Egypt Part The Third, A Day In Cairo And Buying a Rail Ticket

 Sometimes things in Egypt do not quite go according to plan, and in this instance it was the non arrival of my transit car ordered through the hotel.

At first I thought this might be because of my early arrival at the airport and the lack of other passengers meant that it took only 40 minutes to get through the airport so the car would turn up in its own time.

But the Egyptians are ever helpful and an official, yes really, an official taxi rep kindly phoned the hotel for me and finally got hold of the owner who admitted that he had forgotten to order my transfer, so my new found taxi rep offered to take me into Cairo at the same price, at which point I lied and said the hotel had quoted me US$20 when they had actually said US$25.

The traffic in Cairo has not got any better and I am surprised to see that there are many new infrastructure projects being started, but it is a shame that they haven't finished the older ones yet.

Indeed, Cairo must be quite high up on the list of most un-finished cities in the world. Or perhaps I mean one of the least finished cities in the world.

Why I expected things to be finished after a space of 3 years, or indeed, after a space of 5 years from first visit I really do not know.....

The taxi drops me on Talaat Haab roundabout and points across the road and tells me my hotel is in that building.

It isn't of course. It is actually the building next to where he dropped me off but it take me 20 minutes to find that out after I have dragged my bags across the square and back again.

I am pleased to find that I have not lost the art of crossing a Cairo street without getting run over... It is all about timing you see and adjusting your pace so that you cross one lane of traffic without getting run over by the next lane.

The hotel boasts that it has a lift, except that it does not come down to street level....

After trying several banks to change some cash, I finally find a packed ''exchange shop'' which does the transaction for me at a rate of 21.15 LE to GB£1...

And I still don't have a train ticket for my onward journey to Luxor the following day....

Egyptian National Railways has a web site that 'promises' that you can buy tickets online to save time at the station.

To date I have not heard of anybody having been able to open an account and do this, not even an Egyptian.

The only effective way of doing it is to go to the station which does present a problem because nobody seems to know where Rameses Station actually is, not even the taxi drivers.

After 40 minutes in a taxi going around in circles in the general area of the station we finally manage to home in on it although you can no longer drive up to the front door, presumably to stop the chaos that normally reigns with legal and illegal taxis blocking up the entrance. (Remember that I have been her before when I arrived on the overnight sleeper from Aswan 5 years ago).

My driver, who has done the strangest thing and has actually put the meter on, asks me to get out of the taxi about 400 metres away and charges me the princely sum of 50 LE, about £2.50 for the trip...

I have already written out my preferred train time, destination, and the 'train number' on a piece of paper to give to the ticket office clerk, (the ticket machines are not working), but that doesn't stop him querying every piece of information that I have put on the paper.

Twice.

Finally I get my ticket, first class leaving at 10 am the following morning and it costs me 145LE.

I will not go into details of the taxi ride back to my hotel, nor of my journey from the hotel to Ramsis Station the following morning except to say that an official taxi wanted 200 LE to take me because I had a bag, but a completely illegal taxi only wanted 100 LE.....

Everybody needs to visit Rameses Station, or indeed Ramsis Station.. In the past I have seen some spectacular stations but I think that Rameses is surpassed only by some stations in Russia and I have only ever seen photos of those.

I am not certain to what period the interior is supposed to belong....

Somewhere between Art Deco/Nouveau and a bad dream would probably be appropriate....

The Egyptian rail network is one of two things that the British gave to Egypt, the second being the original Aswan (Low) Dam. 

With a certain amount of self  interest the British took on the project to shorten communications between Europe, notably England, and its largest colony, India!

To a certain extent the building of the Suez Canal rather took away the need for the railway link as the French decided to get in on the act.....

Of course as you would expect, there is little point in watching the destination board on the main concourse waiting for a platform number for your train, instead I found somebody in a uniform who told me that it would be going from Platform 11 and was kind enough to guide me and actually carry my bags to the right place, and what's more he didn't even want a tip!!

That is a world first in Egypt where tipping is the norm.

So Here We Go With Egypt Part The Third In January 2022! Getting There.....

 For the last two years there has been nothing in the news apart from the Sars2-COVID19 scamdemic which has made travel well nigh impossible, has frightened people, and indeed, has governments around the world panicking and running around like headless chickens. We have had lockdowns which have apparently done little good except annoy people and we now have more people with paranoia than we do with COVID...... 

