The Return to Egypt 2019, And I Learn a Bit About Agriculture and Egyptian Male Names

You might have gathered in the past that I do a bit of gardening myself, indeed where I spend my winters on Crete (when I am not somewhere warmer!), my garden is some 820 sq metres, less the footprint of the house, or just shy of a quarter of an acre for those that don't do metric. While much of it is ornamental and partly paved I always try and grow food crops, so wherever I go what they grow and how they grow it is always of interest. 

I think I noted in the past that there are fields full of grass, which is used for animal feed, but what I didn't say was that farming as such seems to be very small scale. So wandering south from my hotel I come across one such small holding. Passing along the way a new mosque under construction.

A bit further on I find Sayed (I am guessing at the spelling), who has some horses, a donkey or to, and a very fine Friesian cow, indeed I reckon in a competeition it would be a prize winning cow. and also a couple of vegetable plots. He grows tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and so on, and also some prize winning cauliflowers! 

But I am puzzled because obviously in this climate irrigation is essential but apart from a couple of large pipes I cannot see anything else.

 I ask Sayed about this and it seems that old habits die hard. So used are they to the Nile flooding annually that they still used flood irrigation, hence the reason why everything is grown in a sunken bed. 

And Sayed tells me that he only irrigates about once a week, which means going down to the side of the Nile and starting up one of the big pumps that you see at intervals to pull the water up from the Nile to his fields.

I personally am inclined to think that this is a bit on the wasteful side and that individual drip watering for each row of plants might be a better usage of water, but then so confident are they that the Nile ''will always be there'', that it doesn't seem to worry them! 




 There is however a trade off for having a constant year round water supply without the annual flood, and that is that the annual floods used to replenish the fertility of the soil with alluvial deposits and this no longer happens so there is now reliance on artificial fertilisers.

You win some, you lose some..... Although with all those horses the opportunity for a bit of organic gardening does seem a bit wasted. But even that has its problems as in a climate like this it is very difficult to get the horse manure to rot down!!

Returning back to the ''centre'' I find a number of interesting doorways and a couple of unfinished hotels...

On the way to the big open cafe near the ferry 

I have to pass the boatman, most of whom I now know by name, nearly all of them have ''traditional'' names so there are various Ahmeds, Muhammeds, Abduls, Abdullahs, Patrick, and Clive..... Don't ask it is too complicated.

In the cafe a fine example of flood irrigation in progress along with a very large cock....

 To the left is Mahmud, and I have already mentioned a Mahmud, but this is a different Mahmud. This Mahmud has been trying, unsuccessfuly,  to get me to go on his felucca. Personally I think Mahmud is too young to even be out of the house on his own, let alone take people out on the river...

But I am going to meet
Ahmed who drives the boat that is called Ahmed, that belongs to his uncle who is called Ahmed...... You see how difficult this can be when everyone has the same name?? It is a bit like standing in the village square in a village on Crete and shouting out Giorgio or Manoli... At least 10 people will shout out ''Yes''....

Ahmed is trying to get me to go on an evening cruise, and I am trying to get the price down which probably means feeding him but it will be cheaper than the extortionate amount he is asking at the moment....  

And also, Abdul, is also trying to get me to go for a Sunday cruise to Banana Island, the Abdul that used to have a felucca but sold it, not Abdul the taxi driver, or the Abdul that took me to look at a holiday apartment belonging to Mahmud....... And then there are Abdullahs as well. 

This is an Abdullah.... Abdullah works in the hotel where I am staying, indeed he lives in. If you can call sleeping on a bed in the front garden under a pile of blankets ''living in''... I am not sure what his actual title is but it does involve hosing down the paving in the front garden. Abdullah claims that he did not see me sitting outside my room reading a book when he ''accidentally'' put the hose on me. For some reason I do not believe Abdullah. But how could you possibly get cross with Abdullah?

He has a baby daughter who has his eyes, and at the age of 6 months has eyelashes that most woman would die for!

Finally the deal with Ahmed is done, and it means that tomorrow I get a ''free'' ride across to the East Bank as he has a party to take over, and later he will bring me back, (which has saved me all of 50 English Pence on the public ferry), because I am going to Luxor Temple, and also the market for a bit of serious shopping......

The Return to Egypt 2019, and The Return To The Valley Of The Kings... And Food..

If you were paying attention (I will be asking questions later), you will remember that I did comment that the guided visit to the Valley was a bit rushed and very crowded so going it alone will, I think, be better.

