People who live in Cairo (Cairenes?) usually have a love/hate relationship with the city. However, I haven't really been here enough to experience the love portion yet, but I wouldn't go so far as to say hate - a strong dislike perhaps. For a culture and civilization with such a robust and glorious history, I'm not sure where it all went wrong... It's not fair to judge Cairo so harshly but the truth is it's exhausting to travel here.
It didn't help that my first day was spent visiting the Pyramids in Giza. It is surprisingly close to the city and I managed to get there by public transport in under an hour. Before I went, I read about the notoriously pushy and/or smooth touts who try to sell you camel rides around the desert and overpriced souvenirs. Armed with certain information, I was determined to see the pyramids, not get ripped off, and enjoy myself. First two - mission accomplished. Last one - debatable. The place is amazing and it's awe-inspiring to think about how they accomplished such magnificent engineering . I've seen hundreds of pictures but pictures really don't do them justice.
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Too bad the place is positively swarming with damn Egyptian touts. They will come up to you with a radiant smile, start explaining stuff, help you take pictures, and then ask for money. Or, they will shove in your hands a scarf or deck of postcards and say it's a free gift and ask for money as you walk away. Then you spend 5 minutes trying to give back the stupid postcards and they won't take it. So I just gently put it at their feet and left. OR they will just put an Egyptian headdress on your and snatch your camera and take pictures of you and demand money. When you refuse to give anything, they turn into bitchy divas. I had a guy yell at me and force me to delete the pictures. Um...done! Just leave me alone!!!
Day two was a bit better. I visited the Egyptian Museum and then Coptic Cairo. The Egyptian Museum holds so many artifacts it's mindblowing, but my host said it's like a granny's attic and I must agree. The building itself is becoming delapidated and there are just too many items for them to display it all properly. Nevertheless, it was interesting to walk around and take in the numerous tombs, sarcophagi, jewelry, masks, etc... The coolest thing were probably the animal mummies. There were dogs, cats, snakes, crocodiles, rams...all mummified!
Day three was spent wandering around Zamalek, which is where my hosts live. The girl is Polish and her boyfriend is from the UK. And today a Spanish girl moved in so I've been kicked to the couch - it is Couchsurfing after all... The area is a bit more upperclass and has a lot of embassies and expats. So I took it easy and hung out in bookstores and cafes and updated my phone with some widgest and whatnot since I finally had free wifi. And then my phone died. Completely died and refused to power on.
So today, day four was spent commuting to the supposedly official repair center. Long story short, they said they couldn't help, then told me to come back and they'll try to repair it, and then said it'll be a 5% chance they can do anything. The repair center is about 90 minutes away by public transport. I'm officially done with fancy phones now. Who cares if I can't get online to check my email or text anyone; none of my dumbphones ever died on me. But I still need one as a clock and alarm, so maybe I'll pick up a super cheap one somewhere. * sigh*
The library burning down didn't help things, nor did building a gift shop in its place.
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