Hi from Cairo

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

I'm in Egypt at the mo, the traffic in this place is bonkers - Every time we go for a taxi it is a white knuckle ride, we nearly killed a guy on a horse and cart yesturday, it was the closest thing I have ever seen.
To be honest it reminds me of GTA, only it is real!

I have seen 4 people on 1 moped, complete with boom box!!

We were in the epicentre of what seemed like a riot!!

Some of the cars drive around here without lights on, the rest have sidelights????

Seen 1 Renault 19 yesturday though.

Report and pictures when I return.

Maus a lama (Well thats how you say it anyway!)

Site Subscriber Joined: 17 Mar 2004 Posts: 342

Sounds like fun! Is this work or pleasure?

Site Subscriber Joined: 07 Oct 2004 Posts: 2281

You get about a fair bit chap!

Where's Stephen... could be the replacement for 'Where's Wally?' Very Happy

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

It's just a short holiday to get away from the cold and normality.

Yes "'Where's Wally" - probably a fitting title.

I nearly got knocked over today, very close indeed.

Went to a military museum and musilem (sp) church today, v impressed.

The taxi driver was well worth the 3 pounds - he purposely swerved all over the road, nearly bounced a guy off the bonnet, almost knocked a moped over and let me beep the horn. All for our entertainment!!!

Madness.

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Can't wait for the piccies/story. The last ones were well good

Level 1 User Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 28

Just got back from Egypt myself, though I was in Sharm el Sheik. Mental how they drive around at night, they mostly use no lights, sidelights at the most. Dipped beam is for abusing the person you're about to overtake.

Nuts!

Site Subscriber Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 1139

my missis is over there the now at Sham el Sheik, she said they drive mental aswell and thats cuming from a women driver lol

Razz

NOTICE FOR FEMALE MEMBERS

The above comment was a JOKE and is not meant to be taken seriously by any women on this forum.

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

yeah!

so dont take it to heat neal

Razz

Level 2 User Joined: 26 Apr 2004 Posts: 52

I went to Egypt a couple of years ago and was amazed at the cars, they were either pug 504 or some heap of crap that looked like it came from the ark and most had a good ding or three. Mind you where we were there was no chance of them mounting the kerb as it was nearly a foot higher than the road Shocked

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

maybe the high kerb is for the safety of the pedastrians! like bumper cars

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

Route:

Fly into Sharm El Shiek, bus to Cairo, bus to Dhahab, Sinai, then a final bus to Sharm El Shiek.

Taxi drivers â€“

The majority of them are crazy, and then there are the few F1 drivers who know exactly how wide their taxi is, down to the last mm.

Generally they are very friendly and try to make you laugh and enjoy the ride. A couple of them twigged on that we liked crazy driving and obliged. Check out this list:

Swerving all over the road for maybe 50m in Cairo city centre.
Almost ramming a guy on a moped, on purpose.
Diving through every gap in the traffic no matter which lane it was in.
Constantly allowing 2 feet from the car in front (at a stand still) and 6 feet when moving.
Constantly maintaining a distance of approx 1 foot from the car beside.
Driving at 80 mph in a 40.
Going through red lights.
Constantly blaring the horn at every perceived moving obstacle.
Flashing the lights to warn people that they are coming through.

There was one guy that we negotiated a very low fare with. He was so annoyed that he drove like a mad man for the journey. Nice one. Definitely well worth the haggling.

Some of these guys drive around with no lights on, most just have side lights on. They reckon that dipped lights dazzle the other driver and donâ€™t use them in lit areas.

The taxis are really really old. Some of them are old Peugeot 504s, clean as the day they left the factory, maybe 25-30 years ago. They even have the gear change beside the steering wheel.

We were looking for a taxi one time, and there was a guy stood with the bonnet up. Being intrigued, I went over and had a look. The earth wire was hanging off, so I held it on and the guy turned the starter over and she fired to life! A few miles down the road we did the same as he stalled her again. He asked me to give him a price for fixing it!

Rather than fix their cars they soup them up. Such modifications include:

Neons inside.
Neons outside.
Police sirens.
Chrome bits.
Fuffy dice etc.
Using a computer CD-ROM as a CD player (I kid you not).
Music that plays when the brakes are pressed (to attract attention).
Blue sidelights/washers.
Strobe headlights (seriously).

