It's a Mad Mad 'Maadi' world

Maadi is a subdivison of Cairo....it's about 20 kilometers away from Cairo proper...where all the bad stuff happens when the people here really get pissed off. Out in Maadi though there was never a problem for the four months I was there.

 

We referred to this area as the Road 9 ``Cluster Fuck``. This is where street 87 meets road 9....about two minutes walk from Kim's flat. All around this intersection are little shops....you can get everything you want here...groceries...hair cut...clothes cleaned things repaired...there's a "sheesha" where guys come to drink tea and smoke hookas filled with aromatic tobacco. So it's usually pretty busy with a knot of cars and trucks and busses all trying to get through this intersection that has no traffic light. So it's generally a mess.

But it's the start to road 9.

A typical street view on Road 9   in Maadi....the streets and avenues have a lot of trees and shade. This isn't very busy because the shot was taken late on a Friday afternoon...which is Sunday for the muslims....so a lot of people are at home or at the mosque. The little child in the shot was screaming because she fell off her toy...and her mother wasn't paying attention to her.

 

Once again....a street shot....this one however is in Hadayek....still Maadi...but a subdivision of a subdivsion. This is a good place to shop for just about everything.

More Maadi Hadayek.

Note the guy in the left middle with a tray. That's tea and coffee and he would have a little shop close by...and will deliver all day.

The Metro stop in Hadayek....they're fixing it and it's a bloody mess!

Kim in her classroom....working hard....or is that hardly working!
The school is in the upper class area of Maadi where a lot of westerners live.

There's one of these little convenience Kiosks on just about every corner....there are a probably a million of them in the city.

That's Kim in the middle of the frame....she's heading out to school at about seven in the morning...I took the picture from the apartment window. A little to the left is Ahkmed or "Boab" our doorman. Part of his job is to wash the dust off the apartment building owner's truck every morning. Kim takes a cab to work ...about 75 cents....but swears she walks home...it's  a brisk 15 minute walk to the school.

An old abandoned building along road 9 in Maadi. 

Fifty five....the number of the buidling along road 9 in Maadi...as well it's the name of the restaurant.....it's one of only two restaurants in this part of town where you can get a drink. The drinking part and the muslim part of the eatery are segregated.

These  are the guys who work at the bread bakery....there's a little enclave of shops at the beginning of road 9 where you get everything you need. The bread is called "baladi" and it's very cheap...but good ...especially when you get it warm and eat it with "romi" which is the local sharp tasting cheese...that and some local olives which are also dirt cheap and bottle of "Stella" beer....and you've got it made! 

This is the outside of the general store that's about a 2 minute walk from the apartment....and beside the little bread shop...obviously you can get fruit and veggies here..plus meat fish chicken cheese pots pans soap shampoo...you really don't need to go anywhere else. They all know me around here pretty well....I'm down every day getting something.

The inside of the little store...there are three long rooms like this in the shape of  "U".

You can see why I say it has everything!

Amir or "Prince" in English. He runs the deli in the little store...that's a half kilo of "romi" cheese he's holding up....that would cost a little more than three dollars. I was in there so much we got to know each other pretty well.

"Lucille's"...a popular and pretty famous restaurant along road 9...alas you can't get a drink in here...and I never graced it with my presence.

Not a very good shot I know...but the place with yellow windows in called "Drinkies" it's a booze shop....they'll also deliver anything you want right to your door. A case of twenty four beers would be about 14 dollars...it's petty good beer too!

My barber shop in the little commercial enclave at the beginning of road 9.

You guessed it...my barber ..Eslam.

Kim with teacher friends who are in town visiting from Kuwait....they have a very hard time getting booze there ......we took them to the Ace Club..where there's lots of booze...and the girl says "I hope nobody has anything to do for awhile....because I'mm gonna get drunk"!

Another Phillipina cleaning lady

doing our neighbors apartment....I had a quick chat with her that day about nothing in general.

This is the empty lot at the side in Kim's flat.....there's an abandoned building on it. The owner is apparently in prison....but I`m not sure how good that infomation is. But it WAS home to two families of dogs....seven or eight in all. They made a hell of a racket every night as they defended their terrirtory from all comers. Someone from the apartment building complained....and all but two of the dogs disappeared....thank Christ for that.

Note the green fence at the back of the lot.

This a shot from the green fence on street 87...Kim`s flat is upper right....

A view from to left of the vacant lot from Kim`s flat. In the middle is  Mosque and it`s minaret.

You can imagine how loud that is whem the Mullah is calling the flock to prayer...about seven times every friggin``day!

" Cats" in the Cradle .......of Civilization!

No.... definately not the musical.

Domesticated cats have been around in Egypt for close to five thousand years. The one below is the famous Egyptian "Wild Cat" or "Sand Cat" and most if not all cats in Cairo are decendants of this species of feline.

Egyptian "Wild or Sand" cat.

