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Published: March 3rd 2011
Muhammad Ali Mosque
Cairo's most visible, and arguably most famous landmark.Back in Luxor, we had arrived back at the hotel after the longest day of sightseeing ever.
But we had no rooms! I desperately needed a nap, but there was nowhere to have it!
This was because we were all travelling overnight to Cairo that evening.
Most people were going by coach - ouch. Luckily our friend Noelin who had done this tour before, recommended us to upgrade to sleeper cabins on an overnight train instead, which we did. We would be getting dinner, breakfast and a proper bed to sleep on. But we were still five hours away from catching our train...
So the males of the group passed the last rays of daylight by having a very tiring game of water polo. The temperature drops like a stone once the sun starts to set so we didn't spend too long lying by the pool afterwards.
It was easy to forget that it was Christmas Day and that dinner that night would be Christmas dinner. While last year's Christmas dinner was
Gkee's roast chicken in Hveragerdi, Iceland - this year's Christmas dinner was KFC in Luxor, Egypt.
And it was really cheap too - a combo was only £3-£4.
One thing that Travel Talk
Khan el-Khalili Bazaar
Cairo's most famous market. did for us was to rent out a couple of rooms at the hotel that we could use as shower rooms. As the overnight coach left a couple of hours before our train, we basically had the room to ourselves for a couple of hours - perfect. The bathroom in the room was awesome as well - there were speakers in the ceiling that were connected to the TV audio!
Killing time, we decked ourselves out in the hotel bathrobes (I love hotel bathrobes) while watching a B-grade Dolph Lundgren flick - and it
really was B-grade.
As Sam had gone with the people in the coach to Cairo, we were taken to Luxor Train Station by his sidekick in Luxor, Aladdin. If only he had a magic carpet.
Joining Davies, Sags and I on the overnight train was Lily, a Chinese woman on our tour. Playing cards as we waited thirty minutes for the train to arrive, we introduced to Lily to "Scum", which she picked up very quickly.
"I've always been good at card games" she tells us.
We finally board our train and wave goodbye to Aladdin and Luxor. Sags and I are sharing a room,
Interior Of The Hanging Church
Members of our tour group listen to our tour guide Mega explaining the history of the church. and we find out that there is a door joining our room to the room next door. Davies kindly asks if he could swap with an Indian family who are in the next room and they kindly oblige. However when they ask us if we could swap our two rooms with more of the Indian family's posse in another carriage, we have to tell them that it is too much to ask.
We invite Lily to play some cards with us until they serve us dinner - and she is really getting into it.
Dinner finally arrives - I am always grateful for food and will always eat what is given to me but the chicken and rice served was extremely dry. We then continued to play cards until our very friendly coachmaster came and unscrewed our beds from the wall and provide us with blankets and pillows. We all wished he had come earlier - we were absolutely shattered after a long Christmas Day that started at 4.30am that morning.
The bed was comfy and I was so grateful I had this, rather than a seat on a coach. But for some reason, the heating wasn't working and
Mosque Courtyard
Alabaster courtyard of the Muhammad Ali Mosque. it was
freezing. I had to put on my socks, jeans and jacket before huddling back under my blanket.
Also annoying was how the nearest toilet was in the next carriage. It meant a cold, windy, Indiana Jones style jump across to the next carriage to relieve yourself.
The ride was rough, but I slept well enough. I just wished it was a longer sleep. And warmer.
Riding through Giza in the van from the train station to our hotel, the there were three noticeable things.
Chaos. There are carts and donkeys even here, in the outskirts of the country's capital, and there seemed to be a lack of, or blatant disregard, of traffic laws. I would hate to drive here.
Trash. Truckloads of uncollected rubbish and litter built up along the streets.
And the final thing that showed just how bad the pollution is here, was a dirty haze across the Cairo skyline. Constant, heavy and dark, accentuated by the morning mist.
Our hotel was a resort - "houses" were spread out over a vast outdoor complex, like a small town, with each building housing 10-15 rooms. A large pool sat in the middle, straddled by palm-lined
Citadel Of Saladin
The medieval walls of the old citadel. brick paths.
