Cairo

Friday 31/5-2013

The drama started in the air before even arriving Cairo. We took off 10:30 PM, and since Egypt Air insisted on serving us dinner at 11:30 I didn’t get much sleep, even I was pretty tired. They did turn off the lights around midnight, when we were about halfway on our 3591 km long journey from LHR-Cairo.

Not long after the lights were turned off, the announcer asked loudly if there was a doctor on board, and then the lights came back on. The elderly lady sitting next to me, who I’d noticed was ill, had gotten worse. Suddenly she was surrounded by air hosts, and her daughter who sat next to her was in tears. The old lady kept passing out, and the staff tried to give her some water before putting an oxygen mask on her. I was worried she had heart problems and was expecting them to put her on the floor to give her CPR. Everyone around her were speaking Egyptian so I couldn’t completely understand what seemed to be the lady’s problem. Thankfully  no one needed CPR and the lady got better, and her daughter started to smile again. I must admit, my heart rate went up a bit in the heat of the moment. After a while people calmed down and I got 1.5 hours sleep. We arrived Cairo 3:45 AM, and I got 19h and 15minutes to explore a whole new city! CAIRO

Cairo

This is Egypt!

Me and Mohamen was listening to loud Egyptian music

When I arrived Cairo I was feeling great and the first thing I wanted to see was the Pyramids during sunrise. The moment I got to the arrival hall, loads of taxi drivers ran up to me and asked if I needed transport, out of old habit I rejected their offers. But then I realised I actually need a tazi driver if Im going to experience the pyramids before/during sunrise. Another two approaches me, and after a bit of a «fight» I go with Mohamed Samir, a 24 year old taxi driver from Cairo who drives for his father. He seemed like a nice bloke and he knew a bit of English.

We drove towards the pyramids, which are placed on the other side of the city. Mohamed tells me that the pyramids won’t open until 8AM, so I tell him to drive me to the river Nile instead. On the way there my taxi drive says he need gas, and he drives in behind (!) a petrol station, and suddenly I get a bit worried and mentally prepare myself if I was about to get mugged. Fortunately it didn’t happen and we drove off in one piece. We got to the river Nile and took a few pictures, then off to The Cairo Tower before another river. We then got some breakfast, but since the menu was written in Egyptian I randomly pointed at something, hoping it would be tasty (and it was).

Now it was still 90 minutes until the Pyramids open, but we drove towards them in a slowish speed. Then suddenly we saw some guys playing football on a pitch next to the road. Mohamed didn’t finish his question before I said “YES!” so he made a sharp turn and minutes later I was playing football with Achmed (messi), Ibra (zlatan), Mohamed (another one) and a few other Egyptans my age. It was awesome, and it didn’t make it less cool when my first touch of the ball was a screamer of a volley goal up in the top left corner. Even if it was 6:30-7AM it was still very hot, and soon I was drenched in sweat. We played for almost an hour and it was so much fun. The perfect thing to do when you travel by yourself.

So suddenly we had killed loads of time and we went to the Pyramids. To ride a camel and see all 9 of them, the Sphinx, and go inside one pyramid cost EGP 660 (£70-75) which was fine. I didn’t even try to negotiate a lower price. I got on Micky Mouse, the camel, and the moment I got around the corner I realised I’d left my bag (which contained my passport and tickets) in Mohamed’s car. “Not good” I thought, “How could I blindly trust a man I’d just met, and on top of that, in Cairo?!”

I concluded with him not running off with it since I hadn’t paid him yet. When I saw the stunning Pyramids I forgot all about it. Astonishing! It was only me, the guy holding the camel, and the guide Omar. So it was a very relaxed trip, but it got warmer and warmer in the dessert. After 2 hours I was tired and very dehydrated. I almost got sick when we got back, I don’t know if it was the dehydration (didn’t drink anything during/after the footie either), the heat or the many starving horses that was walking around. It was horrible to watch, and it made me realise how poor Egypt really is. People sent their kids out on the street to beg for money and they couldn’t afford to feet their animals. I got 1.5 litre of water and downed it within seconds.

View over Cairo from Mohamed Ali's Moske

Next, Mohamed took me to Mohamed Ali’s (not the boxer) Moskè, a massive one with an amazing view over Cairo. We walked by a library there and I was given some free books about Islam. I’m a quite open minded guy so I thought it would be good to learn a bit more about their religion. When me and Mohamed walked back to the car a good looking girl stopped me and asked if she could interview me for 2 minutes. I said yes, and then asked what she was going to interview me about. She explained she saw the Islan books in my hands and wanted to ask about my views on Islam (coming from a different country) and about the library etc. “Fine, yeah, sure” I nodded.

Therefor I got a microphone attached to my shirt and a camera pointed at my sun burned face, and soon I will be on YouTube.

It was after noon and I was getting hungry so I asked my friendly taxi driver if he wanted to eat. He doesn’t speak English very well, but he understood what I meant and we drove off. He said something about his father, but I’m pretty much fast asleep. We arrived his father’s home, and soon I’m sitting talking to all the people in broken English. This was REALLY cool, I’d suddenly forgotten how tired and hungry I was because now I was in the heart of Cairo with some proper Egyptians in their own living room. Their apartment looked quite nice, so I assume the taxi driving is the thing to do in Cairo. Soon I was playing Pro Evolution Soccer on PlayStation 2 against a 10 year old, Norway – Egypt (0-3). And then Mohamed comes in with a plate with a half chicken, some beef mix and a sort of pita bread. Because I was hesitating Mohamed ran and got me a spoon for the beef mix, but I used my fingers anyway. It was proper good as well! The kids and Mohamed’s father filmed me for 4 minutes while I was eating dinner together with Mohamed.

Mo had taken care of me since I arrived at 4AM and I asked him how much money he wanted, he was thinking for a while and I was expecting him to say about EGP 1500 (£165) but when he said EGP 3000 I got very surprised. That was £330.

Even though it was only 2-3 o’clock  asked him to drive me to the airport, it was over 40C and it was no point walking around in the streets of Cairo in the heat. In the car I asked him about the price and told him I was expecting a price around EGP 2000. He agreed and we shook hands. So there I was, at the airport 6 hours before the flight takes off, but I’ve experienced so much today and will now try to wash myself in a disabled toilet and change clothes before getting some sleep. Today, driving around with a local taxi driver, showing me places I’d never see if I took the bus or a more proper taxi. This was brilliant. Now my next stop is Johannesburg -> Cape Town.