Day 9 - Luxor to Cairo - March 17, 2023
Another early wake up - 5:30 am. A final look out of our cabin window showed the west bank through the now ever-present smoke haze from the farmers burning their fields. Disappointingly we could also see balloons flying over the area, if we had booked our trip for a few days later (and left for Cairo a few days later!) we could have been onboard.
Completing our packing, as instructed, we left our bags outside our door and headed up for breakfast for the last time. We joined our two remaining English speaking friends at their table after the other two left last night to make their own way onwards. They are going to Cairo as well so we will have at least some familiar faces joining us. After breakfast we returned to the room to pick up our rucksacks and were disappointed to see our bags still there so when we went to wait in the foyer for our pick up we made sure someone went to pick them up. Last thing we wanted was to arrive in Cairo without any luggage.
At 7:15 we were met by a guide who took us to the coach for our transfer to the Luxor International Airport (LXR) which took about 15 minutes. We passed through the farmer's fields on the outskirts of the city before entering the manicured green-grassed grounds of the airport itself. Everywhere the sprinklers were making sure the grounds stayed green.
The terminal building is quite impressive - A large rectangular block held up by pillars of papyrus with big glass windows but it was not entirely finished or is being refurbished as we had to drag our luggage from where the coach stopped across unfinished concrete and into the terminal.
Last night Ahmed had given us our plane tickets which were checked as we entered the building then we formed two lines for x-ray machines - Men on the left and ladies on the right. As I was calmly waiting my turn a man cut in front of me without any explanation and put his bags through just as I was going to do so. Before I could say anything he was through. I had thought he might have been in a hurry but a few minutes later I saw him standing in the middle of the room on his phone waiting for someone.
At the check in desk for our Cairo Air flight we were assigned two adjacent seats and were cautioned that no liquids would be allowed on the plane, no matter how small, but my asthma inhalers were fine. Before we got to our gate (11) we had to go through some more security before being allowed into the lounge. The lounge was a big area with lots of seating, toilets, a café, and some souvenir shops. The four of us sat and had some coffee and coke while we waited to be called for our flight which was due to depart about an hour later at 9:25.
A coach took us from the lounge area to the plane but we had to wait for about 10 minutes in the rather stuffy bus before being allowed to board our small prop plane. They seemed to have problems with the loading of the luggage and we were told as much after we had boarded when we had to wait about 30 minutes before finally taking off.
As always I was at the window and was glued to the views. Leaving the airport behind we passed over the disorganized chaos of the green city landscape and the blue ribbon of the Nile then onto long narrow strips of farmland which suddenly stopped, replaced by the never-ending brown of the dessert and barren rocky hills (also brown). For an hour we passed over the dessert as sipped the fruit juice offered by the stewardess. To be fair, it is not completely void, there is the landscape of brown rocky hills and the occasional road, all in various shades of brown. Quite a bit daunting. The first thing we saw of Cairo were the geometric patterns of housing developments, with identical buildings arranged around curiously predictable winding roads and equally predictable green spaces. Nearer to the airport were warehouses and other signs of industry then immediately around the airport large highways with huge, curving concrete overpasses and cloverleafs.
With the small aircraft we once again had to take a coach to the airport terminal (domestic arrivals, terminal 2). Where we waited some time for our luggage to arrive. Leaving the baggage hall we met a tour representative who had the four of us wait off to the side while he dealt with the larger group of German passengers. Eventually we were taken outside and put in separate vans. We were not going to be staying at the same hotel. Our 12 seater van was quite comfortable with garish decorations hanging from the roof and throughout. An hour after arrival we were on our way.
Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile, has a population of about 10 million people which has grown to be indistinguishable from it's neighbouring city of Giza, on the east bank of the Nile, which has more than 9 million people to become one big mass of about 22 million people making it the second largest city in Africa after Lagos in Nigeria.
We left the airport along the mostly elevated, winding highway towards the city passing by countless apartment buildings in various states of decay. Huge billboards lined the road advertising shopping centres, housing developments, toothpaste, restaurants, etc. For the most part we could not see too much with high concrete barriers lining the road, no doubt protecting local residents from the sound. The driving was more than a bit manic with the driver making no concessions to rules of the road or lanes, undertaking, overtaking, straddling lanes, with nary a horn honked as it seems to be the norm. As we entered central Cairo the road returned to ground level, the speed decreased and we passed by various government buildings, a military barracks, mosques, then the Nile itself here lined with trees and hotel.
