Hurghada - Jac's Birthday

Arriving at Paradise

Parrot Fish

Several people expressed concern before I moved over here as to whether I would be lonely. I’m actually a pretty self-sufficient person and most of my desired activities are fairly solitary (swimming, writing, shares), so I wasn’t particularly worried as I can occupy myself. However, as it’s turned out, it’s all quite sociable at El Andalous. Our new beach also helps as people often gather there and then start to talk to each other.

Anyway, this is a blog to demonstrate that I do have a social life!

For her birthday, Jac had organised two minibuses to take a group of us into Hurghada for a boat trip. So, hey, that’s already two minibuses full of people that I know here!

It was a fairly early start – 8.15am – which is surprising for Egypt because many shops don’t open until way after 10am and early starts aren’t really in the Egyptian mentality. The minibuses were comfortable and in good condition (by no means a given!), although somehow the drive into Hurghada felt bumpier than usual. Maybe it was just my stomach protesting at having had to eat before 8am!

We were able to collect snorkel gear if we didn’t have our own, although it was a windy day and the sea wasn’t looking so inviting at the time. We were assured that the sea would calm down in two hours’ time. In Egypt, you have to take so much on faith!

I wish my photographs could capture the beautiful blues of the sea and the sky. It is truly stunning. Quite a few people have complimented me on my photographs in my blog, but the colours are something either I or my camera just cannot portray.

We had to “walk the plank” to get onto the boat, which was quite alarming as you had rough waves down below, a pier on one side, a boat on the other, and then you walking over a plank without anyone able to hold you as you went. I felt a right wimp – I was one of the youngest; one person was 80 years old and was sprightlier than I was! I pray that I can retain my health and my fitness (such as it is).

As on the previous snorkelling trip, they didn’t allow us to wear any shoes – including flip-flops or swimming shoes – on the boat, so we all had to remove our footwear after we’d got on. We were then all ushered to the top deck for a Bucks Fizz to toast Jac. Again, getting up the stairs wasn’t so easy when the boat rocked about and I felt I was being a bit pathetic about it compared to everyone else. I need to practice putting on an air of bravado!

I couldn’t stop marvelling at the colours (I did apologise for going on about it endlessly!). After the toast, we went downstairs for Jac to receive (and share!) her surprise birthday cake. The next major event was the snorkelling. 

The guide said we should get in by jumping with one foot in front of the other, but I disobeyed as I didn’t like the idea and just jumped in as normal (I would have preferred to have slid myself off the boat). The guide would shout over to us if he found anything interesting. At one point, I was convinced he was yelling “shark!” and couldn’t work out why he wanted us to approach him (I didn’t particularly want to see a shark), but as I tentatively approached, I realised he was shouting “shoal!”. The water was still very choppy, but not too cold and I did manage to get a good photograph of a parrot fish.

After this, we went to paradise – how about that! Actually, it’s an island that seems to have several names as far as we could make out – Paradise Island, Giftun Island, Malmaya. It was beautiful, but the water was freezing. I still swam as a matter of principle, but it felt more like an endurance test, if I’m honest. If any Danes are reading, you should interpret this as me being a wimp. The water was probably around 20 degrees and I know you Danes like jumping into Lake Zurich even when it’s Winter. You’d have to put a gun to my head to get me to do that! Hats off to the brave, though.

We had lunch on board – a buffet with some marvellous fish (this is from someone who doesn’t even particularly like eating fish!), calamari, kofta, rice, potatoes, salads (the eggplant one was amazing!) and drinks (including beer and wine). Being inside reminded me a bit of the boat part of my party because the seats here were in a similar semi-circular set-up to the boat that I’d hired in Zurich, although the Hurghada one was quite a bit larger than mine.

On the return journey, I decided to lie down on the upper deck, while others sat and chatted and some fished (returning the fish to the sea afterwards). A flock of birds hovered over the boat above my head and I got to see them pretty close up, with their little legs tucked under their bodies, gliding along effortlessly, and their faces looking as if they were holding a concentrated, but happy frown. I wanted to take a photograph, but I was enjoying looking at them so much that I didn’t want to waste time fetching my camera.

So, that was pretty much how the day was. We all had a great time and I’m sure everyone hopes that Jac will continue to have many more birthdays in future!

