Walk Like an Egyptian

Although I was kind of sad to be leaving Europe, I was getting pretty excited to walk like an Egyptian in Cairo! I had no idea what to expect there but I felt that I would be alright since a good college friend, Byron, said he would be taking care of me. It was actually pretty random how I got to put Cairo on my list – I knew that I wanted to get to Nepal to visit another college friend but one of the goals of my trip was to not spend too much time in transit so I looked on a map to see what was nearby (this is how I started to learn more world geography too). In between Istanbul and Kathmandu, I happened to see a little dot indicating Cairo and I remembered that Byron had gone there to study abroad so even after a few years out of touch, I sent him a message just to get some tips of the city. It was an amazing coincidence that he had loved the city so much that he decided to go back after graduation and had been living there for about a year so it was perfect timing on my part to go see an old friend!

In planning out my Cairo trip, Byron told me that all I had to do was show up so that is exactly what I did. This was the first place on this trek so far that I needed to get a visa and I had never gotten a visa-on-arrival before but I’m glad Byron gave me all the instructions for how to do that. I got through immigration pretty easily and when I got past Customs, there were a slew of taxi drivers trying to offer me help in terms of figuring out where to go or giving me a ride that it was overwhelming the amount of times I had to aggressively say “No, thank you.” All I was told to do was wait for Byron in Duty-Free so I wandered around the shop before I finally saw his familiar face and it was great to see yet another good friend who I had lost touch with over the years.

After we made our Duty-Free purchases, we had to pass more harassment before getting to the parking lot but luckily Byron speaks Arabic which made it a little easier to get these guys off our backs. There, I met Sam, one of Byron’s roommates, and Ahmed, a good friend of theirs. To introduce me to Egyptian life, they were going to have Shabi music playing in the car with a Stella (not Artois) waiting for me but instead, it was replaced by a Heineken and whatever they could find on the radio. After a bit of a ride filled with catching up in the car and learning about his life in Cairo, we got to the apartment and it gave me somewhat of a culture shock.

The languages just get more difficult from here...

Visa - check

I wasn’t actually sure what I was expecting but I was just surprised to see trash placed in random corners throughout the street and to have Byron tell me that there is usually sewage that runs through the streets. I think I just wasn’t expecting a city with a semblance of sidewalks to also have these types of issues so it was a weird in-the-middle type of feeling that I was getting. The apartment building itself seemed intact and Byron said it was quite an interesting story how they ended up renting it because all of them (he, Sam, and their third roommate, Alex), were foreigners (Sam from England and Alex from France) and I think there was some sort of sketchy business behind it but they ended up figuring it out.

So when I got into the apartment, I received the grand tour, met Byron’s girlfriend, Rana, and was given an authentic Stella, which had a taste reminiscent of college beer, before putting myself to bed. In the morning, I woke up to some yelling in the streets and I wasn’t sure what it was but later found out it was just someone who was advertising what he was selling in his cart as he passed in the streets (Byron said it took him several weeks before he realized that it wasn't just some crazy guy screaming). The apartment had a porch so it was cool to hang out there taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Byron pointed out all of the things that were within conversational yelling distance, such as the local store that is owned by a devote Muslim named Sammy (sometimes, they would yell down to Sammy what they needed and put money in a bucket to string down to him).

Just Stella

My first intro to Cairo

Welcome in Egypt

Guy selling bananas

As we hung out on the balcony and I learned a little bit more about Cairo life, Rana was messing around in the kitchen and she produced an amazing breakfast of very flavorful fava beans accompanied with arugula, apple slices, eggs, and a type of pita bread. Breakfast was delicious and the conversation flowed wonderfully but it was time to do some exploring so we figured since we were having such a leisurely start to the day that we would go to the Egyptian museum. I know this might not have been the first time I’ve said this throughout my posts about my trip but this visit to Cairo really opened my eyes to all of the things that are occurring in the world. Even then, despite all of the things that I find to be peculiar about Cairo in comparison to my first-world life, everything that I saw as somewhat odd was just another part of life in Cairo for everyone else. It’s so interesting that everyone is just living their lives and on such a broader scale, so much is happening throughout the world that I can’t really explain what my thoughts on this is. Maybe this realization just made me feel so small yet so large within my own world. But I’m not trying to get too philosophical so moving on…

Mmm... Fava beans

Preparing breakfast

Delicious!

As we walked from the apartment to the center of the district, we passed by many vibrant pieces of art and Byron told me that this graffiti is the only type of publicly allowed governmental dissent. As we walked past the various works, Byron was telling me about his first visit to Cairo and how the city was when the revolution first started. It’s really crazy to me to imagine that bombings and shootings and other violence broke out in a place that I could fairly easily walk through at that current moment and to know that this happened when I was leading such a carefree life in the U.S. We continued to walk along all the different pieces of graffiti and Byron and Rana told me that the faces represent people who have died during the revolution and the drawings get painted over a lot as more artists come up with new things to paint. There was also a huge uproar when part of the wall was taken down because it symbolizes the only form of political expression for the citizens. Learning more about this really was a humbling feeling.

