An Egyptian Excursion - Day 3

            Another breakfast that filled us to the brim. Cairo and the pyramids beckoned us today. Set out with Tiger, leaving behind the beautiful beach resort of Fayid. Stopped at the War Cemetery, very silent place with well maintained grass and stone buildings and tombstones. A peaceful place for the final slumber of the many brave men who died here during World War 2. On the way to Cairo, it's pretty much empty desert on either side of the road. Now and then a military compound would show up to break the monotony of the desert. All of a sudden 2 air force jets flew over with a loud whoosh. Looking to the left, we saw 4 tanks going about in the desert, obviously on some sort of exercise.

We reached the place the Egyptians call Heliopolis (no, not the ancient city), a section of the city where the affluent build their homes, and where the airport finds its place. The roads were excellent so far, flanked by plenty of greenery. Pretty amazing for a so-called desert. No one cuts lanes here. And speed cameras do exist, marked by a "Speed Camera" picture. Tiger turned on the radio and it blared out some Arabic music. Very few two wheelers though, and no autos. No wonder it wasn't unruly on the roads. From Heliopolis onwards into the city, we followed a series of huge elevated expressways.

Soon enough we got to our hotel - the 5 star Pyramisa. All along the way I'd noticed that young girls (I mean teenagers and above) do wear a headscarf. However, it never covers the face, just one's hair and the with this exception tight form-revealing dresses seem to be their norm. Not to mention the fact that they bring along their accessory - a.k.a boyfriend - held tightly in one hand wherever they go. Lol. Not at all like a Muslim country. In fact it's much less restrictive than India.

Went over to the Papyrus museum in the afternoon. You guessed it, they make paintings on a base of Papyrus - from the pith of the Papyrus plant (Cyperus Papyrus). This is the way the Egyptians used to make them. You'd have seen imitations around the world but this is the real thing. Expectedly, prices are truly sky high. Bought 9 pieces or so, and they dwarfed the price of the 160gb PS3 we'd purchased on our last international trip.

On to the Pyramids of Giza from there. We alighted at

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An Egyptian Excursion - Day 1

Started from home at 1am. We were on an Etihad flight. Service was just about OK for the self-touted "World's Leading airline". We were going via Abu dhabi, which turned out to be pretty small an airport for an oil rich state. Seating was extremely limited and people can be found lying down in the passages leading to the different gates when there are a large number of flights arriving or leaving at the same time.

On the plane to Cairo, the guy sitting next to me murmured Salam maleikum while he was taking his seat, at the time I thought he was addressing some friend of his across the aisle. Turned out that he'd directed his greeting at me. Started speaking with Mohammed (that was his name) and he told me he was working for an American oil firm in Pakistan as an engineer. Apparently he was on his way to meet his family in Cairo. He was an electrical engineer and we were soon power talking about M.H. Rashid's "Power electronics" (pity IGBTs, drives and choppers were the topics I made conversation on with a person from half the world away on the very next day that my exams were over), besides all about the places to see and how to greet people in Egypt and what not. Very friendly (and might I mention good looking) guy, he even offered to help us contact our driver if he didn't arrive at the airport in time to pick us up.

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An Egyptian Excursion... Points of Note

This time around, we chose to take our vacation to Egypt. 10 days of fun in the sun, or baking in the oven whichever way you look at it. 10 days of taking in views of monuments that have made it past thousands of years worth of hardships.

I'll be updating the blog regularly (once every 3 days or so) with descriptions of each day (and what I saw there) of my trip. They'll be more like travel notes than fully formed paragraphs I suppose, since I'm a bit short on time. Before that, a few points you should note:

• Greet people with As-Salāmu `Alaykum (just say "Salam aleikum'), i.e. Peace be upon you. Even if you want to ask the receptionist to send someone to get the luggage from your room, say the aforementioned line or ask how he/she is and then proceed with your request or question. Helps a lot.
• Egypt's currency is the Egyptian Pound. Smaller units are Piastres. Sadly for ye who are from India, 1 Egyptian Pound = 8.xx rupees. Yup, even Egypt costs you a lot.
• Despite all the advice I'd read on the net about touts being a constant bother, just say 'No thank you' "La Shukran" (that's pronounced Shook-Run) a few times while you keep walking away and they'll leave you alone without you having to put the cops on them.
• The police are always around. Plainclothes, with a handgun. Uniformed ones in white or cream with AK-47's (yes, police with AKs, not sticks).
• Friday's a holiday here for prayers, but some places might be closed on that day. Plan accordingly.
• Drivers say Cairo is the worst place to drive. They apparently are yet to drive in an Indian metro like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or Kolkatta. Drive in an Indian city and you can tolerate driving in any place in the world.
• Cairo taxi drivers may be quite insistent. They'll keep lining up offering you a ride. Saying no again and again is made a little difficult because of the language barrier (unless you're fluent in Arabic).
• There are lots of cats around. Not too many dogs, but plenty of the feline kind.
• Everyone has plenty of makeup, and hair gel for guys. Even little kids seem to sport a perfect haircut and quite a bit of makeup.
• Many Amitabh Bachchan fans, they put him on a pedestal above their own stars, but not too many know Shah Rukh Khan or Aishwarya Rai. We did meet a guard who just loved Amir Khan's movies though.
• No Swensen's here, that's one thing I noticed. No big ice cream shops. Only smaller eateries and big bakeries have ice creams. And most often they're the packaged kind (Nestle).
• 10am to 4/5pm is the only time when most attractions are open. Sightseeing places close beyond 4pm (eg. Saqqarah) and 5pm (eg. pyramids of Giza)
• In case you're a student (doesn't really matter what you're studying, could be fashion, could be could be medicine, could be meteorology), bring your university ID card or school ID. Quite a few sightseeing spots offer tickets at half price if you can prove that you're a student.
• Quote Amitabh Bachchan to shopkeepers and tell them you live two blocks away from him ;) , everyone likes him, and you may end up getting a discount. This of course, is because they jack up prices by a few pounds when they see that you're a foreigner.
• If you're vegetarian, you're gonna find it very difficult. Most eateries (even five star restaurants) will use animal fat to cook the rice. It'll have that characteristic sticky rice feel to it.
• Folks drive on the right side of the road here, not the left.
• During summer, the temperature is very high, but the humidity's low, so you won't feel like you're sweating. But it tires you a lot.

Roadtrip Videos

Went on a week long road-trip from Chennai to a few places in Kerala and back using our new Cruze. Here are some videos of the roads we used.

















The following are Highway/Expressway/Toll Roads.