We were forewarned by other travelers (thanks Paul 'n Tonya and Don & Joanne) that Cairo was a difficult place for independent travel. We don't think we have seen the worst of it yet, but from what we've seen today, we will be in for a challenging time. From the minute we arrived in the immigration lines, it seemed that things were kicked up a notch as Emeril would say. The immigration officers barked at us to get our Visa's. Although we had read in advance how to get the Visa's, we simply forgot. We were to pay $US15 per person to one of the banks which had a desk in the immigration area for two stamps each. This was our first taste of people wanting our business. There were about 8 different counters and they were calling for us to come to them. As we were purchasing our Visa's, they asked us if we would like to exchange money. Aha, there's the catch. Once we got the Visa's (they looked like postage stamps) we were to lick and insert them in a blank page in our passports. Only then were we supposed to get into line to see the immigration officer.
Once through immigration, we went to our baggage carousel. Through the windows to the outside, we saw a sight that we hadn't seen since our Kilimanjaro hike last year. Joe & Holly, Lynn & Chris, you know the sight we're talking about. It's the one at the start of Day 1 where many hopefuls were hanging on the fence looking for a gig as a porter. Well, from the baggage carousel, we could see dozens, if not a hundred people waiting around asking and yelling if we needed a ride into the city or if we needed a place to stay. Had we not had a driver waiting for us, we were sure that we would have looked like a deer caught in headlights. Amir, from our pre-booked hostel, was waiting for us with a card that had Gerald's name written on it. Now some of you might think this is a bit on the high and mighty side. But it isn't...honestly. For the princely sum of $US15.44, we get two nights in a double room in the Pension Vienna, and with the prepayment of those two nights, we get one one-way transfer to or from the airport included in that price. Of course we decided to take the option of getting picked up at the airport. Amir took us to the cab that he had hired. Oh my god - the car looks like a 1975 Renault four door, a lot like the one Aunt Paula used to have. Only this one was painted black and white, had some spots that looked like they had been painted at home, and a few dents to top off the body design (eat your heart out TCD). We were both quite sure that our scooter in Bermuda had more power and it was on its last legs.
The taxi driver headed out to the highway from the airport and we soon found out first hand why Lonely Planet advises "Driving in Cairo is a crazy affair, so think seriously before you decide to rent a car there."! We saw three dotted painted white lines which should mean four lanes going in our direction. Unfortunately, we think we were driving 6 cars wide, none of which were anything close to parallel, and forget about using signal lights. Add to that the fact that as we got into the city, it didn't seem to bother the pedestrians that the cars were not slowing down or stopping to permit them to cross the street. Lonely Planet should also add that walking around major roads in Cairo could be hazardous to your life. Such an adventure!
We arrived at our Pension (sort of in between a hostel and a low budget hotel) after about forty minutes. Amir walked us inside. A second "Oh my god!" The six or seven story building looked about 140 or 150 years old. The Pension Vienna was on the 3rd floor. The Dahab Hotel was on another floor, and the Swiss Hotel was on another. The elevator was an old open style elevator with the counter weights out in the open. On our way to our room, we were shown where the common shower was, and where the unisex common toilet was. The shower didn't appear to have a shower curtain. Oh well. And our room? Well, it is air conditioned, which is a treat when it will be 35 C tomorrow, but the two single beds have wooden frames and not a box spring in sight. The wooden armoire is slightly bigger then the one we had in Paris (much newer though), but the back of this one seems to be made of cheap particle board and it is hanging on by three or four nails (if those little plastic things are called nails). We do have one outlet which we can use to charge the laptop's battery. It took us about an hour to find the light, and it forms part of the door frame. The room does have a balcony with French doors that we can walk out to, which makes it very easy to hear the daily call to prayer (at least twice daily anyway), which is quite loud, but melodic. All in all, the room is bigger, and in many ways better, than our room in Paris (not too mention the approximate $53 CDN savings per night).
After settling in, Amir took us for a quick tour of the area, stopping at an Internet Café to quickly check on our emails, and to the nearest ATM. This turned out to be a good introduction to how to get around the neighborhood. We noticed one of the local take out restaurants, Felfela, that two guidebooks described as 'can't miss this', so we made a mental note to return at some point. On the way back, we stopped for a glass of juice. And what a glass of juice. The clerk poured Tamalyn & Amir a glass of previously crushed mango juice from a cooler (aah, so refreshing...Tam wanted to hold it up to her face and neck) and he reached for five small oranges for Gerald. Into the juicer the oranges went one by one, and the juice was squeezed right in front of us. It was the best glass of Orange Juice Gerald ever had. Amir took us back to the Pension Vienna where we settled in by unpacking all of our bags with the aim to reorganize.