The media hasn't helped by publishing poor researched articles and using the statistics to sell newspapers rather than using them to show just what little effect it has had, and indeed it now appears that there is no such thing as ordinary flu which killed millions each year instead of which COVID kills them instead.....

During the last two years I have ''collected'' a number of flight vouchers as a result of flights being cancelled and rescheduled and now the time has come to use them because they are worth more as flights than the cash refund I can get, so the route for travelling is a little bit devious as I am currently in the UK using a ticket that I bought in January 2020 which is return from Athens to London Gatwick with good old Easyjet.

The flight vouchers I have are only usable with Aegean Air so the logical route is from London via Athens to Cairo... Of course I could fly on a cheapie with Easyjet to Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh but that would mean buying yet another ticket, and flying from London to Cairo is out because of the price....

Leaving London on a grey drizzly Saturday gets to me to a not much warmer Athens where I stay overnight at the Holiday Inn which is considerably cheaper than the Sofitel at Athens Airport.

An early start in the pouring Greek rain after an almost sleepless night because of a thunderstorm gets to me to the departure gate for Cairo before many of the airport staff have even arrived for work!

And the flight to Cairo is almost empty...

Less than two hours sees me landing in Cairo where my request for assistance through the airport seems not have been received but Cairo airport is not huge.

And straight away there is a difference.... On the way through to Immigration there is a check point where they check vaccination certificates, currently there is no need for a pcr test if you have one of these.

Next the banks at the airport no longer change money, I really do not know why, and they only take money for the tourist visa.

But I already have my visa because you can now get a visa on line!!

On the flight they give you a PLF/Public Health Form to fill in, but nobody at Cairo airport seems the least bit interested in it so I leave the airport still holding it!

Some things do not change, and my passport gets checked twice more after immigration, and my bags are X rayed before leaving the terminal building...... But I have things to do so more tomorrow!

New DIscoveries, Aida in Luxor, Thwarted Plans for Egypt and The Latest Update March 2020 COVID 19 included

This post was originally published on 25th March 2020, and updated and re-dated in April 2020 and again in May 2020

While you might think that Egyptian archaeology is a completed book this is a long way from the truth and discoveries are still being made.

During the course of 2019, a new tomb was discovered as Saqqara, and also at Saqqara the Bent Pyramid is now open to the public since 1965, similarly at Dashur a pyramid has been re-opened to the public. 

The Valley of The Kings has also revealed new secrets, and there have been new discoveries at Aswan, and also out at Fayoum and Abydos to name but a few. And now more is being discovered about the finds that have already been made such as the fact that Hatshepsut died of cancer and had diabetes!

There is one tomb that would still be one of the greatest finds in Egyptian archaeology, and to the finder will go much fame, but probably little fortune... The whereabouts of the tomb of Cleopatra has yet to be discovered and while perhaps she is not the greatest of Egypt's rulers, she is certainly one of the most romantic!

In October a performance of Verdi's Aida was given in Luxor in front of The Temple Of Hatshepsut, I would dearly loved to have been there as  performance of Verdi's greatest (for me anyway), opera in the country where the story was set would be amazing. Many years ago there was a performance done at Giza, maybe some day there will be another and I will be lucky enough to go this time!

The plan for spending my winters in Egypt depended a lot on being able to sell my winter house on Crete, which had in any case been up for sale for some time.

So getting back to Crete I find that the new petrol station next to my house is now complete and indeed open for business. Exactly why anybody in the day and age would even consider building a brand new gas station is beyond me, particularly as there is one about 700 metres along the road.

But this is Greece, and if you own a piece of land you can build on it. So much for town planning, or business planning come to that....

With the exception that this turns out to be the smelliest gas station ever built, mainly because they have leaking pipework and they do not seems to understand that it should not smell.....

Having put up with the steadily worsening fume for 6 months I end up writing to BP in the UK to ask them to do something about it as their sign is outside and as they have licensed the petrol station it is their responsibility, or so I feel....

As it is now impossible to sell my house, any future plans have now been shelved!!

In addition my 6 monthly check up at the hospital showed that the area of fibrosis on my left lung has got larger. My doctor tells me this is more than likely due to pollution or chemicals in the air. As there is only one thing that has changed in my environment.......

