.....see here for our previous blog post full of funny signs.......
After slowly travelling south from Ko Fruitopia in Thailand to Singapore, we departed for our new adventure in Cairo. The two flights it took to get there could not have been more different. Being New Year's Day, the first flight to Jeddah consisted of 25 passengers on a Boeing 747! The Saudia crew were most attentive and we spread out as much as we wanted to. Needless to say it was the best service, and indeed the best flight we have ever had. Things changed drastically at Jeddah, where we we were transferred by bus miles from the grimy terminal onto an empty plane. Our elation at another quiet flight was short lived when hundreds of noisy pilgrims heading home from the
haj slowly piled on with huge bags and packages balanced on their heads, yelling at each other, arguing with crew about their seats, and generally creating a ruckus. By the time they had all found their seats we were an hour late, but finally on our way.
The fun continued at Cairo airport, when Sal's backpack failed to appear amongst the chaos of the
haj people's luggage. Already late, and knowing our hostel had sent someone to pick us up, we looked over at the Saudia lost luggage desk with dread. After waiting in a Egyptian style line (rather like an Indian style line) and filling out the forms, we were informed we would be contacted about the bag and sent away. It was a relief to find our hostel man still waiting for us, regardless of the fact we were nearly three hours late and it was 3 am! The next two days were stressful, as numerous phone calls ascertained the airline didn't have clue where Sal's bag had ended up. It was an interesting lesson for us. We always try to be unmaterialistic, and we own very few possessions. But we realized that although we don't have much (just what is on our backs), every item is very precious! We went through everything that would potentially have to be replaced, and although the monetary value wasn't high, there were many irreplaceable items. Everything we own is carefully chosen and organized for weight and absolute need. It does have to be said, though, we have been travelling for 22 years, and it was the first time a bag of ours had gone missing, so we
do consider ourselves lucky! Anyway, Sal's bag finally showed up two days later to our huge relief, and we felt free and ready to really begin our time in Egypt.
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| Cairo streets |
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| Morning sun, Cairo |
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| Slow start to the day, Caio |
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| Cairo resident |
We had visited Egypt twelve years before, but back then it was in the height of summer. We were now in January, and the temperatures were much cooler. The funky hostel we had stayed in before was pretty much the same, but it's small dark rooms and outside terrace areas were not suited to winter. We found ourselves a much better, huge room with a sunny balcony and a hot shower in a fabulously decrepit old building, typical of downtown Cairo, and set down roots for a couple of weeks.
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| Our first hostel in Cairo |
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| View out the window of the little room |
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| Stunning old elevator, common in Downtown buildings, Cairo |
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| Looking down the shaft, Cairo |
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| Grand room in our new hostel, Downtown, Cairo |
The building of the downtown area of Cairo was commissioned by the forward thinking ruler Khedive Ismail after a trip to Paris. He wanted to modernize the city and bring some European aspects to the streets and buildings. Although it's heyday was at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, most of the grand faded buildings remained standing. Over the years, the area has slowly slipped into a state of shabby dilapidation, with layers of desert dust and grime adding an appealing patina of age.
Our favourite eateries were all within a 10 minute walk of our Downtown hostel, along with kiosk style shops (not many supermarkets here) and market stalls. Another feature of Downtown was the proliferation of hundreds of shoe and lingerie shops. Sal found use for the former, when she had to buy some warm boots, but the latter was only for looking and speculating!
Downtown was home to the most beggars we saw in Cairo. Mostly old ladies, they simply sat on the cold ground with a few pitiable packets of tissues for sale.
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| Faded glory, Cairo Downtown |
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| Fresh dates, Cairo Downtown |
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| Streets of Downtown Cairo |
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| Magnificent Ramses Station, Cairo Downtown |
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| Famous koshery shop with classic car, Cairo Downtown |
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| Neglected old beauty, Cairo |
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| Kinky gear, Cairo Downtown |
Our favourite thing to do in Cairo was arise early in the morning and walk through the tatty streets before the traffic, crowds and noise began. It was like a different city. We always ended up in a distinct specialty area- one day it was the nuts and bolts area, another was furniture, and another with garages and dusty old classic cars scattered around. On these days, people were the friendliest, asking for photos, offering tea, shaking hands with Rich and occasionally throwing their arms around him! Tellingly, the one word everyone knew in English was "Welcome". We never experienced anything sleazy during our stay in Egypt (Sal's getting to old for that now, and about time!).
