Saturday Shopping

Today we ventured into the heart of Cairo. You can find almost anything in the Ataba market. I could not find table lamps that suited, but I had hundreds of models to choose from.

Much of the merchandise is sold on makeshift tables that are set up in the streets -- in most cases, the tables fill the streets. The bears were a cheery sight as we wove our way through the crowds and cars.

Parched shoppers have several options to quench their thirst. Fresh mango juice is a healthy option for young and old.

The drive home through the old neighbourhood of Sayeda Zeinab is always interesting. I believe the sofa is for sale as roadways become furniture showrooms.

Tod Doors

"Glorious, stirring sight! The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today — in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped — always somebody else's horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!"

Kenneth Grahame's 'Toad' explores the delights of car travel in The Wind and The Willows (1908)

Tomorrow's appointment with a dishwasher repairman meant that Tuesday's Travel was scheduled for today. Our destination was a Pharaonic temple in the village of Tod (pronounced Toad).

Just after leaving the temple, I jumped out of the van to take photos of this magnificent door. Adel the driver didn't bat an eyelash at my exuberance yet I got the impression that he was thinking, "Strange beings these hawaga (foreigners)."

With temperatures touching 40 C, Adel stopped to buy us Cokes from a hole-in-the-wall neighbourhood shop. Given the opportunity, I jumped out of the van again to photograph two beautifully carved wood doors.

This time, Adel starting moving the van in the direction of home. Oh well. I may be strange but I love these doors. O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my! ;-)

Sweet Egyptian Hospitality

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

1 Peter 4:8-9

Another glitch in the evening internet service has me uploading my post a day later. With the exception of the touch-and-go internet service, all is well here.

Our travels today (Tuesday) have taken us in multiple directions in multiple vehicles. We've driven into the desert in a van to a monastery, motored along roads in the back of a pick-up truck, traveled across the Nile on the ferry, and honked our way across town in a service taxi. And our feet remind us that we have walked miles.

The decoration of a tug boat docked near the ferry suggests that its captain must have a kindly streak since he selected cheerful dolphins to join him on his voyages.

Along the way of our day's journeys we've been treated to kind Egyptian hospitality. Adel the driver gave us Twinkies. A nun at the monastery offered packages of wafer cookies upon our departure. Adel's wife made sweetened tea and also presented packages of cookies. She also insisted that I take as a gift a sweet baby Jesus in a matchbox because I has expressed my delight in this adorable little gem. Finally, this evening, the staff at the paint store offered us chairs and tea while we waited and they even went out to buy a set of glasses so that they could serve us the tea. Only in Egypt!

During our walk we came across another (rather unique) creation to add to my collection of the Doors of Luxor. ;-)

Road Trip to Qus

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.

Seneca

Today Adel and I visited a town about 40 km North of Luxor. The two of us share the opinion that road trips should be accompanied with refreshments, so we stopped for a tamayya (aka 'felafel') sandwich and a glass of tea. I got a kick out of Adel setting our glasses in what I would normally think of as a coffee cup holder. Just goes to show how perspectives shift slightly in different surroundings.

And we were definitely in different surroundings. I quite liked the town of Qus but the tangle of various forms of traffic and humanity in its streets on market day reminded me why I do not drive in Egypt.

Adel suggested that I buy myself a "Tok-Tok", a three-wheeled scooter with a passenger cabin built on the back. These rickshaw-like taxis are better suited for maneuvering narrow village roads than cars or vans . . . and they're cute. Some are highly decorated with tassels and lights. I don't think they are licensed yet because they don't fit within the parameters of Egypt's vehicular law: they are neither car nor motorcycle. They are a sight to be seen, but only in towns and villages.

While we drank our tea, this young entrepreneur passed by heading to the gates of a local school. He sells juice. To be honest, it's more like sugared water and the kids love it. The drink is dispensed from the clear tanks into a small plastic bag with a straw sticking out the top.

Tuesday is market day and there were piles of garlic on offer in addition to the usual greens.

