Cairo, Egypt

The night train to Cairo was pretty good. Kerri and I didn't sleep that well though as the beds squeaked. There was a handbasin in the room and only two beds so John had to share with a guy next door who was a tour guide. We had an early morning wake up and a basic breakfast.

Buying the ticket for the train was hard work. The tourist information officer at the station right beside the ticket office had no idea what times the trains went and insisted that we could only buy a ticket at 8pm for the 8.30pm train! We went to her as there were big queues at the ticket office. The ticket office clerk sold us a ticket for the next day 5 minutes later. I guess the tip is, keep asking until you get the right answers to your questions!

We took the metro from the station, which wasn't there 32 years ago, to Talaat Harb where our hostel was and were able to check in straight away and have a catch up sleep. We managed to sleep through the traffic noise from the second most popular downtown street in Cairo. At times it felt like the traffic was outside the window even though we were 5 flights up.

Kerri checked the temperatures for the upcoming days and with the hottest day being the next day we decided it was best to go to the National Museum and leave the pyramids for a cooler 21 degree day.

The museum used to be dark, dusty and absolutely crammed full of exhibits and rocks so I was surprised to see that we could move easily around the rooms. However it was still dark and had the same dirty typewritten labels that were there when I last visited. A new museum is due to open in 2010 out near the pyramids but it looks like there is not enough money for that yet.

The Tutankhamen treasures used to be in a room called the gold room but now they are in an open space for all to see at no extra charge so that was great.

The hostel offered us a tour to the pyramids but we took a local bus from the bus station to the entrance to the site. The touts rushed out to get us to hire horses and camels but we knew it was possible to walk around without too much trouble. I still had my blisters from camel riding in Jordan so the last thing I wanted was more of them.
Postcard and plastic pyramid seller
32 years ago, I and a bunch of friends from the YMCA where I stayed then, climbed the top of Cheops and watched the sunset and slept overnight and woke to watch the sun rise. Now it is not possible to climb any of the pyramids. Of course we paid a baksheesh back then to be able to do it.

The poor Sphinx is looking worse for wear and our guide book tells us that it has the equivalent of cancer. It is disintegrating from the inside out due to the high water table and breakdown of the sandstone. There is now a huge wall around it.

Kerri wanted to buy some scarves and a new bag so we spent some time at the Khan Al Khalili (bazaar). She seemed to enjoy her attempts at bargaining for her purchases but we found that they were not so keen on dropping prices, even when we waved the money around or walked off. Maybe this is because of the recession.
The scarf seller and his boys learning the trade
Crossing Cairo streets is a chore. The drivers do not like to stop for anyone and they are pretty intimidating. After half a day's practice, we were experts and Kerri got better at it too. The traffic in Vietnam is a lot more considerate than in Cairo, they moved around behind you as soon as they saw you begin to cross. The place to meet the Cairo hustlers is at Tahrir Square. they will find you as you gingerly cross the road. they usually begin their spiel with' Walk like an Egyptian, just close your eyes' or something like that. They then move quickly onto 'What's your name? Where are you from? There's a shopping centre there.'
Before you know it they are trying to hustle something as they will get a sales commission.
This scene hasn't changed!
Some Egyptian scams we encountered:
the bus driver sells you a ticket and at the end of the trip he asks for it back so he can resell it,
tourist police at the pyramids take baksheesh off the boys selling postcards at the pyramids,
taxi touts charge double for the taxi that they don't own or drive,
tourists at the mosque have to hand in their shoes, wear a galebeya, and then pay a baksheesh to get the shoes back, while locals carry theirs inside and are dressed as you are,

two people have to share one seat on the tour bus and everyone pays different prices for the same thing,
the bus driver is having lunch so you must take a taxi,
there is a big demonstration at the Arab League building near the museum so don't go there, come with me, I don't own a shop I don't sell tours ... I know the guys who have horses and camels at the pyramids as we grew up together etc,
Oh lady you look hot and tired here sit on my seat in the shade...baksheesh please, from the tourist police or security,
I found this hotel for you so you so you owe me 30% commission.

Phew, you have to have your wits about you all the time. People who speak to you and help you usually want something other than altruism for it.

We wanted to walk beside the Nile but found that all the nice parks charge a fee and if you wanted to be on the lower part close to the Nile you had to pay more, which was probably to keep the riffraff out.

We found a couple of nice places to eat Egyptian food near our hotel. One place did only one dish called koushari and you could get it in small, medium or large. It was great for carbo-loading: macaroni, spaghetti, rice, lentils and a tomato sauce. There was also creamed rice if you needed more carbos.

The other place had its kitchen in the front on the street level, so you could see the pizzas, pancakes, shwarma, and kebabs being made. The upstairs had long tables that seated 10 or 12 people and had a good selection of sandwiches, soups, salads, grills, fish, and pasta dishes. The menu was in English and Arabic and it was a popular place for families and young couples.

The street we stayed on had hundreds of clothing shops. We found a department store that had 7 or 8 floors and thought we might find something for Kerri only to discover that every floor had mens' clothes and we only saw one store with womens' clothes. There are dozens of children"s shops with doll-like mannequins dressed in sequined, frilled and over decorated co-ordinated outfits. Some even had Madonna type sequined bra tops for under 5 year olds.

The lingerie shops are amazing. The couples stand outside discussing, and pointing at the see-through negligees and skimpy underwear and we would only have such clothes in an adult shop.

We took Kerri to the airport on her last day and spent another couple of days catching up with the blog, sending emails, doing some research on Yemen and getting ready to go to more Middle Eastern places. It was sad to see her go but we will be home before too long.