BOMB ROCKS FAMOUS TOURIST MARKET IN EGYPT

I will update everyone on my past week later tonight (EDIT: uploading pictures is taking too long, it will be done tomorrow, I promise!), but I felt like I should write about this while it is still fresh in my mind..

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/22/world/AP-ML-Egypt-Blast.html?_r=1&hp

A bomb went off today in Cairo at Khan al-Khalili, that market I do not like (not saying the market deserved it, I was just using that as a reference for the loyal readers that may or may not exist). I am not sure exactly when it happened, but the reports I have read were filed around 8:30-9pm Egypt-time (1:30-2pm ET), so I would guess around 8pm my time.

I have been planning on studying in Cairo for a few years so the thought of a bomb going off in the city has crossed my mind before (although I still say it is very safe here!)- I just did not expect to find out about it from the Huffington Post.

Classes on Sunday (the business/school week in Egypt is Sunday to Thursday) go until 8pm for me, so I was at campus all day. After class, I got on my bus and headed back to the dorm. Getting back around 9, I went straight up to my room and turned my computer on. My homepage is the New York Times website, but I generally go to the Huffington Post before the Times site can load- I guess the Times is not liberal enough.

On the Huffington Post, under their main-story gigantic-picture (I think it had something to do with bank nationalization), was the link for the story titled "BOMB ROCKS FAMOUS TOURIST MARKET IN EGYPT". My first reaction was simply, "Huh?" I then read the article- a bomb went off in Khan al-Khalili killing 1 French tourist (although I have also read that 4 were killed) and injuring 15-18 others, mostly tourists, but a few Egyptians.

While in Cairo, I heard about the bombing the same way I would have heard about it if I were in Ohio. That is something I find morbidly amusing. I would have thought that the city would shut down. Someone would come bursting into my class and shout that a bomb went off downtown. Maybe the buses would stay at campus while the city calms down? The tv's in the dorm would be turned to the breaking news. Instead, my class went on uninterrupted, my bus actually left early, and the tv's were on soccer. So it goes.

From what I have seen in my dorm (because my dorm is a great indicator of Egyptian society), the reaction is the opposite of what I imagined. About twenty minutes after I first read about the bombing, a (Egyptian) student knocked on my open door. I looked over and he said, "Hello. I just wanted to make sure that you were not in Khan al-Khalili today." Then two other guys peered into my room and started laughing. They did it to another room down the hall where I heard them having to explain what happened.

I did not really react to it, which I find just as weird the Egyptians joking about it. My "huh?" has turned into a "hmm". Again, not at all how I imagined I would react. I can picture where it happened perfectly, but maybe I would need to see it in person for it to really set in. I am sure I will reflect on my lack of reaction much more tonight..

EDIT: I seemed to have failed at getting around to my point. While the bombing was surprising, I do not feel unsafe, nor do the people who have grown up here and lived in Egypt for their entire lives. The most dangerous thing here is probably trying to cross the street (not that you should worry about that, either).

Still Trying To Find My Way Around This Place..

I have been ashamed to post this: I did not make it to my field trip on Saturday. I got lost. Twice. The class was supposed to meet at the old campus (downtown) at 10am and then we would go from there. I left the dorm at 9am and decided it was a nice day for a walk through Gazira. After about twenty minutes it became apparent that I did not know where I was going and ended up on the wrong side of the island. No worries, I will just take a cab!

I tell the cab driver that I want to go Tahrir Square (the old campus is a block or two south of it). He goes over a bridge- normal. Once over the river, we are still on an elevated highway- not normal. I just assume he is taking some local path. I become worried after several minutes pass- Tahrir Square is on the Nile, we should not be going this far away. I work up the courage to say something, "Tahrir, this way?" (in my poor Arabic). The cab driver responds, "safir?". Then we go back and forth- Tahrir.. Safir.. Tahrir.. Safir.. Finally he says ok. I belive 'safir' means something to do with traveling, so I thougt he was confirming my 'travel destination' or something along those lines.

He gets off the highway and I recognize where I am. Heliopolis (where that mall is), i.e. wrong part of the city. He points to something and says, "Midan Safir". I wanted Midan Tahrir! I tell him this and then he acts disappointed for me (I say 'act' because I am paranoid about getting ripped off by cab drivers)- "Tahrir? Tahrir! Oh, no." I get out angrily and get a new cab. By the time I get to the old campus it was 11am and there was no sign of the class.


Saturday was also Valentine's Day, though. Jessica and I went to Sabaya, a Lebanese restaurant in one of the hotels on Tahrir Square. I had heard good things about it and it did not disappoint! We had ridiculous amounts of food, among it all was breaded lamb brain. I ate it thinking it was some sort of fish-concoction. Jessica then remind me that lamb brain was the only breaded item. I would rather not describe the taste of lamb brain on here, but if you would like to know, email me. I will just say it has an interesting taste..

My awkward post-dinner smile:

Even the nicer restaurants use bottled water here..

