Lost In Cairo

At every intersection, one is stopped and asked ‘where am I’m going?’ ‘where  have I come from?’, ‘where am I from?’ by the Egyptian army or police. It was getting pretty tire ing but at least I didn’t have to get off my motorcycle and fill in a ripped up registration book like I had too in Pakistan. 

 

Despite, the check points and the 500 kilometers I arrived in Cairo by 3:30pm only to spend the next 4 hours stopping and asking everyone where I was going! That's right, the tables have turned.  was downtown Cairo, in fact I had managed to get myself to Giza, but I was now lost going around and around the Pyramids. I had no map of Cairo except a small sketch of some directions to an infamous camping ground in the heart of Giza that I had copied down off the internet. After filling up with petrol, checking my map and asking for  directions once again, hours later I was sp exhausted, I gave up.

 

What should I do? It’s now dark, I’m so tired. The thought of camping on the side of the road ran through my head, or camping in a construction site? I didn’t care where I ended up sleeping, but I was scared off these ideas just thinking about the types of visitors I might receive during the night. I shook these ideas from my head and found a cheapish hotel. When I woke up, I realised it was right next door to the Pyramids! With some good sleep and a quick check on the internet, I realised where I had gone wrong – I was only 5 km away from the camp ground and found it straight away in daylight! 

For a camping ground in the heart of Cairo, it was pretty good! It had hot water and I could pitch my tent right next door to a light and have a power plug! Wim and Annelies and their new passenger Herbert (The Dutch 4x4 Campervan I meet in Jordan and took the Jordan – Egypt ferry together), were at the camp ground too, they also had got lost in the never ending motorways and roads one above the other. We decided to hire a taxi and go to visit the Pyramids together. 

 

When I looked up Cairo on Google maps I was astounded. You can see the Pyramids, they are that big. When standing at the foot of one, you now cannot help ask ‘where did you come from?’ ‘Where did you all go?’

Annelies, Wim (Back to us) and Herbert having Chai in a normal Egyptian tea house