Next up, Exploring Cairo

I have found myself lagging a little behind on my blog. In real time, just yesterday I arrived back in Nairobi after spending two wonderful weeks in South Africa with my entire family – mother, father, sister, brother and sister-in-law. Prior to that, May was, and June now will be, a very busy month for me and the Millennium Cities Initiative, working primarily on the foreign investment prong of our work, but also preparing to start the health and education needs assessments. I will tell you all about the trip to South Africa and the current status of the MCI work soon.

But for now, because I cannot help but go chronologically, I am going to back up to April 27 and Cairo. Several weeks after the Lake Turkana trip, I found myself facing a national holiday in Kenya, Labor Day, which fell this year on Tuesday, May 1. Of course, I could not just stay in Nairobi, so I flew to Cairo on Friday, April 27, for a long 4-day weekend there. I had been to Cairo briefly when in college, on a weekend trip while working on an archaeological dig in Israel. I remember at that time finding Cairo dirty, smoggy, chaotic and dangerous. This time, arriving from Nairobi, I found it developed – with good roads, wireless internet access everywhere, plenty of modern stores and restaurants, even Starbucks; much less poor – even in the heart of the old Islamic section of Cairo, the people seemed to enjoy a standard of living well above millions here in Kenya, one sign being plenty of KFCs and McDonalds, restaurants most cannot afford in Kenya; and much safer – I felt very at ease walking around even into the early evening.

I stayed in a little hotel called Hotel Longchamps on the small, tree-lined residential island of Zamalek, situated in the middle of the Nile in the heart of Cairo. It reminded me of some neighborhoods in Paris, and after my arrival that afternoon, I enjoyed walking along the streets, looking at the old buildings that now house many of the embassies and sitting for coffee in an outdoor café. My hotel room had a balcony looking across the Nile into the heart of Islamic Cairo. So that evening, I sat on the balcony as the sun set, staring at the hundreds of minarets that line Cairo’s skyline while the muezzin prayer calls filled the air. I found it exotic and enchanting and could not wait to start exploring.

The next morning I started out early with a driver/guide named Ibrahim, to do what everyone does first on a visit Cairo – see the pyramids. We first drove south along the banks of the Nile to North Saqqara, where the pyramid age began in the 27th Century B.C., when the royal architect Imhotep enlarged a mastaba tomb to create the first step pyramid for King Zoser. I loved the drive to North Saqqara, seeing the fertile grounds along the Nile contrasted with the vast desert, as well as the life conducted along the river, from fruit sellers to carpet makers.

I did not, however, particularly enjoy touring the pyramids. Ibrahim turned out to be more of a driver than a guide, so I was left by myself at each sight to explore on my own. This would have been fine if I had just been left alone to wander around and read my guide book. But, from the moment I stepped out of the car at each place, I was harassed and followed by scores of men with donkeys and camels, all claiming to be “official guides” wanting to show me “special, off-limits” tombs. In a moment of weakness at the funerary complex of King Zoser, I agreed to get on a horse and ride out through the desert to view the Mastaba of Ti, a V Dynasty Tomb of some royal hairdresser named Ti. The entire ride out and back involved an argument over how far I would go and how much I would pay – if it had been up to my “guide,” we would have gone to Saudi Arabia and I would have paid enough to put his three children through school.

After arriving at the Mastaba of Ti, a few other “guards” and “guides” swarmed from out of nowhere and cajoled me inside the tomb and, for some Egyptian pounds to each of them, into taking pictures of the friezes and reliefs. They would all look anxiously outside the tomb, whisper and tell me to hurry. They did a wonderful job of making me feel as if I was just like Howard Carter upon his discovery of the tomb of King Tut - it was all a marvelous racket I would have found humorous had I not been so annoyed.

After North Saqqara, we traveled back along the Nile, north to see the three great pyramids of Giza – Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus. As the sole surviving member of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, they are stunning. Even with the skyline of Cairo and too many tour buses littering the background of these three pyramids, you cannot help gaze in awe at their sheer size and mass. I spent a few hours at Giza, shooing away more guides, walking around the base of each one, climbing partially up the largest one, that of Cheops, and then making my way over to view the Sphinx.

When I was finally done, I made my way past the stage for the daily sound and light show and to the nearest KFC, where Ibrahim pulled around to pick me up, midway through a spicy chicken sandwich that I enjoyed like I have never enjoyed fast food before. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a carpet school where I did not have to buy any carpets, but of course did, and at a perfume maker, where I did not have to buy any perfume, but of course did. It was a full and exhausting day, the first of three that I would spend exploring Cairo.

(Picture: On a horse, of course, in front of the step pyramid of King Zoser; in the Mastaba of Ti; in front of the pyramids of Giza…surprisingly no one stole my camera on this day!)