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| Engrossed in the news, Cairo |
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| Back street workshop, Cairo |
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| Friendly welders, Cairo |
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| Sorting the rubbish, Cairo |
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| Setting up, Cairo |
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| Old man in the sun, Cairo |
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| Mirror shop, Cairo |
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| Morning sun, Cairo |
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| Back street of Cairo |
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| Weathered doorway, Cairo |
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| Balancing the bread, Cairo |
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| Market setting up, Cairo |
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| Sweet potato man, Cairo |
When the city awakened and became busy, crossing the road was a quickly learned art. The best way was for us to hold onto each other, follow a local out into the oncoming, never-ending stream of cars, and keep walking slowly to the other side without stopping or slowing down. It worked perfectly well! It's a similar method we undertook in Vietnam, although there were few cars there, mainly motorbikes and bicycles.
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| Typical afternoon Cairo traffic |
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| Early morning traffic free Cairo |
A pitiful sight around Cairo were the many stray dogs and cats in various forlorn states. We were surprised with the number of dogs in a Muslim city, but they were unfortunately downtrodden and scared, rarely causing us a problem. We were astonished to see weasels scurrying through the streets on a few occasions, although far to fleeting for Rich to take a photo.
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| Kitties amongst the trash, Cairo |
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| Catching the morning sun, Cairo |
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| Street scene, Cairo |
A welcome aspect to wandering around Cairo were
ahwas. These were coffee, tea and
sheesha shops, and were brilliant for a rest, a refreshment and for people watching. Smoking a
sheesha pipe was a firm favourite with us on our last visit to Egypt, and we returned to the pastime with enthusiasm. We quickly learnt to avoid the plain tobacco and go for the fragrant apple or lemon flavours. As a sometime alternative to tea, s
ahlab was a yummy discovery- a creamy milky hot drink, served with sultanas, nuts and coconut- more like a dessert. After trying the super strong cardamon coffee, Rich settled on the instant variety, which was whipped up into something like a cappuccino. The
ahwa prices varied wildly depending on which part of the city we were in and whether the waiter thought he could make a little extra. We payed somewhere between EGP8//UK£0.40 and EGP40/UK£2 for two hot drinks and a
sheesha. A direct result of all the tea drinking was we were constantly looking for toilets on our walks. We discovered markets often had a tiny toilet down a lane somewhere, we had just had to get someone to show us where in the maze.
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| Sheesha stall, Cairo |
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| A typical ahwa stop, Cairo |
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| Cardamon coffee- so strong it will put hairs on your chest! |
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| Sal's favourite, sahlab |
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| Ahwa patron, Cairo |
We found Egyptians to be alternately kind, friendly and smiley, and shouty and aggressive (although never with us). They loved to raise their voices at any occasion, both men and women- shouting to friends half way down the street, on the phone, or indeed right next to them! We often saw men in the streets shouting angrily at each other, usually something to do with driving or parking, and the next minute they would be laughing and shaking hands. It seems they enjoyed expressing themselves vocally. Several nights in the street under our balcony, huge fights broke out with yelling and glass breaking. Yet, we also experienced many random kind acts towards us including being given some fresh bread straight out of the oven in a backstreet bakery, and a tailor fixing Rich's bag and refusing to take any payment.
Sometimes walking in the more touristy parts, dodgy men would approach us, and we could immediately see they were after something. More often than not it was just their shop they wanted us to look in. We didn't come across any big scams, although we were in the city in low season with VERY few tourists around. Most people were genuine and helpful.
Another strange thing was the lack of reaction Sal got from local women. They seemed very reluctant to make eye contact, or smile at all, even when she went out of her way to make an effort. One morning, we came across a small street full of girl's schools. The school day was just starting and there were dozens of young women milling about. In almost any other country we visit, there would have been giggles, shy smiles and waves and attempts at conversation in English. But here there was no reaction at all- it was all slightly odd.
As you'll see in the photos, it was virtually impossible to take any portraits of women in Cairo.
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| Little boys, Cairo |
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| Three generations, Cairo |
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| Enjoying his drink! Cairo |
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| Keen for a picture, Cairo |
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| Looking into a doorway, Cairo |
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| Before anything opens, Cairo |
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| Sugarcane man, Cairo |
....more Cairo wanderings, including Islamic Cairo.......
