Waking Up
The positive? The night before I felt the cold I had all week was breaking. The negative? My stomach was now cramping like crazy. To say the least the morning was very rough and I was very glad we had scheduled a late start. By noon the cramping became less frequent, but when it hit I was in a lot of pain.
Starting the Day
Osama was at the hotel right on time as promised. I came down and mentioned that I wanted to continue as planned, but that my stomach was rough and that we might have to go slow. Osama disappeared shortly thereafter and handed me a packet of pills. "2 before every meal", he says. "Don't stop taking them just because you feel better, they will help", he promises. He hopped in the car and were off. First stop, Garbage City.
Manshiyat Naser
Towards the end of my time in Israel I made friends with a guy who had just been to Egypt. One of the most fascinating parts of his trip was a town called Garbage City, or Manshiyat Naser. If you enunciate it the right way, Man-shi-yat kinda sounds about right for the city. Here's a little trivia, the largest church in the middle east can be found in Garbage City.
I figured this would be a nice last day activity. There wasn't a lot of time to do a full blown tour and the Emo Tour group only wanted $30 extra to take me out there. My stomach held up most of the way - only a couple of times did I experience a round of cramps.
Garbage, Garbage Everywhere
The first thing you notice when entering the city is that garbage is everywhere. Cairo is a dirty city, but this town even moreso. Osama tells me the garbage business consists of two sorts of groups, the collectors and the sorters. The collectors go into town and collect the trash - they sell it off to the sorters. The sorters sort through the garbage. By hand they pick separate cartons, plastic, metal, and other sorts of recyclables. Osama asks if I want to get out and walk around - I remind him my stomach is bad and we can do the tour from the car. As we strolled through the village we saw shops, food merchants, houses, and children playing just feet away from piles of the garbage.
Collectors
During our trip we saw plenty of trucks driving in with garbage. They were everywhere and very much annoyed our car was getting in the way of what they were trying to do.
Sorters
Sorters go through the collected, sorting the trash into types for recycling. Bundled cartons are passed off likely for local recycling. Plastic is crushed into small pellots and sent to China to be sterilized and used to make toys.
Hot...Africa Hot
As we began the tour, Mahmood turned off the air and vents. He said bringing in air from the outside was a bad idea, Osama says. The car got incredibly warm - and I was already sick to begin with. After about 45 minutes of strolling through Garbage City we head for the airport.
Stuck in Cairo Traffic
Traffic was truly awful. Although he were only a short distance from the airport, it took nearly 2 hours to get there.
Cairo Airport
We made it to Cairo Airport about 3 hours before my flight. There are many shops thoughout Cairo airport, so killing time there is rather easy. Although your bags are scanned entering the airport and again at each and every gate, security isn't very good. I had no less than 3 full water bottles that made it on no problem. I'm not even sure the x-ray machines worked.
Osama originally walked me into Terminal 1. I told Osama he didn't have to wait for me, the flight would leave in 3 hours and that was time he could spend with his family. It was hard to say goodbye to Osama. He had become a very good friend to me, more than just a tour guide. When I was sick, he was there. When I needed to go to mass, he was there.
Flight to Qatar
The flight to Qatar was relatively uneventful. A nice dinner consisting of rice and chicken was served. Each seat had an entertainment system that was entirely complimentary - they even had recently released movies on DVD. I opted to watch Jack Reacher and work on my blog offline. The flight landed right before midnight in Doha, Qatar where I would have a 3 hour layover. Qatar had the highest per capita income (at least in 2010) of the world...and is home to the Al Jazeera network. I had hoped to clear customs and do a quick 30 minute tour before hopping the short connecting flight to Dubai.
The positive? The night before I felt the cold I had all week was breaking. The negative? My stomach was now cramping like crazy. To say the least the morning was very rough and I was very glad we had scheduled a late start. By noon the cramping became less frequent, but when it hit I was in a lot of pain.
Starting the Day
Osama was at the hotel right on time as promised. I came down and mentioned that I wanted to continue as planned, but that my stomach was rough and that we might have to go slow. Osama disappeared shortly thereafter and handed me a packet of pills. "2 before every meal", he says. "Don't stop taking them just because you feel better, they will help", he promises. He hopped in the car and were off. First stop, Garbage City.