Hurghada - El Kawser, Purchase of a Tree

Driving Through Hurghada in the Rain

Well, the rain subsided, but the weather continued to be variable for a while. Anyway, Thursday came and I realised my friend Lena would be visiting from Sunday onwards, so there wasn’t much time left for me to finalise things. Since it was cloudy, I decided to go to El Kawser and buy the fake plants for my flat, plus do some food shopping before Lena arrived. 

As we drove into Hurghada, I asked Esmat why there were queues for petrol, as I thought the days of having to queue had gone, and he explained that the weather had held up deliveries, so for the moment, it could be difficult to fill up with petrol until everyone had caught up with all the delays.

I asked Esmat to drop me off at Metro, as this was roughly in the middle of everywhere I wanted to go, but since he took me through the back streets this time and we passed the furniture shop where I wanted to go, I ended up asking to get out directly there.

When I entered the shop, I discovered that I’d been living in fantasy land as regards the price of what I wanted to buy. I’d seen some ordinary sized plants before for around 300 LE and for some inexplicable and completely illogical reason, I’d since got it into my head that if I bought a large fake tree, that too would be the same price. What was I thinking?!

Anyway, the result was that I got a complete shock when I realised the tree was three times the price of the smaller plant – I hadn’t even brought enough money with me, although fortunately the shop did accept debit cards. I tried to negotiate on price, but he would bring the cost down by only 10%. After deliberating, I decided I may as well go ahead and get it, and a smaller plant as well. I agreed with the shopkeeper that I could pick them up later, after I’d finished the rest of my shopping.

I’d been craving a KFC recently, so that was next on my list, which means I have now gone to two out of the three KFCs in Hurghada. I think this is quite restrained of me, actually!

Then I walked over to Metro to buy some groceries. It was a frustrating shopping trip and made me appreciate Spinneys, although I guess Spinneys is not always perfect either! First of all, I wanted to buy some cans of diet coke, but all they had in stock were special flavours (for a premium price). I refused to believe it, but I hunted high and low and couldn’t see any normal or diet coke on the shelves. After that, I went to find some spreadable butter, but that wasn’t in stock either, as far as I could see. Then I looked for an own-brand cornflakes, but they seemed to do only Kellogg’s (more expensive, of course). I also needed 100% pure guava juice, but again none was available (I made do with apple, carrot and orange, and cocktail). I saw a delivery van standing outside and I was very tempted to go up to it and see if any of the items I wanted was on the van, but in reality I would never be so daring!

I phone for Esmat to collect me and we went to pick up the tree. The road outside the shop was busy, so Esmat had to double-park while I went in to fetch the plants. I could see my two purchases all wrapped up and waiting for me, but nobody appeared to be in the store. I shouted “hello!” and then suddenly realised that the shopkeeper was kneeling on his prayer mat behind the counter. At this point, I was in an ethical dilemma – on the one hand, I had Esmat looking worriedly at me from outside as he was double-parked; on the other hand, I didn’t feel I could interrupt the shopkeeper’s moment of prayer. Was it OK for me just to take the items? I really wasn’t sure!

In the end, I decided to take the small plant over to the car as a start; on seeing me, Esmat came over and before I knew it, both men were helping me. The tree was a bit of a challenge and I began to wonder why I’d made such a crazy purchase and why I can never just do things like normal people do. In the end, it just about fitted into the car by putting the back seats down and having the pot resting over the gearbox. Consequently Esmat had to drive all the way back with the tree as an armrest and had to manoeuvre his arm awkwardly each time he had to change gear.

I should have given Esmat a tip really for the extra effort, but I am always faffing too much with finding the right money to be able to think about tips as well, so I will just have to try to give it to him next time, if I can organise myself properly (which is a bit of a big “if”!). This tipping business still doesn’t come naturally to me.

I spent quite a lot of the evening trying to work out where the tree should go. I had plenty of ideas. Somehow, it didn’t quite look right in the lounge. In the end, it went in my bedroom and I decided I could make my spare space there into a little Mediterranean courtyard, but I’ll see what Lena thinks when she sees it or whether she thinks it just looks odd. After all that effort, I’ve got to make it work, somehow!

Sahl Hasheesh - First Haircut

Sahl Hasheesh from Entrance Piazza

It’s been three months since I’d been to a hairdresser (the last one was during my UK trip in Nov/Dec), Lena was going to be visiting me soon for 18 days, so I wasn’t going to have the chance to go in the immediate future, so I decided I had to go ahead and get my hair cut now, before she arrived. It had to be done some day, after all.

I’d spotted a place advertising hairdressing services near the Entrance Plaza in Sahl Hasheesh, so I decided I may as well go there. It would be easier to go somewhere local rather than having to do a trip out to Hurghada.

