Out and about in Egypt ….. planes, trains and automobiles! Planes brought us here but we have been enjoying a range of transport whilst in Egypt. Road travel seems straightforward enough but in addition to private cars and drivers, the domain of the agencies and rich individuals, most travel around Cairo for us is by foot or by taxi. These are largely small and black and white – well used Fiats and Peugeots mainly but a wide range of types. The drivers are all skilled but impatient and often need some slowing down – we’ve learnt the word for “slower”. I’ve also a command of “go left”, “go right”, “go straight ahead” and “here” – all of which are handy if you have some idea where you are going. The drivers generally have little or no English so you need to be able to converse on their terms a little.

The trick is to wave down a cab, if needed, (mostly you are waving offers away). The procedure is then to announce through the window where you want to go – preferably the suburb and some landmark. If the traffic is very bad in that direction the driver may just drive on or, thinking you a tourist, is likely to take the fare expecting much more than the locals pay. You pay by how far and how long the trip (the meters don’t work). I know the Egyptian rates but am happy to pay around twice that for the privilege of being a foreigner. Ten Egyptian pounds is certainly enough for anywhere around inner Cairo and longer trips might warrant 15 or 20 – the range is therefore $2.50 to $5 Australian – still pretty cheap.

The other curious thing is that you might have hired the cab and be travelling along when at some hold-up someone else will jump in with you and all of a sudden you are share riding.

The taxis at Alexandria, black and yellow, were generally newer and neater than the Cairo taxis, but the process was much the same.

Incidentally, taxis caught from outside hotels are generally dearer so I find it best to check them out before departure to avoid an argument. Drivers will often try to extract a very high fare from the unwitting tourist so it is not unusual to have to be firm with them.

A cheaper form of transport for the locals – not yet tried by me – are the buses and minibuses. Each is incredibly crowded and the larger buses may not fully stop but the locals just jump on anyway. The springs are generally truly “shot” and the buses lean at awkward angles. No real stops, you may imagine that you are standing waiting to cross the road with a bunch of people only to find that a bus pulls up and some hop on while others wait for some other, unidentifiable vehicle

The other means of transport we have used is the Cairo metro, or underground. Not all that extensive in coverage, it is very efficient and mostly modern. Electric trains run every 8 or 10 minutes max. and although sometimes crowded, they are easy to use. The first two carriages are for women only so that makes it less crowded for the girls. The fare, anywhere in the net work, is one pound per trip – less than 25c.

The Alex tram system, which we caught but once, is less efficient, fast and comfortable, but can carry you a long way for 25 piastres. A 25 piastre note is one quarter of a pound and an Australian dollar buys around 4.5 pounds, so a tram trip costs around 8 cents – not bad for public transport.

But just when you think you are mastering public transport, a sobering event. Last Wednesday night we planned to take in the 6.00pm “light and sound show” at the pyramids and to dodge the traffic, we caught the metro to Giza station and caught a cab for “Giza pyramid and sphinx” to make a shorter taxi ride. Seemed straight forward enough although the route was unfamiliar. Unfamiliar until I noticed the Giza zoo, just around the corner from home. We were being taken it seems to the Pyramisa Hotel, not far from the Sheraton near us – we had boomeranged. The driver would not stop or be redirected and even my attempts to draw the pyramids and sphinx (not a bad effort on the run if I do say so myself) led to no more than a knowing and inscrutable smile. We missed the light show and the driver missed a large fare getting only the local rate for such a journey (home).

Last week should be marked down as the “week of the resort”. I had three nights away from Cairo, in two different “resort” areas. One of those twisted ironies, given that Cathy had travelled half way around the world to be here …… still!!

First, I went without her to Ain El Soukhna for a two day workshop. This is a newly developed area with large numbers of villas in gated communities and, at least one, luxury hotel and conference centre. It also has developed a petro-chemical industry in concert – so one drives to the conference centre past refineries. Our hotel included a huge pool, maybe 70 metres long, adjacent to the Red Sea (an even bigger pool). I took a walk to dip my hand in the Red Sea during lunch. Not the peak season for beaches of course, but the water was clear, if cool and the seas calm. With typical Egyptian style, the lawns were immaculate and the sand on the beach scrapped perfectly flat, giving the beach a somewhat manicured appearance.

We travelled from Cairo in a mini bus and returned in a coach – the latter broke down twice on the way home – some form of fan belt broke – so we were delayed for an hour or so and then were caught in the end of week (Thursday night) traffic. Ain El Soukhna is about 90 minutes drive east of Cairo along an excellent toll road through the desert.

