It's June,
2004 and I have once again decided to travel to the Ahlan wa Sahlan festival
in Cairo, Many people
have asked me questions about traveling to June 21, 2004: Preparing to Leave! Finishing
Packing My luggage contained 2 calf-length (or longer) loose, flowing dresses. I wore a third on the airplane with ankle-length long underwear that can double as an outdoor garment under my shorter dresses. I also packed lingerie, knee socks, and a nightshirt for sleeping. Because of my plans to take classes at the Ahlan wa Sahlan festival, I packed one unitard, one sports bra to wear under it, and one lightweight hip scarf. One of my hotels (the Mena House) has a swimming pool, so I tossed in a swimsuit just in case I might feel inspired to use it. The festival structure includes nightly "summer parties" in which festival participants take turns performing. I didn't perform last year, but this year I've decided to bring a costume and dance. In this photo, you can see that FatMan was helping me squeeze my beaded dress into the smallest amount of space possible. Cairo has grown much more conservative than it was when I first traveled there in 1999, so I took several hijab (head scarves) designed to completely cover my blonde hair. One was a hijjab that I bought in Cairo in 2003. Another was an "Al-Amirah" religious hijab that I purchased through the www.alhannah.com web site. And two were large polyester square scarves that I bought at the Tie Rack in my local mall which I could use either as hijab or as accessories depending on where I might go and what time of day. For shoes, I decided to take two pairs: one comfortable for walking (for all my sightseeing), and one to wear with my dance costume. --In addition
to my clothing, I also took: My film camera with 8 rolls of film and spare battery. I knew the Ahlan wa Sahlan festival allowed film cameras at 2003's opening and closing night galas, but not digital cameras. I didn't know whether the policy would change for 2004, but I took the film camera with the intent of using it if allowed. I stashed all of the above items into my carry-on bag. I took a larger empty suitcase to hold all the treasures I hoped to buy in Cairo. But it seemed a shame to let all that space go to waste, so I filled it with bottled water and a few snack items, knowing that I would be happy to have it available upon arrival! I could consume all of this while in Cairo, thereby freeing up the space in the luggage to carry home my purchases. The
Airport Unfortunately, I was quite hungry by the time I arrived at the airport, and the international terminal in San Francisco has abysmal restaurant choices inside the secured area. It's a shame, because the other terminals at this airport have great restaurants such as the Crab Pot and I was hoping one of them would have an outlet in the international terminal. No such luck! I ate something adequate at the Mexican restaurant and headed for my gate. The flight began boarding promptly on schedule, and took off on time. The adventure had begun!
This is the first view I had of Cairo, taken from the airplane (you can see the airplane wing at the bottom of the picture, in the foreground): A 23-Hour
Marathon 1. It took
an hour to get from the house in San Jose, California to the
San Francisco airport.
The Victoria is a three-star hotel located in the baladi (working class) part of Cairo. It is conveniently located for most sight-seeing purposes, and is viewed by the locals as being a respectable place. The Victoria sits on a corner where the busy street al-Ghomariyya meets a small neighborhood street. Across the street on the al-Ghomariyya side of the corner is the hospital Mustashfa Sednawi. Across the street on the other side of the corner there is a mosque whose very large speakers blare out a call to prayer five times per day. The one at dawn is particularly challenging for guests whose rooms are on the same side of the hotel as the mosque. This particular visit, I was grateful to have a guest room on the side of the hotel that is farthest away from the mosque. Every hotel
in Although I planned to share a triple room with two other people, they would not be arriving until the EgyptAir flight came in the next day. Therefore, I would be alone for my first night in Cairo. The hotel decided to give me a single room for my first night, and then I would need to move to the triple room the next day after the rest of the group arrived. This annoyed me slightly because it meant I couldn't really unpack and settle in. I tried to persuade them to let me have the triple room, but it quickly became clear I was wasting my breath so I gave up. Upon arriving in my room, I decided it might be nice to send e-mail home telling my husband I had arrived safely. So I started up my computer, took one look at the phone jack in the wall, and discovered that things were not going to be quite as easy as I expected: Now, I had
stayed at this same hotel in 2003, and last year I made my first call on my rental cell phone to let my husband know I had arrived safely in Cairo, then succumbed to the temptation of my bed. Day 2, June 23, 2004: Settling In After a wonderful night's sleep, my rented cell phone began to ring at 6:00. The call was from my not-yet-arrived roommate's husband. Under the best of circumstances, I am not coherent before 9:00 a.m. When a cheery voice said, "Hi Shira! It's Jeff!" all I could respond was, "Jeff who?" This was very embarrassing, because I have been a guest in their home, and I certainly should have remembered that only one person named Jeff has my cell phone number! He asked how his wife was doing, so I let him know that I didn't expect her to arrive for another 7 hours. He was clearly disappointed at not being able to speak with her, so I promised to have her call or e-mail him as soon as possible after she arrives. I was expecting the rest of my group to arrive in the afternoon, probably around 1:30 or 2:00. So I slept in late, enjoyed the buffet breakfast that was included with my room fee, and went to the bank in the hotel to change some money to Egyptian pounds. The exchange rate was approximately six Egyptian pounds per one U.S. dollar.