The “hairdresser” / “beautician” parlour was a bit of a strange place that does a bit of everything – one seat for a fish spa, one seat for hairdressing, some touristy stuff for sale, some cosmetic items.

I’d already washed my hair that morning, so I was prepared to ask for just a cut, but as it turned out, I don’t think they had the facility for washing hair (but I may be wrong – there was an area behind a curtain where a washbasin may have been, but in any case, they never offered to wash my hair).

It was a lone guy in the shop and I couldn’t help wondering if it was normal in Egypt for men to cut women’s hair, since women often keep their hair hidden from sight. Anyway, he put a cloak on me and started spraying my hair with water. At this stage I thought I should probably volunteer the information as to what I wanted to have done.

He snipped away and hair fell onto the ground; I had no way of telling whether he was doing a good job or not, but he seemed confident enough. Near the end he suddenly yanked at something on my face and asked me a question I couldn’t understand. He yanked again and I initially thought that he’d found a stray “moustache” hair on my face and was asking to pull it out. I felt a bit embarrassed and gave him a panicked “no!”, thinking I would rather see to it myself.

Afterwards, I tried to find the stray hair and then, after relief that it didn’t exist, it dawned on me that he’d actually been offering me a mini facelift by lifting up my cheek from that area. I’m pretty sure that is it, because I now recall that he was pointing to the line from my nose down to the corner of my face as he pulled (at the time I was too alarmed by the yanking to really take it all in). However, I have no idea even now exactly what it was that he’d done to demonstrate this, as it felt as if he was pulling on a thread from my face, but I had no sensation of him attaching anything there. It was all quite strange! Heaven knows what would have happened if I’d have said “yes!”

But, to return to the haircut…. He snipped away and then it was all over. I guess my hair had dried already, so there was no hairdrying. Nor was there any hand-held mirror for you to see what had been done at the back of your head. When I realised that nothing else was going to happen, I got up and asked how much it was. He charged me 100 LE.

I argued for a while, saying that I’d seen the price of 70 LE on the door, but he didn’t budge on price and claimed that was the discounted amount. I couldn’t really be bothered wasting time with arguing and it was in any case a fifth of the price I would pay in the UK (although I would have got a wash and a dry!) and a tenth of the Swiss price. And at the end of the day, he needed to make a living, and it would be good if his shop could remain; business is tough with no tourists around these days.

No-one has seen me yet to comment on the haircut! From my point of view, I think it’s OK.

Hurghada - El Nasr Street (Purchasing Trip)

Driving to El Nasr Street in Rains of March 2014!

I woke up to the sound of rain. At first, I thought I must be just half-awake and still in a dream, but, no, it was rain! It didn’t take long for it to subside, but the sky was grey. Still, it was different from the UK, because it was hot and humid. I considered maybe going for a swim, but decided it wasn’t as much fun if I couldn’t sit and read in the sun before and after.

Thus, I did the truly British thing, and decided to go shopping. That’s what you do if it rains in the UK, which is why the UK is such a nation of shoppers. I’d made up my mind about what I wanted to purchase in El Nasr Street, so I thought I may as well bite the bullet and (reluctantly) spend my money.

I phoned Esmat and we arranged for him to pick me up at 13:30. Just as I went out the door, a power cut happened, so it felt like good timing – not much I can do without electricity and water! Anyway, off we drove.

We’d had some rain in Sahl Hasheesh, but it had obviously been heavier elsewhere. The road in the opposite direction was blocked due to flooding and a queue of traffic waited. 

Esmat enjoyed the novelty as we drove through rivers of water on our way and he explained that there had been sleet where he lived, just the other side of town. He also said that his wife was scared of him driving in the rain and that, of course, most Egyptians forget that they need to drive slowly since they are neither used to it nor trained for driving in wet conditions. Not surprisingly, Egyptian roads aren’t really made for rain, so the slightest downpour (which is so rare) causes chaos. Just like autumn leaves in Britain stopping all our trains from running, although we should really be better prepared (well, unless you believe them when they said hey were an unusual type of leaf).

Esmat dropped me off at Metro in El Nasr Street. I took some money out of the HSBC and then started to walk up the road. The problem was, the pavement soon ran out and became a river. I walked out into the road, edging my way past the puddles that reached out half-way across the street, but heard loads of cars honking. At first, I thought it was their normal hooting, which they do all the time here just to let you know they are there, and then it dawned on me it was all because of me. One guy was furiously pointing to the central walkway. Doh! I finally crossed half-way and walked down the middle.

