Please update the car/carriage accident total

I really feel that the only fitting conclusion to an Egypt trip that started with a little car accident would be a departure drive to the airport that also results in another little tangle with a car.  I am happy to be able to report to you that we were able to meet that goal. Neither of these accidents were Mohamed’s fault – he is a patient, crafty and skillful driver.  I think it’s just part of life in Cairo.  Cairo is the ultimate juxtaposition of old and new, decrepit and gleaming, seamless and juryrigged.

Which leads me to my next topic, which is that yesterday as we drove through Cairo one last time, we happened by a Mitsubishi car showroom, with beautiful cars in the window and out on the street.  Every floor model was white – it’s as if the cars are being picked out and shipped to Cairo by someone who’s never seen a picture of how dusty and dry Cairo is.  All cars sold in Cairo should just be tan.  Also, they should already be damaged with a few scrapes and dings to limit the stress of trying to protect the new vehicle.  

And if, somehow, none of the cars was to your liking, well move 500 feet down the road (seriously) and you can look at other transportation options at the Sheep Store, which consists of about 50 sheep (also all white)  sitting patiently in a clump right at the curb, waiting to be purchased.  No doubt you’re wondering, as I am, how they sit there undisturbed, when we can’t get across town without getting sideswiped.  I can report that we encountered a wrong way horse cart on a busy Cairo street this evening, heading demurely southbound on a northbound street teeming with thousands of speeding and careening cars, everyone honking, but the horse was unbothered and never got hit.  Mohamed thought the wrong-way horse was a traffic outrage – but it seemed about right to me.

We flew from Aswan back to Cairo and spent one more full day in Cairo before heading to Frankfurt for the night, where I am writing this final entry from the Frankfurt Hilton, with a full container of ice cubes to my right and a big glass of tap water that I can drink freely.  I ate a salad as soon as we found some food.  I’m always happy when my stringent eating plan helps us not get sick but boy do I miss the produce.  We randomly met up with some Americans at the Aswan airport and talked travel with them for a bit, which never fails to make me feel like a travel hodad as they list off the South African safaris and Lindblad Expeditions to Antarctica.  And then, of course, they always head off to the first class cabin and Ron and I slink off to coach and I spend the next ten hours hating them.

Our last day in Cairo was another one planned by me, which meant that we toured old houses.  We went to the Gayer Anderson Museum, which is two houses in Old Cairo, joined together by this British guy (Gayer Anderson), who was British, but loved Egypt, and so he settled himself down here and started collecting odd items, which are now on display.  We saw his comb collection, his birthing chair collection and an odd little collection of women’s pedicure shoes he must have liked.  The houses are built in the 17th and 16th century (one from each, joined together by a sky bridge he built).  Use of the camera was an additional $3 so you’re going to have to settle for pictures of the other house we saw: the House of Al-Suhaymi, 17th century.  It was a crazy maze of rooms – here’s the floor plan/fire escape route, but I think you’d be toast, especially if you’d had a beer or two:

Even better, this place is under renovation and so a lot of it is closed.  But we were back with Marwa the wonder guide and so she got one of the employees to take us upstairs and show us around.  So it was decrepit in parts, under renovation and not lit.  But our professional guide showed us around with the light on his iPhone and it seemed safe enough, given the other safety violations we had already taken part in traveling around Egypt.  The place was so cool.  There was a 17th century indoor sauna room with a stained glass ceiling – the glass was arranged so that the ceiling looked like the night sky:

And there was this “Women’s Room” below, a place for women to hang out and relax unbothered, but Marwa and I let Ron elbow his way into this shot.  Look at that ceramic tile on the wall…it’s 450 years old and in perfect shape.

We spent awhile at the Khan al-Khahili market in Cairo as well and I wanted to buy a lamp but held back due to our 8kg luggage limitations.  But look at these things:

Here’s a few other shots from the market:

I don’t know why I try to follow the rules in life.  If I didn’t, I would be sitting here typing this and my beautiful Egyptian lamp would be packaged up next to me, waiting for life in the United States. No one follows the luggage guidelines and it’s not news to me but I really feel like it’s easier to comply since every once in awhile some airline agent will actually check.  But still.  Back in Aswan, when I was still smarting over the traveling resumes of the American First Class $25,000 Lindblad Expedition group, I noticed that some other woman getting on that flight was one serious carry-on baggage violation. She had a suitcase that was too big.  A second suitcase that might have been the right size.  And then she had a purse and to make matters more insulting, she also had a shopping bag of new items she had acquired in case she didn’t have enough variety to choose from in her luggage. 

 As she walked to the boarding area of the plane an Egypt Air representative approached her and I was so happy that my rule-following reward was finally here – I was going to get to watch someone else’s punishment.  But the rep pulled out his camera and asked to have a picture taken with her and then I noticed that lots of people were watching her and, unlike me, they weren’t just tallying up her luggage.  I was having another one of those situations where I’m with someone famous but I can’t figure out who it is and I felt even more powerless than I did during the John Legend/Fried Chicken debacle in Charleston because at least there I could ask the people next to me, proving I’m an idiot, but at least gaining hold of the information. 

I really need to track down that group of Americans before my flight in the morning because I scored a $220 upgrade to business class (I’m flying Business Class!!!!!!!) when we checked in today and I’d like to be able to throw it into a conversation with them.  Moreover, I’d like another chance at the lamps for sale in the bazaar in Cairo because now my business class luggage can weigh up to 20 kg and I can pack anything I want in there and have two or even three bags if I was so inclined, just like my Egyptian movie star friend.  

Closing thoughts on Egypt?  Fantastic, exhausting, exhilarating.  As ever, travel makes me feel the myriad of tiny details that make me uniquely American but ultimately human.  I have so much, I live so easily and I head out into the world and I am reminded of the spoils of being a middle class American.  And then, as I travel further, I am reminded of the blinders imposed by being a middle class American because as much as Egypt is poorer and appears mired in chaos and traffic and buildings in need of repair, most of the Egyptian people are still proud and warm and living rich lives.  Which is not to say that they’re not in dire economic shape – their tourism downfall has devastated the economy – but their nationalism and hopefulness remains.  Perhaps the only thing we can do to help is to “vote” with our dollars and return en masse as travelers.

Homeward bound.  Thank you, Nelly, for one more miraculous “expedited” tour through the security gauntlet at the Cairo airport.  And one more shot of Marwa – kindest guide I’ve ever had.