We were getting excited - Perhaps our hotel would be in the middle of the city? That would be great as it would allow us to get out and explore quite easily.
Our hopes were dashed as we did not stop but continued past the Nile and leaving the buildings of the city behind. Farm land once again appeared and in the distance we could see the extraordinary sight of the pyramids in the distance. We were most definitely in Cairo. We followed a busy highway with tall pylons being built in the middle. We have been told this is part of the metro system that they are extending to this part of the city. In fact, the whole area we were passing through is under construction with huge building complexes on either side with shopping centres and the like. It is a lot newer than the rest of the city.
Eventually we passed the “Mall of Arabia” (second largest mall in the city, don't you know) on our right, did a U-turn onto the other side of the highway, with the driver slowing down considerably to see if he could spot the road to our hotel and, at one point, almost turning into a university car park. He found the small road that led away from the highway to the main entrance of our hotel opposite a huge vacant lot. Before we were allowed in the gate a guard took a dog around the van which looked more like a bit of fun for the dog rather than any actual security work. The gates opened and we were in the lush green of a modern hotel. Saints be praised, it was a Novotel, specifically, the “Novotel Cairo 6th of October”. Considerably different than our Hurghada accommodation a week ago - Far nicer and far less children, to be sure. This hotel, at least, was actually complete and was a hotel rather than resort. The modern lobby was very welcoming as we checked in to our room - 4125, with views out the front of the hotel across the vacant lot, the highway with it's line of unfinished transport pillars and the mall in the far distance. The room is spacious with two double beds, a huge wall-mounted television and a “rainfall” shower in the bathroom.
We finally have Internet access again so spent quite some time going through our emails and notifications. We found out the hotel is about 24 kilometres from the pyramids, 30 kilometres from the centre of Cairo and our trip from the airport was about 53 kilometres. The other couple on our tour are staying in the middle of the city very close to the pyramids. If we want to go anywhere ourselves we will have to either walk or, as suggested by the hotel, order an Uber. Neither of these really appealed.
It was already getting close to 3 pm and we had not had lunch so we sat in the hotel lounge and ordered some food from the bar. We each had a chicken shawarma which was served in a sesame seed bun with chips and a small pickled salad on the side along with a bowl of tahini. Absolutely delicious.
Out the back door of the hotel is a large kidney-shaped blue swimming pool lined with palm trees. There is a smaller, shallow pool off to the side for those not interested in a swim. There were few people about as it was sunny but quite cool. Mel had a bit of a swim but said it was very cold. I stayed warm on the side of the pool, continuing to go through my hundreds of emails.
I was not all that keen to eat in the hotel and wanted to get out a bit despite us being in the middle of no where. We were not all that bothered about getting an Uber so hatched a plan to visit the Mall of Arabia. The hitch was that it was on the far side of a very busy highway with no pedestrian crossing or even traffic light within reasonable distance. We would have to jay walk across 12 or so lanes of busy Egyptian traffic that have little regards to speed limits or other traffic rules. We discussed this together and agreed it would be fun to try so off we went.
Leaving the hotel we passed through the entrance gate with barely any notice taken by the guards. Mel was keen to see the security dog which is a reasonably large German Shephard who is handled by a guard who appears to be in training. Tethered up beside the gate the dog looked bored and also paid us little attention.
We walked alongside the road back to the highway on dusty pavement. At the highway there is a small takeaway restaurant in a shipping container that, surprisingly, even has toilets. We were not paying too much attention to this but instead were formulating a plan to cross the busy road. It was 5:30 pm, just approaching dusk and the road was just as busy as earlier. Eventually we crossed the nearside road by watching for gaps in the traffic, timing our crossing so that we were as far away from the oncoming traffic in the lane as possible. Each side of the highway has about 8 lanes. There was no verge in the middle of the road so we had to walk as close as we could to the middle barrier before crossing to the other side of the highway via an opening that allows cars to make U-turns (these are everywhere as they allow drivers to access facilities on either side of the road without having to make dangerous left turns across the traffic). Of course, there were cars coming up alongside us walking on the road but they gave us plenty of space. We crossed the other side of the highway without any incident, walking along the verge there stepping around the litter that formed there in piles. Amusingly, as we walked along local transport vans waved at us and I instinctively knew what they were doing - Offering us a lift to wherever they were going. I dismissed them with a wave was we made our way to the mall's car park entrance.