I have arranged with Abdul the taxi driver to take me there and come back and pick me up with as I thought, leaving me plenty of time while to be there, but I got that wrong as well!

Arriving in the car park I run the gauntlet of the souvenir sellers before getting to the ''reception centre'' which has a very nice 3D model of the Valley, but obviously being without a guide I am fair game for every ticket tout and ''official guide'' in the place.... 

Tim's Top Tip of The Day... If you ''un-guided'' when you arrive at the reception centre to the left of the 3D model behind a screen is a board telling you which tombs are open today... The man that approaches you and takes you around the screen is going to expect to be tipped.....

Having said that I am all for free enterprise but I think US$20 was a bit much... He got LE£5 and that was it.... And then you have to go further and buy your entry ticket which gets you into the 3 tombs that are open that day, and if you are like me and want to avoid the crowds, you can pay the extra to go into certain other tombs. Indeed I want to go and see King Tut's tomb....

And then there is the extra bit that you have to pay to get on to the ''happy train'' to get up to the main site. You can walk, but why walk...... Well actually it is seemingly quite difficult to get on one of the trains because the guides are shoving all their punters on first. So I try my best to look foreign and pretend I am part of a party to get on the train...

There are no photos here because I have had to leave my camera behind at the gate....

The Valley is a very barren, hot, dry area..... If you are going to be walking about to the further tombs then go early!!

I have paid extra, about GB£6 to see the tombs of Rameses VI and Tutankhamun as well as whatever else is open..... Well worth the extra to avoid the crowded, (but not so crowded as my last visit), tombs closer to the gate. 

Indeed the curator/security man at the tomb of Rameses VI, having nothing else to do, came with me and pointed out many of the main features!

And then I got to Tutankhamun's tomb.... I never got to see it because somehow I felt that it would be disturbing him, you see he is still in there..... And everyone has a right to peace in their last resting place.

Returning to the car park an hour late (!), I cannot see Abdul the taxi driver, but I am accosted by another taxi driver, and my Abdul is not answering his phone... Am I being duped? But no I am not, Abdul has had to take his son to the doctor so could not wait for me so he has arranged for somebody else to come and look for the Englishman with the grey beard wearing a ''Howard Carter hat'' to meet me.

I am fully expecting to have to pay again for the return trip to my hotel, but no, my new driver works with Abdul and has already been paid, ''But I was waiting nearly an hour for you'', which is at least worth a tip even by my frugal standards.

And now it is evening and time to eat.... 


Having been here for a few days I have found a few places to eat.... Unlike the East Bank, the West Bank is a bit more ''basic'', don't expect carpet or even ceramic tiles on the floor, hard packed earth seems to be more normal.

But either way the food is good. The cookery I can only describe as ''Eastern Mediterranean/North African'' but with a greater emphasis on meat than I was expecting, and many of the meat dishes are ''spicy''. Indeed when you order they usually ask you how spicy you would like it.

 What I would like to know is, who has the time to cut up a plate of salad in such small pieces??

Decorations in most places are ''ethnic'' to say the least, and the service is not always top notch, but who cares when you can sit and look at a view of the Nile by night.


 And you can get a good feed for less than GB£4!!

Having been here for a few nights now I suddenly realise that many of the foreigners that are around are not just visitors, they are indeed medium to long term residents.

I noticed on my previous visit that there seemed to be some Brits around who might well be regular visitors, but here on the West Bank there are more than I expected.

Which explains at least one menu...







Sorry about the photos, they are from my phone again.

There are also many street food places with an amazing array of things to eat, and chips of course, but then they do grow very good potatoes in Egypt!

And don't be surprised if you have a cat for company while you are eating.













I am getting quite good at arranging the photos on Blogger now......












Meanwhile at my hotel I am getting the all important breakfast sorted out. The first morning I ended up with everything on the menu, and a couple of things that weren't, but we have now managed to cut it down to an omelette, an orange, and some pitta bread.


 There is no plan for the next couple of days apart from having a wander around and poking my nose into corners where it should probably not be, and I might go and find the Abdul that I met a few days ago, or perhaps I will go and chat to that Ahmed who sails a boat called ''Ahmed'' that belongs to his uncle who is called.... Ahmed.

.........

