An Urban Symphony

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Car horns, 20 million different sounding car horns, coming discordantly from all directions. The call to prayer echoing out from the hundreds of minarets in this 'city of spires'. The hawkers selling their wares on each and every corner (trying desperately to persuade tourists to look in their stores). The meowing of cats, the clucking of chickens and the clip-clop of donkey or horses hooves. The locals calling out to each other in their Arabic tongue, shouting out greetings or admonishments mid-argument, with arms gesturing wildly as discussions grew more heated. The locals calling out to us, some in kind greeting and some making jibes, presumably about my seeming lack of modesty and 'loose' western ways. This was the urban symphony on the streets of Cairo in all its ferocity and deliciousness.

We arrived into the country bleary-eyed at 3am and were met by a lovely Egyptian diver who ferried us to our hotel. En-route, the first suggestion of chaos presented itself as we watched a car reverse its way down an exit ramp, rejoining what is a huge multilane, main arterial driving route into the city centre. What at first seemed likely a crazy one-off spotting proved to be 'the way of things' in this city of 20 million people and 20 million cars as our driver kindly informed us. As we were to discover on our first full day in the city, Cairo is a bustling metropolis whose 3 lane roads are more oft filled with 7 or 8 cars across, all weaving in and out and blowing their horns at each other in protest. Seeing women in burqas darting out to cross the roads and men on bicycles barely avoiding collisions with crazy taxi drivers is part and parcel of every minute of every hour. When one is travelling at over 70km an hour on such crazy roads without the luxury of seat belts, you can do naught but try to block out the endless risks to personal safety that are staring you down at every turn. To say one's first day in Cairo requires an 'adjustment' is a huge understatement. It is loud. It is overwhelming. It is thwart with danger. But it is also intoxicating, captivating and tantalising. It is a whole new world.

Our immediate regret having been introduced to the city that first full day was the insufficient time we'd allowed to explore. We had but a day to stroll through the souk and visit our very first mosques, with our official tour beginning the next day on an agenda that would not allow scope for any further time in this great city. It was clear to us that Cairo has a lot on offer, but it would certainly take a great deal more time to uncover its 'off the beaten track' treasures than it might in another more tourist friendly city. Although Cairo is certainly geared for tourism with its historical attractions probably making it a city that is among the most visited in the world, there is little to suggest independent travellers will make their way around to see its many attractions with ease. My impression was that many of the tourists in the city have come as part of tour groups, like that we which be joining the following day, and as such many of the day to day travel complexities are removed. On our own, immediately it was certain there would be challenges ahead. Leaving our hotel, there was nothing by way of tourist information nor even the offer of a map to guide us as to where we were and where we might begin our day exploring. Off we went out into the city, armed only with a business card for our hotel to show to a taxi driver when we wished to return. Public transport in the area we were staying was simply not an option, and I saw little evidence that public transport is embraced in other parts of the city as we made our way to the centre by taxi. Once we arrived at the main souk, there was a notice board that gave a pictorial representation of the historical quarter and lots of tourist police stationed throughout the area but that was it. And so we wandered about the immediate vicinity, taking on the hawkers and doing our best to muddle our way through the tightly knitted streets.
The souk was definitely my favourite discovery of the day. The vibrant colour of the souk-the stalls, the foods, the locals in traditional dress-is so vivid in my memory. People were constantly weaving in and out of its narrow spaces, carrying things on their heads or pulling behind them huge carts filled with food or goods. There were also small trucks driving the narrow streets, or vesper style bikes weaving in and out of the crowds. There were live animals in cages being purchased and raw meats hanging up or being sliced apart. Throughout the streets the dim twangs of Arabic pop music could be heard as a dusty wind blew out the scents of the souk, filling my nostrils with new sensations. It was the first of many souls I would visit in the weeks ahead.

Visiting our first mosque taught us what would be an invaluable lesson during our time in Egypt. Walking past a mosque entrance, a local man gestured repeatedly to us to enter. Doing so, we were met by this man with a huge smile who identified himself as a guide and quoted a price for a tour. For anyone who has travelled in this part of the world, its clear what was to happen. But being the naive tourists that we were on day one, we paid the price asked and were led by our guide, and I used the term very loosely, through the mosque. As we later came to learn, entry to any mosque is free and a guide is not required, as the layout of the sight is rarely complex and can easily be navigated. There is little by way of monumental significance requiring a historian's view, though of course a much richer understanding can be gained from the information offered by a true historian or guide. Our guide was neither of these things, not really a guide but simply a man who seized the opportunity to take advantage of some clueless tourists. He had nothing to offer by way of insight or information. He merely walked around with us, smiling and insisting on taking our photo, all the while sprouting his value as a guide and requesting further payment. I couldn't blame him really as what is immediately clear in Cairo is how very poor some of the people are. How can I be angry at a man who is simply doing all that he can to provide for his family, even if it means taking advantage of a foreigner who should know better? At around £10 pounds (very little in terms of our normal life, but an awful lot in terms of what this sum can buy in Egypt) it was a lesson we could afford to learn and certainly we did. Mad at ourselves for our naivety, it was a lesson that stuck with us and fortunately was the one and only time during our travels to come that we would fall victim to such tricks.

In equal measure, we had some lovely encounters with locals too. Each and every taxi driver we rode with offered us a cigarette (which we politely declined). When we repeatedly failed in our attempts to flag down a taxi on a busy road, a local kindly stepped out and flagged one down for us, advising us which taxi cabs would offer the best value in terms of cost and service and refusing to wave down those that would 'take advantage' of foreigners. He indeed helped in our negotiation and explanation of where we were trying to go, as after flagging down taxi's prior to his arrival we learned that many did not travel to the part of the city where our hotel was located due to its distance from the centre, or their simply not knowing where about the hotel was. We were touched by such small kindnesses as without such help, we would certainly have struggled. Indeed, we could still be standing on that one spot trying to wave down a cab or be faced with the very, very long walk back to our hotel without any clear sense of exactly where it was located! Such are the realities for independent travellers in Cairo and after only a day out and about on our own, I was very thankful we would be joining our tour therefater.

In the evening of this first full day, we met up with our Oasis Overland travel crew and would-be companions for the next 6 weeks of our travels though Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Hayley and Kevin introduced themselves as our guides, and immediately demonstrated how valuable their insights would be by taking us to a local restaurant which served possibly the best kebabs there are in the world. Here, standing on the street corner and munching away happily, we started to put names and faces together and get to know our new travel buddies. As one would expect, there were a number of Aussie and Kiwi travellers with whom we felt an immediate affinity. Fiona and Gemma, two Aussie girls, and the five Kiwis Katy, Andre, Trusca, Bev and Marc would quickly become our friends. There were also a couple of guys Pete and Craig who were dual Kiwi-British and Aussie-British nationals respectively, along with a British cohort with Laura, George, Caroline and Chris forming their ranks. Jan, the crazy Belgian, and Claus and Marie, an older retired couple from Sweden were the European constituents of the group. As we would discover in the weeks ahead, one could not have hoped for a better set of travelling companions. The stage was set for a wonderful 6 week overlanding adventure.

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