So after the very first day we had done THE thing do to when in Egypt, those oh-so-famous pyramids. Great, mission accomplished. Well, not quite President Bush. Cairo still had a lot of to offer, and we stayed pretty busy for the next four days.
Cairo, if I did not get that point across earlier, is just a massive city. In a way it is kind of like Tokyo, a constellation of small cities that came together to form a massive urban conglomeration. There is Islamic Cairo, Coptic Cairo, Old Cairo, New Cairo, Downtown Cairo, and Giza. There are probably some more, but these are the main ones and the only ones that I know.
Every area of the city had something to offer, and I think we did a nice job covering all the main things. Again, what is unfortunate about Cairo is, given its size and lack of pedestrian infrastructure, a taxi is pretty much necessary wherever you go. Unless of course you are part of a tour group. Regarding that, we did not see many other foreigners out and about that weren't part of tour group. Dare to be different, thats the Kwiats. Taking taxis also means you WILL spend time in Cairo's soul-crushing traffic. It is actually quite an experience though, and, dare I say it, worth doing. Then when you think on how many Cairo residents, particularly taxi drivers, must spend literally hours each day stuck in traffic its, well, its kind of a depressing thought actually.
We did a number of things in Cairo that are worth writing down. For a fee (of course) we were taken up to the top of a minaret at the Al-Azhar mosque, the oldest and most important mosque in the city. From the top we were afforded a decent view of the city. I say decent because in Cairo, the pollution is just miserable. Again, lived in China for four months (I repeat: China) and I never experienced pollution like I did in Cairo. The Imam or whatever he was that took us up to the top of the minaret was also pretty pushy when it came to a tip (we already payed sixty pounds to the Mosque to go up). I guess even the religious aren't exempt from taking tips. Near the mosque was a large souk (market) that not only catered to tourists but also seemed to be where locals did their shopping. Wall-to-wall people in the souk. Official numbers put Cairo's population at 17 million. That number, frankly, is bullshit.
That same day we went to Coptic Cairo, the Christian area of the city. You actually had to pass through security in order to enter the area. Do I sense some tension? The "tourist area", which had some famous churches, was literally walled off from the housing area of Coptic Cairo. A set of rail tracks was located between the two areas, and there was a bridge to the other side. We took a quick look and yeah, it was definitely the other side of the tracks. I had heard before that the Christians of Cairo live in much poorer conditions. What I heard was right. I suppose I should mention that there is a church in Coptic Cairo, St. Sergius, where the Holy Family (allegedly) took refuge. Dad was pretty stoked about that.
On the days Dad had a conference to attend, Luke and I were on our own. Great, now I had someone else to look after. Saving Private Luke turned into Operation Keep Private Luke Alive. We did okay though. We took a felucca (a simple fisherman's boat) along the Nile. There were two guys, the Captain of the boat, and another guy who spoke some English that I negotiated with. He wanted 80 pounds, while I thought 65 for an hour on the Nile was a decent price. He said you are Americans, money to you is like, then made a waving motion with his hand, indicating that Americans could just throw money around. I told him we were South African. I got my price. We both really enjoyed the felucca ride, the pollution made visibility almost nil, but it was still fun. Interestingly, the Captain of the boat, whose English was about as good as my Arabic, was illiterate. I wanted to say something about the pollution being terrible, and I showed him the Arabic in my dictionary. He indicated he couldn't read it, only speak.
I have some more to tell, but we will wait for another post.
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