The Return to Egypt 2019, Meeting an Old Friend, Luxor Museum, and Egyptian Tea

If I said that arriving in Luxor seemed a bit like coming home, then meeting up with Abdul again was like meeting a lifelong friend. But all is not well in the state of Egypt to copy a bit from Shakespeare.. For a start the price of fuel has gone up, and so has sugar.....

But all that apart, Abdul used to have his very own felucca, one of the smaller ones, but it was all his own, but he had to sell it to pay for his father's medical care, (he has a bad heart and diabetes as I understand it). Not an unusual move in the circumstance except that soon afterwards the Egyptian Govt. decided that no more felucca licences would be issued..... Of course, Abdul sold at the bottom of the market and shortly afterwards prices rocketed!! 

Annoying to say the least, so Abdul now, when he can, sails somebody else's motorboat/felucca, and splits the proceeds with the owner. Nevertheless he, and the owner of the boat, pick me up on the riverbank opposite my hotel, next to the garbage barge... I know this is going to cost me but it is the personal service you pay for, US$30 to take me across to the East Bank not far from the museum, wait for me and bring me back again. It makes economic sense if there are 10 people but not really for one passenger!!

Luxor Museum is delightful, one of the best museums I have been in anywhere in the World.... 

Succinct display of exhibits, beautifully lit, and with more than adequate signage something which is sorely lacking in many museums!  

Not too many pictures here or it will spoil the fun for everyone else..... As usual there is an extra charge for taking your camera in, and as it is only EG£5 it is worth it. Go in the morning because it is less crowded. 



Blogger takes the definition down a bit too much sometimes......


The sarcophagus with hieroglyphics on the inside was interesting. Why put them on the inside? To give the deceased something to read perhaps?

There are also a couple of information displays with stories about the latest finds, and yes, they are still finding new tombs, and there are still many things to be found...

I return to the boat via the bakery where they have a great selection of pies both sweet and savoury, and next door I find a man with a huge vat of boiling oil cooking falafel outside of a street food shop..... He gives me one to try, fatal mistake because I then have to buy a dozen! (Pig)

Arriving back at the boat Abdul and co spot the bakery bag.... That's fatal too, I intended that they were for them anyway, but when they started eating my falafel as well........... But the Egyptians DO like their food, and they are going to make tea.....

I don't know how tea arrived in Egypt, whether it is a leftover from the British, or whether it arrived direct from The East by the overland route, either way the Egyptians thoroughly understand the concept of boiling water, and instead of presenting you with a cup of lukewarm water with a tea bag on the saucer beside it, this is real tea. 

They call it Egyptian tea but to be honest the chances of growing a camellia bush in their climate is virtually zero so I have to assume it is imported and most likely from India, whatever it is leaf tea... Real tea..... It is usually served in a glass, or perhaps a glass mug, and if you are really lucky there will still be a handle on the mug because otherwise it is too hot too handle!

Every boat has a cubby hole with a ''Gaz'' stove and a kettle or saucepan for making this delicious brew...


And when you are offered tea be careful... It is going to have about 4 spoons of sugar in it, I normally put milk in my tea, but this stuff I can drink black and with just a hint of sugar to ''take the edge off'' as it were.

Abdul and his ''co boatman'' are a bit up market as well because they are using bottled water, don't be at all surprised if it is made with a saucepan of water lifted straight out of the Nile!


Nothing wrong with that by the way, after all it is going to be boiled and the Nile is a good deal cleaner than you might think!

Heading back to the West Bank I can see all the cruise ships moored up going nowhere, even more of them than when I was here two years ago.... And all the feluccas as well....

Tomorrow is revisiting The King's Valley.......

The Return to Egypt 2019, Exploring The West Bank.....

Arriving at Cairo Airport is always an experience, it is a busy airport, and everyone has a least 10 suitcases that have to be scanned....

Once through security I again marvel at how quiet it is on the other side. Where has everybody gone??

The last time I did the flight from Cairo to Luxor it was on an Embraer aircraft which I was rather impressed with as far as comfort and noise went. This time it is an Airbus, and Egypt Air have ''upgraded'' me, which means instead of sitting at the back, my favoured position, I am now half way up the aircraft directly behind Business Class with the curtain directly in front of me.

We board and are then told there will be a short delay, which turns out to be over an hour because we have to wait..... For the catering truck... On such a short flight I really think we could have done without a packet of biscuits and a cup of lukewarm coffee but there you go... When we do finally take off and the trolley comes around the man next to me manages to convince the young lady that as we are sitting so close to Business Class we should get Business Class service. We get a plate of sandwiches each.