I have to think we are one of a very few number of people who have ever walked to the Mall of Arabia. They certainly do not make any allowances for pedestrians as we walked on the road through the security checkpoint (the guard did not even look at us as we passed by). When the pavement (sidewalk) did start we gratefully hopped up on it and made our way to the nearest mall entrance which was bustling with traffic. After passing through the doors we were immediately forced to pass through x-ray scanning security but this went quickly enough.
The mall is absolutely enormous with many shops you can find pretty much anywhere in the world. It is roughly rectangular shaped with shops on three floors with the outdoor middle section devoted to restaurants, gardens, fountains and sculptures with paths meandering everywhere. It was all quite comforting and we felt in no way uncomfortable. On entering we walked only a short distance before Mel was attracted to a store selling scarves and jackets. She picked up a pink felt jacket that I can't see anyone needing to ever wear in Egypt. The store staff were very friendly and helpful. We wandered around a bit and found a massive supermarket, Spinneys, on the north side of the mall. I love visiting supermarkets in foreign countries as it gives a good insight into how the local people eat and what it is like to live here. I did, however, have to get some cash first so went to a nearby mall entrance where there was a cash machine then passed through security again into the mall.
The supermarket had clothing, electronics, Egyptian souvenirs, furniture, linen, as well as a huge variety of food. We were most interested in a kiosk selling spices, raisons, nuts and dried fruit in bulk. A number of the items were not familiar to us at all but many were. Wandering down each and every aisle to see what we could find we stumbled across an assortment of Cheetos (fried cheese snakes), Twinkies, Tang, Clorets (chewing gum), Trident (also chewing gum) and Chiclets (natch) all of which we remember from our youth but cannot get in the UK. We ended up picking up some bottled water (it was far cheaper here than in the hotel), soft drinks, Tang (!), Cheetos (!), a selection of unusually flavoured “Galaxy” chocolate bars (including Turkish delight) and a big container of plain halva (sweet sesame paste desert) which was incredibly cheap.
We continued our circuit of the mall noting that the far side seemed to have a number of empty shops. Along the way we picked up some spiced nuts from a very insistent man who kept offering us samples. At the end we probably ate his entire profit from our sale in the samples he gave us. The Ikea was on two levels and looked reasonably busy considering it was almost 7 pm already.
Mel was not hungry but I wanted to get something to eat. We went outside into the massive courtyard of the mall but the restaurants were far more formal than we wanted and did not have anything that really took our interest. Eventually we visited the large indoor (fast) foodcourt and visited one of our favourites - “Cold Stone Ice Cream”. They gave us a bit of a show as they threw the ice cream to each other in the air while they assembled our selections into large waffle cones. We sat and enjoyed our delicious treat.
After some more wandering I was still hungry so we returned to the foodcourt where I had a look around to see what I was interested in. I wanted something unusual, not Papa Johns, Arby's, Subway or Cinnabon. There is an amusingly named HeartAttack place that sells unashamedly bad for you burgers and fried chicken - “Taste worth dying for”, I kid you not.
I eventually decided on “Kansas Chicken” which seemed to do a great selection of fried chicken and I had heard was quite good in other countries.
It was now almost 8:30 pm so I picked up my order after a few minutes wait and we left the mall for the return to the hotel.
The traffic perhaps was a bit easier to take the second time with the lights on the vehicles making them easier to spot though some did not have lights…
Back in the hotel I enjoyed my chicken on the bed watching one of the very few English channels on the television (BBC World). Tomorrow is our first day in Cairo and I am very much looking forward to it.
⇒ Continue to Day 10 - Giza Plateau and Egyptian Museum - March 18, 2023