Take for example the VW in the photos. Just look at it! It takes the name â€œExtreme Motorsportsâ€ to a whole new league.
Check out the white â€œBad Boyâ€ car.

The same modding thing applies to the scooters. A boom box or neons gets installed.
The first night we were in downtown Cairo the crowd started cheering. We turned around to see two guys on a scooter, on the back wheel! Crazy.
As mentioned before I have seen a whole family of four people on one.

Cairo â€“

We were told that Cairo is the most polluted city in the world. It is the equivalent to smoking 25 cigarettes a day.
The Egyptians, being a spirited bunch, thought this was quite an achievement and were out celebrating it for a few days!

Petrol is 10p per litre. Ouch!
It is leaded petrol, so that would explain the pollution then, along with the population density â€“ some 22M people in that city.

Bloody cats! There are loads of cats about, the only advantage is that they keep away the rats. When we were eating in several restaurants there were cats begging at the table. Yuck.
Maybe there were some on the menu too!

Check out the electricity board. This type of thing is common place â€“ just twist the wires together and optionally wrap them with insulation tape.

The pyramids -

They are really tall, 135m high. We paid Â£10 to go into one of the big ones. First we went though a tunnel cut though the stones, it was about 15m long. Then we had to bend over double and ascend up a narrow tunnel at a 35 degree angle for 25m. The narrow tunnel then opened up to a much larger tunnel and it continued for another 40m. At the top there was a room around 4m X 10m X 5m. This was a tomb, and there was a coffin there, which looked much like a drinking trough!

The best bit for me was to slide down the well polished banister on the way out. This skill was perfected at high school and I couldnâ€™t resist jumping on, Being around 40m long at an angle of 35 degrees I got a fair speed up in a very short time. Had to be done.

While walking around the pyramids we got pestered very 5 or 10 minutes. The script goes something like this:

Camel guy: Hello my friend!
Me: Hello.
Camel guy: Where are you from?
Me: UK
Camel guy: Charlie Brown, Lovely dovely, etc.
Me: Ha ha
Camel guy: Do you know what my camel is called?
Me: No
Camel guy: His name is Michael Jackson/Rambo/Etc.
Me Ha ha
Camel guy: Would you like to take a picture?/Would you like a camel ride?
Me: No thanks.
Camel guy: I give you good price
Me: No thanks.
Camel guy: Balah de blah
Etc.

Over and over again.

That night I asked the receptionist in the hotel what to say to get rid of people. He said to say â€œEmm Sheeâ€. I tried it the next day on a few very annoying characters. It works. The eyes widen, they take a step back and stop the sales spiel. Highly recommended.

Learning the Arabic numbers (reading and speaking) was also a great help when haggling. When the person heard this, they immediately gave some ground, as they knew (well, thought) that the speaker had been here long enough to know the correct price of stuff.

Sharm El Shiek was nice. A bit too touristy for me, but we swam in the Red Sea there and ate in a Lebanese restaurant.
Check out the Pizzas on the menu.

Dhahab, which is up the east coast a bit, is where we stayed for a few days. It is a lot quieter and you wake up in the morning to the sunrise and a view of Saudi Arabia cross the Gulf of Aqauba.

Mount Sinai â€“

A sacred place. It provoked a few Bible memories and prompted me to read parts of Exodus to refresh my memory.
Mount Sinai itself is called â€˜Jebel Musaâ€™, is it approx 2500m (8200 ft) above sea level. There is quite a view from the top.

The Monastery of Saint Katherine is at the bottom of the mountain (where the Burning Bush was believed to have been). One of the photos shows the Plain of El-Raha where the Children of Israel were believed to have stayed when Moses was on the mountain.
A rock which was believed to have been used to mould the golden calf was nearby, but we didnâ€™t get to see it.
There is a Chapel and a Mosque at the top.
The Chapel joins onto the rock of Moses. This is believed to be the rock where Moses hid when God passed by him.

Suez â€“

This is a bit of a dump. One photo taken there was of the rubbish lorry, enough said.

There is a tunnel under the canal, it is approximately 1 mile long and is guarded by armed soldiers at the entrance and exit.

A guy with his two wives got off there. We seen this sort of thing quite a few times. At the husbands request, Moslem women cover all their skin (sometimes including wearing gloves), except for the eyes. I wonder what the passport photo is like?
One of them sneezed on the bus â€“ Achooâ€¦splat!
We seen them in a clothes shopâ€¦. Yes, a clothes shop, what for?

