Becoming a Son of Cairo

After a long jaunt through Northern Tanzania to learn about stingless bees and also to take in the sights of Lake Victoria, the Northern Circuit (Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, etc) and Zanzibar I flew to Cairo.

I landed at Cairo International Airport at 2AM and rather than braving the early morning taxi drivers opted to hang out and read until the sun came up. I eventually grabbed a public bus to the downtown area. While trying to tell the bus driver where I wanted to be let off he kept saying "Tahrir? Tahrir?" and I would say "No! No!" We ended up in Tahrir anyway... but all was well. I used the burned up National Democratic Party building as a landmark to find my hotel.

Egyptian Museum with scorched remains of Mubarak's National Democratic Party headquarters behind.

Corner of Tahrir Square

Balcony of sketchy hotel I stayed at for first night in Cairo.

Kushari - a traveller's best friend and my favorite dish so far (macaroni and spaghetti noodles with chickpeas, onions, and lentils). For this feast I also had some felafel (ta'amiyya), salad (salata), and pita bread (aish).

Cool downtown accommodation at the Pension Roma. The balcony was nice, but mosquitoes came under the door at night and attacked my forehead!

Exploring Cairo has been amazing. Walking around the city center I can't help but feel that I have been transported from Tanzania into a modern European city! Traffic is terrible and disorganized, but infrastructure seems satisfactory and the streets - when you can see through the persistent cloud of smog - are lined with high rise buildings (some residential types have about a thousand satellite dishes protruding from every roof). I am surely not in Europe, but the perceived affluence and order here still seems striking when compared to Dar es Salaam - and this country is in the midst of a revolution! Proper shops for clothing and mobile phones abound and there is a restaurant or cafe on every corner. While in Tanzania I always felt like I was being watched, but here it seems like most people don't have any interest in what I am doing - they are too busy - which gives me a greater feeling of freedom.


I have officially crossed the halfway point in the Watson year, but the road ahead still stretches beyond the horizon.The journey itself continues to motivate.

I certainly have much to learn here and am excited to begin my time in Egypt, home to the earliest recorded beekeeping tradition.