Thank you #BP #BPInternational !!!!!

By now we are in the throes of the coronavirus ''pandemic'' which has affected less people than the annual 'flu season but has involved people around the world being incarcerated in their homes, often against their wishes, for long periods of time.

Welcome to 1984! George Orwell would love it!

Up until March I was able to keep in touch with people I met in Egypt who told me that the situation was much as published on various web sites, and like other countries the measures were designed to prevent the spread so to avoid the fact that most countries have ''creaking'' healthcare systems, and there is quite a lot of political mileage in preventing healthcare systems from becoming overloaded.....

The coronavirus outbreak has also caused a further delay in the opening of the New Egyptian Museum in Cairo, I don't think many people were actually holding their breath waiting for it to be opened as there have been so many delays in its construction and opening that we are now used to it not being open!

Back in February WhatsApp announced that they would no longer be supporting my aged Samsung phone and in the process of upgrading to a newer version of Android I lost all my history and contacts on WhatsApp (in spite of having a back up, which like all back ups never actually works when you need it), as a result I am now no longer in contact with anybody for the latest news ''on the ground''.

But I am not finished yet... I still have my blog to complete of my journey to the US and Canada in late 2018, which has never been published as I did not have any photographs... Until last month when finally my hard drive was reclaimed!

The Return To Egypt 2019, The Journey Home, And Future Plans.

Last night was my last night in Luxor and as I had an early flight I moved across the Nile to stay at The Winter Palace as it is a bit nearer to the airport..... 

A little bit of a wander around the East Bank and dinner at The Lantern suggests to me that there are a number of ex pats living here, or at least spending the winter here. If you want to eat at The Lantern you need to book, unless there is only one of you!

The place always seems to be full.....

We are in ''downtown'' Luxor here and there are a variety of ''foreign food restaurants in this area, although why somebody should come to Egypt to eat Chinese/Thai/Indian food beats me.... But then the same can be said in Greece where the first thing people look for is MacDonalds or Pizza Hut.

There are a couple of quite good ''spice'' shops here though, and also Arkwright's Store which I guess caters very much for the English....

Luxor airport is deserted when I get there, not even the security gate is open yet!

As I am on the early flight to Cairo there are not many other passengers and after getting my bag X rayed there is time for a cup of coffee before heading through a rather tight security screening to get to the departure gate. I have already had a word with the check in staff about my transfer through Cairo airport because I do not have a lot of time, but it turns out it is a breeze as the transfer gate is not far from my arrival gate.

With time to spare and the flight back to Athens I have time to do a bit of thinking...

When I first came to Egypt in January 2017 I was well aware that my health was not all that it could be and indeed a few weeks later I was hospitalized for a week and diagnosed with emphysema and possibly lung cancer.

After tests it turned out that there was no cancer but fibrosis on one lung...

For many years I have spent winter on the Greek island of Crete because the weather is less cold, but no less wet, than the UK, but I have realised now that even the Cretan winter does not do me any good and that my breathing during the last three weeks while staying in Luxor has been considerably better.

It is the very low humidity of course, and it rarely rains in Luxor, there were a few spots one evening while I was there and so I have decided that maybe next winter I will come for an extended stay to enjoy the warm days but sometimes very chilly nights!

The blog is not finished yet, and perhaps you can look forward to a whole new blog on Living In Egypt!!

Until then......

The Return to Egypt 2019 - Further Felucca Fun, An Evening Cruise, And Flight Of Fancy.

In such a rush to get my shipwreck blog completed for all to enjoy I did not find out until later on the Sunday evening that I was not not the only one to have an interesting felucca tale to tell.....

There were two Australians staying in the same apartment block as me and we had had a couple of chats over breakfast although they were only here for less than a week, and returning from an evening cruise with Ahmed and then dinner that evening, they were standing outside waiting for Abdullah to come down and open the front door because ''we have lost our key..'' 

The key, it turns out was, was at the bottom of the Nile, along with the bag containing it..... 

Strangely while we were returning to the West Bank to park Ahmed's boat I did say to Ahmed that there as something odd going on further up stream as suddenly there were several motor boats all converging on a point in the middle of the Nile.