My first stop was to buy my swinging chair for my balcony. I took the opportunity to wander round the shop a bit more as well. They had some beautiful ones for indoors, but I can’t think of where I could possibly fit one in my flat. In the end, I bought the outdoors one as planned and parted with my money. The guy remembered me from last time – the Egyptians have very good memories! – and still had the details he’d written down when I last enquired. By the time business was done, it was pouring with rain again, so the shopkeeper invited me to stay for a cup of tea, which I did. He claimed that this was the heaviest rain for 15 years and he too mentioned that in the morning, there had been ice coming down.

I finished my tea and it was time to move on. My next task was to buy a table and chairs and a lamp from the shop next to the Mona Centre. I walked all the way there, only to find that the store was closed! I guess it was due to the rain and the owners couldn’t get to work. So, this was a lesson learned – rain may be good for shopping in the UK, but in Egypt, it means service disruptions and so shopping isn’t such a good idea after all!

It felt like a wasted journey, but I decided to continue walking on up the street. I found one shop that had a reasonable set of dining table and chairs for about a third of the price of the one I was originally going to buy.

Pricing is quite strange here. The dining table and chairs was 2005 LE (why the extra 5? In Europe, you put the price just under to 1999 to make it look cheaper; in Egypt I guess the idea is to make an extra fiver because no-one will argue the toss [although, ironically, they probably will!]). It was the same with a chair I'd asked about in another shop. It was 609 LE. I said "600 LE!" in a tone of voice that was supposed to imply "that's an awful lot of money" and the shopkeeper just corrected me and said "609 LE!" I just repeated the figure with emphasis on the "9" and we both laughed. 

Anyway, after going out to think for a while, I returned. However, in the mean time, a woman was in the middle of a purchase. She had two men serving her – in the UK, one of them would have come to serve me rather than let me wait, but somehow in Egypt multiple salesmen are always required for one task.

As I was waiting my turn, Safi called me to say that she was in Esmat’s taxi and that the sky was pitch black. Esmat was afraid that I would not be able to get back to Sahl Hasheesh and the road would be blocked if a downpour occurred. I hesitated, but decided to stay put, because I’d come out to buy these items, and didn’t really want to come out yet another time. The sense of risk and adventure also kind of appealed, worst-case scenario I would have to have a night in a hotel, although that wasn’t very fair on Esmat!

Eventually, I got served, and they even had some balcony furniture that they could quote me for. I phoned Esmat and I returned to Metro to wait for him there. He arrived and we started on our journey home. The roads were like rivers and the sky in front of us was black. Just as we were approaching Sahl Hasheesh, the heavens opened! Rain bucketed down and we couldn’t even see in front of us (friends, you can see the other photos on facebook). Esmat and I were both taking photographs as we drove along.

We arrived at the border security to Sahl Hasheesh only to be refused entrance due to the rain. Esmat’s car was calf-high in a puddle and we sat there in the car watching various people exit. Eventually, Esmat persuaded security to let us sit on the other side of the gate where at least the car could stand on dry land. The rain had subsided a bit by now and there were patches of blue sky, bright white clouds and pitch black ones. It was a very dramatic sight.

Eventually, we were allowed to proceed. By the Entrance Piazza we had to drive through a positive lake. People were standing, watching and laughing in amazement at the cars swimming through the water. Honestly, I've learnt my lesson now. In future, rain means no shopping - I'm not in the UK!

Back at El Andalous, the power cut had still not been resolved. Shortly after I arrived, a lighting storm began. Once this had stopped, I decided to have dinner out and read my book at Il Gusto where I knew they had an emergency generator . Surprisingly, only a few Egyptians were there watching football; I had thought that everyone would have come out to eat, given that no-one could cook without electricity.

I returned to my flat at 20:30, but the electricity was still not back on. I lit some candles and watched a film (Atonement) on my tablet, so it actually made for a pleasant evening. I went to bed at around 11pm and I think the electricity finally came back on at around midnight. What a day!

Hurghada - El Nasr Street (Second Scouting Trip)

El Nasr Street - Mr Kitchen

So, I was back in El Nasr Street again! Our first stop was a shop that I hadn’t seen before that sold electrical items and was where Jac wanted to buy her oven and hob.

