Suburban Giants

Day 2: September 30th, 2009 - Cairo, Egypt

T:

As I write this, we are on the night train to Aswan having escaped from Cairo for the time being. It’s been an interesting couple of days although Cairo didn’t get a grip on me the way I thought it would an I’ve left with an image of it being a loud, lively and packed city but not much more than that. Granted, we missed out on the vast majority of the city and we’ll be back there in a couple of weeks but that’s the status at the time being.

Today’s primary activity was the pyramids, Sphinx and so on and so on. We arrived there and promptly ended up signing for a camel tour. Much like Cairo it was nice but I was left without having dramatically altered my perception of life and the world. The pyramids were impressive, yet not quite as big as I had imagined. The Sphinx is the same. The main downer was the huge groups of Russians (amongs others) who had bussed in on their tours and charged around in tank tops and hot pants although quite a few other tourists were doing the same. Mahmoud, our camel man and guide, wondered aloud to me why these people came here dressed like they were going to the swimming pool. I wondered quietly why anyone would want to come to a Muslim country if they were not ready to respect this simplest of cultural norms. Maaka soon made me forget this with her daily disaster – letting her camera drop out of her pocket somewhere between Pyramid number 2 and the Sphinx, leading our caravan to turn tail and head back along the same path to try and retrieve it. Ruben, hero of the day, spotted it in the sand leaving Maaka’s camera to live another day, and leaving the rest of us to wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Our heroes wonder whether they should order Half Chicken Stuffed Evacuated in Cairo.

More sweating and cursing as we went back to Midan Tahrir to pick up our bags, and more profuse sweating and more tired cursing as we lugged them on the metro to Ramses station in central Cairo along the same metro line we’ve been using the whole two days.

We’re now on the train and I’m about to fall asleep. In our company are Ruben, a friend who Helsinki and co-worker at Bar Teos and his friend Natalie, from his home town of Fuengirola, who we’ve never met. He’s loud, enthuasistic about everything, typically Spanish, and a good friend of mine. Natalie is similar, her Spanishness diluted by her having an English mother. They’re here for 2 weeks just while we’re in Egypt and are good company.

The Banks of the Nile in Cairo. Mister, Mister Felucca?? No thanks.

Tomorrow Aswan, and a calmer, slower pace.

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M’s retrospect addition from Aswan on Friday 2nd .

My first attempt on the Swiss keyboard with flies making stopovers on the screen.

I never quite understood how close to Cairo the Pyramids are until witnessing it just the other day. At the same time I didn’t realize how much they stay in the shadow of their home city of Giza, which is in fact glued to Cairo. I imagined that the Pyramids 1) would lie on open desert a while away from any habitats, and that 2) they would at the same time be visible on the horizon when viewed from Cairo for their sheer size. The first one of these assumptions I proved wrong: the distance from nearest houses in Giza is walkable in 30 minutes. As for the second one, I tried to look but could not see them until in Giza. However, the latter will need reconfirmation on the next visit in a couple of weeks.

I got my first glimpse of them on a local bus from Cairo downtown to the suburbs of Giza as they emerged from behind a bunch of trees in the same way as any other building had done during the ride. Paying more attention to the conversation we all were having with our newfound Egyptian friend (who Ruben and Natalie ran into on the street and who cordially guided us onto the right public bus to the Pyramids, accompanied us and paid the fares only to escort us straight to his friend Mahmoud the camel guy’s house), it was only the rightly timed wonder I had about them having to appear soon which made me stretch my neck out to notice them for what was a mere four seconds until they went hiding behind the suburban jungle again.

L-R: Camel, Pyramid, Mahmoud

The next time I had my camera out too, but they just liked to disappear and reappear at such a pace that I didn’t catch the ultimate shot that would grasp their position against the city skyline – the honoured pieces of history left from the glorious old times now easily accessible via the Cairo city metro network. Not a bad backyard for locals to go walk on for those contemplating moments. Ideally one would also have it as such, as by the time the tourist hours are over and the sun begins to set behind them, your mind can easily find peace in spite of the hustle and bustle echoing from the city at the edge of the sand. We got to experience about 15 minutes of this treat thanks to my bad camera-handling skills explained above in T’s text.

On the way back from our successful quest for the camera we gazed on the empty sands where hundreds of people had been crisscrossing still half an hour ago while sensing the light turning slight purple. Taking the last couple of shots from the camels’ backs before turning our own ones to the three big ones. To yet again break Mahmoud’s suggestive comments about my camel riding skills pointing to very good belly dancing skills as well (earlier I had been made to ride the camel by myself and under his special supervision – which lead to the camera falling off my pocket in the first place – and offered a wine bottle for belly dancing for him), I asked him if it is ever possible for the people to come and see the mighty piles of rock in this light, right before the sunset. He said we were lucky to have a reason for our extra wonder. Judging by the incomprehensible yells from the tourist police to Mahmoud while he led us back towards the Pyramids for the search (my Arabic proficiency pending), I would have guessed the people’s chances for similar wonders must be low. The area shuts around 4pm and after that access is denied to the proximity of the Pyramids. Fair enough when we’re talking about the last standing wonder of the world.

The Pyramids, after hours.

Mahmoud told us the Egyptian way is to watch the Pyramids from the rooftops of the city during the evening light show and invited us to come to his rooftop for some tea and the show, but excusing ourselves on the grounds of having to catch the night train (and a little in the fear of more tipping to come) we casually dropped the subject. We were the last caravan of the day to sway on our camels through the gates that separate the suburb from the desert. Kids were still playing football on a pitch on the desert’s side. I wondered if we’d be allowed to join them just so we could say we’ve played by the Pyramids. T’s version of that kind of story would involve scoring of course.