Public dissent through art

"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."

Across the way was where Byron say parts of the revolution taking place

Faces of lives lost

 As I learned more about how the “government” (I use quotations because there didn’t really seem to be one) was running the city, the more life seemed similar to that written about in George Orwell’s 1984 – I had just started reading this book while traveling so it was fresh in my mind. I learned about the military takeover and how old buildings were being destroyed to be replaced by new ones so that the city will forget the past. As we walked closer to the Egyptian museum, Byron pointed out the tower at the center of the square that has the caption of “Long Live Egypt” which replaced another statue that used to be vandalized frequently and of course it was accompanied by another story of how the city is being improperly run. 

Happy to meet up with a good friend!

Selfie with Byron and Rana before getting to the museum in the distance

Long Live Egypt

The Egyptian Museum

Next to it, a governmental building in the process of being demolished but was stopped because of funding

As we got closer to the entrance, we had to provide our IDs and they had to double check Rana’s to make sure she is a resident or something like that. This happened more than once during my visit and I thought it was pretty odd that they always seemed to give her a harder time than foreigners like myself and Byron. Anyway, when we got in to the museum, it was practically empty aside from one or two tour groups and I learned later that tourism is practically non-existent in Cairo right now. The lack of crowds really made me feel like Indiana Jones while walking through some of the exhibits and even though signs indicated that photos were not allowed, it seemed like it wasn’t being reinforced so I took my chances (I wasn’t the only one so please don’t reprimand me!). It was astounding to see the overload of artifacts that the museum carried – so much so that there were taped off areas that just seemed to have endless rows of the same types of artifacts.

One of those "keep fresh" packets!

Feeling like Indiana Jones

When we got to the King Tut exhibit, it was pretty disappointing to see a floating hologram image there and a sign saying that the artifact was being restored. As it seems, the story is that when some of the workers were moving the artifact of King Tut, the chin part fell off and they tried to glue it back on with some store-bought super glue. I’m not sure how long after this happened that now there is proper restoration being done on it in Germany, I believe. Even though I missed the big exhibit, it was still cool to see all of the other things that were on display. As we left the museum, it was kind of funny that we had to go through a metal detector again but it made sense as the attendant told us that someone tried to leave with a small artifact of a mummy before. It was also kind of strange that even though there was a space for a souvenir shop, it seemed abandoned and forgotten. My first experience of Cairo was a rather confusing one, for a lack of a better word, because I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but having something like a museum being haphazardly cared for was really odd to me.

Hieroglyphics are amazing

The souvenir shop but also the partially demolished building in the back

Empty souvenir shop

View upon leaving the museum

Another tomb

This parking lot just seemed so out of place

After quite an interesting introduction to the history of the city, Byron took me to his favorite bar, the Freedom Bar, which, in Arabic, sounds like “hooraya.” It was a very relaxed and somewhat dingy type of environment, like something out of an old movie, where there are a few guys walking around, ready to serve beers to the patrons. We hung out there for a while drinking Stella and I met a few of Byron’s friends as they passed through the bar as well (it seemed to be a popular spot) and we got this really greasy pizza/calzone type thing from the place next store to munch on as we talked. Before we knew it, it was getting late and I wanted to make sure we got back to the apartment in time to catch the final match of the Rugby World Cup.

Calzone!(?)

Fresh bananas

One of the things that I love about cities like Cairo (the only ones I could relate it with were my experiences with southeast Asian cities) are the street vendors. We passed by a vendor selling little bananas that looked like they were fresh cut straight from the tree that day and these types of things are the things I appreciate about the simple way of life. After getting a bag of small bananas, we headed back to the apartment just in time to start streaming the game but it was super spotty the entire time and the internet finally cut out in the last ten minutes which, when I finally saw the score, were apparently a really good part of the game! But I guess I can’t be too upset since I was just lucky to have internet at all and to be in Cairo, spending Halloween, which I wanted to get a Cleopatra costume for but it didn’t end up happening. After no luck with rewatching the last few minutes of the game and taking a little nap (those Stellas…), an impromptu party broke out at the apartment which wrapped up my Egyptian Halloween quite nicely.

