Beyond the pyramids
Home to almost 10 million people Cairo never sleeps. Day and night traffic flows, souks sprawl with people and constant construction work moulds the new the city skyline while ancient structures remain a constant having stood the test of time.
Standing on the 10th floor of a building and looking out over the endless concrete 'jungle gives a sense of Cairo's scale. One quickly becomes accustomed to the ceaselessly loud signs of life coming from the streets down below.
Four-pawed friends roam the streets undisturbed as they remain symbols of protection and good fortune stemming from Ancient Egyptian tradition.
No matter the hour it is possible to indulge in all of Cairo's food offerings. From roadside tea stalls, mobile bread sellers and the many restaurants tucked away in the small alleys. Egypt's national dish "Koshary" is a comforting carb combination of rice, lentils, pasta and chickpeas topped with spicy tomato sauce, vinegar and fried onions. A dish so famous that there is a multi-storey restaurant which serves just this single dish.
It is in Cairo where I organise my visa for an upcoming Sudan trip. An extremely kind woman originally from Sudan and currently living in Cairo I met on couch surfing shows me the Sudanese Embassy. It's hectic and overcrowded inside and nobody is sure what or if anything is happening. All of a sudden it is announced that no more visas will be granted today. Thereafter we meet again for a meal together where she kindly gives me some tips as well as a Sudanese sim card.
The day after I spend roughly 7 hours at the embassy. After being directed from window to window in the waiting room pretty much held up by the surrounding mass of people squeezed up to one another I manage to hand in my passport one last time. I patiently wait for the visa to be issued. A few hours later a man walks into the room with his hands full of roughly 20 passports handing them out to the people closest to him to shout out the names they read, each passport then surfing through the crowd to finally reach its rightful owner. The evening is spent soaking up the atmosphere of the night markets situated under a main highway.
The day after I spend a couple hours walking to Cairo's unofficial recycling centre Manshiyet Nasr, which handles many thousand tonnes of waste daily. It is an informal settlement characterised by towering piles of rubbish lining the city streets with designated areas for different types of waste. It is collected and transported there by the Zabbaleen, normally via donkey cart, car or truck. It is then manually sorted according to type such as plastic bottles, metals etc. and then sold on.
A trip to Cairo would not be complete without venturing out to the city of Giza, home to some of the world's most famous monuments. Despite impressive sights the mix of constant scam attempts and masses of obnoxious tourists dampen the experience. Generally Egypt seems to attract a great variety of travellers and holiday makers leading to an interesting dynamic. From families to all inclusive tour bus groups, suitcase bearing luxury Nile cruise passengers to solo backpackers.
It's extremely refreshing to leave the hostel and stay with a new friend and his family from couchsurfing, spending many nights exploring Cairo, cooking and having deeper conversations while sat on the balcony in a quieter part of the city.
But after a few days it's time to continue travelling and take a train to the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Alexandria.