Early on Friday morning the three of us left for our private trip to Alexandria by express train. Cathy & Co. had done a great job in my absence and purchased the tickets for the 9:00am express train so we travelled by the underground to Mubarak Station. All went smoothly until we arrived in Alex and disembarked. We battled through a bevy of taxi drivers with their yellow and black charges (Cairo cabs are black and white), fending them off because we had “the map” (Cathy had bought the tourist guide) and the sea was not far off. We reached the sea and turned left heading for the hotels. Eventually it became apparent that we were on the wrong part of the sea front and our short walk took over hour and a half and covered nearly ten kilometres. It seems that the express train stops once in Cairo but twice in Alex and the popular stop is the first one – everyone else alighted so we assumed we were there.

By then, in the actual harbour area, we were ready to take any hotel that we saw but chose the Cecil, a Sofitel hotel. I am sure we paid way too much but we did get the best room in the house and were pleased with a weekend of luxury.

Our room had both a number and a name (the only one with a name on the third floor) – so that must have made some sort of statement. We had a corner room with one set of French doors overlooking a gardened square and the other with an uninterrupted view of the harbour. With such views of the Mediterranean, we thought we had gone to heaven. Particularly lovely was the sandcastle magic of the ancient fort that sits where the even more ancient lighthouse used to stand on Pharos Island, still containing some of the lighthouse stones, and topped (in good sandcastle style), with the delightfully flowing Egyptian flag.

So we had a touristy time at the fort, the foreshore, and the town. We went to the Roman ruins – the Odeum – an ancient amphitheatre, Pompey’s Pillar – a huge and major attraction of Alexandria for centuries that I had forgotten about, the Montaza Palace – now a retreat for the President but surrounded by extensive public gardens, hotels and harbours, and the Bibliotheque. This is the new library. The ancient library of Alexandria was famous for its world-record-breaking store of ancient knowledge. The Egyptians have done a wonderful job of creating a more modern marvel, architecturally imaginative, massive, impressive and beautifully finished. The new Bibliotheque Alexandria is an entirely modern structure, ideally situated next to the university.

The library includes antiquities museums, art galleries, a science museum and a planetarium. We timed the planetarium badly but certainly indulged in all the other delights.

A very full day, a late train (left from the station we were meant to go to originally) and a cold trip back to the hotel saw all three of us elated but exhausted.

My two ladies have had a very busy time of it so far – venturing to new places every day and mastering Cairo’s peculiarities very well. They are having a ball together, and promise me that they have only just begun.

We have also been galloping gourmets, testing every restaurant that I have heard about since I arrived and enjoying them all. The food here is delicious and generally very healthy, leaving us feeling good about eating and probably losing weight at the same time.

Egypt is famous for many things but perhaps not for its wines. Some of the red wine is drinkable enough, but the whites are best left to age, for many, many years – perhaps another 50 or more. On the other hand the beers are really very good to drink and there is no need to seek out foreign beers when Saqqara Gold and Stellar beers are available.

The girls have discovered a shortage of shops that sell makeup suitable for their pale complexions. We did discover that there is one called La Beauté in the neighbouring suburb of Mohandeesen but our first expedition led to an hour walk and no Beauté. Just goes to show that beauty can be just as elusive here as in Australia but we will not retreat from our quest and will try again

So, my sojourn here is now half through – so suddenly in many ways. The silly season approaches as in Brisbane, although it is mostly the Muslim Eid commencing on 30 December and the Coptic Christian Christmas on 7 January. This might yet have its complications for us, certainly for me in terms of work as my contacts are likely to be holidaying for a while.
I trust that your Christmas will be cool – the weather here is quite cold at times now, but we cannot hope for a white Christmas.

It’s just not fair to have a place’s reputation affected by how the observer feels at the time of the “observing”. And so, I should not let my personal (positive) feelings reflect positively on Cairo – but last Saturday was the finest day that I have had here in five weeks. Beautiful blue skies, pretty much clear of haze, perfect temperature, neither hot nor cold, and Cairo just seemed (for Cairo) “peaceful”. Was this only because my world was looking bright in many other ways?

Cathy joined me in Cairo on Saturday and that is just fan-@@@@-tastic! She safely made the long and exhausting journey and is now installed here for a while. Our good friend came with her and she will be with us for a while also – so a double treat. Also, a number of work colleagues have arrived or are about to arrive from Rome, so things are really “bopping” now.

