Day 13: Second Day in Cairo

Thursday, April 27, 2017

          Today was fun, but definitely felt like a blur. We were in a taxi by 6am going for 2 hours to Alexandria. We got there, and we did a bunch of things. We visited a palace, catacombs, a giant pillar, a citadel, and a huge library. The library was definitely most notable. The library is called Bibliotheca Alexandria. It is this huge library with books and scrolls and tours, and lots of security. It is a very modern building on the inside. The outside looks like glass with a huge rock wall with hieroglyphics on it as the front of the building. Overall it was very nice, and they had free restrooms which made it even better.
          Once we left Alexandria it was another 2 1/2 hour drive back to Cairo. I slept through almost the entire drive BOTH ways. I was/AM so tired and even after all that sleep I was still tired. We were going to take the train but when we asked people about it they said it was unsafe, so we decided to stick with taxi and traffic. Once we had gotten back to Cairo we went to Old Cairo (aka Coptic Town) and we went to visit a couple old churches and a museum. After Coptic Town we went to the "world's largest ancient shopping center" and that was probably one of the most interesting experiences I've had so far in Cairo, and I've had a lot of those.
          At this market place, everyone tries to sell you everything all the time. We were eating Egyptian pancakes (which are actually pretty good) and people came up to us to sell us tissue packets, cigarettes, hennas, hookahs, jewelry, and more jewelry. These people like to talk and talk, and then throw things on the table and say numbers expecting us to understand. We bought 3 necklaces, a tissue packet, and I said no thank you at least 30 times in an hour. I did get a henna in a very pretty design, I'm just hoping the black doesn't turn green (I've never had a black henna before). I felt bad about saying no so many times, but being in that marketplace was a good experience and it got more fun later on.
          After we finished our food and our long conversation about smoking and holes in throats and cancer, we walked around to see what else was at this marketplace. We walked down half a block of restaurants, and EVERY SINGLE restaurant had people standing outside holding their arms out pushing you into their restaurant. You have to be like a battleship and just push through the blockade to make it to the other end of the block. Once we made it past those people, we got to the venders.                The venders here in Cairo are so funny. They're all smoking something, they're all male, and they just yell at you and follow you around and shout prices at you. They all say "ni hao", immediately realize we're from America, and then ask us to come and just look inside their store. Everyone has thought we were from China, and when I respond in English, they try to push us around even more. When we were drinking tea at this cafe in an alleyway, people came to try and sell me (not even my dad) hookahs, lighters, cigarettes, and I just laugh and say no thank you. The fact that I look like I would smoke or even that I'm old enough to smoke makes me laugh. These venders do anything for money. They call you names, they follow you, they try to start conversations, they whistle, they yell, it's just so entertaining. They all think my dad is a 25 year old superstar and I'm his girlfriend, which is super weird and gross to me, but at the same time it's super funny to see their faces when we tell them I'm his daughter.
          As our last stop in the marketplace, we went to a spices shop that was run by a man who was born in Cincinnati. He had all of these powders that were different spices and flavors, and daddy was a huge fan. We bought a lot and we are going to ship them back home. He was a good businessman, and like everyone else, very pushy. I will say, he had one of the more popular stores in the area. The people here in Egypt are entertaining for a while, but after some time it gets very annoying to say no all the time, and constantly have people trying to get your attention. And there are SO MANY of them that smoke, which makes me really sad. However, this is the only time I will ever be in Egypt (I think) so I am making the most of it and trying to enjoy all the rich culture I'm squeezing into 3 days.
          After the marketplace we went to this opera house near our hotel, and we stayed for about an hour and watched this super fun Egyptian jazz band play a bunch of upbeat songs. Even though we didn't understand a word of it, it was super cool to watch and probably the highlight of the day. It was also during Cairo at night, which is a lot less of, everything, than Cairo during the day. We both really enjoyed that. We are currently at the hotel (same one as yesterday!) and are more than ready to go to sleep. So until next time!! ;)

Daddy's View:

There appear to be no traffic laws in Cairo.  There is beauty in it - the ballet between scooter and truck and car and human and tuk tuk is... non-replicable.  There is no one who lives in the U.S. who could drive in Cairo and not get in an accident or kill someone within 24 hours.  And there is no one in Cairo who would do the same in the U.S.  Yet both work.

Cairo at night is magical.  The cool breeze off the Nile, the energy, the mass of humanity - it's similar to Shanghai, actually.  Cairo during the day is tough for us, particularly juxtaposed against the previous GSH cities.  There's no pervasive, reliable, world class public transport.  There are cabs and that's basically it.  In a city of 20M+ people with no traffic laws.  It is 30min MINIMUM by car no matter how close or far you want to go.  across town is 2hrs, for sure.  It's tough to get a great feel for a place with that dynamic.

Hands down, Egypt has the best bread in the world.  I've now been through Asia and Europe multiple times, first time in Cairo.  Bread is the best here.  It's the pocket pita, it's all handmade fresh, it's pillowy and chewy and crispy and bubbly all at the same time.  The best.

They have these "Egyptian Pancakes," which are essentially flattened calzones with the bread being the equivalent of Chinese scallion pancake bread, maybe a little flakier.  It's incredible.  Somebody invented this and is a genius.

For some reason it's harder for me to fend off the vendor community here.  In the Asian countries it's pretty easy for me to navigate the fraudsters.  Here... it's just tougher.  I'm not sure why.  I got taken by a spice shark, which normally wouldn't happen.  I think honestly it's that when their English is good, it's really quite good and their sales pitch worms its way into my brain easier.

Here is Sydney getting a henna as part of a scavenge.  she'll have this for weeks - it was pretty cool.

This is the nighttime market - super awesome energy.  I love markets.  These are better than Asia and European markets for me - just incredible.