Arriving at Luxor the wait for baggage seems like forever. But my driver, organised by my hotel is outside waiting for me, he looks vaguely familiar.

''I know you,'' he says.

Realisation dawns, it is the man that took me to the train station the last time I was here, the one with the oldest Peugeot car still in existence. ''Lord help me,'' I think, ''Don't tell me we are going all the way to the West Bank in that Peugeot.''

Luckily he has a ''newer'' vehicle this time, and we take off through the sugar cane fields, they grow a lot of sugar in Egypt, through Luxor to the bridge as this time I am staying on the West Bank...

 This might sound odd, but in a way, I rather feel like I am coming home.

Of course taking a taxi is the long way round and it would be a lot quicker to take a taxi to the ferry and then walk to my hotel which is not far from the ferry terminal on the West Bank.... But I am not as young as I used to be....

No flash hotels this time, a basic apartment in one of the several smaller hotels that exist on the West Bank. A bit of unpacking to do as I am here for three weeks and then a wander around to get my bearings, and tonight I will eat at the hotel on the rooftop as the cook tells me the food is very good!!

Sorry about the quality of the video, my phone is not the best!! But you get the general idea. The place I am staying is almost opposite The Winter Palace where I stayed on my last visit.

The West Bank is considerably less touristy than the East Bank, the ''Corniche'' is quite short running either side of the public ferry dock, and apart from the main road that leads from the Corniche out to the Valley Of The King's most of the side roads are unmade. Here the ordinary daily life of Egypt carries on, in some cases much as it has done for a thousand years.

The road past my hotel is, like many others, dirt..... 

A car is definitely a rarity, a motocycle slightly more common, but most of the traffic is on foot, by donkey, or by horse. 

There is just an open space between here and the Nile but rumour has it that the Corniche will be extended and then like anywhere else, property prices will rise!

From where I am staying I approach the Corniche and the public ferry from the south, I know this looks pretty deserted but as you approach the public ferry you get mobbed by Nile boatmen. It is Egypt, what else do you expect??

The public ferry costs EG£5, about 25 English pence, to cross to the East Bank, the boatmen want GB£20 at least..... And anyway you meet more

interesting people on the public ferry!

As before there are a lot of boats and feluccas going nowhere, and a lot of shipping that has clearly not been anywhere for a while...

Perhaps the names of the boats might put some people off using them!

Fighting my way through the boatmen and taxi drivers wanting to take me to ''The Valley'' heading north I am taking  wander and find Abdul, another Abdul that is. Not the one I met last time I was here. This Abdul has a felucca but does not seem very interested in going anywhere in it. He is interested in coffee though and we find a typical little Nileside cafe, with dirt floors and wobbly tables, and a fai amount of ethnicity about it.

The coffee is good......

Abdul says I should go and look for accommodation in the village of El Gezira because it will be cheaper. (And probably he gets a commission). 

It was actually quite an interesting walk, up the main road from the ferry, passing various shops on the way, including a butcher's where they haven't heard of refrigeration yet, and the meat probably tastes all the better without it.

Along with a pharmacy, a new ATM that has just been installed but doesn't work yet, the nearest one is across the river on the East Bank, a greengrocer and other vital services like a mobile phone shop.....

There is a least one felucca in business, and that's a picture of Abdul 2 on his felucca.... And below is the place where we went for coffee... Complete with dirt floors, (none of those fancy ceramic tiles in Egypt), and some very ethnic throws etc.. While we are on that subject of ethnic throws, somebody ''back home'' asked me if I could get them one of the brightly coloured blankets they put on the camels.

After a bit of research I found out that they are Bedouin work and cost fortunes!! I was taken to meet the man that sells them but I had to decline his offer...

I will let the photos do the talking for the most part, but on the way to see this accommodation we pass a stables, Abdul want to know if I can ride a horse. ''Well I did try years ago but kept falling off.'' ''I will teach you,'' he says..... Having and using a horse and a donkey is still something the do here, you will often see children on the way to school on a donkey, and I must admit I didn't know that donkeys went that fast  but if you are late for school then they do.

I am reminded of Greece in some ways, for instance, the ladder is not long enough?? Then tie two together with a piece of rope. And there is a shop selling live rabbits for eating. Sorry about that.

It is quite a pleasant stroll through the area, and I notice that there are several small hotels along the way, and a couple of bigger ones as well, and the normal number of unfinished buildings to avoid paying the tax, although Abdul tells me that they now have to pay it anyway!

