BKK-CAI: Smoking in Cairo

Well after 9hrs and 45 minutes in the air, I landed in Cairo again. The flight was OK, I was well medicated for the bumpy bits and take off, and the old Sudanese man I met on the same flight out, was in the seat next to mine on the way back - "I cannot believe it" he said, and I replied with same. Same date back, same seats: It was fate. Nice guy, very odd we hit it off really. We had our Muslim prayer before take off and away we went. Same seats on the 777 - right next to the giant engine, those are huge, just on the opposite side of the plane.
My hotel was near the airport in Cairo and I think I waited an hour for the courtesy bus, Cairo day time high was 25 and it was 14 when I arrived, and there was a little rain, which they said coincided with my arrival there. Bangkok got bombed when I arrived, this dry desert gets rain... Not sure I could recommend the hotel, a Novotel, the staff are basically chatting away in large groups and ignoring everyone, the place is clean in places less so in others, the rooms are pretty crummy. Breakfast was OK in the restaurant, but apart from that I rate it DUMP. They were spraying in the hallway - the two guys doing it had giant drums with skull and cross bones on them, and they were wearing face masks, so I asked the manager downstairs what they were spraying for... "cleaning" he kept on saying for about 5 mins then he fessed up it was bugs. Small bugs he said, normal for a place with so many people. Bed bugs is my guess, so I promptly asked to move to another floor.
After a long kerr-fuffle, I finally had a driver and guide and off we went. Downtown was ruled out beause of shootings and riots, so we took the ring road to Giza. It takes a LONG time to get around Cairo. All the cars here have scrapes down the sides from their crazy driving, no lanes really exist, they go where they please... And if you think Bangkok was nots, I have news for you - this place is several times crazier!
The magical Sphinx holds more intrigue for me than Pyramids:

Toblerone anyone?

Isn't this thing intriguing?

Those are birds on his head and I would love to show you more, but the photo problem still persists with blogger...
We also drove further out from the city to Saqqara, the stepped pyramid that was the first. It dates around 4000 years ago, so yes, older than me. Imhotep was the ruler who dominated that one.
Cairo is full of the poor, there's a few rich, and donkeys and carts pull along families and on the other side of the street there's a Mercedez Benz. This is one of the worse shape countries I have seen, we drove out along Saqqara Road which has a canal, with garbage dumped on its side for miles, much of it burning. Smoke, smoke is everywhere in Cairo, from cars that need tune ups to locals constantly puffing EVERYWHERE, there is no smoke free zone, and the piles of rotting garbage on fire here and there. The air quality I would describe as 'not premium'.
Hit the shops for a little bit, no papyrus, my home has one, no silk carpet at the carpet school I went buy, I cannot afford one, and that was about it.
Apart from stopping by the Nile for some looks, we avoided the downtown completely. The security situation was said to be stable, but there was still trouble in the centre, the locals say tourism is way down, and looking at the numbers at these sites, I would have to agree. It's better for me, because the last thing I want is gringo touristas in my pictures, but the locals here need the cash I think...
Ok, off to bed and get ready for a long day of flying across Europe tomorrow....... Hopefully the air is less smoky!

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