For those travelling in the dessert the best way is to hail down a camel. They can go on for up to 4 weeks with no food or drink. Our group was going to see the pyramids and we rented a bunch of camels.
And you get a cute overly smart boy to lead the camel you ride on. When travelling in groups, they would hook up up to 5 camels together in a chain. This guy was leading my camel and tried to chat me up. He spoke English pretty well and I asked if he learnt it in school. - "No, I learn here, from tourists, you know, school of life". I followed up with a totally inappropriate question if he even goes to school at all and why he is working in the morning. "It's holiday, new year.." Duh! It was New Year's Eve. Still I have doubts if he will graduate cum laude. This particular boy plans to continue camel tours so that one day he upgrades to the tour leader.
Tour leader like this tough guy in a fur-lined jean jacket. Another stylish camel leader is riding a white horse in the background. And already familiar to you Yousef has to drag the camels on his feet for about an hour under scorching sun. From time to time the tour leader would yell: Yalla! Hardzha! and boys would start running and tourists's tushies flying up in the saddles. Woohooo scream tourists, yalla-yalla scream little boys.
Now if you are a regular Cairo-an and poor, you get to commute on a meecrobus. For the sake of saving time the sliding door never closes, plus riders get a fresh breeze in the stuffy, non-airconditioned meecrobus. See that passenger in yellow sweatshirt nonchalantly sticking his foot in the door frame. Another thing is that meecrobuses again for the sake of saving time never stop completely, they just slow down. Riders develop good hopping habits and quick reaction to jump onto a moving vehicle. I took the picture below of a moving meecrobus with a guy athletically hopping in.
As for personal transportation, Egyptian drive a tuk-tuk. Compact, breezy and doubles as a fun ride for kids. (Irony implied). I wonder how many kiddies like that regularly fall out. Also consider Egyptian habit of driving hectically, often you would see cars driving opposite direction on a one-way road. Little mopeds are also popular and easy maneuver, which they use as an excuse to beeline in a oncoming traffic. These people have no fear!
After the pyramids we were driven (for one mile in opposite direction on one-way) to a traditional Egyptian outdoor cafe. A band of musicians greeted customers at the entrance. As you approach them, they start playing and pointing at the basket in front of them. I gotta say they do play nicely and deserve baksheesh that gets dropped in th basket.
We sat down and enjoyed kebabs, but first they brought little appetizers, fried falafel balls, pita breads, cubed potatoes with spices and gibneh (cottage cheese with tomato).
On the way back to hotel I kept seeing those buildings that seemed defunct, yet some (supposedly) squatting happens sporadically. See all but a few windows are empty. Egyptians have no choice but to be cunning in all aspects of their daily life. A home-owner does not pay taxes if the house is undergoing construction, so they have construction going on for decades. A completely built house gets another little adjunction, another small cabin added on the roof, etc. So I guess this house is abandoned since there is no construction works in view.
This woman was burning trash for some reason. Can you see exactly what she is doing there? I would guess she was cooking on that fire... And there endless piles of trash, so you even can't see the ground.
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