 Finally we reach the apartment that he has been telling me about. It belongs to Mahmoud who like a lot of Egytpians is not so tall, and slightly built, and most of him seems to be made up of ''turban'' which apparently extends beyond his shoulders, but doesn't really....

During the course of our travels I have made contact with Abdul the boatman from my previous visit. Isn't WhatsApp wonderful, and tomorrow morning hes i picking me up on the riverbank by my hotel...

Returning to my hotel I find the ''chamberman'' has been taking lessons from the ones on the Nile cruise ships so I can look forward to finding there are no towels in the bathroom and my hat and spectacles have been used to make monsters on my bed... In this case the remote control for the aircon as well.

And a quick note on that too, Egytpian summers are hot, around the 40C mark, but the humidity is low which makes the heat more comfortable. In winter the days are delightfully warm, mid to high 20s Celsius, but the nights are cold!!

I had to ask for an extra blanket, but then anything below 20C means I wear thermal socks, it is all to do with the dicky mitral valve in the heart.

 

And so to bed...... After something to eat that is....

The (Belated) Return to Egypt January 2019 - Cairo.

Somehow i just knew I was going to come back to Egypt again.....

But first, I have taken the liberty of re-dating the original posts so that they start earliest first, this will give new readers a chance to start at the beginning instead of the end of the 2017 trip!!

A few weeks after my return from the January 2017 trip I was taken into hospital in Greece (where I was spending the winter), the doctors were surprised that I had been able to fly to Egypt so recently, and even more surprised to find that the previous January (2016) I had spent 13 hours on a flight to Singapore!! Anyway it is the end of March and I am due to fly back to the UK the following weekend in time to celebrate my 65th birthday in Brighton. Except I am not because they will not let me......

Two days after I returned from the 2017 trip I was already looking flights and doing a bit of planning towards returning in January 2018, but the (not unexpected), news that I had chest problems put the fear of God up me, and the plan was dropped as I had now become a nervous flyer!!

Yes me, nervous. Me who over the period of many years has clocked up millions of miles at least!!

But in the meantime something else came up that didn't need to much flying, well only one way across the Atlantic anyway, and in September 2018 I spent 6 weeks in the USA and Canada, but that is another story.

The hankering to return to Egypt was still there and having clocked up a few more air miles I had free tickets to Egypt and back..... So........ The trip to the US and Canada having been a bit breathless (pun intended), a more relaxing holiday to Egypt is called for and time to fill in a few blanks as it were.

The itinerary will be Cairo, and Luxor, and that is it. No desperate one day tours into the desert, no cruise to anywhere, and just a few visits that were an absolute must to fill in the gaps from before.

Arriving in Cairo in the middle of the night, (that's air miles for you, they put you on a flight that nobody wants to be on), I have booked a transfer except that this time there is nobody to meet me before passport control, but that is OK because I have done this before... First change money, and get the visa, stick it in the passport, and go to immigration with the landing card.... Reclaim bags, but still nobody with a sign up with my name on it.....

Something different, after reclaim you don't get your passport checked yet again, but they do X ray your bags on the way out.

I get the usual approaches from taxi drivers and at this point many might think, ''Hell my transfer is not here. I'll get a cab''. But my driver is outside the terminal building, no sign up but a tablet instead!! How modern is that then?

And Tim's Tip Of The Day.... Get WhatsApp on your mobile phone. Everybody in Egypt is on it and it is a really good way of getting in touch with transfer drivers and tour companies. You don't even need to use data because there are Wi-fis everywherem and if you do need to turn data on then WhatsApp is very frugal with it!

I am staying at Mena House, yes I am still on the Agatha Christie trail, and remember I was a bit put out because my co-travellers on the Nile cruise in 2017 had stayed there and I hadn't. Not that I was jealous of course.

So Day 1 is in Cairo.... Breakfast time at Mena House. And what a crap view that is to have to look at while you are having breakfast on the terrace at Mena House.

Slightly disappointed that the old part of Mena House is not currently open but never mind. I am in Cairo so what else matters. And the Great Pyramid of Cheops is just a short walk away.

Walking up to the Pyramids is like, well I don't know what it is like, but it involves getting accosted by taxi drivers, (why do I need a taxi? It is only half a mile away), and people trying to sell you tours, and tour guides, and who needs one of those when you can read the guide book??

