A city of contradictions

When i told a friend I was coming to Cairo, he said he was there in December, a month before the revolution, and he said there is only one way to describe Egypt-
'It is something else' and two minutes out of the airport i knew exactly what he meant!

Cairo is this dirty city full of buildings falling down and then all of a sudden a beautiful Mosque; it is a incredibly busy city with driving like you have never seen anywhere else, and then there is the tranquility of the Giza Pyramids; there is dire poverty and the richest of the rich; Christians and Muslims living together; the ultra conservative and the full free and open...a city of contradiction!

I was with my friend Jen and we had a great three days. We saw the beauty that is Cairo, walked the dirty streets, sweated about five times our body weight, haggled prices down, being completely exploited, been proposed to, photographed and experienced terrifying taxi-rides. We have met some lovely new friends and just had a blast.

The pyramids are surreal! There is no other way to describe these enormous structures thousands of years old, build without any of the technology we have now. The thought of putting those blocks on top of eachother is out of this world! You can definitely see why they are one of the great wonders of the world.

The Egyptian Museum was the best thing i saw in Cairo. It is amazing! Chaotic but amazing! There is little signage, so best to take a map but the statues and artifacts are incredible; really incredible! The museum is peaceful, not too full and usually one can be left alone to look at whatever they want. It is an incredible place that makes you really realise how vast Egypt's history is!

The coffee is amazing! I do not think I have tasted anything like it! It is so good! The sheesha (hubbly) is amazing! They come in every size and colour imaginable and the flavour blow you mind. The tobacco is stronger than what we have in South Africa and it hits your head fast! The food, if you choose the right item, is delicious! Especially the vegetarian options like hummus, baba ghanough and falafels! The bread is made in a rock oven (which is really just a fire on some stones) and is amazing!

What surprised me the most about Cairo is the people. The people are incredibly friendly and will help you out, usually without wanting anything in return. They will continually welcome you to Cairo. There are those who are bothersome and try and harass you into buying things and will show you something and demand a tip, but after a day or two, i learnt to put my sunglasses on and just walk fast! It is manageable as a woman, but when a male is by your side, then no one bothers you. Also key would be knowing any Arabic. I did not expect there to be so few people who spoke english, but literally one in ten will be able to speak a few sentences and one in a hundred can actually speak English to you. Key words are useful such as sorry (as-sif), bathroom (ham-man), No (la) and thank you (shu-kran).

Taxi drivers are the worst as they usually do not speak english and especially cannot read english so if you are trying to get somewhere, it is incredibly hard! They will also say 'Yes' to you and have NO idea where they are going. There are no rules of the road! Anything goes...literally! We had a taxi which reversed up the highway! Most cars do not have speedometers or working lights etc...it is an experience of note! Mostly you do feel like you won't die but one such ride we honestly thought death was upon us!

One last point about Cairo is that I did not feel unsafe at all. There are tourist police and normal police everywhere, so i never felt like anyone was going to rob me. I would walk alone and be fine. Even with the riots going on in Tahrir Square, I felt safe. We did not actually see any riots ourselves which makes me doubt the coverage that has been all over NY Times and CNN....we were right there on friday and saw only a few hundred people and there was no violence. Everyone you meet is too happy to tell you how excited they are that Egypt is free. There are '25 January' t-shirts everywhere. You can really tell things have changed and people are excited to elect their own government!

Cairo is a place I am not sure I would visit again, but definitely something worth seeing. There are no words to describe this place and pictures do not do it justice. It is an exhausting place and three days in, i was ready to go. If i do come back, I will get a hotel outside of Cairo away from the madness, bring a male along, learn some arabic and try find someone who knows the place well.

There is nothing else to say but 'Cairo...it is really something else'!