Egypt summer 2011, CAIRO part 1

On 30th of May I woke up at 5.25am and I was so excited! The situation in Egypt was calmer than it had been three or four months ago. Our first flight to Riga was at 8.30am and we had to pay 30€ extra to put my backpack to the cargo hold. At the airport we were so excited and also a bit nervous about how we were going to find our hostel in Cairo. The first flight only took 40 minutes and the next flight was to Istanbul. At the airport of Istanbul we were sitting and talking after having eaten at Burger King when we noticed on the board the it said "go to the gate" next to our flight and it had already started 10 minutes ago. The airport was huge and we were not even close to our gate. We hurried to find the gate number 213 and rushed through the security check untill we noticed that we were in a small room with glass windows from the floor to the ceiling. The few people sitting there watched us amused when we were almost panting and it was 45 minutes until the boarding was about to start. We couldn't leave anywhere from the room and I desperately needed to pee! 

It was around 6-7pm when we landed to Cairo and it was pitch black already, only the lights from the city. We started walking towards the passport check point but first we changed money and bought visas. At the passport check point about 7 men came to watch us and our passports. Those were the first "do you wanna marry me?" lines we heard. Saija was really distressed. We waited to get my backpack and we saw people staring at us. We put our backpacks on and the first thing was to find an info from the airport. I had searched online how to get to our hostel but I wanted to make sure before we left from the airport. Still inside the airport all the taxi drivers asked us if we wanted a ride somewhere and Saija started answering really nicely like "no, thank you we have our own plans and plaa plaa.." Soon she realised that they weren't going anywhere if you were too nice to them. At the info point we asked from these nice ladies how to get to our hostel. The answer was:  "You don't want to go there. We have a revolution war going on and the hostel is too near the place were all the riots happen. And you're two blond women." After convincing them that we had booked the hostel, we got the directions. The hostel was in Downtown Cairo near the Egyptian museum. Outside the airport there was around 50 men, all of them staring at us! Saija looked like a deer in headlights! She was terrified! I was too but I couldn't panic, otherwise we would have been in trouble! 

Somehow we managed to hop on an airport bus going to the terminal one from which the local buses to Cairo left. We found the bus station but there was no numbers on the buses. We asked some men but no one knew anything. Then I just walked to one bus and asked if anyone spoke english and if the bus was going near the Egyptian museum. This airport security guard answered that yes it goes there. The seats were so small that we had difficult time to fit into them with the backpacks on our laps. The woman sitting in front of us with a scarf on her face which covered most of it (called chador or niqab?) whispered us only to pay 1 pound for the ride and not more! She was really kind 'cause the cashier man could have tried to get us pay anything. On the bus the culture shock hit me. Everything looked so big and it was so dark. We didn't have water and no idea where we were and were to get of. It kept us calm that we knew the guy who had helped us was still on the bus but when Saija turned to look at him, he was asleep..

The way to get of from the bus in Egypt is that the bus slowers down and you just have to hop of. Suddenly the man woke up and was starting the get of and told us that this was our stop too. We managed not to die while getting of the bus. "I'm a big big girl in a big big world" was not playing in my head at the moment when we were standing on the streets of Cairo. We had NO idea which direction to go and started looking for signposts while trying not the get under the traffic. We couldn't find any signposts. The same guy asked us if we needed help and we assured him that we were fine. He started walking away from us but turned back to us when he realised that we really were lost! :D His name was Mohammed (surprisingly..). He started to walk with us and to show us a way to our hostel. He had to ask several times from people which direction to go to. We was the kindest man! We was working at the airport and he showed us his ID (which was really kind gesture to do). He bought us water even though we offered to pay them. On our way we had to cross many streets and me and Saija were screaming and running after Mohammed while he laughed at us. One car even gently nudged me while standing on the road.. We ended up walking 45 minutes untill we found the building were our hostel was. Mohammed walked us all the way to the reseption. He gave us his simcard so we could have an egyptian number (that was really helpful on the trip!). We promised to call him (he had an other sim card also) if we needed any help.

WakeUpCairo hostel

The hostel was small but really cosy with helpful and nice staff! In our room there were six beds in it and we were the only girls (we only saw maybe two other traveller girls (one travelling alone and the other with her boyfriend) on the whole trip!). One guy was from Spain: Alain, one from Australia: Kurt and one from Canada: Marc. Marc was a 29-years old university teacher and he taught financies and he loved to travel on holidays. Kurt had a great sense of humour and I wasn't always sure if he spoke true or false. At first we called him a surfer boy but later we found out that he was 28 years old!  Alain was this crazy about our age boy from Spain. They all travelled alone. Marc had just also arrived there before us so we agreed going to see the pyramids together the next day. Maybe five other travellers were hanging in the small "living room" so we went out with Marc to buy some beer. Yes, you can still find beer in an islamic country if you know where to look for. Marc was supposed to know but we never found the place.. We walked around the neighbourhood about 60 minutes and it was the first touch that me and Saija got when ALL the people stared at and whistle to us! It was maybe 11pm and the streets were full of live and people! All the shops were open and the weather was really warm! We walked past this one narrow street were was an army truck on the street and maybe 15 military persons standing in a line with guns. That was a bit scary to see on our first night. Back at the hostel, Ihab from the staff told us about Egypt and we were planning a trip to desert to spend one night there in the beduin village from where the stars look grystal clear. That never happened since we had so much more to see and do and only a few days in Cairo. We went to sleep around midnight and were supposed to leave from the hostel at 8 am. :)