Sunday, September 12, 2010

Two days in Cairo 2009

The sky  on the evening before I went to Cairo.


Sunup from the Luxor departure terminal


The new aircraft.
The one I returned on, the egyptair express was smaller in every way width and in length, I am only 5ft 7" and had a problem with leg room and that was in the business class.
why did I travel business? by the time I had done the tour of egyptair offices in cairo trying to get a return flight to luxor I was only too willing to pay that extra it for a bit of comfort.
the first office I went into for a price I was told no flight until 2 days time so asked how much for business class 900 le but no flight until 1.00 , the next one I was quoted 850 business but no seats in economy. at 19.15 same day. then I decided to go to Nasr city main egypt air office. and was quoted 80le taxi fare, so I got a shuttle bus 1le. problem was getting a driver that knew where I wanted to go when asked. its like you are from another planet Nasr city is nasr city said in any language. because its a new city, and the arabs do not have the knowledge to make arabic names up from English, like computer is computer television is television the only new word I can find is mecaniki. and no one needs to have a 150 IQ to know what that means, as I was waiting for a bus at another change I went into another egyptair sales office they said no flights today. what they meant was no available seats, then I knew someone was telling porkies in order to sell more expensive business class seats. at the main office they said there was no available seats for 2 days. by this time I was only 5 kilometer from the airport. in the end I decided to chance it and go to the airport see if I can get on a plane. I was told no flight until 19.15 and only business class. 690le. now by this time I had no intention of going all the way back to cairo train station when even there there may be a chance of more lies like I had the last time I traveled by rail to Cairo. http://nilelife.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post_917.html
so I bought a ticket, more disappointment to come,

The old Luxor Terminal



Luxor from the air...........my old  flat is marked.




http://myegypttours.blogspot.com/2009/08/sakkara-pyramids.html
150 photos on the days shoot of sakkara

http://myegypttours.blogspot.com/2009/08/giza-pyramids.html


Nasr city & Stadium

Cairo Airport terminal 3

The most expensive coffee shop in all of Egypt 2 teas and waterpipe
40.75 piestas. there is one on each corner of the Air Mall and I was
the only customer. in all 4 cafe, there was no prices up! but last time I was there 7 weeks ago it was 15 le with fill up as you wanted. and that was expensive,


the new terminal 1. I think? its got arrivals 3 on the front.
departure 3 is 2 kilometer away from here.


The mobile shoe shop working its way through Cairo's main bus depot while I was waiting for my connection to Nasr City


Thought for one minute I was back in Luxor. notice the
deformed hands again not not so much here as in Luxor.


Then there was his mate showing me his cleft hand and shouting abuse
Like you tight fisted git. (Man with deep pockets) or something like that.
I am not fluent enough in arabic to get all of what he said only the. la la and again I carried on the rhythm of the archers theme song la lal lal la la la la. the archers is a long running radio programme about village life. Dan Archer if I remember correct kept some sheep

difference is these are most likely Bedhoin shephrds in the center of Cairo city

Nice old Jaguar parked outside the opera house in Zamalec.

This fiat 500 parked outside the French Emassy

and this old yank parked outside the opera house entrance.

Horses must be parked on the pavement

Some of the horses in cairo are really poorly treated there should not even be a tether on the back end of the horse the wound had maggots in it.

Ah now I know what I was wearing the day I went to Cairo
A charming town and country vehicle parked near my favourite Fridays fish restaurant on the Nile.

And A well sprung seat on a well used bike,

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Nile people who live on the River in the center of the City

The city dwellers and a source of fresh meat.



The tulip Tower from the bridge looking in the direction of the Pyramids Giza

one of the many cafe parks on the nile,


Zamalek is an Island and many of the Embassies and staff are housed on it,
Opera house the zoo and Islamic University with its parks and gardens plus a couple of the bigger hotels. Not going to give them free publicity as they are well over rated and priced, I phoned this hotel from my home and was given A price of 180$, not bad for one night with a Nile view. on arrival at the hotel I was told they had a problem with the room and only had suite At 1500$ per night, I told them I was not interested in buying it as I only wanted the room for one night to sleep in, as you like I was told, and left I found a small hotel with a view overlooking the Museum and the Nile for 150 EGP per night and aptly named , Museum view hotel, there are lots of small hotels and reasonably priced in Cairo.


This overpriced hotel even has its own washing facilities




Flower shop near the French Embassy and across the road
to my favorite restaurant , Fridays Fish Market


The plants that grow naturally have more fragrance ,



Can't go far without being reminded we are in the land of the Pharoes.
'
Quote of the day
These days you can go to a gas station and find the cash register open and the toilets locked.   They must think toilet paper is worth more than money.

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