It was one of those surprising shops where, from the outside, you think it will be just a small local business and then, when you go in, it turns out to be a huge shop with all the most modern appliances you could possibly want. It had tons of flat-screen TVs, gleaming washing machines, modern hobs and ovens, sleek air conditioning units, fancy refrigerators… all nicely presented, as well. I looked around for a coffee machine, but they didn’t have one, or not one that I wanted at any rate.

I can’t remember why now, maybe they didn’t have it in stock, but for some reason, Jac was unable to buy what she wanted there, so we crossed the road (with Jac holding up her hand as she went to stop the traffic) to a shop called Mr Kitchen. This was another surprise. It was a smaller shop and from the outside looked more like a local shop; the sign looked old and dusty and you crossed a very rough bit of ground to get there. You entered and the space was quite small, but the appliances were all of high quality, which is somehow unexpected for a shop of that size in Egypt. Only if you looked very carefully could you see some steps (that probably wouldn’t satisfy health and safety requirements in the UK) taking you up to the next floor where they had more items, also of good quality.

While Jac negotiated over the items she wanted to buy, I popped back across the road (ie, ran through several lanes of traffic) to look in the furniture shop on the other side that was next to the Mona Centre and that I’d somehow missed on my last trip. This shop is more like a European shop in the sense that it has a fairly neat exterior and a large interior with show furniture. I’m sure last time it had balcony furniture outside, but this time there was none. I spotted the lamp that I saw last time, although it looked a bit different from how I remembered it. I got them to measure its span and looked at the price tag so that I had the information for future reference.

I took my life in both hands and crossed back over the road to join Jac again, now feeling like a local with all my successful manoeuvring across the road.

Our next stop was a shop selling pots – they can be used as pots or lamps or decorative items. I tried asking for the price of one of them, but was told in return that I needed to see the doctor. I couldn’t get a better sentence out of the guy, who was a bit exasperated that I couldn’t understand Arabic (fair enough!), and I decided in the end that he meant I needed to come back and ask the owner. Jac and I clocked that this was the shop that Kathryn had told us about and where she had bought her lamp; she’d told us that there were loads more round the back and on asking the guy, he showed us a space up the dust road round the corner and there were hundreds upon hundreds of items there. It’s incredible that you don’t find out about this unless you ask the right question!

After this, we crossed the road again to look at a shop selling swinging seats for balconies that I wanted to look at. Again, outside it was pretty dusty, but if you went inside, the small shop front was actually the entrance to a long, thin showroom with some lovely furniture. Also, once more, when negotiating over price, the guy there had to phone the manager to get permission to give a discount (or lack of discount, in this case).

Over on the other side of the road again, we went into a second-hand furniture shop, where Jac looked for a chest of drawers. It transpired that it was owned by a woman and the woman’s husband made furniture and could create what Jac wanted. The woman volunteered to drive us over to his shop to meet him.

So, off we went in her car to Salam Street. This is the street where all the workmen are, so if you need any work done – carpentry, car repair, metalwork, boat building – this is where you come. Salam Street is just off El Nasr Street, but she took us up and down a dust road for no reason other than that she wanted to talk to us and practice her English, we think! We then drove round about a bit and finally arrived in Salam Street which was a hive of activity with all the workshops open to the road and you can see people working at their trades. It turned out that Jac had already commissioned her balcony furniture from this woman’s husband, so Hurghada really is quite a small place at the end of the day!

We returned to her shop – she took a faster route on the way back – and she gave us a can of lemonade each to take on our way, declaring that we were now all friends. So, that’s what shopping is like in Egypt!

Hurghada - Lunch in Sheraton Street

El Nasr Street - Dust Pavement

It was a day of headaches. Kathryn, Jac(queline) and I were supposed to be having a trip downtown; Jac wanted to buy an oven and a hob and then we would just explore. On the day, it turned out that Kathryn had a headache, so she had to back out. I ordered a taxi from Esmat.

Esmat arrived at the allotted time; he too had a headache, so I invited him in and offered him some paracetamol. I introduced Jac to Esmat and off we went towards Sheraton Street. As we got near, Jac pointed to a motorbike zooming along with a family of five sitting on it, oldest to youngest. Jac waved from the taxi and received five waves in return. This was shortly followed by a motorbike with two women on it; again they waved back at us.

