Second Blog Message.  March 18, 2012

As I write this second message I am sitting in the dining room of the Windsor Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.  This hotel was built in the 1890s, and was used by the British staff who were stationed in Cairo.  You can almost imagine these fellows sitting around in the evening drinking gin and tonic and saying “Good job, old chap…” and things like that,  that Monty Python’s Flying Circus has so much fun parodying.  I arrived on March 16, and assuming that Iraqi Airways continues to operate I will leave on the morning of the 23^rd.  For a person who needs a hotel that new and nicely finished in all of the corners, this would probably not work.  It’s just too old for that.  But if a person can appreciate how well it functions in the 21^st. century, then it’s a great place.  The bathroom has recently been refurbished with new tile, toilet, and lavatory, and is really nice.  The knotty pine floor looks original, but is clean and wonderfully buffed from years of use.  The ceiling is probably 15 feet from the floor.  I could shoot basketballs in there if there were a hoop on the wall.  Overlooking the streets below is a small balcony accessed through two narrow wooden doors that are almost as tall as the room.  The sheets are clean, and the bed comfortable.  The hotel has an elevator that looks to be original.  No joke.  A 100+ year old elevator.  It belongs in an elevator museum.  The only problem I have with the room itself is that the lighting is poor.  The only other problem has nothing to do with the room, but rather with the fact that it is near a mosque on which a very loud loudspeaker is mounted. The muzzein’s call to prayer, offered five times per day, is amplified well;  I never have to wonder when, by Muslim tradition, it’s time to pray.  Overall, the place has a lot of charm.  I have stayed in far worse motels in the US that are 1/10^th the age of this place. 

I have attached below a few photos of the hotel. 

 

The only problem for the hotel is that there so few of us tourists staying here or elsewhere in Egypt.   I am dismayed at the effect of the revolution of last year on the tourist enterprise here in Egypt.  This morning, I sat alone in a breakfast room that could seat 30 or 40 people.  I came into the dining room at 8 a.m., when one other person was just finishing.  In the almost one hour that I sat there, no one else came in. This evening, as I write this message, I have been in the dining room lounge since 5:00 p.m. , taking advantage of the free internet service.  As I write, it’s now 8:30 p.m.  and during this time only two other patrons have come in to a large room which by now, should be full of patrons having a drink and ordering supper.  The fellow tending the bar has been at his business for 20 years, and he seems almost philosophic about the situation.  He says things have turned around in the past and he is hoping they will in the future.  I think I am only one of maybe three occupants in the hotel with 40 rooms. 

For the past two days, I have contracted with a guide, a young man named Ahmeen who does guiding for a living.  He has a degree from university in historic guiding.  He knows Egyptian history thoroughly, and can even read hieroglyphs.  His pay is about $40 per day for an eight hour day.  I paid a total of $60 for a driver and guide yesterday, all day and I was alone in the van.  I had my own personal guide, in essence.  And, until being asked to help me yesterday, he had no business at all for this week or last week.  At the first pyramid complex we went to, at Saqqara, there was one other tour company minibus in the parking lot built to hold many more buses and cars.  Today, Ahmeen and I walked to the large National Museum by the Nile River.  This place is big – think British Museum size.  Again, the number in attendance was small compared to what it could receive. 

Everyone I talk to says something to the effect, "go home and tell people it's safe to travel in Egypt."  The warnings in the US and elsewhere are apparently keeping people away, but for the life of me, I can't see the problem.   I know that I can be naive and thus might miss the warning signs, but I don't see the problem.  There were hundreds of US and European tourists in the National Museum (a place big enough to hold thousands) and they went about without apparent concern.  In front, there were tour buses unloading dozens of oriental tourists (Korean?  Chinese?   I can't tell the difference).  Somehow there is a disconnect between what their governments have been telling them and what the US and Australian governments are telling their citizens.   I walked to and from the museum through the busy streets of downtown Cairo, and hardly drew a glance from people.   You can tell that the government must be somewhat on edge when you see an armored personnel carrier parked prominently in a busy square, but other than that, nothing.  Of course, I still have more four more days here.  Perhaps I will change my attitude later.  Hopefully, I won’t.    

In my next message I’ll say more about what I have been seeing, but I’ll close for now. I have no idea how this will look. The directions and tabs are all in Arabic, and I am guessing.   Thanks for reading.