This neighborhood was an interesting mix of traditional culture meeting modern culture. On the very same street that served heavy automobile traffic, there were also pedestrians and people on bicycles carrying on their business. I saw one bicycle pulling some sort of cart which contains a large plant. The man riding it was wearing a ghallibiyah (full-length robe/dress). Another bicyclist was balancing a ladder on his head! This one was wearing more Western-style trousers.
For the most part, the local women in this neighborhood dressed very conservatively. Their hijab (headscarves) entirely covered their hair, and many even preferred the style that comes all the way down to the elbows, covering the entire chest and upper arm areas. Bareheaded women were very rare. Occasionally I would see one wearing a niqaab (face veil) covering the portion of her face below her eyes.
Many women wore caftan-style loose-fitting dresses with no belt. Some wore either skirts or loose-fitting pants with a thigh-length tunic over the top that was long enough to completely cover their buttocks and upper legs. The women wearing pants typically looked younger, while those opting for skirts and dresses were typically older. Skirts and dresses were usually neutral colors such as black, brown, or gray. Tunics and head scarves were frequently brighter or lighter colors. Because I
had eaten a late but hearty breakfast, I decided to skip lunch. I
knew that Around 1:00
p.m., I put away my camera and took the book I was reading
to my hotel's lobby to pass time waiting for the rest of our
group to arrive. Of course, I was eager to see my friends who
would be arriving on the bus. I had also become acquainted
with several people in our group through Internet discussion
forums, list servers, and e-mail over the years, and was looking
forward to meeting them in person after all this time The Group's
Arrival Exploring
and Shopping We paid 29 Egyptian pounds (about $5.00 U.S. dollars) each for these. Dinner Very few women were out on the street at that hour. The shouts of "Welcome!" and catcalls as we threaded our way past clumps of men were not the most appealing part of the trip. We kept our eyes down and focused on returning to the hotel. The adventure was well underway. next-- Have
a comment? Send
us a letter! Ready
for more? 6-16-03 Breaking
News from the Ahlan wa Sahlan 2003 in Cairo reported
by Shira 6-25-04 Romancing
the Road (The Bousada Troupe Tours) by Yasmela 6-24-04 Saving
Grace, Belly Dance Comics by Alexandria |
The
Gilded Serpent presents...
For
our tour, we stayed at the Victoria Hotel for the first part
of our visit, 
tourists
since then. One day, I counted 7 uniformed police outside the
entrance to the Victoria.
my
room had a phone jack that was appropriate for the modular
plug on my modem cord. So it hadn't occurred to me that it
might be necessary to bring any sort of telephone adapter. 
The
Neighborhood
Gallibiyahs
worn by men were a common sight in the neighborhood of the
Victoria Hotel. It seemed as though about half the men in
the neighborhood wore Western-style attire of dress shirts,
ties, and dress slacks. The other half wore gallibiyahs, frequently
with turbans wrapped around their heads. From a practical perspective,
I thought the gallibiyahs seemed like a much more comfortable
garment for the hot Egyptian summer than the western-style
dress shirts and ties.
.
