Africa from Cairo

Cairo, Egypt is a good launchpad for exploring much of the world. Europe is definitely close and doable; so are the Middle Eastern countries like Jordon, Syria, Lebanon etc. Turkey and Cyprus are definitely must-visits from Cairo.

However, I would think Cairo can be the gateway for exploring the African continent-not on the itinerary of many travellers.

Some countries that I would like to visit on the African continent are:-

Botswana-The Okavango delta and the Chobe National Park are the principal attractions. I want to explore the Delta on a makoro and watch the migratory elephants at the Chobe National Park

Zambia for the Victoria Falls, of course. I have been told that Victoria Falls on a full moon night is absolutely beautiful. Have done river rafting in Leh on the Zanskar and the Indus rivers and would like to do river rafting on the Zambezi river.

Namibia for its fascinating landscape and dune-studded desert. To visit the second largest canyon in the world-the Fish River Canyon. The Etosha National park to see an incredible variety of wildlife.

South Africa for Cape Town, one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the chance to eat on the “flattest table on earth”-i.e. the Table Mountain in Cape Town. Hope to be able to take the cable car to the top. Visit the world famous Kruger National Park.

Kenya for the ultimate experience in African safari. And floating over Masai Mara in a hot air balloon. Also a visit to Nairobi, the capital city with its rich historical background.

Morocco for Casablanca and the Hassan mosque, and Fez -the "city of mosques". And Marrakesh, the city at the foot of Atlas mountains with the Koutoubiya Mosque and the Kasbah. Essaouira for its beaches and the experience of browsing the shops "in peace".

Africa from Cairo

Cairo, Egypt is a good launchpad for exploring much of the world. Europe is definitely close and doable; so are the Middle Eastern countries like Jordon, Syria, Lebanon etc. Turkey and Cyprus are definitely must-visits from Cairo.

However, I would think Cairo can be the gateway for exploring the African continent-not on the itinerary of many travellers.

Some countries that I would like to visit on the African continent are:-

Botswana-The Okavango delta and the Chobe National Park are the principal attractions. I want to explore the Delta on a makoro and watch the migratory elephants at the Chobe National Park

Zambia for the Victoria Falls, of course. I have been told that Victoria Falls on a full moon night is absolutely beautiful. Have done river rafting in Leh on the Zanskar and the Indus rivers and would like to do river rafting on the Zambezi river.

Namibia for its fascinating landscape and dune-studded desert. To visit the second largest canyon in the world-the Fish River Canyon. The Etosha National park to see an incredible variety of wildlife.

South Africa for Cape Town, one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the chance to eat on the “flattest table on earth”-i.e. the Table Mountain in Cape Town. Hope to be able to take the cable car to the top. Visit the world famous Kruger National Park.

Kenya for the ultimate experience in African safari. And floating over Masai Mara in a hot air balloon. Also a visit to Nairobi, the capital city with its rich historical background.

Morocco for Casablanca and the Hassan mosque, and Fez -the "city of mosques". And Marrakesh, the city at the foot of Atlas mountains with the Koutoubiya Mosque and the Kasbah. Essaouira for its beaches and the experience of browsing the shops "in peace".

El-Shabrawy

El-Shabrawy is a vegetarian’s delight-the best Egyptian fare that I have had so far. With 17 different varieties of fuul, you are spoilt for choice. Fuul is fava beans, boiled and seasoned with lemon and spices. Shabrawy has fuul with tahina and chick peas, fuul with corn oil and with olive oil. I decided to go for King-El-Shabrawy which is fuul seasoned with salsa, tomatoes and eggs. It is served in attractive earthenware pots and tastes really good. The beans are cooked to perfection and the eggs that are added are allowed to cook till they set. The Alexandrian fuul is spiced with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, tahina and chick peas and I would recommend this too.

Felefel (popularly know as ta’miya in Egypt) are particularly crisp here, expecially Ain Katkot, which is falafel stuffed with boiled eggs-again, I would definitely recommend this. People who love their egg will love this place with omelettes and scrambled eggs on offer. Different types of salads, including baba ghanoug, tahina, taboula complete the Egyptian cuisine offering. The vegetable samosa is sure to tickle your taste buds.

