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Published: August 21st 2008
Street
Everyone's chillin.So I'm finally here at Cairo after 16 hours of flying and a 12 hour layover in between. The layover itself was actually quite an experience... They have these awesome free showers at Seoul Airport and I really do think I could live in one of those bathrooms for about a month. It's like a luxurious prison cell. I did have a few issues with the Subway sandwich that I bought myself though. What I thought would be a safe purchase, the steak and cheese sandwich, tasted little funky when I bit into it. I thought it might be my choice of sauces (mayo and honey mustard), but when I picked out a little piece of the meat just to be sure, there was definitely the familiar Korean flavors of soy sauce and sesame oil. I thought about this very hard. It just didn't make sense that a global chain like Subway could have this sort of an inconsistency. After a lot of deliberation, I concluded that the beef-import ban in Korea doesn't allow Subway to go through the usual supply chain and hence they couldn't regulate the steaks in Korea as effectively. So there's another evil of trade barriers. Bad
Cairene Mystery
Why do they have a weigh in the middle of the street... sandwiches.
Anyway, Cairo. I'm staying at a place called Pension Roma, which I've heard great things about on the LP guide. It doesn't disappoint with its high ceilings and overall rustic atmosphere, with one of those old-school elevators that's nothing more than a cage floating around. I feel like it's the kind of place French existentialist writers would lock themselves into for months, battling with their typewriters while smoking a million cigarettes. I might have to get myself a pack too just to play the part.
As soon as I arrived (1am), I decided to explore the area because there seemed to be a lot of action despite the late hours. Actually, it was a lot livelier than I anticipated. Cafes along the streets were packed with locals having some tea or smoking sheesha. The majority were grown men, but there were a good amount of women and little kids as well. It seems like it's a family affair to go out after midnight and converse over drinks. I got myself a table and ordered a cup of tea and some sheesha as well, and the rest of the night was spent people watching.
The people here
Market
At night. as of this point kind of confuse me. Maybe it's because I'm decked out in tourist gear (big camera around the neck, backpack, sneakers, and outdoor pants), but the interactions I get seem to be an odd mixture of genuine hospitality and serious money-hungry schemes. It's kind of sucky because you don't want to be rude to the genuinely nice ones while you also don't want to buy a bottle of crappy perfume for $2 (which I did). And there are those who seem to posses both of these elements too, which makes it even more confusing. So the conclusion is: I don't know... We'll see how it goes. I do have 4 months here after all.
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