Day 10: A day at the Zoo. Mickey started his annoying beep, beep alarm call just after seven, I leant over and switched it off telling him that he was late, as I had already been woken this morning by someone else. I need not have set the alarm clock last night, I had forgotten about the call to early Morning Prayer that echoes around Cairo around five every morning. After hearing this repeated droning call you lay there for a few minutes, then start thinking to yourself, now if only I had a gun! Since the prayer call started I had been watching the BBC world service news channel again, but I soon got bored with that as it repeats itself every fifteen minutes. So I suppose it was a relief when Mickey did tell me to get up, it was now at least a respectable hour of the day. Breakfast in the hotel was buffet style with the usual various hams and cheeses, boiled eggs and cereal e.t.c. It was shame I had eaten so much last night! I should have made myself up a packed lunch, but never thought of it at the time! Looking around me I could see and hear that the other clientele in the dining room were mostly middle aged Europeans, who I guessed were on the more upmarket tours. They all came to breakfast dressed up to the nines, I for my part looked like a bag of Sh*t! I really must have a shave this morning I thought after catching my reflection in the gleaming cutlery. After leaving my room with a face that now resembled a baby's bum I went to the reception and asked if they could write down the Arabic word for zoo, which was where I intended to go this morning. I'd had enough of looking at all those monuments up to now and wanted to see some living things for a change. The man behind the desk was very helpful and gave me what I wanted, he even told me how much I should pay the taxi driver! "Oh that won't be necessary, I'm going on the metro," I said. He looked at me and just smiled, then told me where to get off and which direction I should walk in when I did. "Thanks you have been most helpful" I told him as I took the written directions, he again just smiled, probably thinking "What a tight Basta*d". "It's a lot more fun on the metro" I said laughing. And of course I was by now becoming an expert on its operation. This journey took a little while as once I had joined the train at Mubarak, as I had to change lines at Sadat for a connecting train to Al Gamaa on the line that goes out to Giza. There was no problem in finding my way on the metro, the problem came when I got off at Al Gamaa, which is the main station for Cairo university. I was really surprised by the size of the university, which it is said provides schooling for over twenty thousand students at a time. Being today was a Sunday made no difference, as there were still plenty of students around, as I guess this was just another day for them? Looking at the map I knew I would have to walk around the outside of the university complex, but I didn't realise the place was so bloody big. It must have been a good mile I walked just to get to the other side of the university and into the park which houses the zoo. Now, this was not a problem, but bearing in mind I still had my knackered boots, this was not what the doctor ordered at all. I eventually found the zoo and had to pay the less than extortionate tourist fee of 50 piastres (8p) to get in! Straight away I thought that for a nominal eight pence entry fee this zoo was not going to be up to much! I was to be pleasantly surprised though. There were not many people in the zoo, mostly young courting couples that were using it as a place to hide away from prying eyes, and some small family groups. While the zoo does not have the same volume of animals, as say the London zoo, it certainly had its fair share, with all the usual animals you would expect to find, and even some you wouldn't. In one section of the zoo they had various different breeds of dogs, yes, that's right, dogs! This really surprised me, as it's not an animal you expect to see in a cage at the zoo. Do you know how ridiculous a poodle, or for that matter a Labrador look in a cage! The dogs, of which there were several different breeds, seemed to be very popular with the Egyptians though, so they must have some merit. Among this menagerie could also be found lions, tigers, elephants, zebra, giraffes, and gazelle's e.t.c. Birds of every description could also be found, from the common pigeon and sparrow breeds to the more exotic birds of prey. It has to be said that I really enjoyed my time at the zoo, and I would also have to say that it was the best value for money eight pence I have ever spent. As I walked around I received several offers from zoo keepers to allow me access into enclosed areas to take pictures, including one particular offer to enter the tigers compound where there was a new born cub. I of course declined these offers, for obvious reasons that I won't go into here, but needless to say, this goes a long way to emphasise how a simple exchange of some baksheesh can get you just about anything you want in Egypt. One rather over friendly zoo keeper who thought he was doing me a favour, was actually starting to annoy me a little when I was trying to take some pictures at the peacock compound. He was offering food to the peacocks in order to get them to come towards me; he obviously thought this would please me. I tried to explain to him this was not helping and that this was not at all what I wanted at all. I was trying to isolate just one bird in order to take a picture with the background completely out of focus; this was so as not to get the clutter of a large group and the drab looking cage included. I should not have been angry, as the keeper really did not understand what I was up to, and just kept smiling while holding his hand out! I had only meant to walk a round the zoo for an hour or so, but in fact stayed there for the best part of five hours, only leaving when it was announced the zoo was closing. I returned to the hotel and took a shower to wash the dust of the day walking around, and as I have said before it is quite surprising just how much dust you pick up walking around this city. My feet in particular were very dirty, but this was a lot to do with the large cracks in the soles of my boots allowing the dust underfoot to enter and soil the soles. Travelling to Sadat on the metro I again noticed that no one was taking any notice in me, and felt like it was now a natural thing for me to be on a crammed metro train, the only European in a sea of Arabic bodies all jostling for position and a decent handgrip. I could not get over the mentality of the people though when the train pulled into a station. The people waiting to get on just went for it as soon as the doors opened, rather than let those who were alighting off first. This causes a bit of a free for all, but everyone just accepts it as the norm! One last walk around the Midan Tahir area and a stop at McDonalds for an air burger was about all I could take this evening. I was going to have a walk around the Kahn al-Khalili market area to pick up a few more souvenirs, but after last nights experience in the market area I decided against this. Instead I headed back to the hotel for an early night, as I aware that I would have a long day tomorrow, and would need to be up early in the morning to get to the airport. Unbelievable was how I would describe the scene I encountered on the metro, and again everyone else around me just seemed to accept it as a normal everyday occurrence, which I suppose it was to them. Handcuffed one to another in a daisy chain were a group of about bare footed, dirty faced ragged arsed kids, aged I would say between six and twelve. They were being led by a couple of policemen onto the train, and then taken of at the same station I alighted to be led to some kind of cells, or detention centre. What their crime had been one can only hazard a guess, but I would imagine they had been up to no good somewhere on the metro system, other than that the police must have been very short on road transport. It's just a way of life here in Cairo, and one that everyone is aware of, and accepts without question, but can you imagine the headlines if this happened on the London underground system! Back at the hotel I asked if the night receptionist could give me an early morning call at 4.a.m., and also asked if they could arrange a taxi for my journey to the airport. Again this was no trouble for the helpful receptionist, who even asked if I had enjoyed my zoo trip. I caught up with a little world news on the BBC before getting into bed around 9.p.m. |