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Published: November 16th 2010
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Well, here I am in a totally different environment and part of the world. The skyscrapers of New York have been replaced by three ancient "skyscrapers" in a land thousands upon thousands of miles away. My descent into Egypt was quite dramatic in some ways. I was greeted at the airport by my friend, Ashraf, and I must say I am very grateful to arrive in such a place and be taken care of immediately. You can read and read and read about a place but until you are actually there nothing is real. Everything you read about Cairo is true...it's incredibly chaotic, noisy, dusty...I have never seen such gnarled traffic that goes on endlessly day and night and people in every conceivable type of dress (contemporary, scarved, completely covered etc) wandering quickly to and fro. Ashraf tells me it is a bit chilly now, with temperatures hovering in the high twenties in the day and going down to about 22 at night!!! The word that best comes to mind when I think of this city (with an unofficial population count of 30 million people...imagine that, the entire population of Canada plunked into one area!) is "cacophony". Your senses are overwhelmed by the noise and the variety of smells. Of course, this is a city where one is grateful to have money...when we arrived at his apartment (just down the road from "Cinnabon" and "Pizza Hut") a man appeared out of what looked like a small concrete hut, grabbed my luggage, put it on his head and proceeded to carry it up the four flights of stairs to the apartment.
This apartment has so many rooms that when Ashraf calls me, I am unsure as to where he is actually located! I love this crazy mix of "old" and "new". Across the street there is a pen of sheep, getting fattened up for next week's celebration of "Eed", in front of the building are two men armed with machine guns and down the road at the corner is a "Hardee's" burger joint. The pharmacy across the street sells ALL medications at incredibly cheap prices...no prescription required...the only "paper" needed are a few Egyptian pounds! Atavin Heaven!
I love wandering around on my own. In order to truly "walk like an Egyptian"...one must literally hurl one's body into the oncoming traffic and just look straight ahead. I have already learned that the only way I can get around is to forget about "Elmer's Special Safety Rules" and push forward. Everyone walks all over the roads, what sidewalks do exist seem to actually interfere with the course you are on and I have quickly learned to forge ahead and pray that the cars that are weaving so madly across the white lines on the road don't make contact with my fragile body. The same rules apply to the subway...there is no such thing as waiting for the passengers to exit the car, the minute the doors open it is every man for himself!
Today I took the subway (a total of 20 cents) and went to the Egyptian Museum. They say that there are over one hundred thousand artifacts on display (with thousands more pending) and that if you spent one minute looking at each piece it would take you nine months to complete your time! I spent nearly 5 1/2 hours and still saw so little. It was incredibly overwhelming and after a while, you became numb to the fact that someone spent days and hours working on just one piece nearly five thousand years ago. Certainly one of the highlights of the museum is the "King Tut" room...unlike the Toronto exhibit of twenty years ago, you could literally walk up to the glass and look in and under the mask itself and marvel at its artistry. For me, the most memorable part of the day was going into the "Royal Mummy Chamber" where eleven incredibly well-preserved mummies lay, pharoahs, wives of pharoahs (even a mummified Nile crocodile!) staring up in their glass cases at the curious groups of people, their arms folded in centre seemingly reaching up and crying out for silence. It was very eerie, ghoulish and frightening. I cannot imagine being a guard in charge of this area late at night...never mind these silly "cut-em-up" horror movies of today!!!
Tomorrow I will venture into the Christian area of the city and I know that en route I will pass the beggar woman, the lovely smell of mint tea and the rows upon rows of flatbreads sitting out in the sun, fresh from their ovens and see what new adventures await me in this fascinating city. I am doubly excited because on Friday I will have the opportunity to go the Pyramids once I meet up with my tour group and fulfill a childhood dream...that I will write more about as the days unfold.
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anonymous
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Good to hear you arrived safely and are enjoying the city. Take care, Lauren