Walk like an Egyptian

Everything seems to happen slowly in Egypt, especially during Ramadan. We have now been in the country for over two weeks but have really only just made it out of Cairo. Admittedly, our first week was spent lounging around the Sinai Peninsula, as Catkin described earlier, but our "quick trip" to Cairo to get visas spare parts and see the pyramids took the best part of the second week. It seems that no matter what you plan, it really is only possible to one thing per day. If you tell anyone what you have got planned for the afternoon they will without fail tell you that it will be too late, and that you must go in the morning instead. Anyway, after extending our stay for another two days we have managed to do all we set out to.

The pyramids were pretty awesome. It’s hard to comprehend their sheer size until you are standing there next to them. The whole day was a bit of an adventure in the end. We decided to go by public transport, and took the Metro to Giza Station. Whilst waiting to cross to road to the bus stop, a local struck up conversation with us, and, as luck would have it he was taking the same bus and would show us the way. Once on the bus, which involved running out to it across two lanes of traffic and jumping on as it slowed down slightly, he confided in us, saying that the tickets at the main entrance to the pyramids were very expensive, but there was an "Egyptian" entrance which was cheaper, easier, included everything, and entailed taking a camel or horse ride into the pyramids area. Catkin laughed her head off when he told us that his name was Omar Sharif, but he didn’t seem to see it as a joke, and I think that might really have been his name after all. After getting off the bus, he insisted on showing us to the entrance, and before we knew it we were sitting astride horses and bargaining on the price and how far we would be taken. Every time a price was offered our friend Omar would be in the background nodding his head vigorously, indicating what a good price we were getting. Obviously he was watching his commission decrease each time the price went down. We still have no idea whether we were ripped off or not, suffice to say that the final agreed price was a quarter of what was initially asked. In a land where a fixed price on anything is the exception rather than the rule and bargaining is a way of life, we have taken the view that there is no such thing as being ripped off - there is either a mutually agreed price or no sale, and if you pay too much it is your own fault!

The traffic in Cairo is something else, and possibly the worst we have driven in. Half the locals seem to be practising for competing in the touring car championship, with bumper to bumper driving and last minute overtaking manoeuvres, while the rest seem to have no concept of road safety, stopping in the middle of three busy lanes to fix a broken light cover or turning left from the far right hand lane across lanes of traffic. Add to this the pedestrians-with-a-death-wish and it makes for happy times. We were even run into, and by a Land Rover Discovery of all vehicles! Luckily it was only a light tap and no damage was done (to us anyway – not sure about the Discovery).

We met up again with our French friends, who spent nearly a week longer in Aqaba after we left, waiting for their new Carnet. They had just arrived in Cairo after a few days in the Sinai, and were about to apply for visas for Sudan. We briefly touched on the subject of the forthcoming quarterfinal between France and the All Blacks. Jean-François delightedly exclaimed that he would be cheering for the All Blacks. I’d like to think that I had converted him, but it turns out he has a strong dislike for the French Coach, who it seems is tipped to be the next sports minister if France win the World Cup. Looks like he might have a chance…

At last, on Thursday, we left Cairo in our dust, after spending the whole day completing our remaining errands. First up we picked up some spare filters and parts from the Land Rover service centre in 10th of Ramadan City (40km east of Cairo). Next we had another puncture repaired, which involved a very animated discussion about the price – I think we are finally getting the hang of Egyptian bargaining now. The remainder of the day was taken up driving all over western Cairo trying to find the Carrefour supermarket so we could re-supply our food crates.

The Western Oases beckoned. Not very well signposted though… Luckily, while were staying at the hotel, I happened to read an article in a magazine about an archaeologist who is director of the Antiquities Department. His ideal long weekend was to be spent visiting the western oases and desert. In it he described the route taken out of Cairo and mentioned driving through 6th of October City (which isn’t on our map). Fortunately we saw a turn-off to this city which we took, and it has since turned out to be the right way. Otherwise we would have ended up a long way from our intended destination although we still would have made it to Luxor eventually.

We have had a night in each of the Black and White Deserts. These make up part of the Western Desert, which extends into Libya and is part of the mighty Sahara. The desert nights have been very peaceful, with clear skies full of stars, no one around for miles and a comfortable temperature. On the first morning in the desert I took the opportunity to do some work on the car, replacing some worn suspension bushes.

On Saturday we stopped early to tune into the BBC World Service Sports World programme which, thanks to the lack of any 8th division football from East Anglia, deigned to play the commentary of the last 12 minutes of the England vs Australia Quarter Final of the World Cup (bad news about the result, Gilly). So there we were, sitting in the Sahara listening to the rugby on a shortwave radio. It could only have been better if we had remembered to put beer in the fridge instead of Miranda Orange. Late last night though the trusty BBC brought me the bad news about the All Blacks exit. In between the static, I thought maybe I had misheard, so had to read for another hour until the next news bulletin. Unfortunately I had heard right the first time…

Finally, some news for tractor buffs. So far, Egypt has been the first country that we have been through on this trip where the noble Massey Ferguson tractor has not been sighted. They have been everywhere else in numbers, most notably in Turkey, but not yet here. We are still looking though.