Monday, September 17, 2007

Cairo: don't forget the pyramids!

As the Royal Jordanian flight touched down in Cairo, I finished John Reader’s Africa: a biography of the continent (1998, Penguin). At last. It’s been one big read. Quite fantastic, though I personally thought just a touch weak in the concluding chapters on modern Africa (post Independence). But still, a magnificent read.

On our last afternoon in Nairobi, way back then, we used up the time to visit the Karen Blixen house. A bit understated. But we did buy a copy of Out of Africa (1937, Penguin Classics). Well, you have to, don’t you? Just like we have bought Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls when in Key West, Florida, and his Old Man and the Sea (the Spanish version, that is: El Viejo y El Mar) when in Havana, Cuba, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped from his house in Samoa. There’s been others, but you get the idea, just a little quirk of ours. In fact, there's been several books bought and read in Africa where the authors lived or the subject was set. Most recently, of course, Deb's purchase of Married to a Bedouin from Petra, Jordan. Anyhow, I’m now reading Out of Africa. Now, do you want a coincidence, and this one takes a few years? Old Man and the Sea won for Hemingway the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. Next year he was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature. 'Upon receiving the latter, he noted with uncharacteristic humbleness that he would have been "happy; happier...if the prize had been given to that beautiful writer Isak Dinesen", referring to Danish writer Karen Blixen' (Wikipedia). I love this kind of stuff.

Arriving in Cairo and making our way from the airport we are immediately reminded of a downside of Cairo: the taxi drivers. We return to our first visit hotel, a good idea since they are holding a bag of our stuff and we are expecting tickets to Spain to be delivered there.

We have three full days back in Cairo before departing Africa. And we have a few things we want to get done: a visit to the Suez Canal (don’t forget the pyramids!); a trip to Alexandria on the Med coast (don’t forget the pyramids!), and a trip to Giza to see the pyramids - imagine a trip to Egypt and forgetting to see the pyramids!

Day One and we plan a morning trip to the Canal at Suez, then an afternoon trip from there to Alex for an overnight stay and return to Cairo the next evening. All perfect in principle. Some days travel plans go like a dream, and some days they don’t.

To cut a long story short, and save the pain of reliving it all, we did get to Suez, and we did get to Alexandria that day. But not until about midnight, and after a return to Cairo and another leg up to the coast.

I doubt this makes sense, but the Suez Canal was sort of what I expected, and sort of different. It’s maybe 100 metes wide, with low, flat desert either side. Just a water course through the desert. And wouldn’t you know it, despite hanging out in cafes and restaurants for a couple of hours, we didn’t see a ship pass. A muck up with bus departures in Cairo meant we arrived during the change of directions.

Late afternoon we took the bus to Alexandria, via Cairo (don’t forget the pyramids!). Which all went without incident. We did catch a sleep on the bus which meant we were right for going out when we eventually arrived at Alexandria. But it did reduce our time for a visit, becoming much shorter than it deserves. It has a lovely corniche, waterfront promenade. And besides, we have now travelled Africa bottom to top.































We spent the day ´cafe-ing´, and enjoying a great seafood lunch. But the sensational highlight was our visit to Bibliotecha Alexandrina. It has been built off the back of world-wide sponsorship, especially from the EU. Architecturally stupendous.It offers 2,000 PCs for library searching. I can only suggest taking a visit to www.bibalex.org and taking some time out to have a good look around the web site. You’ll be able to search ancient Egyptian manuscripts, and more. Fantastic place.

Caught a train back to Cairo. I was surprised when I had a meaningful and pleasant conversation with an Egyptian man. Our friend Sara will disagree with me, but I hadn’t thought this possible. Maybe an awful thing to say, but I’ve had my patience tested. But we talked of Islam, of Ramadan, his job as a mechanical engineer at a textile factory, of working for a multi-national. Very pleasant.


Anyhow, the next day back in Cairo is the first day after the new moon. It’s the start of Ramadan. And with a cool spell making temperatures, very pleasant (early thirties - we must be acclimatising), Cairo is a different place. It’s gone stunningly quiet. But we do get to Giza.

And we see the pyramids, and the Sphinx. Cool. Not disappointed. And, I cannot believe I have done this. Sara coerces us into taking a horse ride into the desert to look back at the pyramids. Oh man. But she is a very good rider, and it had to be better than a bloody donkey, or worse - a horrible camel.

























We want to say our farewells and celebrate our end of the Africa trip. We're off to Spain the next day, and Sara to Sweden the following. She has been a great travelling companion for a couple of weeks. We have had a heap of fun, and shared some neat adventures. Finding a beer was even more difficult than usual. With respect to Ramadan, some of the places that usually serve beer don’t for the month. But good old Winda-zor (Windsor) comes through. I have a Stella, Deb and Sara go the full throttle and have gin and tonics. Even getting a feed was difficult. We found a really nice Chinese Restaurant, The Peking, as you do in Cairo!!!

Since Nairobi, I have missed newspapers. Firstly, and obviously, to read. And secondly, to give me ammunition to write stuff about in my blogs. I’ve been reduced to writing travelogues. Not my favourite. Besides you can all find TV programmes, books, and magazines that do it so much better than me. If I write about a trivial thing I find interesting it comes across as inane, something bigger or more interesting as big noting. And it reads like I’m telling you how to travel, which is not what is intended. It’s only my experience - pretty personal, and as a result, hardly worth sharing. I loved it when I could comment on happenings and events as reported in local newspapers. Then that’s news for you as well. But don’t fear ...

Last day and I do locate the Daily News Egypt (Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - so OK its three days old, but I’m not complaining) and look at what you have been missing:

From page 6, and oddly enough the Business Section: Saudi cancels camel beauty contest amid mystery deaths. Riyadh: 'Saudi Arabia has called off a camel beauty contest scheduled for later this month in the face of the mystery deaths of thousands of the animals that are a national icon in the deart kingdom.' ...
'In Saudi Arabia, camels are often referred to by the Arabic word mazaen (beauties) and can fetch more than one million riyals (200,000 Euros) a head.'...
'At least 2,000 animals have died over the past month, according to ministry figures. An AFP count based on press reports suggests at least 5,000 animals have died and thousands more fallen sick.'...
'From its base in London, the banned Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia suggested that a "leading Saudi prince has poisoned thousands of camels belonging to other owners.'

Serious business. But, perhaps, not as serious as (page 5, The Region) Iran steps up crackdown against 'immoral' activity´. 'Tehran: Iran is pressing on with one of its toughest crackdowns in years, warning tens of thousands of women over slack dress, targeting "immoral" cafes and seizing illegal satellite receivers, local media reported on Monday.' ...'The Iranian police launched the crackdown in April in a self-declared drive to "elevate security in society" that encompassed arrests of thugs, raids on underground parties and street checks of improperly dressed individuals.' ... 'Reza Zarei, commander of police in Tehran province, said that since the drive began the police have handed out 113,454 warnings to women found to have infringed Iran’s strict Islamic dress rules.' ... 'He added that 5,700 people - including 1,400 men - have been sent to "guidance classes" on how to behave in society.' ... 'Zarei said police have been targeting billiard halls and coffee shops - the latter hugely popular in Tehran as a meeting place for men and women - as certain establishments promoted immorality.' ... 'Watching satellite television is illegal in the Islamic republic as it is deemed to spread decadence.'

So there you have it.

And that’s that. A little over six months and we are off on Egypt Air to Madrid, Spain. Keep an eye on Just Call Me Mad, and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Max
aka Mad

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