Lost all my stuff, gained an abaya.

I've been in Egypt for about a week now and pretty much haven't ventured outside (see last post for explanation). 

Getting here wasn't fun. I hate the actual travelling part of travel.

After three flights we arrived in Cairo only to be faced with the dreadful fact that Singapore Airlines had lost my bag. My bag with my new YSL clutch that I haven't even used, my $2000 camera, all my favourite abayas (including those gifted to me from designers), all my child's clothing, my best scarves and my shoes. They couldn't even tell us where my bag was. They had no idea. Getting basically a "meh" and a shoulder shrug as an answer to the location of my shit was even more frustrating. 

As compensation they offered me a $50 voucher for losing my belongings. Fifty dollars. I wanted to tell them to shove it up their arse considering some of my abayas are worth over $500, hence the $50 wouldn't even clothe me for a day. It's like burning someone's house down by mistake and going "Here. Here's a rock. Shelter yourself."

I waited three very anxious days. Finally they found my bag and I had it delivered to me. The bag itself was broken. The handle was snapped completely off. I think they beat it up. Either that or they put it in a dog fight. Probably against some vicious pitbull.  

I still don't know what the delay was exactly, but I was beyond grateful to get it back. I was so worried it would either be lost forever or have things stolen from it; specifically my camera. Never, ever checking that in again. Strictly carry-on baggage from now on! 

The worst part of it all (besides the worry) was having to live in the same abaya for three days. I wore the very comfy abaya that Amirah Fashions sent me a few weeks ago. It was perfect for flying - comfy and stretchy, but after three long flights to get from Australia, to Singapore, to Dubai and finally Cairo (plus a two hour drive to Alexandria) it smelt awful. Sweat, food markings, toddler drool, dust and grime from the Egyptian air... I couldn't stand the smell. I had to keep wearing it while going shopping for a cheap, quick replacement to wear until I washed my Amirah Fashions one. I finally found an abaya in my length for about $30 in a store in Manshia. It's a bit villager/fellahin looking but it's Egypt, not Dubai, so I can't really expect anything fabulous, especially in the area I was shopping in.  

The abayas here are either the black typical souk style with a trillion crystals, ruffles or weird elbow jointed studded eyebrow raisers or you can choose from the many multi-coloured awful messes with ribbons, "designer" rips and zippers pointing down towards your crotch, all in lovely contrasting shades of lime green and orange. As you can tell, I ain't crazy about the fashion here. It's too matchy-matchy and the decorations are overkill, especially considering in my culture less is more. 

I'm not a fashionista myself. I don't follow fashion per say because the whole notion of being "on trend" is ridiculous to me. I do however like style and this is one thing I find lacking to my own subjective liking here. Egyptians definitely have their own style but you can pretty much guarantee that most Westerners (myself included) would think twice before donning it. It's on another level that strays from the safety of what we are used to.

Exhibit A & B from popular Egyptian label R & K containing large amounts of random strips of cloth, over matching, lots of denim and layering to the max. Here this stuff is quite trendy and in demand. They have some nice pieces I would wear in my very safe little stretch of style but most of it is too bold for my taste.