Our first day was to get over jet lag and later meet with the Fulbright office. It was hot walking around, and the city itself is overwhelming. As much as I wanted to stop and take photos, I had two things working against me. 1) I was with the group, who wanted to keep at a certain pace. 2) You can’t really look around to gain your bearings, or just look at the sites when you have to navigate a Cairo sidewalk. The sidewalk itself is very uneven, prone to pot holes, gaps, missing bricks, piles of garbage, and drop offs. Look around too much, and you’re apt to trip, which has happened to several group members already. You don’t see baby carriages here like you do in Europe or the States.
Seeing everything in Arabic is the first shock, then there’s the traffic. Before I go further, I must define what goes into this word “traffic.” In the States this would be mostly cars and SUV’s; some semi-trucks and motorcycles with riders (mostly) wearing helmets. In Egypt, there are mostly small cars, and delivery trucks that would be the size of American pick-up trucks; plus a good number of mopeds carrying multiple passengers with no helmets. And donkey carts. Witness a young boy who tied up traffic in front of a bank as he was calling out to sell watermelons.
Seeing everything in Arabic is the first shock, then there’s the traffic. Before I go further, I must define what goes into this word “traffic.” In the States this would be mostly cars and SUV’s; some semi-trucks and motorcycles with riders (mostly) wearing helmets. In Egypt, there are mostly small cars, and delivery trucks that would be the size of American pick-up trucks; plus a good number of mopeds carrying multiple passengers with no helmets. And donkey carts. Witness a young boy who tied up traffic in front of a bank as he was calling out to sell watermelons.
We took a cab to dinner, which turned out to be as much of an experience as any museum. There are lane markings on the road, which are really just suggestions. Our cab rode over the center line, creating the forth lane, when there were really lines for two lanes. (There was another car squeezed into the other side as well.) The clearance between the vehicles is often measured in inches, not feet. (I took this photo from the backseat of the cab, the thing on the lower right is the cab window.)
During the cab ride, there was a lot of sucking in one’s breath followed by “Oh My God!” as the cab weaved through cars and carts, upwards for 40 miles per hour. Most large intersections are policed with traffic officers, who stop the flow one way to allow the opposite traffic to pass.
We'll save riding the Metro for another day. Did I mention there's a "women only" car?
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