A satisfying meal is one which apart from being tasty is also easy on the pocket. A meal for two with cold drinks would set you back by LE 35. Though El-Shabrawy has branches all over Cairo, the eatery at 10, Ibrahim Sreet, Korba, Heliopolis has the right ambience and you can enjoy your fuul and ta’miya piping hot, rather than go for the takeaway. The name here is signed in Arabic only-so look for a red awning and the shawerma grill outside which serve as indicators. The seating is on the mezzanine floor-try to get a table near the window so that you can watch the world go by while sipping on your fresh limon juice. The place seems to be a favourite with people of all ages and from all classes

The place also has pastas, sandwiches and burgers on offer but why would I want to have Italian or American cuisine at an Egyptian eatery?

IDEAS FOR GIFTS FROM EGYPT

Summer is upon us and most of us are planning a vacation back home. "What to take back as gifts for family and friends" is a question that I have seen friends grapple with. I have also wrested with this question when friends ask for suggestions and accompanied them on “gift-hunting” trips. The usual suspects like papyrus, tutankhamun masks, statue of Nefertiti, pyramids etc from the “Khan” have been “done to death”, but they still are popular. Here are a few pointers for those interested to gift the “unusual” from Egypt

For something unique and funky, why not gift a CD of Wust El Balad’s first music album? A book on Egyptology would make the perfect gift for a friend who has always dreamt of visiting the land of Pharoahs. The AUC bookstore has a wide selection of books on Egypt. Introduce the voracious reader in your family to Naguib Mahfouz, a highly acclaimed Egyptian writer and a Nobel laureate for literature. For the homemaker in your family or friend circle, write down some Egyptian recipes like karkade, hummus, fuul, koshari, taa’miya (falafel), baba ghanoug etc-this wins hands down as a gift with a personal touch.

A crystal piece from the Asfour Crystal Factory, a place in the suburb of Shubra is meant for the "discerning" and should be bought only when “size” of the gift is not a consideration. Whatever be your budget, you are sure to find something here-the smaller pieces being budget-friendly as well as easy to carry.

Egyptian cotton is very famous. You could consider gifting bed sheets made from the finest cotton, found at the Salon Au Vert in downtown.. Mobaco has a fine range of men’s shirts and t-shirts and ladies’ tops and some of the designs are really good.

At Oriental Weavers, you can buy tapestries (wall hangings) from LE 80 onwards. Mickey Mouse for the children, Tutankhamun for the history buff –you can find something for everyone here. For an exclusive gift head to Wissa Wassef (see blog entry dated March 12, 2008) – the tapestries would enhance any wall and the pottery is functional and unique too.

The various "ittar" fragrances filled in attractive and colourful bottles make a thoughtful gift. Choose a lovely silver pendant, some colourful beads to go with it and have them strung to form a unique neckpiece for the fashionable among your friends and family.

With a little bit of effort and imagination, you can take back the “perfect gift” from Egypt.

SMART PARKING IN DOWNTOWN, CAIRO

An antidote to the parking problems in Cairo as I discovered on my last vist to downtown. While we were parked near the Groppi café, a man wearing the SAYDO company overalls approached us and explained how the parking cards issued by SAYDO worked. You buy a plastic “smart” card for LE 27 –this gives you a credit of LE 22 and LE 5 is towards insurance and sales tax. With this card, you can park your car in the downtown area (i.e the area in and around the Tahrir Square and the Talaat Harb square), in the Saydo designated zones. When you arrive, you punch in your card in the parking metres installed by SAYDO-this will activate the road spikes. Your car is now parked between the kerb and the spikes-so when you want to leave, you just punch in your card again-see the amount that you have been charged for the duration of your parking, the spikes come down and you drive away!. Differential rates are charged depending on the time of parking-the highest rates applicable between 7.00 a.m and 4.00 p.m.

Men wearing overalls with the Saydo logo are on hand to help you with the parking. Once you have exhausted the limit on your parking card, you can either return the card and get back the LE 5 that you had paid as deposit or buy a new card for LE 22.

The drawback as I see it is that you are charged for the entire hour even if you are parked for only 10 minutes! And on a bad day, despite having the smart card, you maybe cruising around for a parking spot because all the designated spaces are full.

