Jaded-traveler blues – Cairo, Egypt
[ NOTE: written in 1995 when I was 28 | towards the end of a 10-month overland journey across Asia & East Africa; close to broke ]
Cityscape in Cairo, Egypt (1995)
Done stuff all the past two days … Feeling tired; lousy. Sleeping in a central Cairo hostel dorm; hopeless !
Got woken at 10 P.M.
At 2.
At 5 by – “ALLAHU AKBAR!” (God is Almighty) – the dawn prayer from a mosque.
At 6.
At 7 … as people departed.
Again at 9.
Fuck this, felt better waking up after a night of sex and booze.
Went to the Egyptian Museum.
Spectacular. Overwhelming. Too much. Wandered round and round and yeah, nice sculptures, nice mummies, nice jewellery. Lots of gold. Cor, was Tutankhamun a spoilt brat, or what?
Ooh, yeah, that’s wild … and that one’s neat too … and that – out the way! Tourists everywhere! More tourists – I lie – than exhibits (and most visitors seem as long brain-dead as the mummified dog.)
Often it was I who was the exhibit.
Look, see the half-dead long-hair pretending to understand Ancient Egypt. I got more attention than a Pharaoh’s preserved organs; to many Arab tourists I was more exciting than a jar of dehydrated testicles.
Had wicked stomach cramps early this morning, but cleared it after three prolonged craps
Have eaten the same food from the same restaurant tonight (cos it taste good). See what happens … ?
Two Japanese travellers talk.
One of the young women has realised her large, pink suitcase-on-wheels, ain’t too practical; she’s just lugged it up five large flights of stairs, cos the elevator don’t work.
Shit, two Euro-chicks are setting their alarms.
Fuck, I hate alarm clocks – especially when they ain’t mine!
Well, I ain’t the only one whose tired and grumpy this morning.
Three Japanese complain about this English woman who woke the entire dorm. What a long, loud alarm.
And after she’d dragged herself out of bed, turned the light on and spent 40 minutes repacking her pack – which she’d spent hours on last night; she stomped out to the bathroom, and back, and again back and forth.
And while she was out washing, her second alarm bleeped – til a Japanese babe crawled out of bed and thumped the thing.
Eventually the woman left, leaving the door wide open.
Have lay in bed all morning: wondering what to do?
What to do in Cairo?
What to do in life? …
I really don’t know what to do … Doing nothing appeals.
Being a waster appeals.
Yeah – a waster for life, but who will employ me to waste my life?
Dorm recollections……
4:00am – Rustling plastic bags.
4:10am – Rustling plastic bags.
4:20am – Rustling plastic bags.
4:21am – Murderous thoughts come to mind.
… ain’t that the truth – sleep deprivation gets me angry; even, dangerous.
Hey you! Just decided to google you and see what you were up to. Cool to see you still doing the travelling thing – love your website. Just wanted to say hi and hope all is well x
Hi Sandra – Great to hear from you! I see you’ll married; wow, so much time has passed since we last encountered … (Sandra and I were in a relationship back in 1997-98 – in Bahrain, UK & in South Island of New Zealand) … yeah, am still on the road – soon across Central Asia. I will PM you – x
Have been reading your blogs…I’m so happy for you – so much of what you write about – and how you write it brings back many memories. I think you were way ahead of your time whilst trying to publish your books…it’s great to see you can get your messages out there using blogs now. Good on you x
Thanks … although I hardly write stories these days (but have lots of unedited diary to use, one day) as I now focus mostly on images … x
you’re awesome take me on a trip with u
Thanks. Greetings from China … well, if ya hurry, I’m traveling across China and then across the “Stans” … get ya butt over here and I maybe able to squeeze you into my camera bag
at 27 i feel just like you did when you were twenty eight. i’m not abroad though; i’m in the USA feeling rotten. people often forget that emotions come with you n your travels, and it’s not all roses and sunshine, my intestines have had many a bout with foreign foods that were not pleasant, and have dealt with sobering, angering situations from home while traveling, and it’s no fun. we’re human. it’s gona happen. i like recording things when they happen. i often look back and call myself a whiny bitch.
Mostly, I’m very tolerant and good-natured about the hardships, idiots and problems of travel. BUT those couple of days in Cairo – following a serious lack of sleep; guaranteed to get me shitty – are included cos I write honesty about all journeys … Yet, these ‘blues’ are only 1-2% of the trip and not to be seem as representing my experience of Cairo or Egypt – which was, amazing.
The good, bad, ugly, beautiful, drunk, sexy, and stupid are all part of this blog. However, when I re-read this diary entry: I still wonder about the logic of that selfish, thoughtless British girl. Must say also, I rarely stay in dorms unless absolutely desperate …