Not quite matching the relative splendour outside, was our rooms. An old, dirty room with a crusty bath and shower and a toilet that didn't flush. This thing was probably built twenty years ago. Definitely not as nice the hotel in Luxor.
It was meant to be "five-star" - I guess they have different definitions of "five-star" over here in Egypt.
We had more people fly in to join the tour from London today, which swelled our numbers enough for the group to split in two.
Sam was guiding the other group today, so our guide for the day was Mega. Yep, that's his name!
With the sun bursting through the Cairo haze to create a comfortably warm day, the first stop on our tour of the city was the Citadel of Saladin.
Built between 1176 and 1184, the citadel's initial purpose was to protect the city from the invading Crusaders. Today, it houses a couple of museums and the Mohammed Ali Mosque, which we visited behind the formidable citadel walls.
The mosque itself was a much later addition to the citadel, built between 1828 and 1848 by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the ruler of Egypt at the
time.
The most visible and arguably the most famous mosque in Cairo has a lovely alabaster courtyard. Although the courtyard is outside, you must remove your shoes before entering.
The interior of the mosque looks pretty cool with a huge cupola (dome interior) and a massive chandelier. The green and gold
minbar is impressive as well. Having seen so many churches in Europe, it was nice seeing a mosque for a change.
We then enjoyed some views over Cairo (haze included) as we took photos looking across the city in the warm sun.
There was a noticeable "tourist police" presence at the citadel, including many armed guards.
This was probably a result of the April 2005 terrorist attacks on Cairo's famous sights in which three tourists were killed.
There was also the noticeable presence of many flies - perhaps not surprising given the city's litter levels.
Our next sight of call was The Hanging Church. Dating back to the 3rd century AD, Cairo's most famous Coptic Christian church acquired it's moniker due to the fact that it is built above a gatehouse, with the interior suspended over a passage in the Roman fortress upon which it is built. The
Tile Fresco
In the exterior courtyard of the hanging church. church's courtyard and wooden interior is lovely. There is even a glass window in the floor inside the church which allows you to look into the depth of the passage below, making you realise just how high the church is suspended above the ground.
After an Egyptian buffet lunch, it is time to walk straight into hawkers and hasslers to test our haggling skills in the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar - Cairo's most famous market.
Mega's knowledge of the citadel, the mosque and the church was very good and informative, but his most tangible value to us was his knowledge of proper prices in the market. Arabian-style headscarves should cost around 15-20EGP, leather wallets around 80EGP (too late for Sags who spent about 180EGP for a wallet in Luxor) and papyrus should be avoided as none of it is real. Armed with this knowledge, we now had a compass to stop us getting ripped off in the bargaining process.
Dropping us off outside the Al-Hussein Mosque, we were left to our own devices for about one hour.
The only items that I wanted to buy were a headscarf and possibly a new wallet, but you could buy just about anything
Al-Hussein Mosque
Right next to the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar. here - headscarves,
jellabiyas, spices, barbecqued corn (complete with flies), handbags, carpets, trinkets and even fireworks. We were tempted by the fireworks - there were some
huge ones available, bigger than anything ever seen in New Zealand, even before the ban of skyrockets, but we would then have to smuggle them in and out of Jordan if we wanted to light them up on New Year's Eve, so we decided against getting some.
With so many people and tourists walking through the markets, there was almost no need for the hawkers to relentlessly pursue you to buy their wares. There was always someone else behind you who might buy something, if you don't. It was still difficult though - every hawker would try to talk to you as you walked through and it felt as if you couldn't even look at anything that was displayed without getting hassled. When my gaze fixated upon some headscarves however, a young, well-spoken, Gucci-commercial-long-haired man started speaking to me. He showed myself and Sags how to tie the scarf on as well as asking the usual "where are you from" yada-yada. To be honest, all the headscarves everywhere pretty much looked the same so
Hawkers & Hagglers
Walking through a street near the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar I thought I might as well get this over with quickly and get one.
His opening pitch was absurd - 80EGP each! Just as well Mega had given us ballpark prices beforehand.