"Kabhi Kabhi" at Samia Allouba's

I am at my Pilates class and trying to get a really difficult stretch right-breathe in and breathe out and stretch out a bit more-when the strains of “Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil mein..” waft across and I almost lose my balance! Why am I so amazed at hearing this song?-you may ask. Amazing it is! Since I am not at a gym in Mumbai but at Samia Allouba’s fitness classes in Cairo, Egypt! Now do you find it so unusual too? To hear one of the most romantic Hindi songs forming the backdrop for a fitness class in Cairo? But then maybe it is to be expected –after all we are in the age of globalization.

Hindi movies and the stunts of Hrithik Roshan are popular among my Egyptian friends-am always receiving requests for the DVDs of the latest Hindi movies of Hrithik and Amitabh Bacchhan! On the other hand, I heard that belly dancing is the latest craze to hit Mumbaites , a dance which has its origins in Egypt! And the Egyptian fuul and ta’amiya are tickling the taste buds of people all across the globe and the popularity of the Indian cuisine among the Egyptians is evident from the number of Indian eateries mushrooming all over Cairo.

WATERMELON MARKET IN CAIRO

Only twice during our seven months stay in Cairo, have we attempted to buy and eat watermelon, my favorite fruit and both the attempts have ended in disaster! And to top it all, the atempts were costly too!

During the first week of our stay in Cairo, we purchased a watermelon for LE 40 and had to throw it away as it had gone stale! The second time we managed to get a watermelon for LE 25. But since we would be travelling over the next two days, we thought we were being smart by putting the watermelon in the freezer for the duration-and that was the end of it!

As they say, “third time lucky” and that is exactly what happened to us! Last week, we visited the wholesale market for watermelons in Cairo at Sahil Izhara (just before the turn for getting onto the Maadi-6th October Ring Road when coming in from the Corniche). This is the season for the watermelons and seeing mounds of fruit piled high is a visual feast!

First we walked the entire length of the market-at one place the fruit was being packed for export purposes; at yet another stall, the seller was using a drum and singing out to attract customers. Though most of the market had watermelons on display, at one of the stalls we saw peaches and onions too.

Now that we had established our credentials as “serious” buyers, a man approached us saying that he had the best watermelons available for LE20. When we said the price was too high, he said that he had some available for LE 8, though they might not be as sweet. We told him that we wanted something that was sweet but at a lower price. At this point, he invited us into his stall and showed us the watermelons and told us that he could really not go below LE 20 as the fruits were the best and the “stall owner” would not allow it. We offered LE 15-only to be met by a firm shake of the head.

Our driver now stepped in-he took out his cigarette pack and offered one to the vendor before lighting his own. He informed him that though we were “agnabis” (foreigners), we stayed in Cairo and if he sold us the watermelons at a good price and they turned out to be sweet, then he would get regular business from us and the other families working in the same company as my husband. This seemed to work and the vendor agreed to sell us four watermelons at LE 15 each.

Then it was time for the “specialist” to come in and choose the fruit for us-he hit the watermelons a couple of times and depending on the sound that followed, decided whether it was "good" or "not good enough". Our driver now insisted that the vendor cut one watermelon right there so that we could ascertain that it was indeed sweet. Out of nowhere a group of men materialized as if to watch a show and even "ohhed" and "ahhed" over the colour of the watermelon when it was cut. A small boy claiming to be the son of the "stall owner" wanted us to take the fruit chosen by him and went ahead and replaced one of them in the pile! He even had the audacity to ask for a photograph with me alone! And I thought he was a baby!

I am happy to report that the watermelons were indeed very sweet – it was definitely a “fruitful” visit.

FRUITS IN CAIRO

Me: "Ayza nuss kilo" ( I want half kilo)
Fruit Vendor: “ok” –he starts picking up some peaches and putting in a bag
Me: "Anaii" (I choose)
Fruit Vendor:"La" (no) -a bit rudely.

With a shake of my head and hand (here my limited arabic deserts me) , I say in English –“then I don’t want” and turn to leave…..and the vendor is not calling me back!

