Egypt loose ends

The most lasting memory to Nikki and I about the Cairo Airport is that we would both not complain if we never had to experience it again. If you get the chance you should ask Nikki about her bathroom experience in the Cairo Airport. The thing I found most annoying was that the gates were organized by destinations, not by airline, or to separate crowds, and they were spread all over the place. We now know of at least 4 terminals that are separate parts of the Cairo Airport and spread at least a 10 minute bus ride from each other, one of the bus rides we went on seriously went to a bus transfer station where we changed buses in the city to get to another terminal. I digress, the picture below is a gate we had to go through, you see this is the gate to Sharm el Shiek, it doesn't matter how many or how few flights are going to Sharm el Shiek at any one time, this is the Sharm El Shiek gate they all go through here. On the other end of this gate you get in a bus that goes to your plane, which may be no where near this gate, but if you are going to Sharm you go through this gate. In this particular picture there were four separate flights going to Sharm all at 6pm, so the gate which was designed to hold one flights worth of people has 4. Also notice the TV screens hanging from the ceiling. They display absolutely nothing. Everyone is crowded near the door because when a bus pulls up an airport employee announces in a 6 inch voice without any use of microphone or PA system the flight information and then depends on the crowded room full of tourists to spread the information. Bottom line Cairo Airport and St Petersburg airport have a lot in common, both are competing for most inept airport ever.



I found this advertisement in a window of a pizza hut absolutely hilarious. I have always respected the company YUM brands because in almost every country I have been in I admire their ability to market the same brands of fast food restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut and to a lesser extent Taco Bell) to the local populace in an effective way for that target audience. With that said what does it say about Pizza Hut or the american fast food industry that they advertise to Russian, British and European Tourists in Egypt with the headline "Sausage fun for everyone." Look at that pizza crust, it has sausages like little pigs rolled in a blanket on the edges. Wow that is interesting... somebody call a cardiologists, you may need one after that pizza.


This tree has the coolest bark of any tree we have seen, it almost looks like it is barnacled, neat huh? Aside from the airport the absolute most annoying thing about Egypt for us was the constant nagging of beggars and "sales people" trying to push their goods on tourist. They grab you and seriously hold you down to at best push their goods, at worst rob you blind. Notice the arm lock this guy has on me below, certainly not because we are buddies. It sort of ruins the whole experience of many of the tourist destinations around the old city of cairo as these people are everywhere.