Adel was happy because he scored five kilograms of onions.

And I was happy to add another door to my collection. The two sphinxes have cute little bobs, a la the 1950s. It was a fun trip.

Life's a Gas on Cleopatra Street

 

The Time Traveller and I strolled down Cleopatra Street to visit with a friend who is opening her own mercantile venture -- which shows hope for the future of Egypt. Along the way I caught sight of another beautiful old door to add to my collection.

But there was much more excitement as the street rang with the sound of rolling butagas canisters. Kids had fun helping their mom.

 Women came in twos down the street trying to keep their canisters rolling in a straight line.

 Others hauled away their canisters on their shoulder, on bicycles, and on donkey carts.

Finally, we came to the alley leading to the butagas distribution center. A shipment must have just come in and it appeared from the crowd that it had been long awaited. I don't think I exaggerate to say that 99% of all Egyptian stoves run on gas and only some Cairene homes have natural gas connections so these butagas canisters feed millions daily.

The Mundane is Marvelous

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.

Bill Moyers

The title of today's post misquotes Bill Moyers, but seeing the marvelous in the mundane and being thankful for it is the essence of my blog. I don't think this requires creativity; it just requires us to look, and to appreciate the world around us. What could be more ordinary than buying garbage bags? Yet what extraordinary architecture I happened upon in my search!


As my companion guided me through the narrow streets we spotted multiple-storey buildings with palm beam tresses. Just a few nights previous, her fiance had explained that non-productive palm trees are set ablaze in order to harden them for use as ceiling beams.


The search for garbage bags brought me to this little shop which sells only plastic bags. And I couldn't have been happier to meet the owner's two boys who served me in a very mature fashion. So just this little jaunt through Luxor's old streets in 46C heat gave me much pleasure.

The Twilight Zone

Where am I? Looks like fog on the Thames, but it's sand on the Nile. A hamseen has been blowing all day. Visibility was close to nil, as were the oxygen levels, and the clock outside the Winter Palace hotel reported the temperature to be 42C. Pretty grim.


The trip was unavoidable because banking was necessary before the weekend. My bonus, however, was spotting this amazing pharaonic door. Notice that it sits a good 6" below the sidewalk -- at street level. Apparently, a sidewalk for pedestrians was an afterthought.

Birding

During my morning swim I was serenaded by a great number of sparrows. Sweeping the balcony less than an hour later, I found that their numbers had been reduced by one. Cat has caught her first bird. In the afternoon, I went for a walk to commune with my avian neighbours. My camera really isn't up to the task of bird photography, but it captured some of the 'exotic' ones that swooped about, such as the European bee-eater (above) that was heading North.

As I composed this post, a White Stork flew right over the balcony . . . but, alas, the camera is not at hand. The same thing happens when a Lesser Kestrel (whose name belies its ferocious look) comes to our living room window. I fear he/she is looking for Cat.


As I started out on my walk, I met my messenger of good luck, a hoopoe. So I knew I would have a good trip.


And I needed good luck because I found myself sinking in very marshy ground without wellies. Another "How-did-you-get-yourself-into-this?" situation. The cattle egret had no problem standing amongst the water hyacinth.


They are beautiful, but deadly. They cause a host of problems: clogging irrigation canals; encouraging the breeding of mosquitoes and bilharzia, and choking oxygen levels needed for fish survival while making the act of fishing very difficult. I'm told that the weed appeared in Egypt in the late 1800s, after someone introduced it to Lake Victoria because it was pretty. A 12,000 ha mat of this weed now covers the lake. Canada is helping to eradicate the weed in Africa and the Middle East.

And I didn't just meet birds on my journey.

I'm not sure why 15 camels were camped out in the banana grove. I was certainly an 'exotic' to them, as they all turned to look.


I also enjoyed the colourful houses along our road. (Just a few more meters and it would have been indoor plumbing.)


You might be able to see the two sets of horns that grace the top of the door of our neighbour's house.