The wild cat first started making it's way into Egyptian society when people gathered to live in villages where they of course stored their food. That meant it was at the mercy of rats and mice...The wild cat soon found this easy food source and began hanging around...the Ancient Egyptians saw the advantage to this and eventually invited the cat into their homes...where they have been ever since.

Sacred cat or cat as a God. Found in tombs of the Pharos.

Somewhere along the line the cat started to become more important in Egyptian life...and moved up the status ladder from simple house pet...to sacred animal....eventually to deity...a God. That's why they find many cat statues like the one above in burial tombs.

Two blackies...their home is around a dumpster on a busy street near the apartment....I see them just about every day.

Alas...the fortunes of the cat in modern Egypt in general and Cairo specifically has taken and turn for the worse. Many Egyptians still have cats for pets of course....but thousands of cats have taken to the streets where they live on the razor's edge.....no life is  NOT easy for a cat in Cairo.

A yellow tabby and his friend a black and white to the right.

Actually they're not friends...soon after this pictures was taken they were fighting.

They not only do they have to stake out and protect their own territory. They have to scrounge for what food they might find. Sometimes a sympathetic human might supply them with a bit of food...but mostly their diet consists of garabage (and there's lots of it) they find in the street. And of course mice and rats of which I'm told there is no shortage of either....

 

These guys all hang around the front door to our apartment. Our "Boab" Ahkmed feeds them.

More door cats....when you come in or out they often wrap themselves around your feet.

A straggler I came across somewhere on road 9 .....notice how skinny he is.

So now when you walk down the street you see scores of these cats darting across the traffic hiding in bushes or abandoned buildings or under crates.....absolutely everywhere.

Oops! Sorry...this is one of the guys that didn't make it. I came across him in the gutter one morning just outside the mosque. It didn't bounce.

More 80 percent of them simply don't make it....They die horribly more often than not....hit by car...attacked by dogs...starvation .....distemper....a good many of them are blind in one eye.

This little guy on road 9...probably won't make it. It's mom either headed to greener pastures or is dead in the ditch...who know....who cares.

Basking in the sun of another lovely Cairo day.

Many cats take up station outside a butchers stand or chicken place or a fish mongers....these are usually dirty but healthier because they're getting better food. But this is all about location...location...location....and the sidewalk out in front of say....they butcher shop ...is valuable property for a cat and must be ruthlessly defended.

These two little guys brother and sister.. live under stuff just ouside of the bakery near the apartment....so at least they get scraps of bread to eat.

This one is well cared for by the tennants of the apartment buildings he hangs around.

Kim's cat.

Kim thought she might like a cat for the apartment. So she chose the one above from the six or seven or so cats outside the apartment building door. She got food and litter and a box ....everything she might need. Then brought the cat up to the apartment...it lasted about five minutes and then started freaking out wanting to get back outside. She had to let it out...but is still trying to entice it back...but it's a slow process.

Many "Gringos" do take these cats in...but it can be a long and costly process...because most of them have worms or a minor or major form of distemper...and of course lice and fleas...and more often than not a bad attitude. Vet bills are usually significant.

No matter ......the situation remains....there are probably a million ferile cats in Cairo as we speak....starving and dieing.....but what the heck....they're only cats!

``Life`` on the Nile: Aswan Part 2

Day two in Aswan.....bright and sunny....we were sadly misinformed about the what the weather was going to be like down here.
We brought bathing suits and short sleeve shirts...and while it was quite warm in the city...out on Elephantine Island where our hotel was...the wind could get at you and it was really quite cool...nights were down right cold. But it IS the desert.
Up and at the buffet breakfast again....lots of everything...a nice way to start the day.
Kim informed me that she had a ``minimum`` two hours of shopping to do...and didn't need me there to impede her momentum.
So I stayed back and hung around the pool.
While she went across the river and into the souk to shop.




The infinity pool at our hotel...the mainland across the Nile in the distance....I went in for a swim...but it was cool.

That's me hiding in the blankets from the flies....I actually had a very nice sleep.
Kim took this while I was sawing logs.

The deal was I would hang around the hotel 'til noon....and then come across the river to meet up with Kim...because there was another souk that I had spied when we drove in from the airport and I wanted to explore it.




Ferry coming to pick me up.

When I got to the other side there was an old cruise ship...from way way back...tied up a the ferry terminal...it's a beautiful wooden side wheeler that's about a hundred years old.
But it still plies the Nile taking guests on a two day trip from Luxor to Aswan...I'd like to take that trip some day.
It's called the "Sudan". AND if you can believe it....this was the boat used in the 1978 movie ``Death on the Nile`` an adaptation of Agatha Christies famous novel....more on that a little later.

The "Sudan" from the front.

Side view....it has about 20 cabins.

I met up with Kim...and we did some more shopping at a local Arab market.....then went back to the hotel for a couple of drinks ...then about 4:30 we headed out for the "Old Catarac" hotel....to have some drinks and watch the sunset from the terrace.

Arab souk...this is a market made up of merchandise for local consumption...although I did buy shoes here!

