Upon sunrise, my flight touched the ground. Amongst the whispering relief of worried passengers, I took my few belongings and got out of the plane, only to find out that it was surprisingly...COLD! The only light jacket I brought with me was in the luggage so I had to make do with what I currently wore; a thin blue T-shirt suitable for humind summer in Bangkok.
The cold weather was just, as I found out later, a surprising consequence of my ignorance and lack of information and, to make matter worse, it was nothing when compared to a series of surprises waiting for me as I stepped out of the airport till the end of my trip.
From bargaining, buying bottled water, avoiding taxi touts, getting on a bus to downtown and finding the hostel I had previously booked, everything required an immense effort and a great sense of survival. I couldn't depend on, of course, the language and even less so on signs (which were few). However, I was fortunate enough to occassionally bump into some kind inglees-speaking locals who were willing to help me.
It took me few hours to adapt myself to the chaotic characteristics of Cairo and, consequently, invoke my old skill of orientation and survival that had been left unused for a long, long, long time since my last solo trips in Europe.
My first travel companions were three japanese tourists, a pair of mother and twenty-something daughter and a cute nerdy-looking guy all of whom I met at the bus port. After asking several locals for the right bus to downtown (all of them gave different answers!), we finally got to the downtown area. The cute guy parted directly to the Egyptian Museum while I headed for my hostel, led by my own instinct and a Lonely Planet in my hand. The poor mother and daughter were left wandering around the place looking for some good, vacant and reasonably-priced hotels (Do they exist in Cairo? I wonder).
After freshing up and fixing myself some breakfast, I got out to explore the area and, to my surprise, I found the japanese mother and daughter again! They were still looking for hotels! That was unbelievable, I thought that all the japanese guidebooks were very informative and, supposedly, should help them get to their much-needed accomodation already. Probably I was too shy or more interested in the city (aka selfish), all I could help them was fending off the hotel tout who was bothering them and suggested that they take a look at my hostel, even though its condition left much to complain about. I didn't know if they followed my suggestion, but I hope they equally enjoyed the day just as I did (now, having said that, I feel less guilty, heheh).
As there are so many interesting (and of course, surprising) features in Egypt, I don't think I can list them all here (and that will surely bore you guys to death). So I decided to put my notes written during my spare time (e.g. waiting for trains, lounging at a terrace at night, etc.) in the next chapters to sum up all my impressions about this country. I do hope you find them interesting and worthwhile just as I do. :-)
The cold weather was just, as I found out later, a surprising consequence of my ignorance and lack of information and, to make matter worse, it was nothing when compared to a series of surprises waiting for me as I stepped out of the airport till the end of my trip.
From bargaining, buying bottled water, avoiding taxi touts, getting on a bus to downtown and finding the hostel I had previously booked, everything required an immense effort and a great sense of survival. I couldn't depend on, of course, the language and even less so on signs (which were few). However, I was fortunate enough to occassionally bump into some kind inglees-speaking locals who were willing to help me.
It took me few hours to adapt myself to the chaotic characteristics of Cairo and, consequently, invoke my old skill of orientation and survival that had been left unused for a long, long, long time since my last solo trips in Europe.
My first travel companions were three japanese tourists, a pair of mother and twenty-something daughter and a cute nerdy-looking guy all of whom I met at the bus port. After asking several locals for the right bus to downtown (all of them gave different answers!), we finally got to the downtown area. The cute guy parted directly to the Egyptian Museum while I headed for my hostel, led by my own instinct and a Lonely Planet in my hand. The poor mother and daughter were left wandering around the place looking for some good, vacant and reasonably-priced hotels (Do they exist in Cairo? I wonder).
After freshing up and fixing myself some breakfast, I got out to explore the area and, to my surprise, I found the japanese mother and daughter again! They were still looking for hotels! That was unbelievable, I thought that all the japanese guidebooks were very informative and, supposedly, should help them get to their much-needed accomodation already. Probably I was too shy or more interested in the city (aka selfish), all I could help them was fending off the hotel tout who was bothering them and suggested that they take a look at my hostel, even though its condition left much to complain about. I didn't know if they followed my suggestion, but I hope they equally enjoyed the day just as I did (now, having said that, I feel less guilty, heheh).
As there are so many interesting (and of course, surprising) features in Egypt, I don't think I can list them all here (and that will surely bore you guys to death). So I decided to put my notes written during my spare time (e.g. waiting for trains, lounging at a terrace at night, etc.) in the next chapters to sum up all my impressions about this country. I do hope you find them interesting and worthwhile just as I do. :-)
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