Our arrival into the airport and the trip to the dorms was very stereotypical Cairo.
Our plane lands at 2:15, so we get the aerial view of the city's lights. For the last fifteen minutes of the flight, the lights of the city stretch into the distance as far as we could see. I realize we were getting close to central Cairo when the ground beneath us begins to look foggy and the lights a more brownish color due to the pollution.
The plane lands, the American/European system of exiting the plane in which you politely allow the people in rows in front of you to go first is abandoned as we all fight our way to be first. We walk through the empty arrivals terminal, past the duty free shops that sell kitchen appliances, electronics, and luggage in addition to the normal duty-free products. At the immigration window, I am spared the questioning of my reasons for coming to Egypt thanks to my Egyptian residency visa.
In the “Arriving in Cairo” section of AUC's international student handbook, it states: “The best way into Cairo is to use the Misr Limousine service. They will take you and your luggage to your destination for a fixed price. The alternative is the black and white taxis that wait at the curb. Try to avoid these. They are very bad.” Of course there are never actually any of the Misr Limousines at the airport, so we have to use the black and white taxis. When we exit the airport, about half a dozen men accost us, saying “Taxi, taxi. I will take you to Cairo.” We choose a random man, ask him for a fare, and he tells us LE 50 (about $10). We negotiate him down to LE 40. They don't allow taxis to wait near the arrivals terminal, so we have to take a shuttle out to a parking lot. The driver herds us aboard as we are still discussing whether we want to wait for him. In the minute before the shuttle leaves, he finds 3 more people (all AUC students, though living in a different part of town) to take as well, swearing that he has a large enough cab.
We get out to the parking lot and are led to his taxi, which is a real taxi - there is a problem in Cairo of men claiming to be taxi drivers, who have only normal cars, and try to rip you off even more than normal taxi drivers. He loads our luggage in the trunk and on top, we get in, and then our driver disappears. A few minutes later, he reappears, hops in, and we head off towards Cairo.
At 3 a.m., there isn't much traffic on the highway, so we head into town at full speed. We still dodge the occasional donkey cart or pedestrian on the highway though. Our driver honks his horn the entire time. Sometimes to make other cars or pedestrians aware of his presence, sometime to hurry other cars out of his way, and sometimes, when no one else is around, for no reason at all. We drop of the other AUC students downtown and then head to Zamalek. The driver swore he knew where the AUC dorms were, but we still have to tell him which end of the island we're on. We drive past the guards standing in front of the Indian embassy, waking them up, past the policemen on the corner with their non-functioning automatic rifles slung over their shoulders, though empty streets, announcing our presence to everyone with the constant honking.
We get to the dorms, get out, hand the driver our 40 pounds, and are amazed when he doesn't ask for more.
Our plane lands at 2:15, so we get the aerial view of the city's lights. For the last fifteen minutes of the flight, the lights of the city stretch into the distance as far as we could see. I realize we were getting close to central Cairo when the ground beneath us begins to look foggy and the lights a more brownish color due to the pollution.
The plane lands, the American/European system of exiting the plane in which you politely allow the people in rows in front of you to go first is abandoned as we all fight our way to be first. We walk through the empty arrivals terminal, past the duty free shops that sell kitchen appliances, electronics, and luggage in addition to the normal duty-free products. At the immigration window, I am spared the questioning of my reasons for coming to Egypt thanks to my Egyptian residency visa.
In the “Arriving in Cairo” section of AUC's international student handbook, it states: “The best way into Cairo is to use the Misr Limousine service. They will take you and your luggage to your destination for a fixed price. The alternative is the black and white taxis that wait at the curb. Try to avoid these. They are very bad.” Of course there are never actually any of the Misr Limousines at the airport, so we have to use the black and white taxis. When we exit the airport, about half a dozen men accost us, saying “Taxi, taxi. I will take you to Cairo.” We choose a random man, ask him for a fare, and he tells us LE 50 (about $10). We negotiate him down to LE 40. They don't allow taxis to wait near the arrivals terminal, so we have to take a shuttle out to a parking lot. The driver herds us aboard as we are still discussing whether we want to wait for him. In the minute before the shuttle leaves, he finds 3 more people (all AUC students, though living in a different part of town) to take as well, swearing that he has a large enough cab.
We get out to the parking lot and are led to his taxi, which is a real taxi - there is a problem in Cairo of men claiming to be taxi drivers, who have only normal cars, and try to rip you off even more than normal taxi drivers. He loads our luggage in the trunk and on top, we get in, and then our driver disappears. A few minutes later, he reappears, hops in, and we head off towards Cairo.
At 3 a.m., there isn't much traffic on the highway, so we head into town at full speed. We still dodge the occasional donkey cart or pedestrian on the highway though. Our driver honks his horn the entire time. Sometimes to make other cars or pedestrians aware of his presence, sometime to hurry other cars out of his way, and sometimes, when no one else is around, for no reason at all. We drop of the other AUC students downtown and then head to Zamalek. The driver swore he knew where the AUC dorms were, but we still have to tell him which end of the island we're on. We drive past the guards standing in front of the Indian embassy, waking them up, past the policemen on the corner with their non-functioning automatic rifles slung over their shoulders, though empty streets, announcing our presence to everyone with the constant honking.
We get to the dorms, get out, hand the driver our 40 pounds, and are amazed when he doesn't ask for more.
posted by David at 2:11 PM
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