I like to think I drive a hard bargain and I was determined to pay around 20EGP. He slowly started coming down - 70 EGP, then 50EGP, then 40EGP - eventually getting down to 25EGP, including the black band that keeps the scarf in place. He played the usual guilt-trip card about how the current price was below cost and that he had to make some money to live off. I was still prepared to walk away unless he gave it to us for 20EGP before Sags reminded me that I was haggling over 40p. It's not the price, it's the principle! I couldn't be arsed anymore, so we agreed 25EGP - although I was a bit miffed to discover that Rene, one of the guys in our party, had got his for 15EGP, band included.
Headscarves bought, we continued walking through the market, but to be honest I didn't really have the energy to bargain anymore, so I decided against buying a wallet. I didn't really like
European Cairo
European buildings inspired by the French while they were here. any of the designs on offer in any case.
We did have to find energy to get back to the bus however. The backstreets behind the market weren't exactly set up in a grid system like we had assumed and we ended up getting a little lost. With the heat coming off the ground and the afternoon call to prayer ringing in our ears, we were experiencing our very own slice of Cairo chaos. We were also catching a glimpse of how the entrepreneurial poor lived. It didn't look great. Young local men would snigger at us as we looked obviously lost. I did feel a little vulnerable, although I never felt threatened.
We eventually manage to get back into familiar territory and we eventually find Mega chilling with some shisha at a cafe. We chilled out for a few minutes before heading back to the bus.
From a grungy part of Cairo we then crawled through the traffic-laden streets to a nicer part of downtown Cairo, among the pretty but stately European-style buildings. Passing through Tahrir Square, we end up at the Egyptian Museum.
Just like the Valley Of The Kings, no photos are allowed inside, so Sags
Egyptian Museum
The only picture I could take here. made sure not to take his iPhone out at any point this time.
The museum was very interesting and showcased art from throughout all the different Egyptian periods of history. Our two groups had combined by this stage, so Sam was back at the helm, sharing with us his excellent knowledge of Egyptian history and the items inside the museums. The museum was busy, so we all had walkie-talkies so that we could all hear Sam. You could also speak into them, broadcasting yourself to the whole group - so of course we made some funny prank statements into the walkie-talkies. It was also useful in keeping the group together whenever any members of our groups went astray.
What astonished me the most about the artwork in the museum, was how detailed many of the sculptures were considering how old some of the pieces were (dating back thousands of years) and the tools that would've been available to carve out these statues and sculptures at the time.
The displays that were of most interest were the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb. There was so much of it, and his mummy, coffin and sarcophagi was entombed in one valuable box after the
Doors
Outside the Muhammad Ali Mosque. other, almost exactly like a Russian doll. Then in a special room is Tutankhamun's famous golden coffin and pharaoh mask. Kids were getting away with taking photos. So unfair. Sags would've been thrown out for doing that.
The highlight of the museum however, had to be the mummies removed from the Valley Of The Kings that we were just at the previous day. For an extra 100EGP, you get to see the actual mummified remains of the kings of Ancient Egypt.
The room has to be kept at a controlled temperature so not to damaged any of the mummies but the level of preservation of these mummies was astonishing. These things are over three thousand years old remember, but hair and skin has still not decomposed after all this time. I wish I had photos to show you. One in particular was scary, as he had been killed in battle and had his skull cracked open. But it was amazing nonetheless to be in the same room as the former kings of Egypt - eerie, but amazing. Definitely worth paying the extra money.
On the way back to the hotel, we crossed the Nile again and drove past all
Cairo Skyline
A view across the city from atop the Citadel of Saladin. the nice hotels. If only, we thought. Hilariously, the Sheraton had lights for the "e" and the "r" out of action so you were in fact staying at the "Shat On" if you happened to be staying there at the time.
But it was to the Cataract Pyramids "Resort" for us and a last chance to catch up with crew who were only doing the 9-day Egypt tour rather than the 15-day Egypt & Jordan tour like we were. So it was goodbye to the mostly South African crew who were on our felucca.
It was also finally time for the Secret Santa ceremony we thought we were meant to have in Luxor. Not that we had any gifts to give, having left them at the Irish pub in Luxor...only to discover that Sam had actually picked them up at the end of that night and brought them with him! Gold! My camel-humping t-shirt eventually ended up with John, the Scot from our felucca, and he was rapt. Good to know that my gift went to someone who really appreciated it!
