Taxi Cab Diaries
I had to be at the British Embassy this morning by 10:00AM. It is less than a mile south of my hotel so I thought 30 minutes would be MORE than enough time to get there. My first mistake of the day. Anyway, the hotel arranged for my cab. Everyone says to only take a metered cab, and to get the hell out of it if they claim the meter is broken. I made the immediate mistake of forgetting to check said meter. Nicely done, Allie.
The ride was fabulous though. Cairo is much what you probably expect. Busy. Full. Vendors vendors vendors. There are a number of things I did not anticipate though. For example, the waterfront is crawling with packs of teenage boys. Peacocking packs of teenage boys. Their comportment and body language makes social hierarchies obvious from the backseat of my cab. There are also innumerable Lays potato chip adds. Could not tell you what that's about. Are potato chips like crazy popular here? Is this a niche market for Lays or something? I will have to investigate further.
Also, everywhere were poster remnants of what can only be described as "Mubarak and Friends." They are on everything. If there is a flat, or even slightly rounded surface in this city, it has been coated in one of these 3x2 posters. Lamp posts, underpasses, marble storefronts, statues and plaza monuments. They are brightly colored, mostly yellow, and feature a smiling headshot (no teeth in Mubarak's, of course) and friendly clip art. Like a soccer ball. No one is kicking or dribbling said soccer ball. It is just floating, friendly-like next to one guy's right ear.
It is hard to know what is actually on any of these posters, as many are not left intact. Those that have not been scraped off the offended surfaces, have been moustachioed or given a super eye patch.
We get to the British Embassy, my cab driver gestures to his broken meter and now wants to haggle. Our 1 mile car ride has taken 45 minutes because traffic is that insane. I am already late so when he suggests 30 LE, I didn't even try to barter. Although when he pretended he didn't have change for my 100LE note, I waited until he miraculously unearthed the correct change. And he received no tip. Mostly because I forgot, but when I retell the story in a bar somewhere, I am sure I will claim that I purposefully did not leave the tip. Because I was sooooo on to him. When I was soooooo not.
My meeting at the Embassy went well. Beautiful building and grounds. Christmas is still in full swing here in Egypt as the Coptic Christmas isn't until January 7th, so the Ambassador's home had a beautiful tree, lights, ornaments. It was quite pleasant.
After the meeting I stepped out on the curb, hailed my first cab in Cairo and hoped for the best. This car had a working meter, thank you very much, and the return ride cost . . . (this is the moment where I reveal that I am terribly unsavvy). . . 8LE. 30 going, 8 coming. I was annoyed with myself until I realized that if I factored in the conversion rate, I only spent $5 on that 45 minute cab ride. Jokes on you predator cab driver! Muah Ha Ha! In fact YOU are the one who were taken for a ride!
I went back to my room and took a jet-lagged nap. At 1:00 I jumped into another cab with Hamdi. Hamdi does a lot of work for our office here in Cairo and is a wonderful wonderful man. Firstly, his is the only car I've been in so far that has working seat belts. I didn't utilize them because apparently it's just not what you do and I didn't want to make myself out to be the un-savvy traveler twice in one day, but it was nice to know they were there. Hanging from his rearview are ivory prayer beads. On his dashboard is the Quran. He is very happy to show me the city and make small talk. Upon further discussion he tells me he got his degree in Philosophy. He wanted very much to be a Philosophy teacher, but the salary wasn't enough to support his 4 boys. (sound familiar?) So he became a Japanese chef! The man can teach me philosophy and make me sushi! His restaurant closed and he became a cab driver and I think he is just a gem. He says he enjoys being a cab driver because he gets to meet so many people. He is putting two boys through college now and says that tourism is down and so is his business. I'm pretty sure I'm going to retain his services exclusively while I'm here. We have planned a few tourism outings together and he has offered to take me to the bazaar here and walk me to all the good vendors. I like Hamdi. He thinks my morning cab driver debacle is quite funny.
The ride was fabulous though. Cairo is much what you probably expect. Busy. Full. Vendors vendors vendors. There are a number of things I did not anticipate though. For example, the waterfront is crawling with packs of teenage boys. Peacocking packs of teenage boys. Their comportment and body language makes social hierarchies obvious from the backseat of my cab. There are also innumerable Lays potato chip adds. Could not tell you what that's about. Are potato chips like crazy popular here? Is this a niche market for Lays or something? I will have to investigate further.
Also, everywhere were poster remnants of what can only be described as "Mubarak and Friends." They are on everything. If there is a flat, or even slightly rounded surface in this city, it has been coated in one of these 3x2 posters. Lamp posts, underpasses, marble storefronts, statues and plaza monuments. They are brightly colored, mostly yellow, and feature a smiling headshot (no teeth in Mubarak's, of course) and friendly clip art. Like a soccer ball. No one is kicking or dribbling said soccer ball. It is just floating, friendly-like next to one guy's right ear.
It is hard to know what is actually on any of these posters, as many are not left intact. Those that have not been scraped off the offended surfaces, have been moustachioed or given a super eye patch.
We get to the British Embassy, my cab driver gestures to his broken meter and now wants to haggle. Our 1 mile car ride has taken 45 minutes because traffic is that insane. I am already late so when he suggests 30 LE, I didn't even try to barter. Although when he pretended he didn't have change for my 100LE note, I waited until he miraculously unearthed the correct change. And he received no tip. Mostly because I forgot, but when I retell the story in a bar somewhere, I am sure I will claim that I purposefully did not leave the tip. Because I was sooooo on to him. When I was soooooo not.
My meeting at the Embassy went well. Beautiful building and grounds. Christmas is still in full swing here in Egypt as the Coptic Christmas isn't until January 7th, so the Ambassador's home had a beautiful tree, lights, ornaments. It was quite pleasant.
After the meeting I stepped out on the curb, hailed my first cab in Cairo and hoped for the best. This car had a working meter, thank you very much, and the return ride cost . . . (this is the moment where I reveal that I am terribly unsavvy). . . 8LE. 30 going, 8 coming. I was annoyed with myself until I realized that if I factored in the conversion rate, I only spent $5 on that 45 minute cab ride. Jokes on you predator cab driver! Muah Ha Ha! In fact YOU are the one who were taken for a ride!
I went back to my room and took a jet-lagged nap. At 1:00 I jumped into another cab with Hamdi. Hamdi does a lot of work for our office here in Cairo and is a wonderful wonderful man. Firstly, his is the only car I've been in so far that has working seat belts. I didn't utilize them because apparently it's just not what you do and I didn't want to make myself out to be the un-savvy traveler twice in one day, but it was nice to know they were there. Hanging from his rearview are ivory prayer beads. On his dashboard is the Quran. He is very happy to show me the city and make small talk. Upon further discussion he tells me he got his degree in Philosophy. He wanted very much to be a Philosophy teacher, but the salary wasn't enough to support his 4 boys. (sound familiar?) So he became a Japanese chef! The man can teach me philosophy and make me sushi! His restaurant closed and he became a cab driver and I think he is just a gem. He says he enjoys being a cab driver because he gets to meet so many people. He is putting two boys through college now and says that tourism is down and so is his business. I'm pretty sure I'm going to retain his services exclusively while I'm here. We have planned a few tourism outings together and he has offered to take me to the bazaar here and walk me to all the good vendors. I like Hamdi. He thinks my morning cab driver debacle is quite funny.
Comments
Post a Comment