These, it turned out, were rescue ships heading out to rescue the Australians whose felucca had sunk in mid-Nile!

An unusual occurrence but due to the same reason that mine had nearly sunk, executing a tack in still quite strong winds they had shipped some water and listing ''rather more than a bit'' according to the Australians, the next tack had swamped the felucca and down she went!

The police take this sort of thing very seriously and arrested the captain and tested him for alcohol and drugs, and took full statements for the two Australians, the only passengers, who were completely unfazed by it all and refused to file a formal complaint.

As they said, ''It's a boat. Boats sink. It happens all the time when we are at home.''

You would have thought I had had enough of Nile cruises for one day but it was pre-arranged, and an evening cruise, at sunset, on the Nile is an almost magical  experience not to be missed. 


Tomorrow is my last day in Luxor before I fly out early on Tuesday and to finish the holiday off I have booked a completely new experience....

 I am not an early riser at the best of times, but this morning I have to be up at 5 am to be collected by a taxi as I am going on......

Yes, you guessed it a dawn ride in a hot air balloon ride. I have been in helicopters, I have been in light aircraft, I have been on a DC10, indeed I am so old I have been in a DC8, I have even been for a short flight in a Spitfire, but never a hot air balloon.

It is still dark, and I have to wait for a boat to come over from the East Bank bearing the rest of the people going on the balloon I am on. Indeed there are a lot of people milling about because there are a lot of balloons going up!! I was surprised how many...

The take off field is out on the road to King's Valley, there is no landing field because the balloons come down wherever they do.... Arriving there was all rather exciting as some balloons are already airborne, some air being inflated, and some are not inflated at all. And the first thing that happens is that my big camera is taken off me, but everyone has mobile phones these days, indeed all of the people on my ''flight'' come from the sort of countries where they make mobile phones....

Dawn is breaking but the sun is not yet over the horizon.....

Too many photos spoil the fun, so here are just a few.... And a video...

I am not sure of the environmental impact of all these hot air balloons burning all this gas, but this is the first time I have been born aloft by a very large bag of hot air.


I can't help thinking that a large bag of hot air accurately describes some people I know... 

Getting into the gondola requires a certain amount of agility as not all of the balloons have though of providing steps, however there is always somebody on hand to give you a leg up as it were.... 

Dawn breaking on the Temple Of Hotchickensoup 

 Sugar cane...

 What goes up...... Comes down wherever it feels like it......

Tim's Hot Tip of The Day..... Do not do what one Japanese girl had done which was to book a coach transfer from her hotel in Luxor East to the Red Sea leaving at 10.30 am..... Because they don't know exactly when or where the balloon will land there is no set timetable.

Luckily for her we have mobile phones these days and the balloon company were excellent and organised a taxi to take her from the West Bank to meet her coach after it had left Luxor town!

 Those power lines look a bit close....

 Landing in the middle of a cut cane field suddenly people appear to help you out of the gondola.


I must say the whole experience was quite thrilling, and well worth the money!

It took a while for our minibus to arrive to pick us up, time for a wander around on terra firma, and have a look at one of the many irrigation canals.









Don't ask me how the captain does this but her gets the balloon to turn a full circle providing panoramic views, luckily I am quite tall so I can see over everybody else... This is not actually the video I wanted to post but the file I wanted to use is too big it seems!!

The Return To Egypt 2019 - Marooned!! English Tourist Faces Near Death Experience!

The dramatic story of near disaster on The Nile as three men in a felucca faced a good soaking with great courage, whilst awaiting rescue from a near death experience with only half a bottle of water, 40 cigarettes and a Bluetooth speaker system attached to a mobile phone.

Rarely in the history of mankind has anyone shown such bravery in the face of insurmountable odds.

The drama began with a Sunday felucca trip from Ramla on the West Bank of the Nile to Banana island for Sunday lunch and the outward voyage was nothing but routine, but who was to know that the return trip was to turn into a nightmare.... The captions tell the story thus far...

Continuing the story the English tourist said, "I did think as we left the mooring that we were carrying a bit too much sail, and that the keel should have been lower, but as the only sailing experience I have had is on Piddinghoe Pond some 50 years ago, I did not like to criticise."