This was their special Valentine's Day drink.. I think it was strawberry juice and vodka- delicious:

My class's field trip this weekend is supposed to go to the Mosque of al-Hakim and Bab al-Futuh, which are the two things that we randomly came across in Islamic Cairo a few weekends ago. I think we are going up in the minarets, though, so that will be fun!

Wandering About..

On Saturday, we were on a quest for real markets- none of that Khan al-Khalili khrap. After consulting the travel books, we learned that a lot of the markets are around Khan al-Khalili. Ugh.

We set out on foot from the dorm. The plan was to walk across the 26th of July Bridge (named after the day Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, sparking the Suez Crisis/Tripartite Aggression/Sinai War) and once across, walk under the bridge, through the little markets, which would take us to Khan al-Khalili.

[Again, larger images of the pictures can be viewed by clicking on them]

Walking across the bridge:

Dirty Nile shore:

Of course, plans never go according to- plan. We were going through the market that we had walked by the night before, thinking it would be continuous until Khan al-Khalili- it may actually be, but it ended for us. At that point we decided to take a cab. We actually held a conversation in Arabic with the cab driver! My Arabic professors would be so proud. The driver purposely spoke slow and was very animated in his gestures- I think I once overheard someone say only 20% of communication is verbal, so his hand movements were helpful. The gist of the conversation, once the driver found out we were American, was him complaining about former-President Bush and sounding hesitantly hopeful about President Obama- a common theme I have noticed.

We reached our destination and the cab driver’s tone suddenly changed. He wanted more money than what we had agreed on. He began talking faster, too, so I could not understand what he was saying. After I said no, I was able to figure out through the 80% of nonverbal communication that he was upset. I could not figure out how to get out of the car, either (I was in the front-passenger seat). It was bad. A soldier/guard came over because the cab could potentially hold up traffic. He opened the door for me and then sort of mediated. After a few seconds of trying to explain the situation I just walked away and met up with the rest of the gang. I assume the soldier told the man to drive away.

Rather than going immediately into the market, we decided to look around at the two large mosques in the area, al-Azhar and al-Hussein. I believe non-Muslims are permitted in these mosques, but we did not try that day. I may be returning to these mosques sometime this semester with my Architecture of Cairo class.

Traffic!

We first walked around the neighborhood next to al-Azhar. It was the kind of area one stereotypically thinks of Cairo- narrow streets of sand and brick, sand-colored buildings, arches, strands of lights going back and forth from the buildings. You know, the kind of place you are mesmerized by and forget to take pictures of (sorry). If/when I return, I will be sure to take pictures! I will also hold off on the history lesson of al-Azhar (oldest university in the world!) for that time, too.

al-Azhar Mosque (I did not get any great shots of it- hopefully I will when I return):

The al-Hussein mosque is right next to Khan al-Khalili (al-Azhar is across the street) and you know what that means:

Tourists!!!
al-Hussein Mosque:

I don't remember what this was (some mosque?), but I can see why I took a picture of it:

I think we were going to take a look inside of it (the mosque), but as we approached the market/mosque, we wanted to get out of that area, fast. I just made that reasoning up. I honestly don’t know why we didn’t go inside the mosque- I don’t recall the idea even crossing my mind. We did, however, bolt out of the main market area. We just picked a direction and walked, not knowing what we would find...

After several blocks, the faces of tourists disappeared and so did the markets. We were just walking around in a very-Cairo part of Cairo. There were low quality speakers blasting the call to prayer, open-air meat markets (the kind that would make one want to be a vegetarian), old men sitting in chairs smoking, and, of course, cats. It was another one of those places where you are just so mesmerized that you forget to take pictures (sorry, again).

I did take this one, it was on the edge of our path:

After a long stretch of this, a large castle-like gate appeared out of nowhere! It was mystifying- mainly due to its randomness.

Quranic verse:

Just to underscore the randomness, this was the view across the street:

After wondering around, we found a sign that told us that it was ‘Bab al-Futuh’, a gate from the Old City of Cairo- completed in 1087. I am fairly certain I will be going to this as a part of that architecture class, so I will again hold off on a history lesson.

Look at the detail!

We consulted our travel books and found out that ‘Islamic Cairo’ was inside the walls. We went in. Right away, a large mosque came into view. Some non-Arabs went in, so we thought we would, too. Some mosque mannerisms: shoes off, girls cover hair, tip the guy that takes your shoes.


This was the al-Hakim Mosque. The minarets are supposed to be the most fascinating of the mosque’s structure- they are the oldest still-standing in Cairo and they are supposed to be reminiscent of a pharaoh’s temple (citation: Wikipedia). From my architecture class, I can say that this is a hypostyle mosque (a common design in the early mosques).


The attention to detail was striking.

We spent quite a bit of time in the mosque- it was quiet, clean, and relaxing. Once we left, we continued through Islamic Cairo.

