Cairo by Day, Cairo by Night
The last two days we've been experiencing Cairo at it's fullest. It's a crazy city that one can either hate or love. Egypt on a whole is like that though. If it's never been your dream to come to Egypt, you'll hate it. However, if you can put up with the people, the dirt, the chaos and can find beauty in strange places, Egypt is a wonderful place for everyone to experience at least once in their lifetime. (Any more than once and you're definitely crazy!)
Yesterday J, Carol, Bruce and I headed out to the main bazaar to indulge in some more Egyptian shopping. (Apparently we're suckers for punishment!) Since it was the first day of Ramadan, there was no drinking, eating or smoking between sunrise and sunset. Tempers are short and patience is at a high price, but the people are still out and about and most of the shops were open in the bazaar. J thought we should purchase another duffel bag to bring home all of our souvenirs, even though there aren't that many at this point, so he began looking for one at the market. He found a duffel bag salesman who was just wandering the streets with bags of different sizes and started the bargaining process. Of course, the original price was way too high and the man thought J's too low so back and forth they went. This man was quite persistent though and followed us for over a km down the market, trying to get J to come up to his price. J didn't let up though and after 40 minutes or so, he finally got his bag. These people are so persistent! After a couple of hours Carol and I were ready to head home, especially as I wanted to be home by 5 pm to hear back from our Egyptian friend that we had made in Frankfurt, Germany. (I had called him that morning and he said he would get back to us later that night) Carol and I tried to find a taxi home for a reasonable price and happened to start a fight in the process. We thought one taxi drivers rate was too high, but when another taxi driver came over to give us a quote, the first driver jumped out of his car and started yelling at the other man in Arabic. I guess tourists are hot commodities around here. Fortunately the tourist police were near by to stop the fight and we eventually got in the first taxi, as it seemed the price wouldn't be dropping anytime soon.
Around 6 last night we heard from our friend, whom I'll refer to as the Prof as I lost his business card and have no idea what his real name is! He said he would pick us up at 10 pm but J wasn't able to get too much info from him as to where we were going or what we would be doing, although when asked about dress code the Prof said we should wear "restaurant dress." (Fortunately I had packed a long black linen skirt and J had one pair of long cargo pants, so we found some clean shirts and attempted to appear like respectable Canadian citizens!)
Since our outing wasn't until 10 pm, we went out for dinner with Siobhan, Carol and Bruce, as Bruce was leaving for England in the morning. We walked to a chicken food place (think Swiss Chalet) close by and had appetizers while the rest enjoyed chicken and fries or shish kebob. Bruce was quite disappointed in his full chicken dinner and decided that a visit to KFC next door was definitely in order. This KFC was like no other I've ever seen, as it is run entirely by deaf people. There's a main food board up behind the cash and then a smaller food menu by the cashier where you can point to what you want. It's almost easier to order food from a deaf person than an Arabic person, as hand signs are much more universal. Around the walls of the KFC were all the hand signs for the English alphabet so I guess hand signing could have been done if necessary. Bruce enjoyed his meal, while J snacked on a chicken sandwich and I had a chocolate icecream. (For 50 cents, how could I resist?)
Just before 10, J and I headed downstairs and waited for our ride. The Prof was kind enough to pick us up at our hotel, in his Mercedes, and was right on time. (very unEgyptian!) He apologized profusely that his daughter, whom we had met in Germany, was not able to come with him, as she was recovering in the hospital from an operation. From what we could gather, she had injured her spine in ballet some time ago and had had an operation in Egypt to put a disc on one of her vertebrae. Apparently there were problems so the Prof took her to see the best doctor in Germany and see what the problem was. I guess her body was rejecting the disc and there was an infection so she had to come back to Egypt to get it removed. She had been anxious to see us though, so her father called her hospital room and she talked to us on his cellphone!
