Cities of Contrast

We’ve gone from an ultra modern, clean and shiny city to Cairo, Egypt which is on the Nile River and surrounded by desert. The days start out clear and by the end of the day the air is filled with sand.

There are parts of Cairo that are very old and other parts that are very new. Because of the sand and dust in the air everything looks dirty no matter how old it is, even the new construction looks like it’s been around for a long long time.

There are a few places that have trees and greenery, most areas are barren with only sand or so much buildup There is trash almost everywhere even in places were it is picked up constantly, the wind blowing trash in. There are street dogs that rummage through the trash, eating scraps but also freeing it up to blow around.

As in Dubai there are wide highways and the same here but there are no lane markings so a street that is meant for four lanes might have seven cars side-by-side and motorcycles weaving through all of the cars, trucks and buses. Then on top of that there are vendors that walk in between the “lanes” of traffic selling food or other items.

Traffic is is insane and entertaining! I’m pretty sure there is not a vehicle on the streets that if not dented! There are no lane markings and no stop lights, at least that drivers pay attention to and 19 million people live here! The buses are small vans that are just packed with people. In the busy time of day (which seems to be all day long and into the night) going 10 miles can take up to two hours at least. Oh and everybody driving is honking!