Egypt is accustomed to tourists (even illiterate Egyptians might have some French or English) and know how to keep visitors entertained.
One of the trippiest experiences I had during my two week trip back home was a fancy dinner boat we took down the Nile river, at night, with a whirling dervish & belly dancer :o
Here's my wife at the entrance of this swanky boat, before we took off:
We ate well from a full and varied buffet and when they played Spanish music, I asked my half-Colombian wife to dance.
But our tame dancing paled in comparison to the wild and provocative belly dancer who had the men and women in the audience electrified.
Here's a short video I took of her shaking her hips:
My mom and dad, who invited us to this extravaganza were quite amused:
But, Egyptians have a taste for over-the-top entertainment and the next surreal performance, if you can imagine it, managed to upstage the belly dancer--think of a surreal, whirling dervish by way of Las Vegas.
Very little like the spiritual dance performed by Sufi mystics, this human top was lit up like a children's toy and rather flamboyant.
At some point in the dance, he even stopped by our table and let me try his illuminated hat!
Yes, this, too, is another face of conservative Egypt :)
