I was awake for (most of) the trip from Dubai to Cairo and had a window seat on the plane, so I got to see some of Saudi Arabia, the Sinai Peninsula, and Egypt from the air. Let me tell you, this part of the world is a desert! Seriously, nothing grows here. That is emphasised by the frequent appearance of perfectly circular oases in the desert--created, I believe, by circular irrigation from wells dug to subterranean rivers. There are lots of dry riverbeds throughout the Sinai Peninsula. By the time one gets into Egypt, there are river beds picked out in green growth (although no actual water). I also noticed that the dust hangs in the atmosphere foreshortening the view, even at 40,000ft.
Cairo from the air also left some sharp impressions. First, it's big! No real surprise there, I suppose. 20+million people live in Greater Cairo (I was later told). There is a series of new developments in the outskirts of Cairo; in the desert. These new, carefully laid out, high-rise developments are widely-spaced around huge arterial highways. Apparently, they are not well-populated although all the apartments and houses have been purchased by Egyptian families. The story I was told later, by my tour guide, is that Egyptians have bought these residences for their children and/or for investment, but continue to live in (more central) Cairo because there are poor services to these outlying suburbs.
The plane also flew over some old suburban districts on the banks of the Nile. They were intensely developed areas; three or four story brick buildings literally cheek-by-jowl with only laneways separating 'blocks' of buildings. It looked like a low-lying lego construction. It must be unspeakable living in these densely-populated areas. Well, unspeakable if you have sensibilities like mine.
I was met in the Airport Arrivals hall (before Immigration!) by my tour guide in Egypt, Rimon ("you may call me, Ray; my friends call me Ray"). He's a lovely young man (about early 30s, I think) with excellent English and a very professional, clean-cut, good-looking presentation. As you will recall I was in Immigration for 9 years early in my career and I worked with the border-protection elements of Immigration while there. Consequently, I am always interested in the process involved in entering a country. Egypt take the identity checking thing seriously, but people were 'crossing the border' in both directions pretty much at will and the whole identity check thing (which took a long time) was only carried out because everyone expected it to be.
Finally get outside and I could have been in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The same feeling of dust-laden oppressive heat and lots and lots of people hanging around. Once we got underway in the air-conditioned bus the traffic also reminded me of Dhaka (or Manilla). Self-organising chaos with emergent properties of order.
My first impressions of Cairo were of a wide-range of building styles: Eighteenth Century French architecture, concrete-framed brick-lined ghetto blocks, huge mosques with very tall minarets and the dirty chaos all around. And there are people everywhere!
The hotel I'm in tonight (and again in a few nights)--the Ramses Hilton--is pleasant and 'familiar'. Probably a 3.5 or 4 star standard. The shower for instance has to be turned on harder and harder to increase the temperature!
I've just finished a large meal which illustrated some of the incongruity and/or cosmopolitan air of the place. I had an Egyptian tasting plate in a faux English Pub drinking locally-brewed Belgian beer. And people were smoking in the pub. I've definitely got the sense that "We're not in Kansas any more, Toto".
Finally, here are a couple of pictures from the tiny balcony on my 19th floor "Nile View" room. the first one is straight down to the top of what I think is a protest march just leaving. They were making a hell of a racket. The following two are across the East (Cairo) and then the West (Giza) sides of the Nile (if I've got my bearings correct).
The rest of today will be relaxing and an early night. I'm being collected at 7:30am to depart for Alexandria.
Cairo from the air also left some sharp impressions. First, it's big! No real surprise there, I suppose. 20+million people live in Greater Cairo (I was later told). There is a series of new developments in the outskirts of Cairo; in the desert. These new, carefully laid out, high-rise developments are widely-spaced around huge arterial highways. Apparently, they are not well-populated although all the apartments and houses have been purchased by Egyptian families. The story I was told later, by my tour guide, is that Egyptians have bought these residences for their children and/or for investment, but continue to live in (more central) Cairo because there are poor services to these outlying suburbs.
The plane also flew over some old suburban districts on the banks of the Nile. They were intensely developed areas; three or four story brick buildings literally cheek-by-jowl with only laneways separating 'blocks' of buildings. It looked like a low-lying lego construction. It must be unspeakable living in these densely-populated areas. Well, unspeakable if you have sensibilities like mine.
I was met in the Airport Arrivals hall (before Immigration!) by my tour guide in Egypt, Rimon ("you may call me, Ray; my friends call me Ray"). He's a lovely young man (about early 30s, I think) with excellent English and a very professional, clean-cut, good-looking presentation. As you will recall I was in Immigration for 9 years early in my career and I worked with the border-protection elements of Immigration while there. Consequently, I am always interested in the process involved in entering a country. Egypt take the identity checking thing seriously, but people were 'crossing the border' in both directions pretty much at will and the whole identity check thing (which took a long time) was only carried out because everyone expected it to be.
Finally get outside and I could have been in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The same feeling of dust-laden oppressive heat and lots and lots of people hanging around. Once we got underway in the air-conditioned bus the traffic also reminded me of Dhaka (or Manilla). Self-organising chaos with emergent properties of order.
My first impressions of Cairo were of a wide-range of building styles: Eighteenth Century French architecture, concrete-framed brick-lined ghetto blocks, huge mosques with very tall minarets and the dirty chaos all around. And there are people everywhere!
The hotel I'm in tonight (and again in a few nights)--the Ramses Hilton--is pleasant and 'familiar'. Probably a 3.5 or 4 star standard. The shower for instance has to be turned on harder and harder to increase the temperature!
I've just finished a large meal which illustrated some of the incongruity and/or cosmopolitan air of the place. I had an Egyptian tasting plate in a faux English Pub drinking locally-brewed Belgian beer. And people were smoking in the pub. I've definitely got the sense that "We're not in Kansas any more, Toto".
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| A Protest in the Street Below |
The rest of today will be relaxing and an early night. I'm being collected at 7:30am to depart for Alexandria.
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| Cairo |
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| Giza |
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