Cairo - The 'Dirty' City (Quote - Kathy Brown)

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Cairo is exhausting. 25 million people, driving 14 million cars all beeping their horns at once. So as you can imagine, this makes for some very interesting traffic. A visit to the RTA is not necessary to register your car. Every car is either missing a door, a backlight or a bumper. I never quite understood the meaning of bumper to bumper until now. Officially there is 3 lanes, but it appears that the locals think there is actually 6. Picking us up from the airport, our driver Siaid immediately runs into the back of another car, and then nonchantly proceeds to tell us “it is no problem.” The local buses are all old, dingy Volkswagens missing doors. No wonder! Within the first ten minutes in the city, we witness a collision between two of them in the middle of the ‘6 lane’ traffic and no one bats an eyelash. But they are all ornately decorated.
Cairo supposedly is the most polluted city in the world. The smoke and dust hang over the river Nile, like an Egyptian rug, smothering the city. The city gasps, and so does Kathy. It is desperately seeking some rain to cleanse its soul. But alas! Siaid tells us Cairo only receives 15 minutes of rain per year. An umbrella cannot be bought in the city. The rubbish lying around the place is horrendous. Piles of plastic pile up in the back streets and nobody seems to notice.

Everybody though is very neatly dressed, the men with their slicked back black hair and wearing a full length robe (galabiyyas) the woman in their beautifully fashioned gowns. Not all the ladies cover their face (Berka) but they all at least wear a scarf.

Our abode, Berlo The Pyramids is a tourist style hotel just down the road from the pyramids. In fact you can actually see them from the rooftop restaurant. Security is tight, you and your bag must go through an X ray machine like at the airport. The hotel, one block down has been burnt out. Apparently by the disgruntled staff.

Next stage of the journey is a sleeper train to Aswan. The tickets must be purchased at Ramses Railway Station which is in the centre of Cairo. The station appears to be a touch unorganised to say the least. The sleeper train ticket office is found tucked away, in a corner, underground, in the far end of the station. Queuing is a matter of who can yell the loudest at the ticket seller. A passport number is required ( I made one up) $60 one way per person to Aswan. Meals provided. At the end of purchasing he casually informs me the train leaves from Giza Station because it is too dangerous for foreigners at Ramses Station. Can you believe that ! but you cannot buy tickets at Giza Station. And they wonder why the Egyptian economy is stuffed. Their work ethic is non existent, their organizational skills erratic and their workmanship shoddy. Still living off past deeds I’m afraid.

The Egyptian Museum is situated near Midin Tahir which is where all the protests have been. Things seem reasonably relaxed although there is a protest against Syria as we pass by. Plus a whole block has been burnt out. The museum is overwhelming, Tutankhamun topping the charts with jewellery, boats, statues, mummies and the usual royal tomb stuff. Must have been quite a fella. If you want any more detail about the museum Google it.

Caught the train, managed some sleep and 14 hours later arrived in Aswan.

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