"As it became obvious that to continue and risk another swamping would undoubtedly sink us, the captain made the wise decision to head for the nearest land which was a small uninhabited island in the middle of the Nile."

"Distress signals were sent up, (the first mate got out his mobile phone), several times until somebody responded. By this time we had only half a bottle of fresh water left, and no facilities for making tea so as you can imagine I was getting just a tad tetchy, let alone the fact that I was obviously going to be late for my afternoon nap."

"Meanwhile other craft sailed past completely unaware of the difficulties nearby, especially as by now the captain and first mate had smoked nearly 40 cigarettes between them and were beginning to argue about who had smoked the most."

''Fortunately the first mate retrieved his Bluetooth speaker system from the water on the deck and finding it still worked was able to provide some calming music while we waited and the captain went ashore and finding an old 2 litre water bottle which he cut in half, he was able to start bailing out while we waited to be rescued."

After what seemed like eternity, but was actually about 30 minutes, help, in the shape of Mohammed, arrived."

The story continues in the photo captions......

 Departing from the garbage wharf at Ramla on the West Bank of the NIle, the felucca cruise to Banana Island for Sunday lunch should have been easy..

 The outward voyage began well with at good north westerly breeze making for good speed to the destination

And the lone passenger, a British tourist enjoyed the outward trip..

 Arriving at Banana Island there was time for the captain and crew, and the passenger to enjoy the view of the Sunday traffic on the river

Sunday is ''family day'' in Egypt, and the ''public'' restaurant is full of mothers and many, many children so Abdul has suggested that we go to the nearby hotel on the island as it will be quieter.....

 While getting to observe the local wildlife in 
the shape of a very pregnant cat which appeared the same time as lunch...

 On returning to the mooring the captain was in exuberant mood as we began the return voyage and here the lone passenger takes up the story..

Our captain who is very tall with flowing (to say the least) robes only needs a turban to look like a magician from the Arabian Nights!

"The return voyage began well and with the the wind against against us we completed the first couple of tacks with no problem, but then an unexpected gust of wind caught us and the starboard gunwhale briefly dipped below the water and we shipped a small amount of water, but we went on with no problem.....

"The waiting for rescue seemed to take for ever but we kept our spirits up with lively banter...."

"Passing traffic seemed unaware of the drama unfolding quite close to them..."

"Finally the rescue boat arrived with Mohammed on board. It appears that Mohammed is actually the man that built the felucca and if I am not mistaken he is giving the guys a bit of a dressing down for not sailing it properly....  Mohammed literally runs up the mast, bare footed as you can see, and furls the sail and in no time t all we are underweigh being towed by a motorboat. Underway back to Ramla, although I think many people were a bit confused as to why a felucca should need to be towed" 

The Return to Egypt 2019, Luxor Temple, Some Serious Bargaining in the Souk., and I Learn A New Word!

If you were paying attention back in 2017 you will know that I gave Luxor Temple a miss as I wanted to go to the museum and it wasn't on the 7 night cruise itinerary... This time I am going there.

Luxor Temple has an interesting history, several Pharoahs added bits here and there, and excavations starting in the 19th century continued well into the second half of the 20th century, quite a lot of it was buried in rubble from more recent constructions around it, and indeed the Abu Haggag mosque still occupies part of the site, the mosque was originally a Christian church in Roman times, so, according to your guide Luxor temple is just about the oldest place on earth that has been used continuously for the last 3000+ years.

They will also tell you that originally there were two obelisks at the entrance, but the right hand one is now in Paris....

While it might not be the ''ultimate'' temple, I think Luxor is an essential visit even if you don't go anywhere else! 

 Not so many pictures as I don't want to spoil the fun for any body else visiting, but this this is the Abu Haggag mosque, and the main entrance with the missing obelisk....

There are several statues of Ramesses II, he seemed to think quite a lot of himself,

 When you get around the back there is a nice collection of ''spare parts'' from various other places which are quite interesting in their own way as you can see the changes in architecture over time.

 The ''Sphinx Way'' connects Luxor to Karnak, and although the entrance to the Souk is almost opposite Luxor Temple I decide to take a walk towards Karnak and then double back down the other side of the Sphinx Way....

There is a bit of a ''discussion'' going on at the moment because there is a Christian Church built on top of one side of the way and they seem a bit dis-inclined to move it. I am sure it will get sorted out in the end....