This story was repeated with all the three vendors that I tried to buy peaches from. I was quite surprised with this attitude-“were they not interested in selling the fruits-and if I am paying for the fruit, don’t I have a right to choose the ones that I want?" I was fuming at the cavalier attitude of the vendors and at the same time at a loss to understand their way of doing business. My Egyptian friend calmed me down and explained to me that this was the “normal” thing when buying fruits from the carts on the streets – there are some good fruits and some bad fruits and the vendor would pick up some of each for me and I must take the good and the bad. “But why should I pay for the bad?”, I argued. My friend just shrugged and said that this was the way things were done here, but also had a suggestion-I could “buy” the right to choose the fruit that I wanted by offering to pay a couple of pounds more.

So with this new-found wisdom, I am now ready to tackle the fruit vendors of Cairo!

ASHAN ASALHAK W ARDA ALEK

Ashan asalhak w arda Alek
Hagat kitir lazim tamilha

These are the beginning lines of the Arabic song that we sang for the last class of Level 3 of my Arabic class at Kalimat. Here the lover is telling his girlfriend that in order for them to reconcile and for him to be content with her, there are a number of things that she must do??. The things that she must do include that she should stand up when he speaks to her as well as “shut up” when he speaks to her. It even goes on to say that if the people from her past have forgotten to teach her and make her understand certain things, then the lover will teach her what she has missed!!

When this song by Bahaa Sultan was played for the first time in class, I immediately realized that it is the same song to which I love dancing in my belly dance workshop. But when the teacher translated the Arabic lyrics for us, I was surprised that this song was a chartbuster a year back. And the surprise was due to the nature of the lyrics.

I remember that in the belly dance class, our lady instructor hummed the lyrics-I can understand that the music is really catchy but the lyrics are just so one-sided. I asked my teacher how could the song have been a blockbuster; weren’t the lyrics considered “objectionable”? And she told me that the catchy music overrode all the objections.

Well, I for one may not be able to dance with my earlier abandon to this song!

SOUQ-AL-GOMA'A

I visited the Souq-al-Goma’a (Friday market) this Friday -the equivalent of “Chor Bazaar” in Bombay,India. “Chor”, which literally means a “robber” best characterizes the “Chor Bazaar” since it is a place where the stolen items find a ready market. The Souq-al-Goma’a has a similar reputation. In fact, when my driver informed our bawaab that he would be taking us to the souq-al-goma’a the following day, he wanted to accompany us to find his bicycle which had been stolen some days back! But of course, even if he was lucky enough to actually find his bicycle there, he would have to buy it back!

The Souq-al-Goma’a sprawls for miles under the Al-Tonssy flyover-anything and everything can be found here. It is quite intimidating to walk through this market; definitely a predominantly male domain. Our driver had accompanied hubby and me into the market and he kept warning us to keep a tight hold on our wallets and mobiles. In fact, when I wanted to take some snaps, our driver advised us to click pictures from the safety of the bridge. Though we did not linger long, it was nevertheless a fascinating experience-to see everything form a small pin to mobiles, plastic ware, clothes etc sold here. Sometimes, we even came across some broken and old items and I wondered if anyone actually buys them! Apparently, the right time to visit the market is early in the morning-the vendors actually start laying out their wares the evening before and the buyers start pouring in from early morning.

Check out some of the pics!

Park on Gamat el dwal el-arabia street

Woke up this morning to a shocking sight-to see a huge billboard put up in the park that my window overlooks. This park runs through the middle of the busy Gamat el dwal el-arabia street and I have spent some lovely moments looking at the trees changing colour to mark the changing seasons. And now I will have this huge piece of steel and concrete obstructing my view! The billboard just came up overnight-in fact, even as I am writing this, work is going on to complete the installation of the billboard.

It saddens me to see that commercial exigencies always triumph-important things like having open and green spaces in an otherwise crowded and polluted city take a backseat! Whether it be Mumbai or Cairo, it is the same story-the lungs of the city systematically destroyed! And the voices, if any, raised in protest are muted or ignored. I just hope that this billboard is just a one-off thing and not a precursor to many of them mushrooming all along the length of the park. If that happens, it will be another step in the “concretization” of Mohandisseen.

Why, oh why could they not have planted another tree rather than this monstrous piece of concrete?