Teen Travel Blog

Street crossing is an Olympic sport here.  Crosswalks are pretty much nonexistent, so it is not unusual to see people walking across 6-8 lanes of speeding traffic.  Imagine standing on the lane lines on an interstate highway while cars whoosh by at 60mph on either side of you and you’ll get a sense of what it is like to cross the street in Cairo.  It basically becomes a game of chicken:  can/van/truck vs. pedestrian.  Obviously a vehicle wins, but there is big trouble for the driver if a car hits a citizen so things have struck a nice balance.  To cross the street, we’ve found it best to tuck behind a local and do exactly what they do…works like a dream.

We spent Thursday night exploring the local souk or street market.  Thursday night starts the weekend in the Muslim world and it was absolutely NUTS!  The souk was jam packed with thousands and thousands of Cairo’s citizens, all tightly crammed in the rabbit warren like streets and alleys as they shop, explore, bargain, shout, and enjoy the start to their weekend.   We’d often be stuck in pedestrian gridlock, packed shoulder to shoulder with everyone pushing with no one moving at all, when suddenly there’d be a commotion ahead and one, or two or three delivery boys with teetering dollies topped high with 100 lb. bags of rice or spices try to muscle through the impossibly tight wall of bodies.  Shouting, cajoling, pleading would follow and somehow they’d get through…but it was all pretty crazy.

I love trains, and train stations, in developing countries.  We took the overnight train out of Cairo to the city of Luxor.  In Egypt, there are 2 types of trains:  the Locals train and the Tourist train, but everyone leaves from the same station. The Cairo train station is a wonderful mix of people, sights and smells.  The platform is a buffet of local color with men dressed in long flowing robes and the women in gowns and headscarves, all waiting for their train.  It is hard not to imagine how different this commute is from all those parents waiting to take the train home in Chicago or New York.

One of the most frequently asked questions prior to our visit was “How safe is Egypt”?  I can honestly say that I’ve never felt safer than on any other trip I’ve made.  We’ve been in slums, out late at night, traversed Cairo and Luxor by foot and I never once felt threatened, never had a hard stare from anyone, never even felt nervous.  I’m not sure if it is a Muslim thing or an Egyptian thing ….probably a bit of both.  Stealing is very “bad form” in the Muslim world.  Plus, Egypt’s largest employer is the police force and “tourist police” are
everywhere, the Egyptian respect for authority keeps everyone on their best behavior.

Though I’m always concerned about petty theft when traveling in developing countries, it doesn’t seem to be an issue here. Egyptians won’t steal from you, but they will figure out some way to come between you and your cash….they just do it upfront and face to face, instead of snatching your purse.  Egyptians are notoriously good at business and negotiations….whether it is the kid selling trinkets on the corner or the hotel clerk trying to sell you a trip to the Pyramids.  Even though they won’t pick your pocket, it sure seems like they have after you’re done negotiating with them.

Some things we’ve seen:

• Many Egyptians drive at night with their headlights off unless absolutely necessary.  They think it saves battery life.
• The desert culture persists to this day, even in Cairo.  Shops are open early in the morning and are closed in the middle of the day. They reopen late afternoon and stay open well into the night.  It all stems from the pre-air conditioning days when desert people did business during the cool hours of the mornings and evenings.
• There was an Egyptian guy on our flight that was “Mr. Fashion”…all duded up…and wearing bright orange soccer cleats.
• Flying over the desert it is odd to see a major highway suddenly disappear into sand, only to reappear 4-5 miles later.
• If you are going to buy a camel, get a Sudanese one….they are much more robust than the Egyptian models.

We uploaded some photos from our trip to our Facebook Fan page.  Check them out at http://tinyurl.com/ykfgqjr. 

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