It's only about a twenty minute walk from our ferry stop to the "Old Catarac" hotel down the Aswan Corniche. But I thought we would grab a horse and carriage to takes us there if I could make a deal with one of these ruffians who drive the buggies. They're a surly and untrustworthy bunch...and really should be avoided at all costs.

Typical horse and carriage in Aswan.

When we hit the sidewalk from the ferry stop...the carriages were all there but no drivers.
I didn't want to make it look like I wanted a carriage...because then you tip your hand when it comes to negotiating the fare. So a driver was going past on the road and he yelled to see if I wanted a cab....I said sure how much to the Old Catarac...he quoted me some outlandish price...so back and forth we go....it ended up ten pounds...about a dollar fifty Canadian.
But then another driver came running up and told the guy he was stealing his fare...because he was next in line....I didn't care who took us...so I said to the new guy will you take me to the hotel for ten pounds...he said yes...big mistake.
These two guys started arguing big time....I mean big time.
We got  in the guys carriage and off we go...but didn't get a hundred yards down the street....when a couple of guys came running out from across two lanes of traffic and STOPPED his horse in the middle of the street....lots of really loud yelling. It seems the other guy had phoned ahead and told his friends to get this guy. Kim and I jumped off the buggy.....and the last we saw were these guys punching each other in the street!


One of the buggy drivers on the move.

Ten seconds later....clop clop clop....up behind us another buggy guy taking advantage of the fracus on the street came up..."hey you want a ride....I take ....you good deal" I told him to get stuffed and he got mad and told me to go home!!!
A hundred feet further on ......a parked buggy one of these thugs jumps off and says "ride? I take you cheap". I start trying to make a deal and Kim says oh no I'm not dealing with these guys anymore.
I said wait....we could see the Hotel about half a kilometer away...I said ...okay five pounds to the Old Catarac....he said okay....I said to Kim come let's go it's just a little ways. I went to get into the carriage and he says okay good...five dollars...I said no five pounds...he says no five dollars....I said you prick!
I didn't get in the carriage obviously and we continued walking down the street where we were accosted about every thirty seconds by somebody wanting something. It's pretty bad. ...and these carriage drivers aren't to be trusted under any circumstances.
We found out later that these guys are considered the lowest of the low by other Aswanis...and they have their own area where they live...and they're constantly fighting among themselves there....so I guess a street fight over business isn't that uncommon.

We finally make it to the Old Catarac...I mentioned before this is  an exquisitely beautiful old Victorian Hotel with decks and terraces on many levels....a pool over looking what used to be the cataracs...which  is now merely the Nile  meandering between outcrops of rounded rock. But years ago the water would have been rushing down through here...there would have been a great deal of sound and spray....it must have something....even today it's wonderful.

Aggie Baby

One of it's main claims to fame...and there are many....is the famous crime writer "Agatha Christie" wrote "Death on the Nile" while she was in residence in the hotel.
It's a novel about these crazy Egyptian carriage drivers...no I'm just kidding.....




Novel: "Death on the Nile".....written in 1937...at the "Old Catarac" Hotel ...Aswan.

We had to go through electronic security to get in....and escorted into the grounds by a security guard...who showed us the way to the entrance. The grounds are infinitely well manicured with a fountains large and small all over the grounds.

The entrance grounds to the "Old Catarac" Hotel

In through the entrance and you're in another world....a young man immacuately attired in a suit with a burgundy vest and an old fashion fez meets us....and immediately takes us on a mini tour....


Entrance...sorry about my finger!

Part of the main lobby.

The hotel is the same as it was a hundred and fifty years ago...marble...antiques chandeliers vases of flowers breath taking really.

Kim in front of a flower display in the main lobby.
Out the back to magnificent view from on high of the Nile...and many faluccas darting back and forth taking people on scenic rides.

The view from the terrace of the Old Catarac...looking down on the Nile.

In the middle right...you can see the tower of our hotel in the distance.

Sunset looking down on the cataracs. There is a restaurant on the island you see in the middle.

We sit down and have a couple of beers and just relaxed and looked in wonder upon the whole thing....and I thought...how good is my life...when I can sit here on the terrace of one of the most beautiful hotels in the world...and watch the sun set over the Nile River!
 I was soon snapped out of my blissful revery when the waiter handed  me the bill....Ouch.....in Aswan you have to pay for your  indulgences!
Back out on the street...a big hassle with the taxi drivers....I finally got one to take us the two kilometers home....for ten pounds....and early night.

Next day up and out...our last ferry ride to the mainland.

The ferryman and fellow rider...heading out to the airport.

Kim..the hardly.....I mean hardy sailor.

The obvious....I'm happy.....really!!

We had arranged a taxi ride to the airport the day before  with an honest looking driver who hung around the ferry terminal . A bargain at 80 pounds.

Maintenance on  the streets of Aswan.

This where we came in...isn`t it.

The flight home was miserable with a plane load of flies and squalling brats!

Our driver was waiting for us....it took longer to drive home through the traffic in Cairo....than it did to fly from Aswan.

Home sweet home!