The Prof took us on a short tour of the area, before heading towards the Nile where we ate supper at a 5 star boat type restaurant right on the Nile. We felt quite under dressed but the Prof didn't seem to mind! The ship had five different restaurants in it - Italian, Chinese, French, Seafood and an open air terrace up on top. We started off in the Chinese restaurant, before the waiters decided that we would have a better view of the area on top. The Prof seemed to know everyone at the restaurant and from what we can gather, is in quite a respectable position. One of his former students was actually our waiter.
Dinner consisted of a mixed grill for J (chicken, kafta and kebob) and breaded veal for myself. The Prof also ordered bread, veggies, hummus and little meat and cheese filled pastries. We had eaten a bit at the chicken place so weren't really hungry, but made a valiant effort to try everything on the table. (J told me I need lessons on messing up my plate and making it look like I ate more. I ate the meat, since I figured it was the most expensive, but left the veggies and french fries alone!) The Prof only ordered ice cream as he had his "breakfast" at 6 pm, which is when they break their fast and are able to eat again. We stayed at the restaurant till almost 2 am but had the most interesting conversations about life in Egypt - politics, education and health care, to name a few.
A little background on the Prof. He has three children, one of which is studying at the Canadian university in Cairo and the other who is studying at the American university in Cairo. He got his masters in England and his doctorate in Romania and has his own private academy with 1500 students, just outside of Cairo. He owns about 4 properties - a flat in Cairo, a villa beside the institute, a villa on the Mediterranean and the property where he grew up. He told us about real estate in Cairo and from the numbers he gave us on his flat, we estimated that his home is worth about $300,000 Cnd. He teaches marketing, accounting and business administration and in 1988 he spent a year teaching at York University, in Toronto. He's been to Canada and the United States a couple of tims and currently has an invitation from a Washington university and McGill University in Montreal, to teach at their schools.
The education system in Egypt is mostly funded by the government and 65% of the 500, 000 high school students that graduate each year, get into government funded universities. The rest pay to go to private universities that are either set up by foreign governments or by people like the Prof. (His is in a town outside of Cairo, as he though there were too many private institutes in Cairo and he'd get more students if he went out a bit further.) The most expensive private institutes cost about $15,000 Cnd per year.
When asked about the political and economic situation in Egypt, the Prof declared that Egypt is quite a rich country, but the money gets lots between the president and his projects. He thought the president was an fairly honest man, although his ministers are quite corrupt. The election last fall was the first democratic election in a while, as there were actually 4 candidates to chose from. Previously, there had only been one candidate with a "yes" or "no" box on the ballet. The current president has been in power for 24 years.
Egypt's major commodities are the Suez Canal, oil/petrol and tourism. They also make a lot of money in exporting "labour." Many educated Egyptians go to the Gulf countries (Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia) to work and then send the money home to their families. He said many of the people in the Gulf countries have dentist, doctors, architects and teachers who are all Egyptians. Since 95% of Egypt lives on 5% of the land, there's not enough room or jobs for everyone, so people go elsewhere to look for work. Before Sept 11, many people were trying to emigrate to North America, although now the focus is mainly on Canada as the US is more strict in their policies.
There were many more topics which we discussed, but I don't have time to write all the details. Arrived home at 2 am quite tired and ready for bed. Slept until 9ish this am before getting up for breakfast. All the staff look bleary eyed as they've likely been up all night partying and eating. Spent today looking around at more shops and touring some different areas of Cairo. J wants to see the market at night as it's quite lively, but I think I'll pass and get packed up for tomorrow. Did some more laundry today - it dries quite well on our balcony. Also discovered a small grocery store near by (Alfa Market) which sells water and fruit juice quite cheaply. A 1 litre bottle of mango or guava juice is about 75 cents CND so we've been drinking lots of that. Picked up some apples there tonight - they're imported from the US and after a good washing, will be as good as new. We have a 7 hour bus ride to the Sinai region tomorrow am so fresh fruit will be handy to have around. Not sure about the availability of internet until we get to Jordan so it might be a couple of days until I'm able to write again.
PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Hope you got the bday email and the present =)
Bag salesman
Lantern shop - now which one comes with the free genie?
