A Canadian Girl in Cairo: Playing Chicken in the Roads of Cairo

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Playing Chicken in the Roads of Cairo

I thought the roads were crazy in Maadi, where I live. Cars everywhere, horns honking, no break in the traffic to cross the road...I was mistaken. They are crazy downtown! I have told you about being in the car commuting places, but not about trying to cross the road! We ventured downtown to visit the US and Canadian Embassies and to see the Nile. As we got closer to the Nile, a large road was between us and the Nile Corniche. We thought we could wait for a break in the 5 lanes of traffic, but not a chance. It turns out you just have to go, and sometimes stand on the dotted lines between the cars. Once you start, you cannot hesitate. The cars will go screaming around you or aim right at you. Its like playing chicken (or Frogger, the Americans say!) with the cars. To get back across that road, we paid off a policeman to help us across…not much help as he nearly got killed and no one stopped for him! After this, we headed to a huge round-about and decided to get to the other side (only after we dodged cars we realised we could have gone underground thru the subway!) Again, we had to just go to get across, or if you can follow the Egyptians. The cars don’t stop for red lights or any crossing guards, so you just have to go and pray that someone will stop before they hit you (my handbag got clipped!) Then, the actual crossing sign is a person RUNNING, not walking!

The Nile

We also took a ride on a felucca, a traditional Egyptian sailboat down the Nile. I felt like Cleopatra…of course she wouldn’t have been surrounded by pollution or honking cars, but it was amazing!

1 comment:

Dillon-RobertsOctober 2, 2010 at 2:21 AM
Oh yes, I remember black snot - had it in London too though!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Information About Cairo

The Lonely Planet says: “The crowds on a Cairo footpath make Manhattan look like a ghost town; your life will flash before your eyes each time you venture across the street, and your snot will run black with the smog”. All true!

The Lonely Planet also says: “This city has an energy, palpable even at 3 in the morning, like no other. It’s the product of 20 million people simultaneously crushing the city’s infrastructure under their collective weight and lifting the city’s spirit up with their uncommon graciousness and humour”. Again, all true (try finding water in any tap in my flat around 6 pm during Ramadan- EVERYONE is using water to cook!)

“So blow your nose, crack a joke and learn to look through the dirt the see the city’s true colours. If you love Cairo, it will love you back”. So far, so good!

The ancient Roman city of Babylon is where Cairo started. The core foundations were started in 969 AD by the Fatimids, who conquered the old city and began a new one. They named it Al- Qahira after the planet Mars (the Europeans butchered the name and it became Cairo). There are many buildings that still exist that were built in that time, and in times before that. Cairo is considered the Mother of the World, as it survived dynasties and Pharaohs whims as the city grew larger than its walls. The effects of each ruler can be seen in certain areas of the city. Cairo continues to grow today, with suburbs now reaching the pyramids. The estimated population for Cairo is 20 million people!