Chalk up the 3rd missed flight of my life. Not too good a record here, and that's not including all the trains and buses I've missed. But sitting on this balcony of the Hilton Hotel overlooking the Nile, I remember still how lucky I am to be here.
Not that I'm staying at the Hilton or anything - my brother and I are merely using the hotel as an oasis for rehabilitation from Cairo, a city with too much pollution, too much of the same questionable food, and too many squatting holes. The Hilton's got luxurious bathrooms, an Internet business center, and comfortable sofas where I can handwrite this here blog entry because I'm too cheap to pay for said business center.
Cairo, though, is quite bigtime. It just takes some effort and some knowledge to negotiate its masses. I could live here. Of course I say that about a lot of places. But its huge and begging to be explored. Its history is ridiculous, and you can see it in the early 20th century once-majestic now-crumbling architecture, and the 15th century once-majestic still-majestic mosques. This city has been the capital of so many empires - Fatimids, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Modern Egypt - that it surely has a place on the list of truly historically special cities; you know, the list with London, Paris, Istanbul, Delhi, etc. on it (though who am I kidding, I don't know what I'm talking about, I just like thinking about cities}.
Incidentally Harold and I are in the midst of a worldwide city draft, divided up into regions.
So. Seriously, Egypt's cuisine could use some improvement. I didn't realize this fact truly until my ever-opinionated brother arrived on the scene. But really, even in Jordan and the West Bank, which are nearby Arab places, the standard fare of falafel, ful, shawarma, and chicken is both better, and augmented with other more interesting options. I can't recall having one memorable meal in Egypt, except for when I had a pair of stuffed pigeons and Harold had rabbit for dinner, but that wasn't even that good, just novel.
In the face of this I still want to come back to Egypt. The fascination of Luxor's defunct Ancient Egypt and living ancient villages whet my appetite. Next time: Aswan and further south towards Sudan, to see the capital of Nubian Egypt and more of Ancient Egypt and Ramesses II's ridiculously epic Temple on the Nile at desolate Abu Simbel. Also a well-planned voyage to the Sinai for mosquito-less straw bungalows on the Red Sea, pristine and quiet snorkeling spots, and climbing Mount Sinai. The Sinai Hills rise precipitously from the coast into foreboding desert peaks, hiding the mysterious interior. Who knows what lay deep in its heart?
Of course I didn't even see any of Egypt's famed desert oases (and I don't mean the Nile Hilton Hotel}. But I saw a lot. Harold and I went to Alexandria and saw its modern re-incarnation of the Great Library, which was so extensive and magnificent as to re-inspire my faith in the power of education. I went myself to Port Said on the Mediterranean, dragged my feet along its shores in solitude before happening on a group of Egyptian fishermen hauling in a gigantic net with the daily catch. I watched giant cargo ships from London, Panama, Singapore ply the Suez Canal. I took a third class train back to Cairo and sat in the open door of the dusty car, legs hanging out of the train, looking out on the Eastern Desert passing me by. I saw the Pyramids, and the Sphinx, with my brother, and climbed into its cramped and humid interior, which was constructed, say, 4500 years ago. I did some things.
So tomorrow, Morocco, unless we miss our flight again.