The next morning took us a little longer to get out of bed but when we were ready to roll, it was going to be an exciting day as we were going to see the Pyramids of Giza! But first, we stopped by a juice stand to get some fresh cane juice and to try other juices – simply refreshing! Then it was off to the metro which was my first experience of a carriage specifically for women; even then, I wanted the full experience so the three of us, Rana, Byron, and I hopped onto the regular carriage which was pretty packed and sweaty. I asked if it was kosher to wear shorts and apparently no one ever wears shorts so long pants it was in this blazing weather. So there we stood, hanging onto the rings of the metro, among many other raised armpits, on our way to Giza. During our ride, a fight almost broke out between two men close to us because one of the guys yelled and motioned at Rana, kind of telling us to move but there really was no space to move into and then another guy was yelling at this first guy; I wasn't quite sure what was going on so I looked to my friends and after more shouting between the two men, and the first guy finally getting through, Byron told me that the first guy was telling us to move so he could get by without touching us because some devote men can't even graze a woman.

Another part of the apartment

In the distance, a palace(?)

So many people have this amazing balance to ride and keep the pallet on their head!

Getting onto the Metro

At our stop, we had to negotiate our taxi ride (this was the case for all taxi rides in Cairo and Rana often got a better response than Byron) and I noticed along the way that there weren’t any actual roads or lanes to drive in yet things seemed to still be somewhat orderly. It was really eye-opening to see how people would hop on and off open vans so casually while they moved slowly through traffic and when I made a mention that I just realized that there were no traffic lights anywhere (I probably saw one light throughout my whole time there), Rana’s response was that I needed to focus on the things like paved roads here and there that they had. It was such an interesting transportation experience. Oh! And we passed by the Nile at one point and it was definitely not as grandiose as I expected.

On our way to the Pyramids!

Pyramid in the distance

So we started to see the Pyramids at a distance and I knew we were getting close but the spot where the taxi driver dropped us off was the tourist trap entrance which Byron knew because it wasn’t where he had gone before (Rana had never been to the Pyramids). When we were dropped off, we were immediately approached by guys who were trying to get us to ride their camels to the Pyramids and as we were trying to figure out our own way, they would not hesitate on their harassment. When we asked someone how long it would take to walk to the actual entrance, we were told it would take half an hour to an hour so we decided to get another taxi but the taxi ride took all of two minutes so we were starting to realize that we were being led into and avoiding tourist traps, one after another.

When we finally got through the entrance to the Pyramids, we were going to explore by foot but we kept getting approached by so many men riding camels who were named after recognizable names like Mickey Mouse. It was getting to be quite entertaining at one point the different responses we would come up with to these men. At one point, one of the guys mentioned that Byron was a lucky man to have two wives and he must have many camels. I don’t even know how to respond to something like that! To try to avoid these guys, we veered away from the normal path to start from the smallest pyramid and proceed to the biggest one. We would have gone into one of the pyramids but the tickets were only sold at the entrance which was all the way back from where we started so we decided to skip entering the pyramid and kept on our way.

Finally at the proper entrance

Two pyramids and the Sphinx

Walk like an Egyptian!

Rana was having a great time!

One of many, many camels to come

There will be many photos of Pyramids

It's huge!

What we would have seen in the Pyramid

Cairo

We eventually got to the museum to see the solar boat that was recently uncovered and it’s amazing that something so massive could be buried for so long and preserved so well. This was also the first time that I experienced what it must feel like for my white friends to walk through less developed Asian cities because apparently, I was some sort of novelty here and when I was walking through the museum by myself, a guy walked up to me to take a picture with me and I wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do so I kind of stood away from him but he leaned in so I’m sure it came out to be a weird photo.

Tools and model of the solar boat

Scaled model

The actual solar boat

Massive!

To protect the floor from our shoes

After the museum, our last stop was to pass by the Sphinx and the Eastern cemetery, I believe. Then we took our reverse route back onto the metro and stopped to have a delicious dinner of meats and rice and pita bread at a Yemeny restaurant. By the time we got back to the apartment, we thought we would have enough time in the day leftover to have a nap and do something else. However, we didn’t plan properly and by the time we woke up from our nap, we had enough energy to go to “Hooraya,” have a beer, and then go back to the apartment for bedtime.

Leaving the museum

Strolling through the Eastern Cemetary

Found the Sphinx

The translations were interesting

Yemeny food!

There was one day during this Cairo visit that isn't accounted for because everyone had to get some work done so I spent it doing some sort of blog update on another city/country but anyway, moving forward - The next day of exploring, Byron took me to go explore the Citadel of Salah Al-Din and other mosques but first, of course, some food. We stopped by this shop where this guy was cooking up what looked like falafel balls. It had a similar consistency to falafel but a different color and taste to it. It was funny to me that they paper cone that we were given the falafel balls in looked like someone's biology homework - good way to recycle, I guess. To be honest, I would be doing the same thing.

