Citadel at sunset

Taxi stories

Taxi one:
In our limited experience, the small black taxis (like this one) in Cairo are a guaranteed rip-off coupled with a hair-raising jaunt through the streets. So, to get to the City Stars Mall, we thought we'd wait for a posh metered one. Once inside, a reasonably aggressive Egyptian grunted something about wanting 100 LE (Egyptian pounds; just over a tenner) for a journey I knew should cost 26LE.

"Bas!" I said 200m up the road when he refused to turn his meter on, and we got out. He didn't seem too impressed, but then neither was I and I certainly wasn't in the mood to argue my point with a man who would rather go without a fare if he couldn't extort quadruple the price.

Taxi two:
One minute in, and our second taxi driver received a call to say that his mother had just been taken to hospital and that he'd have to go. He was very sorry, and so were we.

Taxi three:
A friendly driver in a clean metered taxi with good air-conditioning and excerpts from the Qur'an playing over the radio got us to the mall quickly and safely for 26LE. We gave him 35LE and he was delighted. That's more like it.

Interlude:
The City Stars mall is massive (it's one of those malls that is so big it has its own map which you need a degree in topography to read) but I was more than happy walking around Virgin Megastores (which is still alive and kicking in the Middle East) where I managed to pick up some excellent movie postcards for my collection, as well as the new Dan Brown book which I can't wait to get stuck into. The only thing slightly iffy about Virgin is the price of computer games. Nintendo DS cartridges were selling for 500LE, which is just over £50. It's all down to taxes so I'm told. The PS3 (4000LE!) may have to wait until I have a decent wage coming in (which won't be from the BUE unfortunately as they phoned and told me I didn't get the job I applied for).

Taxi four:
On the way home we hit the jackpot with a really nice guy who knew all the back-roads to avoid the hideous crash that was blocking the highway. When we passed the Citadel, I tried to get a picture of it through the window and, spotting his subtle attempts to slow down a bit to help out, Larissa asked if he wouldn't mind driving us to where we might be able to get a nice view for a photo.

We ended up in one of the highest places in Cairo overlooking the city (here's what we saw). Nearby, a TV crew were conducting an interview with one of the stars of one of the Arabic TV channels (which you can see here). The Citadel views weren't that great from where we were however but in the end I struck lucky with this shot taken through the windscreen and he was turning the corner at the bottom of a busy road.

Needless to say, this guy got a nice bit of baksheesh once he dropped us off.

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Happy Birthday Nina x