We woke up to our new surroundings at the hotel, and it was absolutely quiet. We slept in a bit since we were located right next to today’s destination, the Egyptian Museum. I left my camera behind because I had read that the museum does not allow cameras at all and I figured it would just end up in a locker somewhere.
From our hotel it was just across the street to the museum. That sounds simple enough, but the street was six lanes of traffic going in opposite ways, which means a risky crossing putting your faith in the drivers who may or may not be completely awake at the moment. We tried to gauge the narrowest point, and then walked assertively through the cars and ended up on the correct side of the street. We went through a perimeter security check, and then another check entering the grounds, and later we did a third and final check when entering the building. I think that the security checks were more about having us feel safe than actually being any safer, but who knows?
We bought our tickets, and were able to evade the aggressive tour guides standing in the grounds clutching licenses on lanyards and pitching their services. Unlike our previous guides these ones had impeccable English and some of them appeared to be foreign. I’m sure you’d get your money’s worth by hiring one of these freelancers, but we always prefer the freedom of our own exploration so we lined up and entered the museum on our own.
When we were in Cairo previously, a driver had pointed out the construction site of the new Egyptian Museum. The building was huge and looked more like a sports arena than a museum. It looked to be about 80% complete, but according to the driver it always looks 80% complete and it had become a very long term project. So, with this fact in mind, we entered the original museum that was built in a very European style in 1902. The place was surprisingly low-tech, almost like visiting someone’s house that happened to have a lot of Egyptian artifacts sitting around. There were two floors, and things were arranged by original time period, so I was glad that I had done my studies before we arrived. We started in the Early Period, and then generally went forward in history from there. It was a huge place and hard to do justice here so instead I’ll just list a couple of sights that made the biggest impression.
First, there were mummies. I knew that there was a special room that contained the mummies of the pharaohs and other royalty from long ago, but there were also other mummies that didn’t rate the special room, and they could be found in glass boxes here and there. It felt weird to be gazing through some jewelry and then look in the next box and see a preserved dead body from thousands of years ago.
Everything had simple tags to explain the significance, and some of these tags were yellowed with age and typed (using a typewriter!). It was clear that everyone expected that when the new museum building opened everything would be updated and modernized, but until then maintaining the exhibits clearly had a low priority.
We enjoyed seeing the room that held Egyptian artifacts from the Roman occupation era, and seeing some Roman god’s face carved into stone with a pharaoh’s crown and hood was really mind-blowing. Two worlds were colliding here and I think it would have been an interesting time to live in Egypt.
As you might expect animals played a big part in the artwork and artifacts of ancient Egypt, and we really enjoyed seeing all the golden cats, the beautifully painted and richly ornamented cows, and snakes carved from alabaster. It was apparent that Japan did not have a monopoly on cute animals – Egypt had been doing it long before.
Our final stop was the special room dedicated to holding the most valuable treasures of King Tut’s tomb. Besides an extra plate of glass and a guard standing watch, there was nothing else to distinguish it from other exhibits. I stood and looked at the golden mask straight on – something I still remember doing when my father took me to see the exhibit when it came to San Francisco years ago, and it was nice feeling of closing the circle. The mask made a big impression on me then and also now, and to find myself standing in Egypt looking at it again gave me chills. The other treasures were also impressive, and we spent quite a bit more time perusing them.
So the museum was a little surprising but very satisfying, and we left feeling like we got a good survey of what was inside. People who are really, really into Egyptian history could spend a week there. It is a vast collection.
At our current hotel we did not get the breakfast option. That meant that each day we’d have to rove out and source some morning grub and/or coffee. Since we were already out and about, we went to another restaurant recommended online. It was called Kazaz, and like most Egyptian restaurants the biggest business was being done on the ground floor as takeout food. We asked a cook manning the kebabs outside if there were any tables, and he pointed us to a staircase in the back and we went up and found a table.
The place had a cool atmosphere, kind of like a diner decorated with cheap Christmas decorations. There were lots of local people at the tables, and on the TV there was a dedicated 24/7 broadcast showing the pilgrims circling Mecca, with haunting prayers playing at low volume. A friendly woman wearing a headscarf, traditional blouse and leather pants(!) took our order, and we had what we think would be called an Egyptian brunch. It started with a salad of pickled vegetables, a plate of wheat flatbreads, and then I had a salty beef strip omelet, we had some fried Egyptian cheese, and Kuniko ordered a beef shawarma that turned out more like a sandwich than a wrap. We drank hot milk tea (served in glassware so we had to avoid burning our fingers when drinking), and just reveled in the atmosphere. It was really affordable, and the food was good value. No Michelin stars are forthcoming, but it served our needs perfectly.