Getting back towards the Souk I spot two foreign ladies that I have seen several times on the West Bank, they have seemingly just got off the public ferry, and they have shopping baskets on wheels with them... They actually stop and say hello to me and I ask if they are on holidays. One of them is Dutch and has lived here for some years, the other is English and comes here for four months during the winter, which kind of settles the question about foreigners living here!

Nearing the Souk I get hassled once again be the horse and carriage men who really are getting over the top, a passerby, seeing my dilemma as I have four of them talking to me at once comes to the rescue and shouts at them and they disperse... He asks me if I want a guide as he is an ''official guide'' and flashes a very formal looking plastic ''pass'' at me, except that I have seen one before, so I politely decline, and let him know that I happen to know that he is no such thing as that card is his National ID card. (Egyptian ID cards, by the way, show the holder's religion. How wrong is that in this day and age??).

Entering the Souk by a side entrance, I find this gentleman ready to show me his wares.... 

 His name is Mohammed, which comes as no great surprise. Mohammed fancies his chance as the debonair man about town and has taken a fancy to my ''Howard Carter'' hat.( Actually it's  a real Panama from Bolivia, but that is a whole different blog). To be honest when he put it on and had a quick strut up and down outside his shop he looked like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Hercule Poirot, bless him.

Mohammed has a lot of things in his shop, some of them very nice, and a lot of them very dusty, but I go ooh and aah in the right place so he is happy. I have worked in a tourist shop in Greece during the summer season and I could tell him that he would be far better off getting rid of three quarters of the stuff and having a few ''nice'' pieces on display, but Egyptian merchandising skills being what they are it would fall on deaf ears.

 You can pick up some really nice ''ethnic'' materials by the metre if you are into that sort of thing... But I am after a few things for myself and others. I spot some really nice cotton ''scarves'' with tasselled fringes which can be used as a scarf or even a keffiyah I suppose. The man wants EG£250 each for them and we finally settle on EG£250 for three of them. 


Moving on to one of the ''spice shops'', I get my ''Egyptian'' tea, and somebody has asked me to get them some ''moghat'', I have to show them a screenshot of the entry on Wikipedia before the understand what I want, but it is expensive, (I had a feeling it might be.....), eventually we settle on EG£160 for 300 grams of the stuff, but only because I spent EG£100 on saffron you understand.


I also find a shop that has some very nice little wooden boxes, made from olive wood and very similar to the ones that you can buy in Greece, except these are only about GB£2.50 whereas the ones in Greece are about 20 quid.... I take two of them.

Leaving the Souk there is a smell that I can only say is a bit like somebody burning dry leaves mixed with damp grass cuttings on an autumn day, if you get my drift.... This appears to emanate from a gentleman sitting on a doorstep behind a stall selling some of the tackiest jewellery I have ever seen, and which I happen to know comes from The Phillipines. He insists that I come and sit with him, and he even gets his mobile out and orders me coffee from the shop across the road.... He is as high as a kite to be blunt.... But it was an excellent ploy because I end up buying three necklaces of the brazen hussy type which require an expansive decollete for best effect...... 

Stopping for a coffee I find myself the other side of a fence from a man selling strawberries...... After sampling several I buy half a kilo, I think he was hoping that I would buy the entire stock, and then who shows up but the ''official guide'' who rescued me from the carriage drivers.... Even he cannot really explain quite why Lady Diana should be associated with WiFi but he does give me a useful word to use in place of ''la shukran'' to get rid of carriage drivers,  which doesn't really cut the mustard most of the time but works with waiters when they offer you something you don't want.

And the word is ''KHALAS''... The KH is pronounced a bit like the Greek letter H, like a 'ch' at the back of the mouth.... It means ''Enough!'' in a rather abrupt way, but having tried it afterwards a couple of times it does work, although possibly it is because the hearer is more taken-a-back by an Englishman knowing such a word!

I found out later that you can also say ''Shu!!'' which basically means ''What?'', like you would say to somebody hovering around trying to talk to you when you are trying to deal with other things, and my favourite, ''Astaghfarullah'', which is what you can say repeatedly to ask forgiveness from Allah.... I suppose it is a bit like saying ''For Chrissake'' or ''Lord help me'' with your head in your hand...