Mohammad Ali Mosque â€“

Quite a place, it is very nicely decorated and was one of the special places we visited. I burst out laughing (loud) in the middle of it all, immediately I attracted the angry stare of 30 or so Arabsâ€¦ woops, time to get out of there.

We went to a military museum after this, some pictures are shown.

Generally â€“

Nice country, hot all year round, feels safe, cheap if you can haggle, decent food in most restaurants, fun friendly people, dishonest (WRT money), worth a visit (for the taxi rides alone).

Pictures:

Egypt 1

Egypt 2

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

Wow Fantastic review Stephen...as anticipated.

I will visit Egypt one day, looks like my sort of place...except I fear that the tourism maybe too much...I imagine the pyramids must be very commercialised and you may not get the real feel of the mystery of the place.

Is it true they have built a huge ugly wall around the whole site?

Gorgeous shots from up in the mountians...I would really like to be up there....looks awesome.

Thanks for sharing....where next year then?

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

The site is quite large, it houses 3 big pyramids and 9 small ones, as well as a 'dock' where the boat was found.
There is a view point which is maybe one mile away from the main site. It is where all the pyramids can be seen in a line.

I didn't notice a wall around the site, so it certainly doesn't stand out if it is there. They are however, building what appears to be a stadium, not far north of the pyramids.

Next year? There are still 11 months of this year left!

Got back from Pisa/Florence (Italy) yesterday. We went for the weekend. It has some very nice food and architecture, especially Florence.

The next big one will be Moscow in April for a week. Have to get a visa for that which is a hassle - Pay Â£14 for invitation letter, get travel insurance letter, get photos, fill in application form, pay Â£30 to apply for visa, pay Â£15 to register when we get to Moscow.
I hope it is worth it.

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

Ah you git...I would love to go to Moscow...wander about the Red Square....Also St Petersburg I would like to see.

Are all these trips just pleasure holidays then or have you got some ace job that sends you to all these places?

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

Ah! You want a Russian Wife!!!
I hear Tver has the most distorted male/female ratio in Russia!!
Nice one.

I'm told the cops in Moscow are very corrupt. They have the right to ask to see the visa/passport/accommodation of a tourist, but then they accuse them of something stupid, something not in order, and try to fine them.

They are all just pleasure holidays. But don't get me wrong I don't throw money about (like the Americans!). All the trips are via the cheapest route, and everything including the hotels are done on a budget. Every big holiday takes around 2 or 3 days of searching and sorting before I find the right combination.
I don't drink, don't smoke (anything!), don't gamble, don't support anyone, have no debts and live at home. I do research, which is flexible as to where and when.
So this combination gives me free time and a reasonable level of disposable income. Couple this with penny pinching, and a few groups of friends that are interested in the same thing, and this is the result.

With regards to my job - If I got my finger out, and submitted a paper to a conference somewhere nice, the trip would be paid for. Must keep an eye out for something in Japan...

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

Now I want to know what your research is in?

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

The area is based around 'Software tools for System on a chip'.
The specific topic involves developing new abstractions for modelling and assembly of hardware. When complete, these abstractions may be adopted by existing main-stream tools to aid with the design cycle.
We are using Java as an implementation language, mainly to explore the usefulness of an object orientated approach.

Between that and another job I work 6 Â½ days per week, every week.

From memory I think you work with computers in a Uni? There might be a research group there with similar interests.

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

Sounds interesting, possibly over my head tho.

You nearly got it right...I go to uni, not work there...although I used to work in a uni...well we rented offices in the uni...I am a CAD designer mainly, but have taking a couple of years out to get a degree in Motorsport Engineering, so I can then hopefully go for similar design jobs in that sector instead.

Are you a maths genius by any chance?

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

What do you design?
What packages do you use? StuCAD, AutoCAD, Pro-E?

I wanted to do Motorsport Engineering, but no Uni here offered it, and I only heard about it after I had started...
You should have a foot up over others on the course because of your job.
And also because you have been working in the real world, you will probably have more drive and discipline to do the degree.

We'll be expecting a good result!

An I am mathâ€™s genius? LOL!

Far from it, but if you have any problems I know a few people who fall into that category.

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Did you have the super sperm? Be honest Wink

Top pics and tale as expected!

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

LOL! I was wondering would anyone notice that!

Trust you Razz