Our evening with the Prof. (We took three pictures and J managed to have his eyes closed in all of them!)
A day time shot of the restaurant which we ate at with the Prof.
Yesterday J, Carol, Bruce and I headed out to the main bazaar to indulge in some more Egyptian shopping. (Apparently we're suckers for punishment!) Since it was the first day of Ramadan, there was no drinking, eating or smoking between sunrise and sunset. Tempers are short and patience is at a high price, but the people are still out and about and most of the shops were open in the bazaar. J thought we should purchase another duffel bag to bring home all of our souvenirs, even though there aren't that many at this point, so he began looking for one at the market. He found a duffel bag salesman who was just wandering the streets with bags of different sizes and started the bargaining process. Of course, the original price was way too high and the man thought J's too low so back and forth they went. This man was quite persistent though and followed us for over a km down the market, trying to get J to come up to his price. J didn't let up though and after 40 minutes or so, he finally got his bag. These people are so persistent! After a couple of hours Carol and I were ready to head home, especially as I wanted to be home by 5 pm to hear back from our Egyptian friend that we had made in Frankfurt, Germany. (I had called him that morning and he said he would get back to us later that night) Carol and I tried to find a taxi home for a reasonable price and happened to start a fight in the process. We thought one taxi drivers rate was too high, but when another taxi driver came over to give us a quote, the first driver jumped out of his car and started yelling at the other man in Arabic. I guess tourists are hot commodities around here. Fortunately the tourist police were near by to stop the fight and we eventually got in the first taxi, as it seemed the price wouldn't be dropping anytime soon.
Around 6 last night we heard from our friend, whom I'll refer to as the Prof as I lost his business card and have no idea what his real name is! He said he would pick us up at 10 pm but J wasn't able to get too much info from him as to where we were going or what we would be doing, although when asked about dress code the Prof said we should wear "restaurant dress." (Fortunately I had packed a long black linen skirt and J had one pair of long cargo pants, so we found some clean shirts and attempted to appear like respectable Canadian citizens!)
Since our outing wasn't until 10 pm, we went out for dinner with Siobhan, Carol and Bruce, as Bruce was leaving for England in the morning. We walked to a chicken food place (think Swiss Chalet) close by and had appetizers while the rest enjoyed chicken and fries or shish kebob. Bruce was quite disappointed in his full chicken dinner and decided that a visit to KFC next door was definitely in order. This KFC was like no other I've ever seen, as it is run entirely by deaf people. There's a main food board up behind the cash and then a smaller food menu by the cashier where you can point to what you want. It's almost easier to order food from a deaf person than an Arabic person, as hand signs are much more universal. Around the walls of the KFC were all the hand signs for the English alphabet so I guess hand signing could have been done if necessary. Bruce enjoyed his meal, while J snacked on a chicken sandwich and I had a chocolate icecream. (For 50 cents, how could I resist?)
Just before 10, J and I headed downstairs and waited for our ride. The Prof was kind enough to pick us up at our hotel, in his Mercedes, and was right on time. (very unEgyptian!) He apologized profusely that his daughter, whom we had met in Germany, was not able to come with him, as she was recovering in the hospital from an operation. From what we could gather, she had injured her spine in ballet some time ago and had had an operation in Egypt to put a disc on one of her vertebrae. Apparently there were problems so the Prof took her to see the best doctor in Germany and see what the problem was. I guess her body was rejecting the disc and there was an infection so she had to come back to Egypt to get it removed. She had been anxious to see us though, so her father called her hospital room and she talked to us on his cellphone!
The Prof took us on a short tour of the area, before heading towards the Nile where we ate supper at a 5 star boat type restaurant right on the Nile. We felt quite under dressed but the Prof didn't seem to mind! The ship had five different restaurants in it - Italian, Chinese, French, Seafood and an open air terrace up on top. We started off in the Chinese restaurant, before the waiters decided that we would have a better view of the area on top. The Prof seemed to know everyone at the restaurant and from what we can gather, is in quite a respectable position. One of his former students was actually our waiter.