We were supposed to meet Jac’s friend, Nadia, for lunch, but because we’d arrived early, we decided to wander down from Sheraton Street on a dusty road towards the Marina. As we went down the side road, Jac showed me this old guy’s shop. This is Egypt, so a shop here is a bit different from what you might imagine. From the outside it looked a bit like a garage with one of those corrugated doors that you roll up. An old guy, thin with white hair and gaps between his teeth, sat outside on his chair. We entered and inside a whole hotchpotch of items was piled high in no particular order and covered with dust. The first thing that caught my eye was the table in the middle with, amongst many other things, a couple of trays piled up full with old jewellery. Some of it was cheap and tatty, much of it was broken, but there were also some lovely items.

We walked through to the back. On the floor, to our right, was a sea of cutlery, plus the occasional inlaid box thrown on top for good measure. Shelves above held vases and lights, covered with dust. In front of us to our left was a whole table of knick-knacks – pocket mirrors (mostly broken), a Japanese doll, models of pyramids and palm trees. On the ground to the far right as we entered was a pile of empty biscuit tins, old toys, and a raft of other items. The shelves above held various Egyptian statues, again, laden with dust.

Jac asked about one of the lamps on the top shelf; we wondered how he would get to it since the cutlery was lying on the floor and blocking any access, but it turned out to be easy. He just walked on the cutlery to reach up to the vase.

For me, it was very interesting, as I doubt I would have had the courage to go in there on my own, but having seen it now, I can see that it is actually pretty safe. The guy was happy to let us just look around and didn’t hover over us. Jac negotiated on price and, everyone happy, we left. Jac’s phone rang. We were late for our appointment with Nadia.

We met Nadia in a restaurant/café nearby in Sheraton Street. As it turned out, Nadia too had a headache. Three people in one day and I’ve never heard of people complain of headaches here before!

It’s obviously Lent at the moment since Nadia informed us that because it was the run-up to Easter, she wasn’t eating any meat or animal produce. Consequently, we ordered some soup, garlic bread, and some dips. I’ve not really eaten anywhere much outside of Sahl Hasheesh, so it was pleasant to sit in the open air beside the street and to see all of life happening – Sahl Hasheesh is very quiet, so Sheraton Street is always quite a contrast.

We paid up and left and piled into Nadia’s car for a lift to El Nasr Street. The car was new, so it still had its polythene covers on the seats at this point. We drove down one road (which housed all the fabric shops) but then we had to turn round because the street was blocked due to works; the road was chaotic as cars kept on coming down and then having to change direction. Horns hooted impatiently as Nadia did her three-point turn amidst all the traffic.

Finally, we ended up in El Nasr Street, where I hoped to visit the shops I’d missed last time. A bit like Spinney’s – at the moment, each time I shop somewhere, I always see something I didn’t spot before. I’m not sure if this is just me, or if it’s also a function of the quickly-changing environment, with shops going bust and new ones trying their chance all the time.

Hurghada - El Nasr Street (Scouting Trip)

El Nasr Street - On Historic Day of Rain!

Hurghada tends to have areas where all shops of one particular kind exist. El Nasr Street is where you buy furniture. It’s a huge street with dual carriageway either side; as is often the case in Egypt, the pavements don’t always exist and you find yourself traipsing through dust at some points.

My main aim in going to El Nasr Street was to see if I could get a replacement carafe for my coffee machine. I’d only recently bought the machine and I’d managed to break the carafe within about two weeks. It was frustrating because my previous one had broken down (it kept on fusing whenever I used it) and I’d thrown it away, not dreaming that the carafe might have come in handy just a few weeks later! I also wanted to get a replacement holder for my shower hose, as my one keeps on dropping down. My life may have got past its major traumas for now, but it still has these everyday annoyances!

Consequently, my first port of call after Esmat had dropped me off was the Mona Centre, which is a hardware store in El Nasr Street. It has all sorts of items from electrical, to kitchenware of all kinds, to laundry baskets. This is Egypt, so presentation isn’t a priority and you have to root about a bit, but the quality is pretty good. Also, “centre” conjures up an image of a huge warehouse place; the Mona Centre is a large shop for Egypt, but not by European standards and, as indicated, it’s not as organised as perhaps the word “centre” implies, although – a bit like my messy desk at work – it does have its own peculiar logic. Maybe this is why I like Egypt!

In the end, I had to ask for the items. I’d been organised enough to take photographs of what I wanted with my phone (so my phone does serve a purpose!) as I knew it would be difficult to explain what I wanted otherwise. They didn’t have the carafe (and I’ve since discovered that getting a new coffee machine is cheaper), although they gave me a coffee jug that I could return if it didn’t fit (it didn’t). I had to buy a whole new shower hose to get the single part, but it wasn’t expensive (although in the end, it wasn’t what I needed either). I was also looking for a pole to hang my wall hanging on and they were able to cut me a length of pipe to serve this purpose. So, the trip was a bit of a mixed success.

