CAIRO AND THEN SOME!

This is out of sequence, but I'll  sort that later. Talk about being where the action is! There is a Peace Summit in Cairo today. We arrived about midnight last night, and checked into our hotel right next to Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. Security at hotel is incredible. Truck barriers that sink into the ground (only ever seen these before at the White House. But after the Marriott hotel demolition by a truck bomb in Islamabad in 2008, I guess they have become more popular with property owners), sniffer dogs, x ray machine in entry doorway, armed cops in the lobby etc. While out checking the surroundings this morning we wondered why security is all over the place. Army and police with flak jackets, riot gear, bomb squad trucks etc. Have a look whose in town! Excerpt from Reuters:

Getting the once over from the cops in the riot van outside the hotel. One bloke had the habit of using his pump action shotgun as a walking cane by covering the muzzle with the palm of his hand. Firearms training 101??

Note the turret with the machine gun. That's crowd control! 

Entering our hotel. Now you see'em.....

Now ya don't! And while that's going on, the bomb sniffing German shepherd sticks it's nose into the boot, engine bay, and under the car. That's not my hat, by the way.

I don't know if the Peace Conference will achieve anything, but its certainly keeping the Egyptian cops busy. The US has already has one Carrier Strike Group in the Eastern Mediterranean and another on the way, with further reinforcements coming from the Indian Ocean via Suez. So it appears to be getting serious around here. (The answer is always send in a Carrier Strike Group. Sorry, what was the question again?)

Now that I've started talking about Cairo, I might as well keep going. Here's the obligatory pyramid photos. Just to prove I was really here. I don't know how to Photoshop anyway. I thought you took your film to the chemist to get photos.

Finally made it!! Like a lot of other people, this was on my bucket list. TICK!

An impressive achievement by any standards, no disputing that, and a fascinating monument to egotism. As for Cairo, it's a vast, sprawling, polluted craphole, and I'm being nice. The air is so full of fumes and other muck you can hardly see the Pyramids or anything else, including the sun. Most of the buildings are ramshackle tower blocks with air conditioners and satellite dishes tacked onto the outsides and laundry hanging over window sills and balconies. 

Unrepresentative photos, I admit.

We have sore eyes and have been coughing our lungs up since we got here, and after a shower, the towels turn brown as the layers of crud dissolve. 

The traffic is even more insane than Morocco by an exponential factor. I would never even consider driving here, let alone riding a bike! I guarantee I would be in a hospital or a morgue within the first minute. All the cars are clapped out, dented rustbuckets, the incessant cacophony of car horns would drive you berko, they drive at night without headlights, roundabouts are a lottery on wheels, (but great fun to watch), crossing the road is next to impossible, stand still for more than 20 seconds and somebody wants to sell you something or take you somewhere (across the road might be worth the money!). We got out of a taxi only to be asked by the taxi behind ours if we wanted a taxi. We were walking over a bridge when a taxi travelling in the opposite direction asked us if we wanted a taxi. ( of course we'd love to ride right back to where we just walked from, what are you, an idiot???). Same question in the same circumstances by a guy driving a horse and buggy!!  I never thought I'd say this, but it's right up there on a par with India for being constantly hassled, breaking a leg or spraining an ankle if you walk anywhere, dying in a traffic accident or being poisoned if you eat anything outside the hotel.

So, apart from these minor inconveniences, we are having a wonderful cultural exchange. I intend to exchange considerable cash for beer at the hotel pool tomorrow, and some old towels for some fresh ones about three times a day. It's not hard to rack up a big bill though. The Egyptian Pound is worth precisely $0.05 AUD or 20 to the dollar. 10 minutes in a taxi can  cost £200, but its worth it, just to get out!

Of course, these are only my first impressions. Stay tuned for updates.