Dinner consisted of a mixed grill for J (chicken, kafta and kebob) and breaded veal for myself. The Prof also ordered bread, veggies, hummus and little meat and cheese filled pastries. We had eaten a bit at the chicken place so weren't really hungry, but made a valiant effort to try everything on the table. (J told me I need lessons on messing up my plate and making it look like I ate more. I ate the meat, since I figured it was the most expensive, but left the veggies and french fries alone!) The Prof only ordered ice cream as he had his "breakfast" at 6 pm, which is when they break their fast and are able to eat again. We stayed at the restaurant till almost 2 am but had the most interesting conversations about life in Egypt - politics, education and health care, to name a few.
A little background on the Prof. He has three children, one of which is studying at the Canadian university in Cairo and the other who is studying at the American university in Cairo. He got his masters in England and his doctorate in Romania and has his own private academy with 1500 students, just outside of Cairo. He owns about 4 properties - a flat in Cairo, a villa beside the institute, a villa on the Mediterranean and the property where he grew up. He told us about real estate in Cairo and from the numbers he gave us on his flat, we estimated that his home is worth about $300,000 Cnd. He teaches marketing, accounting and business administration and in 1988 he spent a year teaching at York University, in Toronto. He's been to Canada and the United States a couple of tims and currently has an invitation from a Washington university and McGill University in Montreal, to teach at their schools.
The education system in Egypt is mostly funded by the government and 65% of the 500, 000 high school students that graduate each year, get into government funded universities. The rest pay to go to private universities that are either set up by foreign governments or by people like the Prof. (His is in a town outside of Cairo, as he though there were too many private institutes in Cairo and he'd get more students if he went out a bit further.) The most expensive private institutes cost about $15,000 Cnd per year.
When asked about the political and economic situation in Egypt, the Prof declared that Egypt is quite a rich country, but the money gets lots between the president and his projects. He thought the president was an fairly honest man, although his ministers are quite corrupt. The election last fall was the first democratic election in a while, as there were actually 4 candidates to chose from. Previously, there had only been one candidate with a "yes" or "no" box on the ballet. The current president has been in power for 24 years.
Egypt's major commodities are the Suez Canal, oil/petrol and tourism. They also make a lot of money in exporting "labour." Many educated Egyptians go to the Gulf countries (Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia) to work and then send the money home to their families. He said many of the people in the Gulf countries have dentist, doctors, architects and teachers who are all Egyptians. Since 95% of Egypt lives on 5% of the land, there's not enough room or jobs for everyone, so people go elsewhere to look for work. Before Sept 11, many people were trying to emigrate to North America, although now the focus is mainly on Canada as the US is more strict in their policies.
There were many more topics which we discussed, but I don't have time to write all the details. Arrived home at 2 am quite tired and ready for bed. Slept until 9ish this am before getting up for breakfast. All the staff look bleary eyed as they've likely been up all night partying and eating. Spent today looking around at more shops and touring some different areas of Cairo. J wants to see the market at night as it's quite lively, but I think I'll pass and get packed up for tomorrow. Did some more laundry today - it dries quite well on our balcony. Also discovered a small grocery store near by (Alfa Market) which sells water and fruit juice quite cheaply. A 1 litre bottle of mango or guava juice is about 75 cents CND so we've been drinking lots of that. Picked up some apples there tonight - they're imported from the US and after a good washing, will be as good as new. We have a 7 hour bus ride to the Sinai region tomorrow am so fresh fruit will be handy to have around. Not sure about the availability of internet until we get to Jordan so it might be a couple of days until I'm able to write again.
PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Hope you got the bday email and the present =)
Bag salesman
Lantern shop - now which one comes with the free genie?
Our evening with the Prof. (We took three pictures and J managed to have his eyes closed in all of them!)
A day time shot of the restaurant which we ate at with the Prof.
posted by The Patterson Pair at 11:27 AM
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