Cairo to Alexandria and back: a snapshot through a train window

Egypt is one of the more interesting places in the region serviced by our R&D group, so I was excited to go back there early this year. Unfortunately, shortly before we left, there was some violence at a football stadium, so we needed to get clearance from our corporate security department, which was given, with the warning to be careful, and to use a hotel in Mirage City, not Cairo city centre!

Ladies wearing long hair must be tied up!

The JW Marriott hotel in Mirage City is actually extremely smart. The buffet breakfast was one of the best parts of the day for me, and when they iron your shirts, they pack them up like brand new. They also take your safety very seriously. A sign near the hotel pool warns that "ladies wearing long hair must be tied up": a most sensible recommendation, in my opinion.

The road to Mirage City

Our candy plant is in Tenth of Ramadan city, about 50 km from Cairo. Every day, we had about a 60 km drive to the plant. This was a great chance to practice my hilariously bad Arabic (or at least the Egyptian dialect) by talking to the driver, and to see the beautiful examples of road safety that abound in North Egypt.

Sometimes, we also saw the results of this lasseiz-faire attitude:

We still made it safely there and back every day, despite the generally aggressive driving. Before my colleagues returned home, we went out to the Nile Maxim restaurant, a floating restaurant actually on the Nile!

The view from the Nile Maxim restaurant at night

I spent the weekend in Egypt, so I'd already resolved to go to Alexandria by train again. I'd last done this three years ago when I actually had business at our chewing gum factory in Alexandria, and really enjoyed the trip.

The industrial area outside Cairo

I can still heartily recommend this. It's very cheap: 50 EGP each way, very comfortable, and you get a great view of the rural areas and small towns between Cairo and Alexandria. Despite the current troubles in Egypt, the trains run on time, and you even get an assigned seat! I chatted to an Alexandrian on the train, and we played two games of chess on my tablet. He didn't play very well, though, so I won 2/2.

Now you see a grimy settlement, now a citrus orchard

Animal power still rules here.

Along the way to Alexandria, it's very clear how prevalent animal power still is. Donkey carts are everywere. The landscape alternates between bucolic North African beauty, piles of garbage, and picturesque and less picturesque little villages.

Another milestone passed.

Low-cost housing near Alexandria

The modern Library of Alexandria

Having made it to Alexandria, I called my local contact, Moushira Elamrawy (a Wikimedia Foundation Staffer: one of the few jobs that's cooler than mine!) who very kindly accompanied me to the library and showed me around (giving something of an insider's view, having worked there in the past). We briefly visited a small anti-government protest (apparently the day before, there had been a much larger pro-government protest), where we had a very interesting conversation about sustainable development and nature conservation with one of the protestors. She also recommended that I visit the old fort (well worthwhile!) and gave me directions to get back safely.

Outside the library, there are some very cute sundials, including an analemmatic sundial.

Inside the library there is, of course, a huge collection of books and room for many more; many internet workstations; a mirror of the internet archive; museum and art exhibitions; and even a whole lot of antique printing presses and a modern machine which allows you to rapidly print any book which is available in suitable electronic format.

One of the best free things to do in Alexandria is to walk along the shore of the harbour, seeing the local people, the scenery and the many historical buildings.

Even the locals use the horse carriages for a comfortable trip along the seashore. I didn't bother to ask the cost, because I'm a cheapskate, but I guess if you know how to haggle in Egyptian, you can probably get a good deal.

Probably symbolic decoration on an Alexandrian fishing boat

I took a bus back from the Library to within walking distance of the station for only 1 EGP. Even Egypt can sometimes be cold. Wearing only a t-shirt and jeans was not the best idea ever, but I managed to avoid hypothermia by hanging out in the station security office / waiting room.

So, aftery my brief visit to Egypt, having realised, once again, that things are never as bad as CNN makes out, I was on a plane back home. Next time, I promise myself, I'll study a bit more Arabic before I go!

Salaam, Misr!

Bangkok, a snapshot through a taxi window

When I travel on business, I usually get to see airports, hotels and factories. If I want to see anything more, I have to find the time. Frequently I don't, and my recent visit to Bangkok was no exception. Of course I can't post pictures of the Bangkok factory, but suffice to say that it's clean, well-maintained and efficient, and can stand as an example to many other of our factories!

It's "le déjeuner" - I was practising my French while learing a bit of Thai.

With modern in-flight entertainment, you get a chance to better yourself: If you want to learn a bit of the language on your way, Berlitz World Traveler is not bad. You won't get any real understanding of the language, but you can learn the numbers, some social grease words, and maybe the days of the week and the names of the months.