Falafel ball guy

Paper cone for falafel balls

So, onto our first stop, the medieval Islamic fortification of the Citadel! There, we saw the Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha along with other mosques. Since I didn't think to bring a hoodie or anything to cover my arms, I had to rent a type of cloak thing that made me feel like a wizard but also like a member of the KKK because of the hood I needed to wear to cover my hair. But anyway, walking around the mosques was really cool because I enjoyed looking at all of the different designs inside and how intricate they are. Inside of the Citadel, Byron pointed out the French clock tower that was supposedly traded for a pyramid and there was also a section for the prison museum. Byron told me that the military museum there was designed by North Koreans and it used to be advertised but when we passed by it, we didn't see the sign and we couldn't enter because of renovations.

Walking up to the Citadel

Mosques everywhere

Passing by the Military Museum

Looking out into the city

About to enter a mosque

I'm ready to go now!

French clock tower?

Chilling

Wash area before prayer

Wandering around inside the mosque

I loved looking at these designs

Going to look at the alley of prisons

I believe that is the mosque for the Sultan Hasan

While we were walking around, there were massive groups of Egyptian children stopping and staring at me and never before have I felt more like a sore thumb. I kept seeing them sneak photos of me or try to take selfies with me that I decided to embrace it and ask them to take a selfie with me. A bunch of them crammed in near me and while I took the picture, they asked me for my name and touched my hair and were just amazed to see someone like me walking around. I guess I really know how it feels to be a type of alien in a different world.

Selfie with the children

Part of what is the Military Museum

Propaganda?

When we got away from my adoring fans, we hung out and drank some tea and just took in the scene. After having a bit of time to revel in the fact that I have this amazing opportunity to visit an old friend in a new place, we went on our way to check out the mosque that I saw from afar, the mosque of Sultan Hasan, who, if I'm correct, was the Shah of Iran and the last king of Egypt. These mosques were very open and it seemed like a lot of people were there just to find a quiet place to hang out; it was nice to just walk around and occasionally sit down and just people watch.

Military base

Onto the next mosque

Simply beautiful

Where the prayer is given from

After a bit more pondering about the mosques, we made our way back to Byron's part of town and he introduced me to Egypt's version of "greasy street food" - koshary or kushari(?) which is a big bowl of rice, macaroni, and lentils, topped with a tomato sauce, chickpeas, and fried onions. It didn't disappoint in the way that Byron described it and I finished the entire bowl which was quite large and neither Byron nor his neighbor finished theirs - oh well, sorry not sorry. After we made our way back to the apartment, we had time to hang out before we were to go paintballing. This would be my first time going and of all places to go, in Cairo. In our group, one of Byron's friends had actually been to war before but he was still excited to go so we all piled into a car and went. It ended up being a pretty large group that showed up so we had pretty large teams to play capture-the-flag and last man standing in one of the small arenas. I was being a little scaredy-cat so wasn't much help to my team but I did alright I think and it was pretty fun nonetheless. When we got back from paintballing, I felt a migraine coming in so called it a night. I'm just glad the migraine came in at the end of the day so that I was able to have a full day.

Koshary!

Ready to go!

Hussam, acting friendly before all-out war

The last day before I would hop on a plane to Kathmandu definitely did not go to waste. While Byron went to go get something, Rana and I went to go find some breakfast and sat down at an alley cafe with some hibiscus tea and falafel. It wasn't too long before we met up with Byron and we headed over to the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar. I also wrote down the El Gamalia and I believe that is the district we went to so it's all the same place. We walked down several alleys with all different touristy set-ups and every place we passed, everyone kept asking what we were looking for and I felt the need to respond to each of the vendors since they seemed friendly. It was cool to walk around the alleys to look at all the random things that were for sale before we got to the El-Hakim mosque, where, again, I didn't bring anything to cover up and was able to rent a red scarf that was much more flattering than the first cloak thing I had to wear. 

Delicious hibiscus tea and breakfast

Heading into El Gamalia(?)

Exploring the alleys of the bazaar

Me taking the previous photo

Like I knew where we were going

El-Hakim mosque

After we wandered through the mosque, we went into the bazaar area where it looked like locals go because there were spices, clothes, and all types of everyday items out for sale. Rana gave me a piece of a carob pod and I was munching on that for awhile; it was pretty interesting because it had a very subtley sweet taste to it. After we got through the madness of the bazaar, we found a nice quiet place for lunch and feasted with whatever the two of them ordered which included meats and hummus and veggies and everything delicious.

All kinds of spices for sale

The madness of the bazaar

Ending our trip with delicious food

We were all quite full leaving the restaurant and we wanted to make sure we got back to the apartment with enough time for me to get to the airport, so on our way we went. The taxi ride to the airport took longer during the day than the evening but it was fairly uneventful and before I knew it, I was back at the airport ready to head off to see another college friend. I am continuously amazed at the lives that my friends have built for themselves and so glad to have friends everywhere in the world. This wouldn't be the first time I felt this but being able to see Byron and being introduced to his city was definitely a memorable experience. To be honest, I was a little worried to be going to Cairo but I am so glad that I had a tour guide and friend to show me around and I would definitely love to visit again.