But I found the same tactic worked as with boatmen in Luxor, engage them in conversation and then walk off..... On the way up the hill you pass a yard where they keep lots of very dusty cars, carriages, and spare camels.

Getting a ticket into Giza means standing in a queue, but this gives you time to read the price list, (entry in Egyptian archaeological sites is still cheap compared with other countries), and the plethora of options that seem to be available is confusing in spite of the gentlemen that approach you and offer to sell you a ticket for US$50. When you finally get to the ticket office, be prepared to be ignored and get pushed out of the way by a local who is obviously in a lot more of a hurry than you. So when I finally get the man's attention I just ask for a ticket. 

''Just one?'' 

''Yes, just one.''

Five English Pounds later I have my ticket, (which apparently does most things depending on the time of day, and the day of the week, and whether it is an odd or even date, and whether there is an R in the month), and on the way up to the Great Pyramid I am accosted yet again by an ''official guide'' flashing a very official looking ''badge'' asking me what ticket I have. So I show him and he very helpfully tells me what it entitles me to see, except the man checking the tickets has already told me... I think he was expecting a tip for telling me but he didn't get one.

The last trip was somewhat rushed and with long explanations from my guide there was no time for roaming. This time I am able to roam at my leisure and marvel at the people taking selfies with nothing but desert and blue sky behind them. Rather like people who take pictures of themselves on a beach with nothing but sea and sky behind them. They could be anywhere.....

My ticket does not let me go into everything, but I manage to get into the Boat Museum, and also I can visit the Temple of Khafre and The Sphinx..... And also the Tomb of Seshem Nefer Theti.






Meanwhile I encounter Ali..... Ali has a camel.... Ali wants me to take a camel ride, and if you read the blog on the 2017 trip, I am never getting on a camel again.

Ali will take a picture of me sitting on the camel, while it is on the ground, for a couple of English pounds... Ali is a rip off merchant.....




 Ali takes a very nice selfie of himself using my camera, and a picture of me on the camel.... Which is fine but then he pockets my camera, whistles and the camel stands up and takes off across the desert, stopping next to a ruined wall which means I can get off the camel on to the wall......


He then thinks I am going to give him US$200 for the camel ride and to get my camera back. Ali doesn't know that I only have a few English Pounds on me and he can keep the camera...

Something of an argument ensues while I walk back up to the track leading to The Sphinx, but I do give him a fiver and he does give me back the camera while still shouting (presumably) abuse at me.......

I think Ali is saving up for some serious dental work.

On the way down to the Sphinx I pass two policemen who ask me what was going on up the hill, so I tell them and show them the picture of Ali. They are not happy and a few minutes later I see them up the hill talking to Ali.

I think Ali got into trouble. But never mind, I arrive down the hill at the Sphinx and a very nice official guide takes my photograph for me, doesn't even want a tip, and restores my faith in human nature. Before leaving Giza Plateau I take a look around and still marvel at how Giza has grown since I saw pictures of the Sphinx in the ''Children's Book Of Knowledge when I was about 7 or 8 years old, when it was in the middle of the desert.... They seem now to be pulling down some buildings nearby, and I am heading for the rather excellent restaurant where I had lunch the last time I was here, only to find it is closed, and has been for some some, as is the restaurant next door.

Indeed none of the restaurants in the area seems to be open. A sign of the times, or are they going to knock them down I wonder??

I cannot re-enter the Plateau it seems so I take a walk by the main road back to my hotel, this turns out to be the long route, and certainly not the prettiest. Egypt is not a place for those of limited physical capabilities. The pavement all seem to be at least a foot high and involve a big step up and down as you cross a side road. Which is why everyone walks along the side of the road I guess.

I don't think many tourists walk this way as I don't get accosted at all by any of the shop keepers. Disappointing in a way, but I do get something to eat and I let the man in the shop do the choosing for me, and end up with more food than I can eat for EG£75, say GB£3.50 roughly.

When I get back to my hotel I pause to take a picture of the very large light fitting in reception before getting an early night.

Tomorrow is flying to Luxor day, and as I didn't get to sleep until gone 3 am this morning and early night is called for.

The next day is a leisurely one with plenty of time for breakfast before my taxi to the airport.

You will read that the trip from Giza to Cairo Airport takes less than an hour via the ''ring road''. It doesn't because the traffic is at a complete standstill and it takes over an hour and a half. Luckily I have allowed plenty of time, and it was worth the extra time just to get a view of IKEA on the way.....