Tour d'Afrique - Cairo to Cape Town by Bike

• It seemed that Egyptians love noise!  In traffic drivers always have one hand on the horn.  Many bicycles are equipped with air horns that are louder than some truck horns.
• Prayer songs occur 5 times per day in the largest of cities and smallest of villages.  The speakers they use are always cranked to their max (as judged by the raspy quality) and are atop the mosque towers so the voice travels far.
• Brake lights in some cars are accompanied by a catchy electronic Arabic tune that I long thought was some one's mobile phone.  You can imagine what that is like in Cairo.
• Emergency vehicle sirens are drowned out by so much other noise.
• Our wake up call while with our Egyptian tour company that supported us for the first leg of the journey consisted of a number of loud horn blasts from the buses, accompanied by a whistle, banging of pots and pans and occasionally the fire truck siren when it was there (I am still not entirely sure why the fire truck was at a number of our camps).

• It was interesting to repeatedly note that children were often shoo-ed away like dogs.
• Children are also very independent; parents are seldom seen.  The kids not only get a good "street-wise" education, but apparently receive good schooling as well.  Most could speak very good English and some spoke decent French as well.  Economically smart in the interest of future tourism I guess.

• On one hand, there is an expression of "Egypt time" where things will happen eventually.  Generally, it is pretty laid back which I don't mind.  For example, after ordering some pita bread from a place where there were many ready and many were piling out of the oven as we were standing there, it still took a great deal of time to have someone actually take our money.  Much in Egyptian life seems to work on this schedule; it works.
• On the other hand, the second anyone is behind the wheel of a car, they are in the biggest rush of their lives!  I thought traffic in Cairo was pretty entertaining, even in more rural settings people still try crazy things just to move a little faster.  Incredible!

• Needless to say, there is a gargantuan amount of ancient history in Egypt. As such, tourists are in abundance all over.  It seems that most towns have the touristy front to it where you can be quoted some incredible prices (like the equivalent $5USD for four oranges), then have a section slightly removed where locals frequent ( i.e. $1USD for four good oranges and some bananas as well).
• Since tourism generates an incredible revenue, the police are unbelievably abundant and have check points frequently on the main roads.  Foreigners are only allowed to travel these roads in police-escorted convoys that stop all traffic when they pass at 90km/h.  I have met some along the way that easily overcame this with bribery though.
• Photos are not allowed to be taken of any ancient historical item for claims that the flash will degrade the artifacts.  Some places will however sell you a permit to take pictures of these artifacts for a high price.
• I noticed first in a town, I was seen as a walking $.  Everyone wants to help so that you will offer a tip.  I biked by a guy that pointed to a mountain then asked for a tip for doing so.  However, once you have been there for a bit, they seem to treat you as one of the locals.  I enjoyed this since I could observe typical life unfold from a fly-on-the-wall point of view.

• Once you were not seen as a source of money, people are very friendly.  I was walking back to camp from a temple in Luxor and had a police officer jump out from behind some bushes to try to scare me.  He laughed hysterically, then introduced me to all of his co-workers while making fun of the few Arabic words I know.  The Emeco staff (tour company) were not only always friendly, but highly entertaining as well.  Many other fun stories about fun interactions with locals!

Thanks Egypt!  I had a blast!

# posted by Andrew @ 1/29/2007 07:33:00 a.m.