After brunch we stopped by our hotel to pick up my camera, and then we searched unsuccessfully again for a supermarket in the neighborhood. There were plenty of tiny little convenience store kinds of places, but nothing like the bigger, clean supermarkets we kept finding in Dokki. So naturally, we decided to go back to Dokki.
We took the subway, and it was only two stops from our station (Sadat). The subway system was really cheap, but primitive – you had to wait in line and buy tickets from a real human being. We got on board the traincar and I was interested to see that it was made in Japan by Kinki Sharyo, one of my company’s competitors. The train looked, sounded, and smelled old, so it must have been manufactured a long time ago. As we stepped aboard we got a lot of looks. Especially Kuniko got attention from the men, and just in case we stood next to a couple of older ladies minding their kids. There was no problem but if I were a foreign woman traveling alone I might think twice about using the subway.
After two stops we disembarked at Dokki station, and we went up the stairs and emerged in our old neighborhood. It was an oddly happy feeling to be back in Dokki, even though we had spent just a few days here before it felt like a homecoming. We moved quickly through the streets, feeling like locals and making a beeline for the nearest supermarket. We spent quite a long time shopping for souvenirs for students, friends and family back in Japan. The clerk’s eyes got big when he saw how many candy bars we were buying.
With several big bags of souvenirs we walked back to the station, said a final goodbye to Dokki, and caught the subway back to Sadat. I tried to take a picture of the platform clock, which had Arabic numbers rather western ones, but a soldier saw me and waved me off. Sometimes that happens, so I ducked my head in apology and quickly put away my camera. We were just leaving, sir.
We made another stop at Drinkies on the way back to the hotel, and then finally unloaded our bountiful supplies in the room and opened up a cold beer. It was a proper reward for surviving the subway system and major shopping trip.
Since we expected a late night for New Year’s Eve we snuck in an afternoon nap, and then decided to go out and try a new place for dinner. It turned out to be pretty good. We went to Taboula, located in the Garden City district of Cairo, near many foreign embassies. We passed the American embassy while walking, with two soldiers standing guard in full military gear and surrounded by big spiky roadblocks – American embassies always have the most intense security. We also passed a lot of activity – more and more police and military were out setting up spotlights and metal detectors. We never found out why, and so we chalked it up to being New Year’s Eve. There were more people on Tahrir Square, but mainly it was just young couples out on a date. Strangely there were young men selling Santa Claus hats to people walking by, even though we were well past Christmas.
The restaurant was busy that night, and since we didn’t have reservations we were told to finish within one hour. It turned out to be plenty of time for us. The restaurant was decorated with strobe-light flashing blue and white Christmas lights, and we were surrounded by an interesting mix of customers. Tables full of young Egyptian women smoking shish pipes, groups of foreign women who may have been embassy staff, and larger groups (maybe families?) that were having a big night out. We enjoyed a beef kofta dish with plenty of vegetables and flatbread, a much better lineup of falafel that had a rich, meaty center as well as bean filling, and then a plate of garlic mushrooms that was extremely garlicky. And of course, Stella made an appearance. Oh yeah!
After dinner we thought it might be interesting to walk around the center of Cairo and see what was going on as we built up to the New Year’s Eve countdown. We walked up and down the streets and more and more people were gathering. Oddly, they weren’t really going anywhere in particular, just enjoying being outside together. I suddenly noticed a strange pain in the back of my throat, and I started to worry about maybe catching a New Year cold. We bought some ice cream from a vendor on the street, and that dampened the pain a bit.
As we walked around more and more people appeared around us, up and down the streets. Groups of younger people were getting a little wild – yelling to each other, and a couple of people spoke to me in Arabic out of the blue, which was a first. Usually people called out to us in English. It is hard to put my finger on it exactly, but something made me feel a little uncomfortable and I thought it might be better to get away from the rapidly building crowds. I wouldn’t say I was afraid, but I knew that staying away from big crowds as a foreigner is always a good idea, and I had no idea what happens during a usual New Year’s Eve in Cairo.
So I told Kuniko that between this weird feeling and a sore throat, it might be best to head back to the hotel. She agreed, and we made our back safely and without incident. Since I was still feeling the sore throat I wrapped myself up in warm blankets to rest, and we just vegged out for the rest of the evening. I even fell asleep before the actual stroke of midnight, so I guess I’m showing my age a little bit. Kuniko said that there were no special events and things were pretty quiet right at midnight – the (non-alcohol) hotel party didn’t even pause for the countdown. I guess the New Year isn’t as big a deal as in other countries.
I’m sure we would have been fine out on the street until midnight, but I make it a point to listen to my instincts while traveling, even more so in a place like Egypt, and I think it was the right choice. Luckily by the time I woke up the next morning, my sore throat had almost completely disappeared.
