At 3 a.m. local time, the touch down at Cairo. I was at the immigration counter within 5 minutes. That was quick I thought. When things were going smoothly, this official at the counter gave a puzzled look and started asking me something in Arabic. Easy tiger, I am not that good at Arabic, not yet. The conversation went nowhere. He called a fellow passenger who was a local and knew English. Hmm..so I get my official translator. I explained to my translater that I am an Indian national, working in London and have come to Egypt as a tourist. They exchanged some Arabic. I am asked to provide some other proof. A quick flash of my credit card did the job. HSBC should not be surprised if their profits grew many folds in Middle East this quarter. The counter fella nods, a little embarassed this time and I picked up my passport and leave. I thought of rearranging my bags as I had to pull my travel guide out when my translator friend came running towards me. God no, not again, I thought. He says 'Sorry about that incident, its just these times when these guys have to be extra careful. He did not mean to harass you'. I told him I understood their situation and that I did not really mind it. #Malesh#, as they say in Arabic. I had few more hours to kill anyway till dawn. He said since I had an Indian passport, came from London and that I had travelled to other Middle Eastern countries so frequently, he was a little confused and hence asked me to step aside. Hmm.. still can't see any confusion in it. Anyway, I guess he did not want the visitors to have a bad impression of Egypt and hence this clarification. Can't blame the official. Who wouldn't be confused at 3 in the morning.
Avoided all my well wishers who had come to see me at the airport, i mean the hotel/taxi guys and declared my handycam at the customs. Its now 3:30 am. I have to spend the next 2 1/2 hrs in the airport to take the first bus to Cairo or take a few steps to be dragged into one of the taxis by the numerous taxi drivers waiting outside. I think I will wait here and finish this sentence and then I can enjoy the morning air.
I turned out to be the only passenger in the terminal by 3:50 am, scribbling something in my diary. A few curios security guys walked across peeping into what I was writing. Talked to the security in-charge to kill some time. Then decided to convert my British Pounds into Egyptian pounds, henceforth written as EGP. The airport has around four banks and the exchange rate was more or less the same, so went to one of them. By banks, I mean just a counter for each bank. The rate for the day was 7.3152. The guy at the next counter said 'Prem, get it from here. If it is English pounds, I give a better rate'. How on earth did he know my name? Hmm.. the security guy I talked to? God, the news spreads so fast in here. This bank guy also knew I was from India and that I will be here only for 8 days. By 5 am, most of those working in the airport seemed to know about me. Went to my security friend to know where I can get bus 356 to Midan Tahrir. He went out to check the timetable and told me that the first bus was at 6 am. Cheers mate.
At 5:30 am, I ventured outside the airport. The dawn of Cairo was beautiful. The city was still half asleep. It was a bit cold. Met Mr. Yahya, who works with Saudi Airlines at the bus stop. We talked about Egypt and India. Took the 356 at 6:05 am and reached Midan Tahrir at 6:35 am. The journey costs 2 EGP. Went around Midan Tahrir trying to find out the Sun hotel where I'll have to stay for the next 2 days. The dorm was in the 9th floor. I took the 12th century lift. Mr. Mohammed, the owner took 15 EGP for today and I told him I'll pay the next day's rent the next day. He had two assistants, one, again Mohammed, was a fan of Amitabh Bachan. I wonder how they'll know which Mohammed I was calling if so many had the same name. I was told later that he had few more cousins working in the same hotel and they were Mohammeds too. Why am I surprised! Mohammed Jr. showed me my bed in the dorm. There were two Japanese backpackers, half awake. The other beds were occupied too, but I was too tired to find out who they were and set the alarm before crashing on my bed. Got up at 8:30 am.
Freshened up, talked to Wan from Malaysia who has been here for quite sometime and Will, another backpacker from Bedford. Got some info from them about Cairo. Also talked to the two Japanese I saw in the morning, Hajime and Takeyuki. They are software engineers in Tokyo. They are not very comfortable in English. So I tried my Japanese and they were quite surprised. So was I. I told myself not to push my luck too much before they realise how little Japanese I knew. Mr. Mohammed tried to sell their Aswan - Luxor package trip to me. When I told him I was planning to go on my own, he said since this was my first time in Egypt, going by myself to Aswan and further might not be so safe. I neither bought his story nor his travel package. He must have been quite disappointed. How about the trip to Giza? Taxis, Guides? No thanks, I'll take the bus I said.
Bought the Minatel phone card and called home to tell ma that I was alright. For those of you who will be using these phone cards in Egypt, there are plenty of Minatel phones with their yellow/green kiosks everywhere in Cairo and major cities in Egypt. I saw cards in 10 and 20 EGP denominations. If you plan to use these cards to call long distances, buy one larger denomination card instead of many smaller ones. I could not use the 10 EGP card to call India even though I had 3 EGP balance as it said the balance was insufficient. A real rip off. The messages on the display are in Arabic. Press the flag button on the dial pad and they change to English. Insert the card into the slot and you can see the balance on your card. The Minatel cards are available in most of the general provision shops.