As is the wont of our unpredictable lives, all my plans to meet the two girls from Brisbane at the airport came unravelled at the last moment when I received an invitation to a weekend work meeting that I couldn’t refuse and that coincided with the time Cathy was touching down in Cairo. So I sent a car out from the hotel. They were great and have given us very good treatment.

The other reason that I am “cock-a-hoop” is that the meeting was crucial to my time here and went far better than anticipated. In fact it was all but perfect. This means that the remaining time I have here will be much more productive and I can really see us getting somewhere.

But I still think that the air was clear and the sky was blue by anyone’s measure.

I dined out a bit last week and enjoyed some new experiences. We also visited Khan el-Kahlili bazaar, a popular haunt for the tourists. The bazaar is tourist-centric but still fascinating with a huge network of shops spread out over a large area but with extremely narrow alleyways. There are loads of shishas, scarves, jewellery (variable in quality and cost but including solid gold), brassware, perfumes and ornate perfume bottles, galabyas, and antiques. The most delightful of these are the spice shops with their fragrant aromas and bright colours. The bazaar also includes what I am told is the oldest, continuously operating coffee shop in the world – El Fishawy – variously reputed to be between 300 and 600 years old with continuous service as a coffee shop. How about that! It is a Mecca for tourists who want to boast of a Turkish coffee at El Fishawy’s.

The bazaars or souks are institutions of “haggling”. The process usually goes something like this – “I give you a good price – come in and have a look” or “Where you from?” for every possible answer the inquirer has a cousin who lives there - most commonly for us, Melbourne or Sydney. John Howard might be keen to see Australians taught history, but the geography of the touts in the souks is pretty good. They do get a bit stumped with answers like “Bulgaria” or the “Falkland Islands”. The slightest hesitation to look at something for sale marks you as a “mark”. A machine gun of sales pitches follows until you ask “How much for this?”. Expect to hear an amount that is about three times what you would need to pay. Idle inquiries when you have no intention of buying usually expose something like the true price as you walk away. A series of discount price offers will follow you. But it is a bit hard to pursue the haggling too much because, at any of the prices, most items are cheap.

On the night we went to the souk the shopkeepers seemed in holiday mode with very little banter coming from them and what there was often was just playfulness. Did I previously mention in my blogs that the Egyptians generally have good senses of humour and enjoy a laugh with you? So some of the statements were “Come in here and give me all your money” or “Come, take a look everything is free today”.

Nearby are the more orthodox markets where the day to day necessities are actually bought. The butcher shops with the carcases halved or quartered and hanging on hooks outside. The poulterer who will sell you a chook that you can have a conversation with before you depart and it departs – killed and prepared to your instructions. Tailors, tinkers, interspersed with mobile phone shops to bring one back into the 21st century with a thud.

And always there are young men rushing earnestly with a tray carrying two or three glasses of tea or pots of Turkish coffee. I never see where they come from or end up. They are surely not doing it for exercise but clearly there is some form of cafeteria delivery service near every street corner. Incidentally, the offices here (my office certainly) have cafeterias on site where a range of food s and beverages are provided. A quick phone call with have it delivered to your desk and a bill appears once a week. Better service than most Brisbane office blocks, what!

A long walk along the Corniche on Saturday night to show the newcomers Cairo by night (before they collapsed with jetlag), a day’s outing for them to the oldest of the pyramids, and dinner with a group of 8 on the “Blue Nile” a floating restaurant (or series of restaurants) completed the week.

So, will my bride’s presence distract me from blogging to you? Hopefully not. Maybe I can convince her to contribute her experiences to the Douglas Report.

The streets of Cairo are a very different world to the world that most of us antipodeans are used to. There can be no doubt that here I am somewhere that is delightfully exotic.

So far, in this blog, I guess I have been somewhat “retentive” about the traffic here. But putting the motor vehicles aside for a moment, what is unique to Cairo?

It depends on where you are. I took a long walk on last Friday night (remember that is equivalent to our Saturday night). I walked to the bridge near the Sheraton, across to the island, Zamalek (Zam-mar-leck), past the Opera House and across the second bridge over the Nile to what is referred to as “downtown”. Probably the most notable feature here, apart from some very flash hotels (Nile and Ramses Hiltons, and the Intercontinental), is the imposing presence of the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. A massive pinkish domed structure, it houses the mummies and treasures of the Pharaohs (including Tut Ankh Aman’s trove) that have not been previously plundered from Egypt. It is a work of art in itself that oozes some sort of “Indiana Jones”-like charm. It has a delightful garden at its entrance but a much wider space in front of it is now a vacant construction site. I am told the non-air-conditioned space is hot and not the best for tourists or treasures and a new museum is under way – but it would be sad to see this old institution not being “the” museum.