Manshiyat Naser
Towards the end of my time in Israel I made friends with a guy who had just been to Egypt. One of the most fascinating parts of his trip was a town called Garbage City, or Manshiyat Naser. If you enunciate it the right way, Man-shi-yat kinda sounds about right for the city. Here's a little trivia, the largest church in the middle east can be found in Garbage City.
I figured this would be a nice last day activity. There wasn't a lot of time to do a full blown tour and the Emo Tour group only wanted $30 extra to take me out there. My stomach held up most of the way - only a couple of times did I experience a round of cramps.
Garbage, Garbage Everywhere
The first thing you notice when entering the city is that garbage is everywhere. Cairo is a dirty city, but this town even moreso. Osama tells me the garbage business consists of two sorts of groups, the collectors and the sorters. The collectors go into town and collect the trash - they sell it off to the sorters. The sorters sort through the garbage. By hand they pick separate cartons, plastic, metal, and other sorts of recyclables. Osama asks if I want to get out and walk around - I remind him my stomach is bad and we can do the tour from the car. As we strolled through the village we saw shops, food merchants, houses, and children playing just feet away from piles of the garbage.
Entering Garbage City! Not so bad, huh?
Until you see this...which is a reoccurring site
Garbage in the house, garage...but never the car!
Collectors
During our trip we saw plenty of trucks driving in with garbage. They were everywhere and very much annoyed our car was getting in the way of what they were trying to do.
Cars overflowing with garbage
Sorters go through the collected, sorting the trash into types for recycling. Bundled cartons are passed off likely for local recycling. Plastic is crushed into small pellots and sent to China to be sterilized and used to make toys.
Bundled Cartons
Sorted Trash
As we began the tour, Mahmood turned off the air and vents. He said bringing in air from the outside was a bad idea, Osama says. The car got incredibly warm - and I was already sick to begin with. After about 45 minutes of strolling through Garbage City we head for the airport.
Stuck in Cairo Traffic
Traffic was truly awful. Although he were only a short distance from the airport, it took nearly 2 hours to get there.
Me, Osama, and Mahmood
Cairo Airport
We made it to Cairo Airport about 3 hours before my flight. There are many shops thoughout Cairo airport, so killing time there is rather easy. Although your bags are scanned entering the airport and again at each and every gate, security isn't very good. I had no less than 3 full water bottles that made it on no problem. I'm not even sure the x-ray machines worked.
Osama originally walked me into Terminal 1. I told Osama he didn't have to wait for me, the flight would leave in 3 hours and that was time he could spend with his family. It was hard to say goodbye to Osama. He had become a very good friend to me, more than just a tour guide. When I was sick, he was there. When I needed to go to mass, he was there.
Cairo Airport
As luck would have it, Terminal 1 would have multiple entrances and not all would connect. Qatar airways was at a difference entrance and a helpful staff member would help direct me. At the gate I ask if an exit row is available. Score, it is! I wasn't sure what to make of Qatar airways (pronounced Cutter, just like the country), but I would soon learn they truly are a world class airline. The flight was not nonstop, I had a connection in Doah, Qatar.
Before boarding I'd be happy to notice non smoking signs throughout all of the tables within the Starbucks restaurant. This was extremely welcoming because everywhere you go in Egypt, people will sit next to you and light up thinking nothing about it.
Starbucks - the only place I've seen a non smoking sign in Egypt!
Qatar would be my airline this time
I scored a free exit row seat with no one next to me!
Chicken dinner and movies, all part of the $140 ticket price
The flight to Qatar was relatively uneventful. A nice dinner consisting of rice and chicken was served. Each seat had an entertainment system that was entirely complimentary - they even had recently released movies on DVD. I opted to watch Jack Reacher and work on my blog offline. The flight landed right before midnight in Doha, Qatar where I would have a 3 hour layover. Qatar had the highest per capita income (at least in 2010) of the world...and is home to the Al Jazeera network. I had hoped to clear customs and do a quick 30 minute tour before hopping the short connecting flight to Dubai.
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