Alexandria Adventure

NUFF SAID





This kid worked for the proprietor of the bike rental shop. he taught me how to operate the 4-wheeler and maneuver through the city. Since we didn't know the city and it was my first time--he rode on the front of the bike the whole way--for one hour! He told me where to turn and when to slow down etc. He didn't speak any English--it was mostly thru gestures. Leah rode on the back, and, as you can imagine, we drew quite a few stares--two American chicks and a kid cruising thru traffic in Alexandria (yea, without helmets). It was, by far, one of the coolest rides I've taken yet. Gonna try this in the desert soon, (with helmets) so stay tuned...

"You Look Like an Egyptian"

From the time we landed in Cairo, I heard the comment over and over, until we finally got on the plane in Alexandria heading back to Abu Dhabi....
"Where are you from? You look Egyptian."
One person even assumed that my family must have roots in Egypt and adamantly said, "Maybe you are not from here, but somewhere along your family tree, there was someone from Egypt."
"Must be the nose," I thought.

For any readers who don't know my heritage, I am one half African American (Dad's family is from the North Carolina area) and one half German. Don't know if any of my ancestors actually came from Egypt, but we did come from Africa. :-)

When we were at the pyramids, a man trying to get me on his camel to make a quick buck made the comment,


as did the kid selling souvenirs,
and the guard at the base one of the pyramids,
as well as several of the servers in our hotel. It got to be a running joke.

It was becoming a little redundant. After a while when someone asked where I was from, before they could finish their sentence.."you look like.."
"Yea, yea, I know, I know.. I look Egyptian."

Two days before Christmas I decided to get a haircut--needed a trim...bad. So, I booked an appointment and went to the salon at the hotel. There was a young lady and an older gentlemen working and I naturally assumed the lady would be the one to do my hair (figured the guy was there to do the barbering for the men). Nope. the man did my hair. He, of course, assumed I was an Egyptian and then he gave me a vitamin treatment to soften and shine my "do". Then he began the trim. When He finished--I looked like friggin' Cleopatra.
"Well," I thought, "now I really do look like an Egyptian."

Egypt 2010

"Security"

The security when we arrived in Cairo was surprisingly laid back, but when we got to the hotel, it was an entirely different vibe. We entered from the side of the hotel, not the front. Our driver and our guide took us by van from the airport to the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel. We entered the gate of the hotel and our guide and driver had to show identification (we did not). there were three guards and a German Shepherd dog (my personal favorite). The dog was guided around the vehicle --probably sniffing for bombs more than for drugs. Once we got off the van and entered the building there were three or four guards and a metal detector we had to walk through and one for our bags. One of the guards asked me to open my backpack, and since I was wearing a belt, I caused the detector to beep and was stopped and checked with a wand. Interesting, I thought. Ok, I felt a little awkward, but safe.
There was a security guard on our floor when we got off the elevator and one on each end of the hall--big guys, with earpieces. "Hmmm," we said--"they look like secret service guys." We learned later that we were on one of the two VIP floors and there were dignitaries only a few rooms from us. These guys were probably there for them. We got to know them fairly well--greeting them as we were coming and going from our room.
That evening when we left the hotel to go out to eat, we used the front entrance/exit. There were two or three doormen, and three security guards with yet another dog and a gate. No one was allowed in without showing proper identification--including taxi drivers, so we grabbed a taxi after exiting the gate.
When we arrived at another hotel--where the Hard Rock Cafe was located we were greeted by even more security guards and as we were leaving--there were still more guards and another dog. We were beginning to get a little concerned. "What's up with all the security?" "Was a sheik in town or is it like this all the time?". We also noted that there were guards on the corner of almost every block surrounding the hotel. How reassuring.
When we left Cairo and arrived in Alexandria--we experienced more of the same. the only difference was, once we left the security of our hotel---no guards. But, inside the hotel--oh my, they were everywhere.
We had an incident our 2nd night in Alex involving a pizza and the security. We had eaten at a cafe that served "the best pizza in town" on our first night in Alex. On our second night, we were exhausted from a long day and decided to order in. We called the same place, but decided to try the shrimp pizza. We had no idea that this was haram--arabic for forbidden. It took the usual time for the pizza to arrive, but when we got a phone call from the front desk, we knew there was a problem.
Prior to receiving the phone call, however, we had a stern knock at our door. There were two guards at the door, and when I opened it they sharply ordered me to close the door--"POLICE, CLOSE YOUR DOOR!" Well, After having seen all the security around the hotel and with this sudden, unexpected, and highly suspicious visit, we were more than a little concerned. Leah called down to the front desk and asked, "What's going on?" Were we in danger? We were reassured that everything was okay.
Then we got the phone call..."Did you order a pizza?" We said yes and we were informed that it was forbidden to order pizza or any food from outside the hotel. "We didn't know! There weren't any signs anywhere telling us this."
"Well, yes, in fact, there are signs," replied the night manager. "they're on the front entrance and in the elevators"
Oh--well, we didn't see them."
The management agreed to let us have our pizza and have it sent up, but we should be careful not to do it again. Agreed. So, we waited for our pizza. And we waited. and we waited some more. Finally, I decided to go downstairs and find out what happend to our pizza. We were on the 14th floor, so it took more than a minute to get there. When I arrived at the conciege counter, I was informed that our pizza had been taken up to our room. "Darn, just missed him," I thought. When I got back to the 14th floor I saw a security guard coming down the hall where our room was and when he saw me, he made a call on his cell. Odder still. I opened the door to our room expecting to find our pizza, but, alas, no pizza. Mind you, it's been more than thirty minutes since the pizza was first delivered to our hotel.
So, again, Leah calls down to the front desk. "Where's our pizza?"
"It''s been sent to your room, Miss."
Leah laughed with the manager when she explained what had been going on and how the pizza was somehow lost between the 1st and 14th floor.
Then... a knock at the door. It was a different manager (he looked like the head of security) with a rather large security guard--holding our pizza. The box had been mangled. It looked as though they went through every fiber of the cardboard looking for something. For what? I don't know, but we were so happy to finally have our pizza. It was cold--duh. But worse than that--it wasn't even the shrimp pizza we ordered. By this time, though, we were so hungry, it didn't matter--it didn't matter that it wasn't a shrimp pizza, or that it was cold, or that it had been obviously handled by security--we just ate it. And then we laughed.
We found out the next day from a local, that it was for our benefit that there was so much security.
Days after our return to the UAE, a tour bus carrying Americans from Cairo crashed killing 8 tourists (was it an accident?), and a week after that, a bombing at a Catholic church in Alexandria killed 21 people. We were fortunate. and we were thankful for the security--but even more thankful to God for watching out for us.