tiny little Indian man peddled his heart out to get us back over the ruts and undulations in the road to our hotel. DB was feeling quite humble and sorry for him until she glanced back to see the cycle rickshaw behind carrying not two but FIVE people. Boy, these guys are fit.
We had a couple of days in New Delhi where our tour operator lived in his 6 foot square office and we could never manage to call on him when he wasn't asleep under his desk. DB still receives e-mails & Dewali cards from Ramji, a fascinating character who went out of his way to ensure we found the best places for pegs and DB had a memorable trip to the Taj Mahal ... I don't understand it myself, but can you believe she wants to see a little more than just pegs?
Our next stop was in Kuala Lumpur, where we stayed at a hotel smack bang in the middle of Chinatown. DB had booked this hotel using the Internet and she had forgotten to ask if the room had a window. So, we were staying in this room with no windows and it was dark, very dark. This meant that when we went to bed early and woke up at 1 a.m. we watched TV for a bit then went back to sleep. When we awoke it was 12.30 -- we couldn't work out if my watch and gone backwards or we had had a very long sleep. At any rate we were quite refreshed and once we discovered it was daylight, we were ready to hit all the street markets.
When we emerged from the foyer of our hotel we found that a huge Market had been errected whilst we slept ... it was like walking out into a dreamscape. One minute cool and quiet and uncrowded and then through a door to a seething mass of stalls and sprukers in the heat of the day. The market was awash with knock-offs of designer goods and the all the latest DVDs and all the stallholders yelling out their best buys. "You want Find Nemo?" was a common call. That film had only just been released in the cinema, surely the DVD shouldn't yet be available??
We loved Kuala Lumpur and one of the best aquisitions, pegwise, was an unusual animal shaped one found on the washing line of the hotel roof when DB had gone out to see if it was day or night! Kuala Lumpur is a wonderful place for shopping ... we didn't just buy pegs, but DB bought a pair of shoes that don't fit because "They are so pretty and they'll have to fit someone" ! Beware, my friends, KL people are so much smaller than westerners and the clothes and shoes just DO NOT FIT anyone we know .... so the pretty green embroidered shoes are still in the cupboard under our stairs awaiting a tiny pair of cinderella feet!
One thing we did buy was a dark green doormat with the greeting "SELAMAT DATANG" embossed in large golden letters. We sincerely hope that means "Welcome" or we may be offending our visitors on a regular basis!!
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