On the way to Cairo

OK, I've made it to Cairo in one piece. To tell you the truth, I was a little nervous about the entire trip down by train. I had never taken the Egyptian train system, obviously, and I think the folks behind the front desk at the Cecil were amused at my insistence on leaving earlier than they thought I should. The taxi driver, of course, had a very fluid sense of what he should be paid and then wanted to be paid in US dollars and then wanted to be paid in half US dollars and half Egyptian shillings and framed it all with stories about his five hajjs to Mecca. He did manage to get me to the train station in plenty of time so all was forgiven. I already had a ticket for the train so the bigger issue was finding the right train, which was not as easy as it sounds. Eventually one of the unofficial "porters" grabbed my suitcase and off we went - normaly I avoid this like the plague but I really needed some help finding the right train. In turn, he handed my suitcase off to a more "official"porter on the train, who wanted 8 ES from me for carrying my suitcase around four feet - when I handed him a couple he let me know that he wanted more. I ended up losing my temper (which I'm known to do) and it's probably a good thing that we didn't speak a common language (grin). Anyway, it was in fact the right train and I was off on my merry way. The train was air-conditioned and although it was a first-class Egyptian compartment I suspect it would be a sub-second class compartment by European standards (although it was still a lot better than the train my Dad and I took from Mumbai to Vellore a few years ago). A nice lady on the train, assisted by a guy with better English skills, worked to help me figure out where to go once I got off the train. Finally she just walked with me and found a taxi driver that she trusted to take me to the Hotel Longchamps, which made me feel a hell of a lot better. One of the problems with staying at less expensive, lesser known places is that they are, well, lesser known, which means the taxi drivers have to find them. The Longchamps is an odd little place which takes up the entire fifth floor of an apartment building - the Hotel Horus takes up the fourth floor. I had my doubts when I walked into the front, although I've stayed in all sorts of places to stretch my budget. As it turns out the Longchamps is a charming little place. My room has air-conditioning, cable TV (although a tiny TV which sits on the desk right next to me at the moment - I'm watching an edited version of the The Cooler right now), and couple lovely balconies (where I had dinner) and a chef on site (for supper I had traditional Egyptian lentil soup and Spaghetti Bolognese) - all for $48 a night. Anyway, safe and sound, and tomorrow I'm going to try and make it out to the pyramids.

The pictures are of the train station in Alexandria and one of the balconies at the Hotel Longchamps.