Cairo

After basically two sleepless nights for Matt (he was nervous about missing our flight to Egypt, given the tsunami in the area), we went to the airport to leave Asia. Our flight from Bangkok to Doha, Qatar was scheduled to leave at 9:10am, arrive in Doha at 12:15pm, then leave Doha for Cairo at 1:00pm. This is the connection we have been stressing about since April, so obviously we were worried when the flight from Bangkok took off nearly an hour late. As they always seem to do, though, they made up time in the air. We wound up landing at 12:07, not really knowing what to expect in Doha. They were highly efficient. I have a hard time imagining that in any airport in the US would we be able to touch down on the ground at 12:07, de-plane, take a bus from the bottom of the plane to the actual airport, go through security, get to the next gate and be on the bus to our plane by 12:40. And, I’m not sure if I feel that is a good thing or a bad thing, but yesterday it was a good thing.

What a culture shock. There were not many women on the plane and the ones that were certainly weren’t dressed like me! I was really glad I had put on long pants and sleeves that morning, even though it was so hot and humid in Bangkok. We arrived in Cairo right in the middle of rush hour, and just before the beginning of the Egypt-Italy soccer game, so it took a while to get to our hotel, despite our driver’s efforts to the contrary. Derek told me that the Cairo taxis are an experience. What an understatement! It made the tuk tuks and taxis in Bangkok look calm! We made it safe and sound, though. We were a little bummed that it cost us 80 Egyptian pounds, about $16 in the US, but, hey, we’re not in Asia anymore. And, when Matt pointed out that it probably would have been a $75 cab ride in NY, it’s really not so bad.

We had planned to check out the night bazaar, but have had such a busy few days that we were exhausted, so after dinner, we just crashed at our hotel. It was just two blocks from the Nile, in a nice neighborhood. It’s so much more developed here than where we’ve been recently and, somehow, that almost seemed to make me feel uncomfortable! Weird. The city is really clean, though. Matt described the architecture and roadways as “Bronx-ish”. And the weather is great! I love the desert! No more freakin’ humidity!!!! YAY!

This morning, after finding a restaurant with WiFi and also a bagel that is closer to a New York bagel than most things I’ve had in San Diego, we spent some time planning our days in Cairo. We are leaving shortly for Sharm el Sheikh on the Red Sea, and have limited time in Cairo when we get back, so we planned a pretty packed agenda. It should be exciting!

We also had a much better taxi experience on the way back to the airport. Our driver, Yasser, was great. He pointed out a lot of the city sights from the highway, and showed us a picture of Mubarak, the President of Egypt. He said Mubarak is in the mafia! He said all the rich people like him, but not the poor people. He was asking about Obama, too, and said that people in Egypt like Obama. He was wondering what Americans think of him. It’s been interesting to get other people’s perspectives on the US and Obama; we spent a good deal of time on our trek talking about this with our Irish and British friends as well.

We already took Yasser’s card and decided that we are going to call him when we get back to Cairo for a ride from the airport, and hire him to take us around the city. Hopefully he will agree because I think with a good driver, we can get through our agenda! Now we’re just getting ready to board our plane to Sharm. After all our traveling, five days on the Red Sea relaxing sounds like exactly what we need.