The downtown area has the feel of being designed to be a London or Paris. It contains a number of road junctions that see six or seven roads coming together, with “pie-slice” buildings fronting these roundabouts, some centred with fez-ed, bronzed “pigeon stands” of clearly famous Egyptians of yesteryear that mean nothing to me. I certainly had the feeling that I was in the central part of a European city.

Downtown is a major shopping centre – some mall-like spaces within buildings but mostly, for Cairo, wide footpaths and shops with windows and entrances that are more familiar to us. These tend to be specialist shops that congregate in areas. So there will be store after store of ladies shoes, then children’s clothing, then menswear. I am assured that the choice of menswear is better than ladies clothes here – and there will be a number of reasons for that. I (again) became a little disoriented in the walk in and took a wrong turn that saw me in the “automotive repairs and parts” area. This had plenty of small shops with various parts, some aligned to just one or two brand names – Fiat, Peugeot etc.

Add to the normal shops, a bevy of temporary stands and of goods laid out on the footpaths and side streets and you have something, a little like our weekend markets, but more essentially Cairo. These small vendors will generally be “themed” also. So you will see laid out an amazing array of headscarves, for instance. Further on, a similarly wide display of bed linen. This is more like the souks or bazaars we have come to expect. I am not sure if these vendors are licensed or if they just set up but they seem a very acceptable part of the fabric of life here.

What do the people look like? Well, they certainly look Egyptian but most of the men are in western-style dress. A smaller proportion will wear the traditional long, loose garment (galabiya – no doubt the wrong spelling), usually along with a scarf tied around the head and/or draped over the shoulders. The fez is no longer in fashion – it is more something that will be worn by a hotel waiter or by a doorman outside a large hotel.

The situation with the women is probably reversed with western dress as we know it relatively rare. In keeping with the notion of modesty, teenage girls and older will wear long dresses and long-sleeved tops covering all but their hands. The vast majority will also wear scarves that cover all of their hair – the hijab. A few, wear the black garments more common in the Arabian Peninsula countries with a veil covering the face except for the eyes, and some also wear black gloves.

So, I presume the ladies clothing shops are obviously restricted in demand for a range of clothing types. The younger women will wear jeans and more trendy clothes so I guess there must be outlets for them.

Again, given the local standards for modest behaviour, there is little affection shown in public between men and women. Young couples walk hand in hand along the Corniche on a Friday night and some will slip an arm on a shoulder or waist but this is regarded as “poor form”. My English-language paper has run a series of articles and letters to the editor about the decline of moral standards. Yet there has been a lengthy and heated debate here about veils on women.

In contrast, for both women and men, rather more affection is shown between same sex friends who will commonly walk along arm in arm or hand in hand. I have not noticed particular greetings between women but men have a range of greetings dependent upon the closeness of the association. Formal meetings between strangers (such as I have) involve a standard “how do you do” and a handshake, much like that in Australia – except the style here is much gentler than in Australia and I have to remind myself not to squeeze “as is my wont”.

You can tell when friends meet because that handshake starts some distance away with the hands coming together from the side with a slap and then a shake. And really good friends, old friends, will greet with kisses. Something like the continental kiss but these tend to be much more audible. Such behaviour is not seen in Australia expect within certain sub-cultures, so it is clearly a difference.

I have mentioned the sweet potato roasters previously but there are also other vendors operating from barrows and stalls. There are sweet corn cookers. There are bread sellers with their puffy loaves on wooden frames, and sellers of what looks rather like a bagel – a ring with a bar across it, all hung out on a frame with wooden “dowels”.

And, of course there is the Nile and the work and entertainment that go on there. The fishers trolling lines behind their small boats as their wives row earnestly; the net fishermen; and the rod fisherman from the banks. And there are all sorts of cruise boats from the very large and permanently parked on the banks to smaller cruise boats with their bright coloured lights and music blaring out. Old-style horse-drawn taxis taut for work beside the Corniche and it is not just tourists who make use of them.

The scene is delightful as the sun sinks over Giza and the lights begin to stand out in the twilight, reflecting from the blackness of the Nile. Add to that the evening call to prayer and you have the quintessential Cairo.

In a week I will be joined by my darling wife and I will be showing her, in person, some of what I have seen on the streets of Cairo.