We arrive back to our original hotel in Cairo an even get
the same room. Our belongings are there and waiting for us thank goodness. We
think about going out to the sound and light show at the pyramids but decided
against because the reviews are so so and it’s a long way to go and semi
pricey. Instead we catch up on a few things in our room and hang out.
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| Finally a full clean wardrobe! |
Ahmed takes out to a nice Egyptian restaurant on the other
side of the river. It’s a class above what we’ve been having the last two weeks
even if the food is somewhat repetitive no matter how good it is. We go over
our trip in it’s entirety and relive the funnies with everyone. We thank Ahmed
for being such a great guide for the last two weeks and wish him well.
Hopefully he can pick up some more work soon. We get back to the hotel and
farewell the boys as they have an early flight wishing them well for their new
start in Spain.
In the morning we get breakfast with Jaio and Alex before
saying more goodbyes and getting a cab to our next hotel. 5 stars! Sofitel!
Much love! Our room is spacious and gorgeous with an impressive view over the
island and the Nile.
We go out to the mega mall and buy a new suitcase so we can
load up on shopping in Cairo and Dubai and on the way home. Whislt at the shops
we indulge in Applebees for lunch and have to roll ourselves back out to the
street to get a cab. The afternoon is spent indulging in our hotels amenities
such as infinity pool and steam room, free cocktails and finally a delicious
Moroccan dinner at the restaurant.
The next day we lie in, have a swim and a late breakfast
before we go to Khan-El-Khalili, the big tourist market. We walk up the street
and hail a local cab to avoid highly marked up hotel taxis. The market is the
usual array of Middle East goods, clothes, spices, souvenirs etc. We are able
to brush off the touts and shop pretty much hassle free. Finding just about
everything we want we get a cab ride back to the hotel.
The Sofitel in Cairo is superb, it’s far and away the best
place we stayed in our entire journey. Beautiful rooms, high balconies,
delicious restaraunts and drinks with friendly staff. Yes the food and drinks
are pricey but so what. There is no haggling, no tipping, no judgement for
having a beer its fantastic to finally just sit and relax, eat good food, drink
a cocktail and soak in a pool or steam room. Relaxation central.
We meet up with Jason at 5. We met Jason and his dad in
Morocco on the train from Fes to Marrakech and had a great long chat and agreed
to catch up in Cairo. Jason showed us around the downtown area just over the
bridge where the revolution in 2011 happened. We wander down side streets
checking out street art, to a traditional coffee shop where we could also get a
beer. It was great to chat with someone who has lived in Cairo a while and get
his perspective on a lot of issues.
Speaking Arabic is obviously a huge advantage to interacting
with the locals and Jasons local knowledge takes us places we wouldn’t have
gone on our own. One interesting place is the old synagogue that is virtually
unused except for a few old ladies, police are stationed outside all churches
and synagogues for protection and to discourage vandals but you must be muslim
to be police… interesting conflict of interest.
There are one million people who live on rooftops in Cairo for $1 a
month. On top of some of the lower buildings you can see shacks or lean to’s.
It’s not much but it’s cheap. Plenty of strange building laws in Cairo inhibit
development such as you cannot ever knock down a building of arts like a cinema
or you cannot knock down a building and build a taller building on the same
site. Bizarre beaucracy.
Further walking around the centre and we stop at the local
ice cream and sweets shop. It is packed out and bustling with people. Jason takes
care of the exchange of money for goods as there is a protocol we’re not
familiar with. Although it’s sortof like a drive through, pay at one counter,
order at another and then finally you will get your ice cream from another guy.
It was pretty delicious and just what we needed to keep cool. After a bit more
of our guided walking tour Jason took us to dinner at a local place that served
Egyptian pizza which was a little like Burek from Turkey but flat and round.
Simon mucked up the protocol by not tipping the man at the end of our meal,
fortunately Jason apologised for us and explained we’re not from around here
(obviously!)
Cairo at night in the downtown is bustling and moving with
24/7 shops, sidewalk clothes vendors and cafes with constant calls to join them
for tea. There are people everywhere, it’s crowded and noisy with flashing
lights and can get a little disorientating.
There are some beautiful buildings from the French and
British occupation days. The French buildings were done by the same architect
who rebuilt most of Paris but unfortunately the buildings area not treated well
like most of Cairo and look shabby with some exceptions. External aesthetics
mean very little to Egyptians and it’s apparent in everything from the
buildings to the cars to the food. They care very little for fancy or nice.
After a tasty meal we walk back towards our hotel and soak
in the vibe and the view. The traffic is chaos, the sidewalks uneven and there
is rubbish everywhere but in the chaos is a freedom. You can live where you
want, eat where you want, wear what you want (unless you’re a woman).
Everything is affordable.
There is very little to no waste collection in Cairo. People
will drop their rubbish where they stand, throw it out windows of cars or off
their balconies. Some streets have piled that are half a metre deep with cats
and dogs chewing through them to find food. There are private companies that
drive around in utes and collect the garbage to sort through it to find
recyclables and sell it foreign companies but this is a horrid job often
employing children as sorters.
In the morning we get a transfer to the airport, even in the
hotel you need to barter for the price. First they’ll try and sell you a
private limousine. When you turn that down it’s a private transfer and when
they finally accept you just want a regular taxi you have to negotiate that
too, not with the driver directly though, the taxi manager needs his cut…
Knowing that on the street we would pay 80 to 100 pounds to the airport we set
a limit of 120 to go through the hotel. He wants 150, when I say all I have is
120 he agrees and goes to get us a taxi. Only he can’t get one so he gives us
the hotel transfer bus instead. Nice. Once at the airport our driver asks us
for money, the price is the price don’t hit me up at the end of the ride. No
backsheesh mate.
The airport is small with not much to do and we are quite
early but we find a Starbucks and settle in with the wifi to get some things
researched for Dubai, our final foreign destination.