It was also time to say goodbye to Sam - he only covered the Cairo-Aswan-Luxor part of the tour
and we would now be in the hands of someone else for the rest of our tour. Coordinating so many different groups of people - making sure people are picked up on time, that everyone is accounted for, that people know what they are doing - is a difficult job at the best of times, especially in Egypt, but add to that the fact that people were stranded in London and were coming in drips and drabs at different stages of the tour, it would have been a nightmare. I thought that in fairly trying circumstances, he coped admirably and competently - and all done with a sense of humour too.
It is customary to tip in Egypt, so we all chipped in for a sizeable but deserved tip for our tour leader.
Unsurprisingly tired after yet another hectic day of sightseeing and museums, we had a fairly relaxing dinner at the poolside cafe/restaurant with members of our crew, who we were slowly starting to acquaint ourselves with.
Among the people sat at our table was Hannah, an outspoken (in a good way) Tasmanian; Rene, as mentioned earlier; and his colleague Jo, who incidentally I have met before -
The Crew
Enjoying shisha with our tour group. she is a friend of one of my colleagues. It took me a while to remember where I had met her - sorry Jo!
After dinner we hung out on the outdoor couches and cushions by the pool, enjoying some shisha. Incidentally, this was the first time that I had ever done shisha - which I must say I enjoyed. Smoking, but in a tasty way (although I have heard that shisha is in fact four times worse for you than cigarettes).
So an early night in preparation for yet another early start the next day - this time at 6am for our coach trip out to Dahab.
I am so over these early starts. I'm in desperate need of a sleep-in to catch up on the
no-sleep coming over from London, the very short sleep in Aswan, the very bad sleep on the felucca, the very early rise for hot-air ballooning on Christmas Day, and the very cold and rough sleep aboard the overnight train. I'm not sure I can keep this up much longer before collapsing.
But it is about to get worse, much worse...
Some final thoughts before moving on;
I had previously thought that I experienced the worst
Entrance To Hanging Church
Entrance to the most famous Coptic Church in Egypt. service ever in Greece - however I think that we have a new winner (or loser depending on how you look at it).
The majority of Egyptian service workers that I have encountered so far (with the exception of some obviously, like Sam) generally don't care about the service they provide or the satisfaction of their customers, unless there is extra money in it for them. They have also proved themselves to be rather dishonest and corrupt.
An example was the debacle of the 2-for-1 happy hour we had at the hotel that night. We were late coming back from the Egyptian museum (sadly, I am suspecting that this could've been deliberate and premeditated), so we only arrived at the hotel bar ten minutes before happy hour finished. We are talking half of the tour group here.
In the mad rush for last minute orders, there is only one man at the bar and he says that they have run out of beer. How convenient. Then after declaring happy hour was finished, they have magically restocked their coolers and are selling beers at full price again. I'm sorry but that is so blatant, that it just doesn't wash. We were
Hanging Church
Entrance to the actual church from the exterior courtyard. all obviously angry at such dishonest behaviour that Sam had to step in to negotiate with the hotel staff and calm us down. Eventually, those who could still be bothered got some beers half-price.
And then, John had passed over a 100EGP note over to the barman - quite clearly I might add - and was then shortchanged by 50EGP, not realising this until a few moments later. Going back to the bar and the barman, the barman refused to accept that he shortchanged John and refused to give him his correct change. Sam then talked to bar manager, who then backed his barman, saying he saw the transaction. But he was nowhere near the bar because he was too busy getting more stocks of beer. John eventually gave up on what was essentially only £5, but it was just an example of the widespread and despicable dishonesty that exists in Egypt.
Other examples include the fact that the toilet in our hotel room was never fixed - without explanation and despite them promising us it would be fixed - and the painstakingly slow service at the hotel restaurant. We must've waited over an hour for our meals - and
Inner Courtyard
At the Hanging Church. that was after the wait staff finally bothered to come and take our orders.
Not impressed.
And on that rather sour note, this is the end of part three - see you soon in part four.
Derek out.
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