Cairo carnage

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The traffic is crazier than ever in Cairo. We are in four or five lanes of cars and trucks with all the drivers ignoring the lane lines. It's pretty manic. There is a haze across the city, apparently they're burning the rice fields at the moment and I guess this is mixing with the dust and car fumes.

It's lovely to be met at the airport by our local friend Nadim and his driver and quite surreal as we head to his home to see the nearby pyramids looming out of the haze. We catch up with him and Cherine over a delicious home cooked dinner and plan the rest of our time in Egypt. It turns out that we have arrived at the time of an important religious feast, including a week long national holiday. It's going to complicate our travel plans here but should add to the fun.

Our American friend, Emma, compiled a list for us of places to visit in this country. It's a really useful reference and first up is the Egyptian Museum, full of artifacts which have been used extensively to piece together Egyptian history.

We are unlucky in our timing. Apparently Wednesday is the one day of the week that the museum closes early, 1.30 pm. We haven't got much time so we get the highlights tour from a local guide, amongst many other things learning about ancient mummification, King Tutankhamun, gender equality, pharaonic birth control and that apparently it was a mule that discovered Tutankhamun's tomb. With only minimal labeling on artifacts the insight from our guide is really useful.

It's amazing to see the structures that made up Tutankhamun's tomb and his famous gold sarcophagus along with treasures from the tomb. With over 100,000 collections in the museum we have barely scratched the surface. You could spend a lot of time here.

In a shop near the museum we are shown the process of making paper from papyrus as they did in ancient times and we admire the bright natural colours of the hand painted art.

We meet up with Nadim and Cherine and walk through some of the streets in the old town. Carcasses hang outside butcher's shops and livestock are being brought into town in preparation for the feast. Already we have seen a forklift leading bullocks along the street and sheep in makeshift pens in residential areas.

We walk through an entry in the thick old city wall and pass elegant mosques and old but tastefully restored family homes. A guided tour through one of these gives us a unique insight into the family way of life stretching back hundreds of years. It's interesting to learn about the mashrabiyya, hand turned wooden lattice work. These panels allowed the women to view the street and areas where men gathered without being seen themselves.

The temperature is perfect for sitting outdoors and for dinner we sit at a table in a side alley and eat roast pigeon along with other local delicacies.

Next morning we are up early to visit the pyramids at Giza. It's incredible to stand at the foot of these famous huge structures in the early morning haze. The many touts are aggressively selling scarves, hats, postcards and horse and camel rides. I eventually agree to a photo on a camel but its a bit of a grumpy animal. I hang on for dear life and its a memorable ride.

A short walk from the pyramids is the equally famous Sphinx. We take our photos and watch the young touts directing tourists into strange poses with the Sphinx for their photos, artfully relieving them of their Egyptian pounds. Loud squabbles often erupt between the touts, providing good entertainment for us.

There are numerous local school groups wandering the site and many are keen to have their photo taken with us and practice their English. We take the opportunity to walk with one of the groups and swap stories and email addresses.

Back in Cairo we spend a few hours strolling around the Museum of Islamic Art with its well labeled exhibits. The diverse range includes old perfume bottles that could be put in a turban, surgical instruments from the ninth century, ancient compasses and sundials, fabrics and carpets dating from the sixth century, tiled wall panels and beggar's bowls of engraved steel overlaid with gold.

From there we want to get to the Citadel about five kilometers away to enjoy the sunset over Cairo before heading home for an early night. We have a 3.00 am wake up for our flight out. The Citadel, sunset and heading home sounds like a simple concept but turns into a bit of an epic struggle.

After numerous taxi rides, confusion and head scratching by locals and wandering vaguely through back streets we finally make it to the Citadel in the dark and it's closed. Then instead of the easy option of a taxi directly home, a local student adopts us and decides we should go the cheapest way. Fortunately we have the destination address written in Arabic as well as English and after a series of micro buses, a packed metro, a local bus and a clapped out taxi (all accompanied by much gesturing and many wrong turns) we are home with a new perspective on Cairo transport.

Only a few hours left for sleep before the 3.00am alarm. So much for the early night. Next stop Luxor.

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Photos

The old city
Cairo

Roast what?
Pigeon

Taming a local
They breed 'em mean around here