I found Thai very difficult. It's a tonal language and I also have no shared vocabulary as I would have had with many European languages. I learned the numbers, "hello", "goodbye" and "thank-you" and not much more.

Bangkok is enormous. The biggest city I'd ever seen was Johannesburg. Bangkok dwarfs Johannesburg, and our hotel (the Centara Grand) had a view over the whole of the city. Sparkly!

Fireworks over Bangkok!

As one might expect from such a megalopolis, it has a 24 hour lifestyle and heavy traffic. The difference about Bangkok traffic is that it's relatively disciplined, and you don't hear a single hooter. I think a Bangkok driver would have to be in mortal danger before considering to hoot at anyone. To expand on this theme, they have the excellent habit of parking in reverse, and the parking bays have ridges at the back of the parking places so that you know when you're properly in. Genius!

side-saddle scooter passenger
and rot song taew

Outside the city centre, things get a bit more freewheeling, with thousands of roadside stalls catering for the morning rush. There's a constant flow of scooters threading through the traffic, with girls often choosing to ride side-saddle on the back. The rot song taew (two row taxi) is as ubiquitous as our minibus-taxis in Joburg.

The industrial areas outside the city have long streets lined with workshops of various kinds, with apartments on top of them. I saw signs advertising everything from auto parts to boxing gyms and tour operators, and driving through there in the morning gives a snapshot of people living their lives, doing what it takes to get by.

The Buddhist/Hindu/Folk fusion religion is very visible: you see mendicant monks in the street, decorated temples, and shrines along the way. I was told that the shrines are specific to plots of land, and are used in ceremonies venerating the spirits of the people who lived there before. We happened to be there during the New Year celebrations, and even the R&D office had some votive food. Some of the offerings along the way were surprising: I would have expected something more traditional than commercial bottled drinks!

Zoom in to see crystalline MSG.

Coconuts are for drinking too!

The food was amazing - not that I'd been expecting anything less, but even the canteen fare was very good (although I could see that we were given special treatment.) One interesting point is that Thais (and probably many other East Asians) have none of the superstitious fear of MSG that you find in the West. One kind of canteen soup that we got was seasoned with a generous spoonful of the good stuff. Yummy!

Ginkgo + coconut = delish!

I had only ever had old, ripe coconut before last week. In Thailand, I learned how marvellous the milk of a green, boiled coconut tastes. They use the flesh of the coconut for desserts. This is prepared very differently from the way we know it in South Africa. It's tender and sweet and goes very nicely with ginkgo fruit in a dessert.

Aloe vera drink with
chunks of Aloe Vera gel.

Apart from the coconut, I also had a chance to taste an Aloe Vera drink. Yes, you heard that right. It isn't bitter, and although it tastes a bit weird if you're not used to it, it's OK. Also quite sweet. The funny thing is, it's full of actual pieces of Aloe Vera gel, which makes for a weird drinking experience.

Apart from the Thai food, I also tried a Chinese breakfast at the Hotel restaurant. Steamed dumplings with chicken, pork, minced vegetable, or plum fillings, with a kind of doughy outer shell, served with soy sauce and Chinese vinegar. Not my idea of breakfast, really, so I reverted to slices of bread with honey for the rest of my stay there.

Great view, horrible prices.

The hotel has a roof restaurant and bar (where I took the pictures for the panorama at the top of the page) but after looking at the menu, we decided not to eat there: they charge for the view in the food prices!

Sticky rice!

On our last day in Thailand, our gracious hosts took us out to a restaurant in Bangkok where we had a selection of local specialties, including sticky rice and the ginkgo dessert pictured above. I'm obviously not up to speed with global cuisine, because I had no clue about proper sticky rice. Especially not purple rice. (OK, so there was that one time that I got rice with purple and green mould after leaving it in the fridge for too long, but that's a different story!) My hosts explained the concept to me, and as a bunch of food scientists and technologists, we drifted into a short discussion of the role of amylopectin in this regard.

Not copping a feel, just feeling a carp.

The food was great, but the bit that I'll remember most is probably the carp pond surrounding the restaurant. Under steady-state conditions, you see a carp head poke out of the water now and again, but when they toss bread to the carp, it becomes a feeding frenzy. You would almost be able to walk on the fish, and if you shove them with your hand, they hardly notice.

A decorated pedestrian bridge with a picture of the King.

Everywhere you go, you see signs saying "long live the King" and pictures of the King. My cynical frame of mind led me to believe that this was a sign of an autocrat, but apparently the people really love their King, and appreciate what he's done for the country.

I'd like to go back to Thailand sometime when I have more leisure: it's a very interesting place with pleasant people, and I haven't seen more than a millionth of what there is to experience there.