Dinner time came around, and we made the decision to venture out on our own towards Felfela. The manager at the front desk warned us again to be mindful of the touts and the harassment from solicitors that we might be facing. (Quite ironic given the huge sales job he gave us about 30 seconds after we entered the lobby area.) Out of our respective comfort zones we ventured. We walked the four blocks to Felfela, even daring to cross the street in and around moving traffic. We were not accosted or solicited once by touts, but now the task of dealing with the menu was upon us. Not sure what anything was, Tamalyn ordered the fuul with eggplant and taanini (it ended up being a pita-type sandwich) and Gerald had the Kashari (which ended up being a pasta dish with rice, lentils and peppers). Both were delicious and not as strong tasting as we expected them to be. If the next 18 days of eating are this good, we are truly looking forward to it. We walked back to our rooms where we broke out our sleeping bag liners for the first time (it is not that we don't trust the cleanliness of the sheets, it is that they are non-existent! Ha!), and turned on the AC. Hopefully, the locals won't be called to prayer and we'll be able to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is another day, and we are hoping that everything goes as well as today did.
TTFN
PS - Happy anniversary Mom & Dad Tardif! We love you.
August 18 - How can I take your money?
The day started well enough, as we were both able to convince the attendant at the Egyptian Student Travel Services that we were both currently university students. This enabled us to get International Student Identification Cards which will give us 50% discounts at most museums and government operated tourist sites in Egypt. I guess technically, we both could be enrolled in Master's programs somewhere, but I wouldn't say we could be considered your typical undergraduates at our age.
From there it was on to the Egyptian Museum. The artifacts were unreal, and we couldn't believe the good condition of most of them. The highlight for Gerald was seeing King Tutankhamun's death mask. Ever since he completed a 1000 piece puzzle of the death mask in grade 4, he hoped that he would one day see it live. (Thanks to Mrs. Rivard for that.) Tamalyn's highlight was seeing he mummy room where we were both able to see our first ever mummies. There was an exhibit with 11 mummies that was astonishing. The embalming process in these early years was advanced enough to preserve many details on the bodies. On Ramses V, it was evident that he had suffered from small pox as evidenced by the spots on his face. Unreal.
Upon leaving the Egyptian Museum, we went for a nice walk along the Nile in the blistering heat. We walked by the Nile Hilton and down south a several hundred metres. When we had had enough, we jumped the metro and headed north to the train station to book our train tickets to Aswan for Saturday night. What we thought would take 5 minutes took over an hour. We wanted 2 first class tickets (as recommended) on the government run train, but it was full for Saturday night. It was also full for Friday night and Sunday night. We ended up having to really splurge and purchase a sleeping car ticket on the private Wagon's Lit train. Like 4 times the cost! Oh well. I think we needed a cigarette when we left the ticket lines. Somehow, I think we got took!
Our walk back to where we wanted to have lunch took us about 40 minutes, with a fresh fruit drink stop along the way...Gerald figures his juice was even better today. After a yummy lunch (chicken and lamb donair-type meat on a sub-bun) we headed to the market.
This was not like anything we were expecting. Imagine a grid of about 5 blocks long and 4 blocks wide with skinny and winding little lanes in and amongst them; about 40 or so packed, skinny, and dirty streets. SO COOL!
Packed: People going every which way, men pushing carts laden with goods, boys carrying stick-type baskets full of bread, children trying to sell necklaces, men selling wallets...you get the picture. The most amazing thing was that we saw less than 1% of "visible" tourists, that is to say that the majority of people looked like your typical Egyptian person. Granted many of these people were probably tourists from Muslim countries.
Skinny: Every shop had large tables out front with many vendors encouraging us to buy. Our three favorite lines were:
1) Tell me how I can take your money?
2) I don't know what you want, but I know I have it in here.
3) I'm sure I have something that you have never seen before.
After this third one, Tamalyn whispered to Gerald, "I too have something that you have never seen before, but I'm not going to show it to you!"
Dirty: Dried up mounds of mud, potholes, garbage...exactly what I was expecting.
We were guarded, but we felt very safe. In the end, Tamalyn bought 2 peasant type shirts and we each purchased simple silver wedding bands (Gerald just told Tamalyn to hurry up with the typing because he had a wedding ceremony to perform!).
Gerald had read about a famous coffee house named Fishawi's. After a bit of searching and help from a shop owner and a policeman (there are about 8 tourist police on any given street) we found it. We had strong tea served in little teapots that we poured into glasses filled with fresh mint leaves. Oh so delicious...go on, live a little everyone...make yourself some and see if you don't think it is delicious.
Gerald then ordered a sheesha. Darren (my brother) you are going to be shocked by this. A sheesha is a tall glass contraption with a water bulb at the end on the bottom attached to a silver pipe that has a small tray of tobacco in it (100% legal). The tray is covered with foil on which you put small pieces of burning coals (of some type). Now, the water can be flavored with many fruit flavors, Gerald picked strawberry. You guessed it; there is a tube with a mouthpiece on the end. You attach your new and clean plastic mouthpiece and puff away. It took a bit of practice to inhale deep enough to get it coming out of our noses and mouths, but we did succeed. I have to say I did cough a lot one time and thought that my throat would always stay charred! Gerald had to hold back the smile on his face. He had read about this and I'm sure it will remain as one of his favorite highlights. A simple cab ride (not simple if we were the drivers) home and here we are...about to put on our new wedding bands.
Ma'as Salaama for now!
Cairo Hotels
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