Cairo

After getting into the airport in Cairo, we had a reenactment of the Morocco welcoming. Before you even get close to leaving the airport you get swarmed by every other bloke in the city that has a car offering to drive you where you want to go, sell you a hotel room for the night and sell you carpets. I'm not sure about the last one- the lack of sleep was showing its head and my hearing was on its way out. After some good old fashioned 4am haggling over prices, we got a taxi to drive us "Yes I know" we learned means just get in my cab and I'll get you lost. After stopping for directions 3 or 4 times later we were close to our hotel.

The first intro to Egypt seems pretty similar to Morocco- infrastructure is old and ageing, not maintained and its a free-for-all take to everything from tourists to city traffic. We also got introduced to another Egyptian tradition: The unfinished building. Basically building tax is charged on completion of a structure, so people have found they can save 10 odd percent of construction costs by leaving a building incomplete. In the case of the Cairo airport built in 1950, that means 50 years with no car park. I was wondering why there was so many tow trucks at the front of the airport until we were led to our "taxi" aka some bloke's car- parked on the soft sand that is has been the car park the past half century. This incomplete building thing sounded like a pretty smart cost saver to me, until we got into the city where I reckon 80% of the buildings are unfinished and some are 40+ years old. No huge surprise about a 14 storey apartment block collapsing a few months back- With all the rusting Reo bar poking out of unfinished load bearing pillars on roof tops, apparently no one has heard of concrete cancer.

We rode down a 8 lane highway to our hotel in Cairo Mohanessin that had 3 lanes marked on it- I was wondering why for about 20 seconds. Same as Morocco, lane markings are only there for decorations. As our taxi snaked left and right, we had a good sleep-deprived hysterical laugh- especially when he swerved across 2 lanes to try and knock out some pedestrians with his wing mirrors, then again for 2 blokes changing a blown tyre on the side of the road. I still haven't figured out which is more offensive yet- the horn or the high beams, but we seemed to dish out equal measures of each. Driving here seems to be a hand on the horn, the other on the dip switch. Buses are the exception- they don't honk or anything because they just nail you and you learn to run from them. I'm just glad I saw that old bloke cop it and not me- the bus didn't stop or anything!

When we got to the hotel, it turns out they didnt get our numerous emails or anything like that. We did manage to get a room at 4am though and I've never been so happy- I think I was at 50 hours with no sleep. At the hotel, The bloke at reception pointed out I tried to pay him a 50 Piaster note for the room (that's Egyptian cents) and it took me way to long to understand what he was on about. Turns out I got rolled when buying our visas at the airport change office in my daze and got given a bunch of cents notes instead of Egyptian pounds. doh. I stood there like a stunned mullet when he gave me a one pound coin and bunch of 50 piaster notes as change- turns out he just wanted to see me struggling to piece together puzzles when I was barely able to stand up. Nice guy.

After our 12 hour sleep we stumbled out the door for a hike through town, got lost, almost got ran over, saw some city sights like the 6th of October bridge and the 22nd of June Street, stole a map of Cairo from a coffee shop and checked out some random shops like the 80's lighting store, the marble shop in the slums and a shop that sold pirated audio cassettes. Top stuff. That night, at the end of our tour group meeting back at the hotel, the lights in our restaurant blacked out and next thing I know theres a birthday cake getting wheeled in! Cheers to Waleed our guide- that was unexpected! Lyn also shouted us dinner after at a nearby steakhouse after and we had a meal with an Irish couple Kevin and Michelle in our tour group which was awesome.

Pyramids and tombs today- I heard from our Perth travel agent "Once you've seen one, you've seen them all" I'm not sure what he would recommend for the next 14 days then, but these things are awesome. Giza is 15 minutes out of Cairo, or a 50 minute laugh by bus if theres traffic. We almost pincered 2 pedestrians between other cars, almost hit a fair few motorbikes, and I lost count how many times someone said "WOAH! They almost crashed". When we got to the pyramids it was pretty cool. More of the same clowns that walk around in a dress, carrying a stick then demand cash for being in your photograph. I think I have my ideal retirement job sorted.

The pyramids themselves are huge- they dominate the skyline and tower over the barren desert they are in. It reminded me of lancelin and just made me miss my landcruiser! We went down into the tomb of Khafre Pyramid- weird. The tunnel in is about waist height, on about a 30 degree descent, and theres no vent fans or anything helping there. As you go down the tunnel you can feel yourself gasping for breath as it heats up and the oxygen thins from all the other tourists huffing away in there. About 100m into the tunnel after a steep drop and steep uphill we hit the central chamber and sarcophagus which although bare was still impressive to know you were under 2.5 million limestone stones and 147m of scientifically dumped rock! After that we scammed entry to the sun boat museum and headed the sphinx at the bottom of the hill to do the touristy thing with the walk like an egyptian photos- well we did after Lynda had to tell a bloke "Em'Shee" or "@$%& off" and leave us alone in Arabic. I don't think its the last time that one will get whipped out this trip... Well until I buy a taser here anyways.

We are on a 3 hour bus ride now to Alexandria, and after 4 bribe stations, aka "checkpoints" we are well into the trip. After the recent Egyptian bombing there is crazy security around the place- on the still unfinished highways (probably 15 years on) there are manned guard towers, endless rows of bollards and barricades in front of government buildings and it seems even the scarecrows in the fields have barbed wire protecting them. Apparently broom sticks and flanno are rare commodities to farmers. Maybe I can get some deal exporting rockingham residents over here- I wonder if they like ugh boots and thongs with socks too...