CCC – Crazy City of Cairo
Day two took us to the train station for tickets to Luxor Friday night. That went smoothly enough. A quick cab ride across the city to Islamic Cairo was good enough with a driver that quoted a fair price from the start, had a nice car (you would never see this car on the road in the US, but it was a good one for here) and he was safe even amongst the throngs of interesting drivers. From what I can tell, street lights mean nothing with loads of cars continuing through red lights and the lanes are merely suggestions and usually result in four cars per three lanes.
Islamic Cairo is quite fascinating. While it is a medina, it is a lot more open than the other medinas I have visited. There are the typical shops for locals and tourists alike although I did not see a lot of tourists. What makes Islamic Cairo special, in my opinion, is the numerous ancient mosques, mausoleums and koranic schools. Some of these buildings are one thousand years old. We visited one mosque with the second oldest school in the world (Mohammad Kamel, our guide, said Kairouan has the oldest, but I think Fez and Kairouan claim that Fez has that honor and I bet the Chinese have another opinion… just another EST). The mosque does not seem to be operated as a school most of the time with the students now attending the large university next door. When they did attend, there were housing and schooling areas for the different Islamic groups by country/language and he listed most of the Middle East and North African countries. The best part of the tour is that they let us infidels into the prayer room and up the tall minaret.
The prayer room is very beautifu and constructed from columns from Alexandria. Alexandria is Egypt’s Carthage! What I understand about Alexandria is that it is all gone and now I know why. The carpet in the prayer room had rectangular designs every half meter. These mark the prayer space for each worshiper and allows them to not use individual carpets. Quite smart! Mohammad told us that 10,000 people pray on Friday afternoon, overflowing the individual carpet capacity and flowing into the large courtyard. Today there was only a few individuals present all of which were sleeping. The mosque is open to all worshipers all of the time so travellers are known to end up there for a snooze… I mean prayer.
Finally getting to enter a mosque was good, but it was quickly eclipsed by a trek up the minaret for a fabulous view over the city. Cairo has one thousand minarets and I could see more than I wanted to count. Skinny and long ones, short and fat, plain, decorated, new, cracked… you name it and it is here as far as minarets go. The only negative is the blasted air pollution that restricts the view and the fact that we could not see the pyramids due to the haze. Why did they allow us to enter what is normally for believers only? Well…
It’s called baksheesh. Basically, we had to pay the guide and make another payment to another guy who had the keys for the minaret. This supposedly goes to the mosque, but I am sure he gets his share. Everything is about baksheesh here – it is the basic economic engine of Egypt. It is expected for all acts of kindness such as showing you a doorway. It is the basic cause of everyone offering their help to you in Cairo hoping they can solve a little problem such as where the subway is located. Actually, I am finding Cairenes to be quite nice and friendly, but I am also always wary of their friendliness because it usually turns into more than what you want such as “my cousin has a shop and he would like us to go there to enjoy a tea… no pressure to buy.” Right!
Baksheesh has nothing to do with tourists (locals pay, too), but tourists are definitely targets due to their likely ability to pay and we are stupid. Last night I was trying to figure out how to get into an internet cafe. A lot of yelling went on from the corner up to the clothes store that was next to the cafe. I was saying that they need not help any longer, but they continued. Someone finally showed me the door and I tried to pry myself away, but he had to come up with me. He passed the cafe and went to the store. I thanked him, but he called me down to the store and told me the owner would help me. I told the owner that I was not there to shop and was going to the internet cafe. He raced after the guy who delivered me and I knew what was going on. By delivering me (same as taking me to his cousin’s store for tea), he was entitled to a fee from the store when I was done buying. Since I was not buying, the owner wanted to make it clear that he was getting nothing. I was just glad to not have to pay for a service I did not need.
Mohamad Kamel told us that the Quran demands baksheesh as a way for those with to give to the poor. Morocco and Egypt have a lot of beggars looking for their baksheesh and now I understand why. It’s required! But Mohammad also spread the Quran’s baksheesh to include payment for all services as if everyone deserves tips, bribes (yes!) and other payments for whatever reason they can dream up. In some respect, the whole economic system is built on it so you have to just go along for the ride. My opinion is that it is a cultural disaster with serious implications such as widespread corruption.
The women in Cairo dress a bit differently. They often have bright colored outfits and push the boundaries a bit with fabrics that allow sun to filter through. Some of the women wear western style jeans and tops, but they are more than likely to have a headdress. A minority yet significant amount of women wear full burqas including some with full face coverings (eyes coverd with veils) and gloves. Usually the more fully dressed women are in dark, oppressive colors although bright blue is also popular. Although I cannot tell with the burqas, all of the other dress is basically distributed by age – younger women wearing more chic, designer wear of less weight and brighter colors and older women wearing the heavier, darker wear. I like a lot of the clothes and the mystery of the women in them, but the covered faces and hands are way too much for me. Supposedly, the Quran says that women and men should cover their bodies and that has been “upgraded” culturally to include the face and hand coverings. By the way, many of the men wear western style clothes yet there is also a large population of men that wear robes like the women thus conforming to the Quran.
I asked Mohammad Kamel about the differences in Women’s dress and he explained that it is their choice. Further talking revealed that it is really the father and husband that chooses what should be worn by the wife and daughter. It would be interesting to know if the number of robed women (and men) is increasing or decreasing. My guess is that it is decreasing although that is probably not so true in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. As in Morocco and Tunisia, Egypt has many beautiful women, but their beauty is much less visible when a lot of clothes are on. Exactly what the Quran and fathers/husbands want!
I am learning that Egyptian restaurants operate a bit differently. It is best to confirm all prices before being served or you can plan on paying more than they normally charge. That’s more baksheesh even thought they add in service of 10%. Also, plan on waiting a long time for change. Maybe forever unless you demand it. More baksheesh! I was basically ripped off twice today by both of these techniques although the amounts made it a waste of my energy to pursue. There is a principle involved and as I get smarter about their ways, I will protect that principle. One does have to wonder if the whole Arab/Persian/Turkish world operates this way (Morocco and Tunisia only slightly) and if that is part of why we seem to not get along.
I’m pretty sure that once you can play their games and understand when the game is being played (this is the most confusing part!), you can put yourself at their level and I bet the place becomes more enjoyable. Kind of like going to Vegas knowing how to beat the house. Hopefully, they don’t throw us out when that happens.
Tags: Africa, Travel
vagabondrick
Rick: I am definitely jealous! We were never allowed any further into a mosque than the courtyard were we could peer in, and never up in a minuret. WOW. I do remember (way back when) that many of the business men walking down the street with the traditional black robe over their very Western clothes. It seemed back then to be a city of contradictions and juxtapositions. I am so glad that you were able to have this days experiences
sounds like your having a good time, something you’ll always have with you. be carefulnrrandys mom, vera