Back in Cairo

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I arrived back in Cairo at about 6 a.m. and walked back to the Canada Hostel I had stayed in before. I went to bed for a couple of hours and then got up to go try and get my Sudan visa sorted. The Sudanese Embassy is in an area of the city where there had been a few clashes the night before so some of the roads in the area were closed off. When I got there, the Embassy was pretty full, mostly of Sudanese people I think, but there was nobody at the service desks.

After waiting around for a few hours, I was told I wouldn't be able to apply for a Visa that day and that I should come back tomorrow. They also told me it would take at least three days. This was no use to me as I planned to leave Cairo shortly. I was also told it was easier to get the visa in Aswan. I arrived back at the hostel pretty annoyed at a complete waste of a day and looked into whether it was feasible to visit the Black and White Deserts. I contacted a couple of tour operators, but the price for doing it alone was beyond my budget. I also was keen to get the Sudanese Visa sorted, so I decided I would go down to Aswan next.

I later went out with my hostel roommate from Ghana who wanted to find somewhere to see their African Nations Cup match. We could only find somewhere showing an Egyptian match between Ismailly and Al Ahly. This turned out to be the game where the infamous riot lead to 79 people being killed.

The next day, I went to the Egyptian Museum. This must have one of the best collection of ancient treasures in the world, but it is laid out pretty poorly. It's very difficult to find out what each item is. Despite this, it is an incredible collection with the Tutankhamun room being the best. Just before I was about to go into the mummy room, I got a phone call from Ronan Ryan. After talking to one decaying, shell of a human being, I went to look at a few others. The mummies actually seemed to have a more positive outlook on life, despite being dead for about 4000 years.

I had hoped to go out that night as it was to be my last one in Cairo. However, tensions really heated up that night with the Al Ahly Ultras clashing with the police as they blamed them for letting the riot happen the previous night. So, to be on the safe side I stayed in, listening to sirens and shouting all night. The next day, I organised myslef to take the night train down to Aswan. With the clashes looking like they were going to continue, I was happy enough to be leaving, but sad that I was leaving Cairo on this note, which despite the hassle, chaos and filth, I found very enjoyable.

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