Cairo 101
Don’t stop and talk to anyone
Just cross the road, even if there are 100 cars coming towards you
Ignore every second guy saying “hello lovely” to you
Find a good felafel shop
Cairo is a pretty intense city, when flying in, our plane flew over the Saudi peninsula, never ending sand and dirt, then Cairo just seems to appear in the middle of it all, pretty much the same colour as there is very little green anywhere. Once we touched down and I fought off the taxi drivers I managed to find myself on a bus heading to town (I hoped). People were actually really friendly and the lady who sat next to me gave me her phone number in case I got lost. Of course I did get lost once I got off the bus to find my hotel, people were no longer that friendly and just watched with amusement as some stupid western girl lugged around her pack looking for a hotel. Eventually atfer around half an hour I stumbled across my hostel. It was in a big old building on the 5th floor, to get up you took the oldest craziest looking elevator I have ever seen, like something from the 18th century.
After getting myself together and halving a shower I headed out in search of something interesting. I was dressed ‘appropriately’ which means long pants and long sleeves like most of the women here. Probably around 70% of women wear headscarves with a few in full burkhers, so I was going to stand out no matter what. I took the surprisingly clean and efficient metro out to get a train ticket for the following day. Luckily there are ‘ladies only’ carriages which avoid you been squashed in with too many guys wanting to talk to you. I got a train ticket without too much hassle down to Aswan for the following night (overnight in 1st class and only $20) and then went to visit the Coptic churches which are all very old, quite interesting and an important part of Egypt culture.
I also got my first taste of the package tourism that dominates Egypt.
It’s not hard to travel independently in Egypt, just most people don’t, so things reflect that. Like the ‘tourist center’ in Cairo is not different from any other area, just there are some hotels hiding away. I never actually saw any other tourists around where our hotel is and unlike tourist centers in places like Thailand there aren’t internet cafe’s and travel agents lining the streets, simply because 99% of people are on a package holiday. The only time I ever see tourists is at major tourist attractions where (despite it being low season) rows of giant air conditioned buses line up to let a group off for 30 minutes. Because of the heat most are dressed in overtly skimpy outfits, lots I saw would be inappropriate at home. They they take photos and buy over-priced goods then get back on their bus and go to their hotel. I am not saying that I am much better, I mean, I still am just another tourist but really, it is unbelievable how disrespectful some people are and how far from reality these tours seem to be. And its the same all over Egypt, things really just not set up for independent travellers. However in saying that its not hard to get things done, its just not immediately obvious. And I think its worth the little bit extra effort and definitely cheaper to go it alone
Anyway after seeing a few churches and things I went back and ended up napping all afternoon in front of the fan. I was woken up by Alice a french girl staying in my room who had come to study Arabic for the summer. Now it was late and finally cooling down (though still around 25 degrees all evening) we went and drank juice and smoked shesha down in an alleyway cafe. We also meet some other American’s doing the same thing and staying up late talking and smoking. A lovely way to spend the evening.
The following day I went to check out the Islamic area (although really, it all seems to be Islamic) and saw some mosques and lots of markets. Generally a lot of people trying to rip you off and a few more bus loads of tourists wandering aimlessly.
Again more harassment but never anything too bad and easy to ignore. Its all crazy busy and noisy with mosques and cars and horns and animals and people. Pretty intense so spent the rest of the day reading . I grabbed some food with Alice then headed to the train station for the 15 hour journey down south to the even hotter Aswan. Unfortunately I was sharing the train with 30 or so French 16 year olds who insisted on talking all night and congregating in my cabin then taking photos of me when they though I was sleeping. 15 hours later I was very very tired and angry and glad to get off the train and into Aswan
Tags: blogsherp, cairo, coptic, Egypt, tourists, TRAVELS 2008
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