Goodbye Egypt | Cairo Egypt Day 9
It was fast approaching the time to say goodbye to Egypt. The flight out of Cairo was at about 5 pm. But because of traffic and all, we had to leave the hotel by 1.30 pm. We were told that we could buy our lunch at the airport.
I decided to have one last walk around the Giza district in Cairo near our hotel in the morning. Unfortunately, the weather decided to be uncooperative. It was extremely windy that morning. Sand was flying all over. And this was the day I went out without a scarf. If not, I could have tied it around my face to protect it from the winds and flying sands.
The shops in the nearby malls were not open in the morning. They only started opening at about 11.30am to noon. All the shops started their day by playing a surah reading from the Quran. It was a surreal experience entering a shop and looking for clothes and hearing the Quran being recited! I have never experienced that before in all of my life. But it was a good feeling to know that people started their day with the remembrance of God.
Here are some shots taken from my walk.
I stopped at a mall and bought a tunic sweater top - it was made in Turkey. But the design was nice and appeared to be a popular style choice during winter in Egypt. Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel. I arrived at the hotel just after 1 pm. A quick washing of the face, and we were off to the airport.
Cairo International Airport departures area is not the best place to be if you are a non-smoker. It seemed that every smoker was inside puffing away - the smoke was trapped indoors and was it felt suffocating! That is one negative thing about Egypt - it appeared to me as if a majority of Egyptian men smoked! If not cigarettes, the shisha. Terrible!
After passing through the check-in, we went to buy lunch. Of course, it is expected that we would have to pay high prices for food at airports. But the prices at the Cairo airport were extremely high - especially when we converted it to US dollars. We should have bought our lunch at the Giza district, but we did did not think of it! In the end, I had a slice of mushroom pizza, which was not very good. Nevertheless, it was a large slice so it kept me filled for the flight back home via Qatar.
That's it for my Egypt adventure.
Next post, I will summarize with some of my thoughts on Egypt and its people.
I decided to have one last walk around the Giza district in Cairo near our hotel in the morning. Unfortunately, the weather decided to be uncooperative. It was extremely windy that morning. Sand was flying all over. And this was the day I went out without a scarf. If not, I could have tied it around my face to protect it from the winds and flying sands.
The shops in the nearby malls were not open in the morning. They only started opening at about 11.30am to noon. All the shops started their day by playing a surah reading from the Quran. It was a surreal experience entering a shop and looking for clothes and hearing the Quran being recited! I have never experienced that before in all of my life. But it was a good feeling to know that people started their day with the remembrance of God.
Here are some shots taken from my walk.
I stopped at a mall and bought a tunic sweater top - it was made in Turkey. But the design was nice and appeared to be a popular style choice during winter in Egypt. Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel. I arrived at the hotel just after 1 pm. A quick washing of the face, and we were off to the airport.
Cairo International Airport departures area is not the best place to be if you are a non-smoker. It seemed that every smoker was inside puffing away - the smoke was trapped indoors and was it felt suffocating! That is one negative thing about Egypt - it appeared to me as if a majority of Egyptian men smoked! If not cigarettes, the shisha. Terrible!
After passing through the check-in, we went to buy lunch. Of course, it is expected that we would have to pay high prices for food at airports. But the prices at the Cairo airport were extremely high - especially when we converted it to US dollars. We should have bought our lunch at the Giza district, but we did did not think of it! In the end, I had a slice of mushroom pizza, which was not very good. Nevertheless, it was a large slice so it kept me filled for the flight back home via Qatar.
That's it for my Egypt adventure.
Next post, I will summarize with some of my thoughts on Egypt and its people.
Labels: Egypt, Egypt Day 9
posted by Simply Travels at
3:24 AM
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