Cairo

(This is the story of my mother's trip to Egypt)

Feb 10, 1997
Day 1
Flight to Egypt was pleasant with good food, free drinks, 2 movies and I lucked out having no one in the middle seat. I spent 8 hours in Amsterdam, which is a nice airport with couches to have a sleep and showers. Arrived in Cairo 1 AM (24 hours since Vancouver).

Day 2-4
A nice looking Egyptian met me and took care of everything and off we went to the hotel. It was a moderate nice hotel for $40 night including breakfast. I went 2 days before the rest of the tour started to rest up and get a feel of the place. I was awoken at 5 AM by loud speakers chanting prayers at a Mosque behind the hotel. Weird feeling as it then hit me that I was actually in Egypt! Went down to a good breakfast boiled eggs, cucumbers with every meal plus cheeses and jams.

I went for a walk in the city and the traffic was crazy. One-way streets with 4 lanes on each side for cars coming down at you. No stop lights, no stop signs, pedestrians just cross anywhere they want and the cars still don’t stop. They swerve around everyone and cross from lane to lane. Everyone stays good natured by it if you tried it here you would be run over or shot or fined. I didn’t have the nerve to cross by myself so I would ask a tourist cop to go with me or wait until a few Arabs crossed and I would go at the same time. They thought it was hilarious, they are the friendliest people and say welcome and if they speak English ask where you are from.

City is very dirty with no trashcans and stray cats everywhere. Sat in a park and people watched absolutely fascinating. Some of the women dressed completely in black, which isn’t a religious necessity but their choice (or men’s choice) most men have a turban. There are soldiers with rifles on every corner. Loads of police, some of them have a band on their arm saying tourist and they could speak English and were very helpful. Tried to find a pullover sweater but I was near exclusive stores but was too expensive. The women and children had beautiful clothes but then covered with chador.

Met tour leader Andi, a fun loving English girl, and 17 of other people from the tour. Four group members were from Canada, 1 from Winnipeg, and 1 from Duncan, a couple of new Zealanders, 3 young Dutch guys and the rest were Aussie’s, they were a great bunch, my kind of guys. They had been everywhere so it was great fun hearing about their adventures.

Spent the first day getting acquainted and shopping at outdoor bazaar. It was dirty but interesting. Peddlers were a real pain they would grab your arm and try to get you into their stores.