And on my return, I met the lady of the house and her brother, who speaks very good English. I have promised to visit for tea on Wednesday . . . I needed to get home to rinse out the bottoms of my muddy pants. ;-)

Blue Nile, White Shirts

The river looked particularly blue tonight as we crossed to the city for dinner and then to check if the Time Traveller's new shirts were actually finished.


Lo' and behold they were! This is the tailor's workshop, opening onto the street with an iron shutter door. Two men work at the sewing machines in the front room. A young boy (the tailor's son?) works at a machine in the back room. This tailor's specialty are robes worn by the men participating in the Coptic church services, as seen in the Easter service. Tonight it appeared that they were working on decorative draping for a church.


And the highlight of the walk was spotting another door with protective crocodiles.

The Other Side of the Tracks

The search for screening took me over the railroad tracks that divide Luxor city.


Not only did I find a length of screening to use as a paint spreader, I also found a unique door. I love the colour and the crocodiles. I believe that the crocodiles symbolically protect the household.


This is the same idea interpreted on the West Bank. As you can see, the people here are a little more 'down to earth'. This beast is not, in fact, a crocodile but a Nile Monitor lizard. Crocodiles are now rare in the Nile so householders must look to big nasty-looking lizards for protection. Works for me.


From my new vantage point, I got a great view of the construction of the Coptic cathedral. It is an amazing edifice hemmed in by buildings so I usually cannot see it from the street level. It is being constructed over a smaller existing church where services are still performed while work goes on.


And here's another new view for me of another amazing edifice: Luxor Temple. I usually walk by the Snack Time restaurant because it looks like a fastfood joint. I had no idea what I was missing until someone said we should meet here for coffee. (By the way Mom, the cigarettes are not mine.)

A Stroll with Friends

Friends who once lived in Cairo returned to Egypt for a celebration. It was wonderful to see them after so many years. Together we wandered through Luxor's back streets commenting on the friendliness of people that we met along the way. One young girl shouted from her door, "I love you!"


Vibrant colours liven up the narrow (hence shaded and cool) streets. These wood-screened balconies are beautiful and provide privacy too. Their design has evolved from the mashrabeyya panels that screened medieval windows and the women inside.


During our stroll I added to my collection of "Doors of Luxor" photos. Perhaps I will print a poster as suggested in a comment to an earlier blog. It will be enjoyable research.


The Coptic crosses protect the family that live in this home. I don't think the home has been abandoned, although the doors all appear to be ajar.


I particularly liked the mailbox on this door. And note the usual motorcycle helmet that fulfills the letter of the law, if not its intent. Drivers will put these construction helmets on their heads only if police are present.

Doors of Luxor

I went on a wild goose chase over to the city today, thinking that my order from Amazon had actually arrived. Shipped on January 27th, I have been waiting expectantly for the past few weeks as the March 11th "estimated delivery date" nears. Although my brain says the books will never make it here, my heart is eternally optimistic and I cheered when the woman from the post office telephoned this morning to say that "books" had arrived. Wrong. Bah. I was bummed out leaving the post office and walking through the back streets of Luxor to drown my sorrows in a cappuccino and a chocolate chip cookie at my favourite cafe.


But along the way I spotted some interesting architectural features of the old buildings in the neighbourhood directly East of Luxor Temple. There is a MAJOR 'beautification'/'renewal' project going on, resulting in the demolition of a number of fine old homes and public buildings. I fear these doors may soon be lost.


I was struck by the detail of the rings on these door knockers. Some designer took real pride in his work when producing the mold for these iron beauties.


Although completely unrelated to today's thread, I just want to share my morning chuckle of finding Cat in the mop bucket. The Time Traveller and I were re-organizing the balcony and it seems that Cat wanted to be part of the team effort.


6PM UPDATE: This evening's sunset was outshone by a raging fire in a nearby field. Talk about a ring of fire! Two fellows, who seemed to be in charge of stoking the fire, removed their long gallabeyas and ran about in white t-shirts and red undershorts spreading the flames. It was quite spectacular and several people gathered to watch. I was glad to see that they kept the children a good distance back from the flames.