Adventures of Tom Sako and Damien Waterford

Crazy Cairo

Cairo's 20 million people with 19 million cars(ex), in streets that have no drainage and which were designed for horses and carts, together with the attitude of drivers and pedestrians make for chaotic scenes like nowhere else in the world. A lot of people in Cairo as in the rest of Egypt, push in at counters and queues and have no consideration of others around them.

Many times we have been waiting in line for
something and just as we are about to be served, over your shoulder comes someone in order to be served first. People drive on the road with this attitude and its a constant battle to hold their position on the
road and to get in front of someone else. New lanes are made wherever one pleases fitting in to the tightest gaps.

The cars are mostly small Fiats, Peugeots and Ladas and are driven in very close proximity to each other, where the horn is just as important an accessory in a car as the brakes. If you are driving and wish to alter course, you may do so. No need to use your mirrors or indicators, just a bit of peripheral vision and start moving across but if you hear the sound of a horn, straighten up but don't get that sound mixed up with the other million reasons to use the horn. Taxi drivers use their horn to let you know their vacant and there's a million of them around.

The intersections in downtown have a traffic policeman controlling them and when the drivers in the traffic start getting sick of waiting for their turn, they start on
the horns and hurl abuse at the traffic policeman and each other. In traffic like this we have seen some cars pushing other cars forward with their bumpers.

In some streets cars are parked bumper to bumper. When you try to get out, just nudge the other cars out of the way and of course listen out for the horn as you come out. I suppose it doesn't need to be said but all the cars have dings and scratches on them making the most popular job in Cairo, a panelbeater. To pass any other car on the road you must use your horn. If your driving along side of another vehicle, you must use your horn. If you decide to drive the wrong way up a one way street you must use your horn together with flashing your headlights. If your driving towards a pedestrian on the road that has looked away on purpose to dare you to hit them, you must use your horn continuously as a message to say ...... or change directions and take the chance of
hearing another horn.

If you see a good looking mannequin in a shop window you must use your horn. If you hear a combination of horns that remind you of a tune you must continue it with your horn. I'm sure these and many other rules are in the Arabic how to drive manual for Cairo, that would naturally have a practice horn attached to it. Deaf people couldn't possibly drive here. With this aggressive driving attitude comes the same right of way for pedestrians. At inter-sections pedestrians are allowed to and do, walk across the road at any time they feel like. Some don't even look before they cross.

In other situations with a six or seven car wall of traffic coming, people and even
families take it on aiming for the narrow gaps between the cars to get across. Its like a real life game of Frogger going from one gap to another hoping to get to the other side and not to get wiped out by a little version of a Russian tank, the Lada or even a Fiat 159P (the P could stand for peewee). This has become known as the new way to walk like an Egyptian. You then see the breadman come flying along on his
bicycle, riding the wrong way up a one way street ringing his bell with a tray about the size of a door stacked with bread on it, balanced on his head! You could call it skillful or you could call it something else
but we haven't seen one lose it yet.

Another rule is that all bicycles have the same rights on the road as cars and that also goes for donkey drawn carts and pedestrians just standing on the road, but only if they're in a good conversation. Traffic police also act as parking officials in-between changing directions of
traffic, they accept a fee (bribe) for short term illegal parking. This fee has been justified by a term they call "baksheesh" which they say is a tip for services provided. The first Arabic word I heard coming into
Egypt was "baksheesh" and haven't stopped hearing it during our stay here with some demanding it with providing no service at all.

The taxi drivers have developed many strategies in getting a ride. They'll say they know where a place is but really don't and you find yourself driving around the town in circles. They also don't just wait at the
train station for a ride, they're on the platform securing a ride as you get off the train. They quote a fare not even knowing the destination and then once they find out, demand more money.

Taxi fares are pretty cheap over here as is the price of fuel. Premium petrol is 21 cents a litre! The driver of one taxi we hopped
into didn't know where the Giza pyramids were. The Giza pyramids are over 140 metres high on the outer suburbs of Cairo and is a landmark like no other. It would be like a Sydney taxi driver not knowing where
the Sydney Opera House was. We invited him in to the pyramids to get to know more about them. The travel times across the whole city vary greatly with one trip taking 20 minutes one day and one hour
another. So making appointments and deadlines becomes even more tricky than usual.

Overall Cairo is a challenging place to drive but one you get used to. To survive on these roads, you find yourself starting to drive like they do. So with us coming back to Sydney soon, your once nice relaxed
comfort zone of your car may be interrupted by someone using their horn excessively or if you see someone cutting in front of you or if you see someone creating another lane that doesn't usually exist or if you feel some car pushing your car at an intersection, watch out because it could be us.

Beep!!

Breadman in the outer suburbs

Cairo local

Cairo milkman

Cairo streets would be better suited with these cars

Car parking

Plumbers doing it hard

journal entries

Crazy Cairo

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