I also wanted to go to El Nasr Street to see if they had a folding dinner/study table that would suit my purposes. Balcony furniture and lighting options were also on my list; I wanted to assess all possibilities before returning to El Kawser.

I walked up a bit and then decided that the shops I mostly wanted to see – in particular Sahara as many people have praised that shop – were on the other side of the road. Crossing the road is always a bit of a challenge, as traffic is zooming down the road in two or three lanes and you just have to step out in front of it. However, the drivers are pretty good if you time your crossing well. Let’s face it, despite appearances, they don’t actually want to run you over! It’s also quite rewarding because once I’ve made it safely across, I feel that I must be turning into a local.

The shops in El Nasr Street are quite surprising as there is a whole mix from very expensive furniture shops that are fairly European in style – lots of space, good presentation, quality furnishings, and prices to match – to small second-hand shops or small local shops with items just piled in. There’s really something for every taste.

I wandered in and out of several shops, slowly formulating some ideas as to what I might or might not buy. I’m not really a spontaneous purchaser – I like to see all my options, think about things, and then return. I wanted to visit the Cairo Furniture Store, which is where I’d bought my sofabed from previously, but the shop seemed to have disappeared. I once again went in and out of In and Out, and then spotted a huge store called Cairo Wood. It looked completely different from how I’d remembered the Cairo Furniture Store, but the similarity in name made me wonder if it was the same store revamped.

As I stood and deliberated, the owner came out and greeted me, saying that he knew me from El Andalous! I knew that Medhat’s best friend owned the Cairo Furniture Store, so I concluded that this was indeed the same shop. Anyway, I went into the shop, and the manager asked me how my foot was and reiterated that he knew El Andalous. It was a bizarre experience to be recognised! The store was now completely different. It contained a bizarre eclectic mix of lighting, tables, chairs, decorative home items and was huge. There was something there for all tastes (and probably something for you to hate as well!).

Finally, I made it to Sahara. I’ve decided that I get more out of shopping when I’m with other people as I keep myself to myself and don’t really ask questions. When I’m with others, they talk more to the shopkeepers (which is obviously the trick, but I’m not such a gregarious person) and get more information. Anyway, I found Sahara expensive and didn’t really think that they had much stuff, although I know from others that if you ask them, they then show you their computer and the selection that they have there is huge. Also, they will offer to make anything you want if you just give them a photograph.

At this point, I was getting tired, so I plucked up the courage to cross the two sets of dual carriageway again to get to Metro on the other side to pick up a few groceries before going home. I phoned Esmat to ask him to pick me up. As I waited for Esmat to arrive, I suddenly realised that I’d totally forgotten the furniture shop just by the Mona Centre and the shop further down that sold the balcony furniture. I have no idea how I forgot that as the shop by the Mona Centre was one of my favourites. When Esmat came, this time with his wife and son, who I met for the first time, I was surprised that his wife initially appeared very traditional (Esmat seems quite a “European” Egyptian), since she had her head covered. However, in the car she was very talkative (in Arabic, of course) and it was good to see them laughing together. Their son was very cute, sitting on his mother’s lap and leaning on the dashboard to look out of the window while his mother hung onto him. I was pleased that I could understand (I think!) when he said the word for “plane” when we passed the airport and that he was asking to see the sea as we approached Sahl Hasheesh.

I must be making some progress, language-wise!

Egypt - Mobile Phone (Rant #2)

Inside the Entrance Plaza, Sahl Hasheesh

Well, I’ve been here almost five months now, which means that I have had five months to get used to my mobile phone. I’m sure most people would have adapted by now, well, most people would know how their phone works within a couple of hours at most, but that’s just not me.

For those that missed it, my first rant took place pretty much as soon as I got it (see blog from 22 Oct, 2013). I suppose I have progressed a bit, but I haven’t grown attached to it at all. In fact, I still hate it.

I did think that I might have warmed to it since I get the internet on it. However, in actuality, it’s just confused me. I should have gone for a simple phone and not a smart phone. Smart phones must be for smart people. I cannot understand why everyone insists that smart phones are so great.

