The Egyptian Experience - Part One: Cairo

Dear followers

The Sage recently celebrated his resignation from the world of internal communications management by jetting off to the home of the pharoahs, pyramids and random shark attacks upon German pensioners to enjoy a brief escape from the resumption of the Ice Age in Britain.

Many UK holidaymakers visit Egypt to soak up the year-round sunshine in Red Sea resorts like Sharm El Sheikh, but being a man of culture and learning who would rather not have my limbs dismembered while demonstrating my doggie paddle, my trip focused predominantly on the peerless archaeological sites of this very ancient land. Inevitably though, visiting these places necessitated engaging fully with the modern face of Egypt, which was an altogether more mixed experience.

I flew into Cairo on 28 November. Cairo is vast - the largest city in Africa with anything between 13 and 22 million people depending on which statistics you believe. Huge concrete dual carriageways dissect a warren of shops, hotels and slum housing, with spiralling minarets jostling for position alongside neon signs advertising Western brands across a crowded skyline. A thin but inescapable layer of smog hovers malignantly overhead, created by countless cars belching out exhaust fumes as they career madly around the city with no apparent regard for their own safety or that of their fellow motorists.

On foot, Cairo is scarcely more appealing. The pavements are cracked, uneven and strewn with rubbish, not forgetting the occasional carcass of one of the many stray cats that stalk the streets wherever you go. Ragged children emerge from their makeshift homes behind fences and walls to kick a battered football around. It's advisable to check your life insurance cover before attempting to cross the road, and you can sense the polluted air infiltrating your lungs as soon as you step outside.

Then there's the people. Away from the tourist areas - no problem. While travelling on the surprisingly efficient metro or ambling around local markets, I might as well have been invisible, despite being the only westerner in sight. But the rest of the time, not only in Cairo but in Luxor and Aswan too, was a constant test of patience as I was assailed from every direction by a stream of hawkers and vendors who, rightly or wrongly, see foreign visitors as fair game cash cows to be milked dry of cash by any means possible. "Hello sir, where are you from sir, do you need a taxi sir, come and have a look in my shop sir..." While it's important to remember that for many this is the only way to survive in a country that's poorer than many realise, sometimes the level of hassle can become quite invasive. For example, as I got into a cab outside the city's enormous and labyrinthine Khan Al-Khalili bazaar, a toothless old man appeared from nowhere, shut the car door behind me and then extended a bony hand through the window to demand 'baksheesh' for the unwanted service he had rendered.

Yet all Cairo's negatives faded away when I had my first view of the pyramids - a truly awe-inspiring moment. I had assumed they were located a fair distance away in the middle of the desert, but as our minibus hurtled round a suburban corner they loomed up unexpectedly, towering majestically over the shanty towns below only a matter of yards from the fringes of the city. Up close they are no less impressive; their sheer size alone adding credence to the conspiracy theories that aliens masterminded their construction. Far-fetched perhaps, but it's hard to imagine how human beings living over 4500 years ago accomplished such marvellous feats of engineering without some help.

At 146.5 metres high, the Great Pyramid Of Khufu remained the world's tallest man made structure for an incredible 3800 years until it was finally surpassed by the spire of Lincoln Cathedral in 1300 AD. A true wonder of the world - and one definitely worth braving the trials and tribulations of today's Egypt to witness.

In my next blog, I'll be writing about my travels to Luxor and Aswan, in the south of Egypt.

Until then, all the best

The Sage