Trains, Taxis, Minibuses, Buses, Taxis and Trains

Well, I just got back from a little weekend trip in Alexandria, well Alexandria was the drop off point because I was never actually in Alexandria except to get on and off the train.

So the point of this little trip was to go visit Tammy and go to the beach. So after I got to Alex, we are close enough that I can shorten its name, I jumped in a cab and went to Agami.

Agami is a beach town outside Alex that I used to go to as a kid. It was, as Sahel is now, the place to be. Now it has sort of lost its glitz, but the beach is still good to me. But this story is not all beach and fun times; we had some funny ups and downs.

When I got to Agami Tammy told me the next day we were to wake early in the morning to jump on a minibus at 7 a.m. to Marsa Matrouh.

Marsa Matrouh is a brilliant beach. I also went there when I was about 13, so I was willing to ride in the uncomfortable minibus for 3 hours.

Well 5 hours later we got to our 'hotel,' oh yeah we were supposed to spend the night. Before I go on please have a look at the view from the hotel room.



Pretty isn't it?!

So back to my little story, we got there at noon and were told to wait in the room for 2 hours while the trip organizer went to find food. Tammy, myself, and the others, were not having this.

So we left to find the beach.......Only this wasn't the Marsa Matrouh I had been to before. They brought us to a public beach, which here in Egypt is a big bad, uh uh no way!

The problem with public beaches is that we 5 ladies were the only ones wearing Westernized bathing suits. All the other women were swimming, if they swam, were in head scarves and full clothing.

Now picture the stares we got.
Ok, now picture the stares I got, being obviously Egyptian.

This was not the relaxing day at the beach we had pictured or paid for. So, after a few arguments and with the trip organizer, we decided to cut our loses.

When the sun started to go down, we hit the road.

The ride back was much more comfortable, the big bus was pretty empty, and it was only 3 hours, fancy that!




Oh and we got a ride in a pretty funked out cab:



The next day was more like it. A private beach in Agami, which basically means young people in their bathing suits enjoying a day at the beach. The waves were amazing, and the sun was hot. So all is well that ends well.



Well this may be the last blog for a while with pictures. I am off to Greece in the morning, so I won't have my trusty 8 million pound laptop with me to dump the pics on. I will try and update during my travels. But do forgive me if the white sands, blue waters and cold drinks in the Greek Islands keep me away from any computer at all!

Oh and did I mention I HATE packing?! Yeah, I know, poor baby.

Adventures on Foot

I know, I know, I stay away for a while then I blog for two consecutive days. I never said consistency was a strong point.

So anyway, on the topic of finding your own adventures yesterday I decided to visit the Citadel, which I haven’t been to in seven years, unless you count the night we went to the concert, but I don’t.

It is an amazing building. The domes, the minarets, and the alabaster façade of the entire mosque, are all fantastic. I spent about an hour and a bit there, just wandering about, snapping pictures, etc. When I finally went inside, I had to put on a nice big satin-type green cloak, as a sign of respect so as not to show any skin.



But inside the mosque was brilliant. The circles of lights were my favourite part, which you will be able to see from the sheer volume of pictures I shot.



When I was done at the Citadel I still felt like wandering about, so I took to the streets. It was a pretty fun little adventure, and an adventure it was!

As I was walking across the street a small white pick-up truck saw me and sped in my direction. I literally had to jump up and out of the way on to the curb. And I was not a second too soon, the thing almost rammed my foot as I jumped. When I turned to look at the driver he looked out the window, grinned and gave me the thumbs up sign, like I had passed some test.

But some of the other locals were a bit friendlier, and some weren’t. I met some women selling fruit on the side of the road. One asked me for water, so I filled her bottle from mine, and in return she let me take her picture. They all became enamored with the camera and asked me to keep taking their pictures, which I did. It was pretty funny.



After I got away from the fruit ladies I ventured on, and met the olive man, and snapped a few pics.



Before I walked on, he told me I should take some pictures of another man selling fruit.

When I turned around to see the man he was talking about, I was greeted by a man wielding a chair and threatening to beat me with it if I took his picture. The olive man was yelling (and laughing) “She’s Egyptian!!” It was funny to me even then.

So after a little bit more wandering about, it was time to go, so I hailed a cab. Word to the wise, while in Cairo always keep your eyes open. You never know what you are going to see. Look closely at the next picture, the driver wasn't wearing any shoes.



**oh, and in case it isn't obvisous, the links are to the pictures.**

The Bread Man Wins

So I think Egypt is rubbing off on me. Well, in certain ways. I am a bit tardy on this post, obviously today is not June 30th, which is when I had intended on updating the blog. But c'est la vie.

So the bday was lots of fun, and really how could it not be, two days of sunning, swimming, celebrating and being treated like royalty. We stayed at a summer home of Dina's friends, and they had someone there to cook for us, etc. It was surreal, I am not used to that kind of treatment, but I did let myself enjoy it for the weekend.

We even had a nice bottle of Moët for my champagne bday, and a surprise bday cake. And yes they got me the candles that keep relighting. It was all fun and games.



But weekends in the sun eventually have to end. So Back in Cairo I have been doing much the same as before, wandering about the streets, most often aimlessly.

It's funny when you travel half way around the world, you expect life to be completely different. But it’s just not the case. People wake up in the morning, go to work, come home have dinner with the family, hang around drink tea, watch TV etc. I admit to being a bit naïve, I was expecting adventure and mystery at every turn. But Egyptians, which I am one of them, are normal people. Surprise!

But on another note, it is pretty easy to find adventure here, and you don’t even have to look that hard. A few days ago I hopped into one of the tiger attacked taxis, and as we were leisurely (aka sweating our faces off) driving down my grandmother’s street, a man carrying a load of bread dropped a loaf.

Now before I continue this little story I have to tell you how bread is transported around the city. A young man carries a large wooden skid on his head while riding a bike. Not a very easy task; especially that the bikes are in pretty rough shape.

So, my taxi driver slowed, not stopped but slowed, the car down, opened his door and scooped up the lost loaf. He then began beeping his horn and drove up to the bread man. He informed him he dropped a loaf and tried to pass it to him through the passenger window of the moving car.

I was sitting in the back the whole time wondering if all this was actually happening. The poor bread man could not grab the loaf, keep his bread on his head steady and keep riding. So he told the driver to keep it and eat it. But this is not the end.

The driver then instructed the bread man to ride over to the driver’s side of the car and he would put it on his load for him…..while driving.

So the bread man does as he is told, and Mr. Taxi Man opens his car door, stands up, yes the car is still moving, and places the loaf on the top of bread man’s head. Quite the spectacle I must say! I only wish I had the pictures to show you all. But I was too in awe to pull out the camera. But here is another bread man so you can see what I am talking about.Sorry it's blurry, but he was moving and I was in a taxi.