This is probably my favorite picture I have taken since being in Egypt:

There is going to be a random assortment of mosques and buildings that were on our way back (you should definitely click on them to see them bigger). They are probably of historical significance:

The path we took eventually brought us back to Khan al-Khalili. Ugh. It was packed. Darren managed to witness a funny aspect of the market. As previously detailed, the merchants will greet you in whatever language they think you speak. There was a tourist wearing an Australian hat (the kind Dr. Alan Grant wears in Jurassic Park; google ‘Australian hat’ if you don’t know what I mean) and an Arab merchant said, with an Australian accent, “Good day, mate!”

This picture does not make it look busy, at all. In fact, this picture makes it look like a decent place:

This one does better:

The girls bought some scarves and then we fought our way through the crowds and took a cab back to Zamalek. That night, I began to feel the beginning stages of what I think became food poisoning. It was a rough week (especially the bumpy, 1+ hour bus rides), but I am feeling much better now and am trying to catch things up to speed with the blog.

I have my first field trip for the architecture class today (it is currently 1 am, the field trip is later in the day). We are going to the mosque of Ibn Tulun and the Nilometer. A lesson, with pictures, will ensue.

City Stars

Classes have started, meaning the adventures will be on a much smaller scale and a more weekend-based interval.

Last Friday, we went to City Stars Mall. Yes, a mall. I know what you are thinking, “Derek, you are in Cairo, why go to a mall?!?” Well, readers, I shared the same hesitance, at first. Over the few weeks I have been here, however, Cairene after Cairene (the official word for a Cairo-local) has been saying that I have to go to the City Stars Mall. Being one to give in to peer-pressure, I had to go to the City Stars Mall.

Getting to the mall was a journey. The mall is across the city, near Heliopolis and Nasr City. We had originally thought the Metro (the Cairo subway system) had a stop near the mall (someone even said the stop was conveniently labeled ‘City Stars’). This was not the case.

The nearest stop to the dorm is on the other side of the island. I like subways, though, so I did not mind the walk. Once we got to the station, we looked at a map and discovered that there was not a stop called ‘City Stars’. Ugh. The plan then became to take the subway to Nasr Station and from there a quick cab ride to the mall. We bought our tickets (1 pound each, equivalent to about 20 cents US) and went down to the platform.

The train pulled up, it was packed. We began walking down the platform at a brisk pace hoping to find a non-packed car. A few of the cars were women-only, so the girls with us jumped in those cars- we kept speed-walking. Then the train left. We would have to wait for the next one. The next train came and this time we just dove into the crowd.

The station was surprisingly clean and nice. I say surprisingly not just because my [limited] experience with subway stations has led me to believe that all subway stations are unclean places, but also because most of Cairo is quite filthy (the three-, five-, and ten-second rules do not apply in Cairo, once it is down, it is down*).

What we thought would be a quick cab ride turned out to be pretty long. We got to see a lot of the city, though. There was a football (soccer) match that day and people were in the streets on their way to the stadium.

The mall was huge. Unfortunately, I did not take my camera, so I will steal other pictures.

(Stolen from Darren)

(Stolen from Darren)

(taken from Wikipedia)

Here are some fun-facts about the mall:

-6 stories

-269,000 sq. feet

-550 stores

-movie theater

-an amusement park (I did not see this)

Just to compare, Polaris Fashion Place (for the Columbus readers) has about 150 stores and the Mall of America has about 520. That being said, in terms of square-footage, the Mall of America is much bigger (USA! USA!).

I did not buy anything, as the prices were the same as in the US, but it was an interesting cultural experience. My friend Darren pointed out the Johnny Rockets restaurant in the mall- the Egyptian employees wearing the 50’s-style, American fast-food uniforms. There were also a number of women dressed in the niqab (the all-covering veil with an opening for the eyes). As I noticed this, someone said that a lot of wealthy women that wear the niqab have very nice, expensive clothes on underneath. Interesting. There were also prayer rooms in the mall- I noticed these in the London airport, too.

Johnny Rocket's (stolen from Darren)

All of the adventuring and observing created quite the appetite. What would we eat? Our options in the mall included Burger King, Chilis, Cinnabon, Fuddruckers, Johnny Rockets, KFC, Maccaroni Grill, McDonald’s, On the Border, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Ruby Tuesday, Sbarro, Starbucks, and T.G.I Friday’s. A number of us, including myself, had been craving Mexican food since we first got to Egypt, so we went to On the Border. It tasted like any Mexican chain-restaurant in the US would, mediocre at best- it felt like home (I mean being in the US, not an insult to my mother’s cooking). The chips and salsa were wonderful, though. The restaurant also had free refills, something hard to come by in Egypt. I made sure to indulge in this. After dinner, we walked around a bit more.

Getting back, we took some sort of bus-thing. I am honestly not sure what it was. It was this minibus full of religious writing. That does not sound too confusing, but I don’t know if it was a part of the public transportation system or if it was some private endeavor. I don’t know, but it got us where we wanted to go. We took a train to another part of the city and walked back through a market, across a bridge, and back through Zamalek. Good times.

*Does not apply for cats