Cairo

Well I finally made it to Cairo last night at 8:30 Egypt time. I'm 9 hours ahead of NWT and Alberta time. I had the hotel arrange a pick up for me and I'm glad I did! The airport is.... different. Once you leave the airport there are hundreds of men waiting outside to offer you a taxi ride. I hear they are unsafe, don't always know where they are going, don't speak english and will try to rip you off. I'd like to make some smart ass comment here about our cab drivers back home, but there is NO similarity!! So I get ushered through the sea of cab drivers who are looking at me like I'm dressed like a hooker in my yoga pants and t-shirt and taken to a minivan waiting for us in a private parking lot. There we meet our driver who's name I never got and he didn't speak english. I hopped in the seat behind the driver and my english speaking guy hopped up front and we were off! Before we even left the airport I was scrambling for a seat belt that ended up not working anyways and I was laughing so hard I nearly fell over on one corner. There appear to be no rules of the road here even though I was told the speed limit on the Ring Road is 80km/h. So as we zoomed along at 120km/h we were honking our horn and flashing our lights constantly! That is the custom here. That's how you let people know you are moving up beside them or passing or to tell them to move over. Most people only turn their lights on when they are getting the attention of other drivers. A lot of the vehicles I saw didn't even have real headlights, or maybe they just weren't turned on. A lot of vehicles just had a band of red or blue lights in the windshield. And people walk on the streets because there really is no sidewalk. Cars are parked on the sidewalks!

So we arrived at the hotel about 45 minutes later, my english driver grabs the bags and hauls them in and my non english guy tells me in a round about way that he will be back at 8pm the next evening to get me to take me back to the airport. You see, my flights got changed at the last minute and so I had to overnight here in Cairo.

I get checked into my room, I pay $110USD for pickup and drop off and a room for the night and I get sent off with the bell boy up to my room in probably the oldest elevator I'v ever seen. there was a pull door into the elevator then when you push the buttons a second sliding door closes. We get off at the 7th floor (I asked for a room with a view) and I am taken down a dark hallway with no lights. i admit I was nervous. He finds a door at the end of the hallway and opens it to 2 single beds, a bathroom, and the nicest part was my balcony with a view of the Nile River. I tip him, he leaves, I check out the bathroom since I've been traveling for 2 days and want to have a shower. Nope, not gonna happen. That tub was GROSS and I lost my need to pee as well! Fortunately, before I unpacked the front desk called and said they would give me a free upgrade one floor up with the same great view. Much nicer room with a queen bed.

In the morning I woke up to the steady sound of horns honking. I came down stairs for the included breakfast. I was taken into the dining room which was dark and I was seated at a nice little table. I laughed and asked if I was the only guest and the waiter said "YES", LMAO!!! I am the ONLY person staying in this 10 story hotel! And I guess that's why they dont bother turning any lights on! I was brought my breakfast of 1 cold hardboiled egg, 2 rolls that looked like hotdog buns, and a muffin. Uhhh, not what I had in mind at all! And I ate it in the dark. The muffin was good the egg was alright and I passed on the hotdog buns.

Although I was told by my airport pick up that it wasn't really safe to go out alone, I did it anyway. The hotel staff said it was fine so I went out for an hour or 2. After all I have 7 hours to kill between my check out and my pick up. Everyone was friendly, they all could tell I was foreign and I ended up at a little shop getting hustled for a print of the Egyptian Zodiac. I made him agree to ship it home for me so I wouldn't have to carry anything yet Ahamed also does tours and he tried to talk me into one for the rest of the day but I said no thanks. He pointed me down the street to a restaurant for a sandwhich  and was served by a nice little man that spoke no english so I basically told him to bring me something with chicken and a drink. The wrap was delicious and so was the strawberry smoothie. It wasn't until I was half done that I realized it had crushed ice in it. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be consuming the water here in any form and I'll pay for it dearly down the road. I just hope it's not on the plane!!