Cairo- A chapter in my travel blog

Cairo, Cairo, Cairo…

The population has realized that cars have horns and they are not afraid to use it. The horn in Cairo is used to express many varied and mixed expressions such as:

‘Could you please move, What the hell/ hello/ a flirtatious how are you doing?/ Does everyone around realize we are in traffic/ It went quiet for a minute/ Please come in front of me/ don’t you dare come in front of me etc etc…

If you have heard anything about the traffic in Cairo…I still think you have not heard enough, there was a guy there from Bombay and EVEN he said traffic and driving in Egypt is crazy! Fancy that!

Literally every car there is banged and scratched most probably due to the lost concept of lane driving! So in turn everyone has some form of no brand car, that seems to have been put together using a mixture of beaten out soft drink cans, a few wheels and a useless strap on the door that was once a seatbelt but is now decoration.

Drivers do tend to navigate through, albeit somewhat uniquely…and if you miss a turn on the highway, well no worries…

…as they will reverse to oncoming traffic in order to catch the turn. Satisfaction is paramount! A driver explained to me while trying to put on my seatbelt “don’t worry, I know in your country you guys put on seatbelts, but here we don’t have good roads like your country or good cars like your country and people don’t drive well so you don’t need to put it on!”

It was apparent then that the reason he was a taxi driver was because he did not manage to get the job as a government PR spokesperson…his positive spin doctor skills were not yet fully developed and he was not able to sway my method of thinking to his train of thought!

Tourism is big due to the pyramids and there are many vendors willing to give you “ a special discount” as you are their “friend” so no worries there!

Vendors of all sorts are quite unique in that when you first ask how much a taxi/ artifact/ (or anything that requires payment) is, they will always show a kind face and say, “its ok my friend leave it”, a seemingly kind act that should prompt the generous response “I insist” with a tip!

Quite kind I find except…

If you call their bluff and accept thanking them for being kind you always get a…

“Wait my friend, you should give me something! and then they try and bargain for the price and a tip!!!” , always hilarious to watch their unexpected shock…

All in all, a must to see once in your life, i am sure there is much that i have yet to discover about Cairo, their museums are a treasure for those interested in that sort of thing, and you can literally spend days appreciating the many exhibits and the stories behind them all, as for me, i did my appreciation in a quick couple of hours!

I for one love the opportunity to travel and wish for you to have the same freedom in life to do what you wish.
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