One thing I don’t like about it is that I never know how much credit I have left. Therefore, if it isn’t working properly, I’m never sure if it’s because of something I’ve done or whether it’s just that I don’t have any money left on it. I had got to the stage where I realised I should assume I was out of credit, but then sometimes it doesn’t work one day (by “doesn’t work” I mean it won’t let me send text messages, for example) but then does work the following day. I still haven’t fathomed that out.

It’s annoying, because if it plays up one day and then works the next day, if I’m out and about in town and want to call Esmat to take me home, I’m always worried that I won’t actually be able to call and will find myself stranded. Not knowing whether my phone will work adds significantly to my stress levels.

One time, I went to get a top up card from the local shop; to my surprise, they seemed as befuddled as I am about how to do this, but eventually they did something and charged me the 25 LE (plus service charge). However, the next day, it still didn’t work, so that was a wasted effort. However, it also proves that it’s not just me that finds these phones impossible. I should add that it’s not so unusual to have a smart phone in Egypt.

Anyway, when the phone wasn’t working, I managed to get it to connect to my wifi. I fiddled about a bit and found something in settings about connecting calls via the internet. I thought this might get my phone to function. However, I don’t think anything changed other than to cause me another headache. Namely, when I wanted to go out, and no longer had my wifi, I was now no longer sure whether my current phone setting would allow normal (ie, non-internet) calls even if it did magically start working again. This was on top of the fact that I didn’t even know if this internet call thingy worked in the first place. And by this time, I’d completely forgotten how I’d found that setting on the phone to toggle it to internet calls. This phone is a nightmare.

My phone also has a Time Out facility and nowhere in the instruction booklet did it explain what this was. I kept on pressing it, wondering if this was what made my phone not work (I thought it could be a facility whereby you disable the phone function because you want time out from having to deal with any calls but wouldn’t mind using the internet or camera – this made perfect sense to me!). Perhaps I’d accidentally pressed that button and had disabled the mobile? Of course, once I’d pressed this option a few times, I subsequently became confused as to whether I was just making things worse and I had no idea if it was switched on or off. As it turned out, it was a fancy name for your phone to go to sleep when you’re not using it, so I needn’t have worried.

Despite having asked for the phone messages from Vodafone to be in English, I still get all the texts in Arabic. They have random numbers on them and I’ve no idea what they are on about. I find getting all these texts annoying in itself, I get hundreds of them, but what’s worse is that sometimes it gives me a beep. This makes me feel it’s a proper text message, but when I look it’s just a pop up message in Arabic. It looks as if it’s telling me I’ve just been charged, but I have no idea what it is, why I’m being charged (if indeed I am) or why it comes up as a pop up message rather than as a text like all the other ones. It’s all a complete mystery.

It also suddenly dawned on me that my package may be monthly and that was why I was spending so much money so quickly. I couldn’t work out how I could get through my credit so quickly when I barely use the thing. Surely the whole package should be more transparent than this? Whatever happened to the old landlines where you got a bill and you could see how much you were charged for each call and how this added up over a month? That was much easier. How did life get so complex and how do people cope?!

Completely frustrated, I did finally go to the shop where I bought it to ask these questions. It was made a bit more difficult by a power cut happening right in the middle of the conversation (I am doomed!), so I had to return later.

On the plus side, they were able to tell me that I was on a pay-as-you-go package and that I had 56 LE credit; they were also able to give me a phone number to dial to get a message back letting me know how much credit I had left. I asked if this could be sent to me in English rather than Arabic, but it was evidently not possible (she just pointed out that the numbers were not in the Arabic script and so I just needed to look at that).

I requested that the texts all be in English. She took my passport and photocopied it, but the end result was that the texts still arrive in Arabic. So much for that! I guess it's just not possible as that's twice I've gone in there now to ask for this.  I also requested that she look at my settings to make sure that I hadn’t set it for calls to be sent out via the internet (I’ve since heard that this can be what eats up your credit). She fiddled around but I have no idea whether she achieved this or not. Consequently, I'm still rather confused.

I’ve bought two scratch cards for emergency credit. I just need to figure out how to use them, but at least the next time that I panic, I will have a solution (I just need to work out how to implement it!).

Even the camera facility on the phone irritates me a bit. I find it hard to adjust the zoom, the button is very sensitive so I always end up taking four or five photographs at one time (although I am getting the hang of this now), and sometimes it takes photos of its own accord.

I don’t like the way the phone always wants me to sign onto google (I’ve forgotten my password) and I can’t get it to download Whats App.

I fail to understand why people like these phones. But for now I have to live with it since I seem to be in a minority of one.