Desert run with the hashers

A quick blog today because I have to pack and get ready to go to the airport and catch my plane to Amsterdam. Yesterday, I joined the Cairo Hash House Harriers for a desert run in Wadi Degla and got some nice pictures in the desert. After the run, I spoke to one of the other runners who is a geologist here working for BP. He explained to me that the area was under a shallow ocean about 20 million years ago, but then when the African continent separated from the Sinai it pushed this landmass up, along with the mountains on the Sinai. So Mount Sinai is a result of the same geological forces that shaped this area. It was interesting and the desert sites are both beautiful and fascinating.


The run is held every Friday at different parts of the desert site. Yesterday it was in the very back of the park, so it was about a 30 minute bouncy ride through rough desert roads (more like paths, really) to get there.

Today was trash day for the run. Many of the regulars brought trash bags and picked up trash after the run. The park is really trashed out in some places, and it is a real shame.

You see zillions of these little snails in the desert. I originally thought they were fossils, but the geologist explained to me that the snails can go dormant for long periods of time, and they only "wake up" after a rain to eat, reproduce and go back to sleep. I said Oh, I see, these must be the males.

You can see the edges of Cairo in the distance. The city is expanding rapidly out into the deserts on both sides of the Nile. Wadi Degla is set aside as a national park, for now at least, so hopefully this area will remain free of development.


I made some videos during the run. It was very windy, so the wind is loud on the video, but it does give you a good idea of the landscape.

Cape Town, South Africa

I attended the African Finance Journal conference in Cape Town South Africa this past week (March 18-19, 2010). I flew overnight from Cairo to Cape Town on Tuesday night, arriving in Cape Town on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. I was surprised at how long the trip was. It was almost 8 hours in the air from Cairo to Johannesburg. That African continent is a lot bigger than you think. I looked it up and the straight line distance from Cairo to Cape Town is 4,500 miles. Compare that to 2,500 miles from NYC to LA and you’ll see what I mean.

While looking up that distance, I saw this interesting article about plans to build an unbroken rail link from Cape Town to Cairo. 

I had to change planes in Johannesburg, and on the flight from Jo-burg to Cape Town I sat next to a Cape Town resident. He told me I should surf at Muizenburg and also recommended some other places to go downtown. He said cabs were expensive and that I should think about renting a car.

So after landing in Cape Town I went to Avis and found that their rate for the car was less than 1,000 rand for the entire 4 days, which is about $120. So I decided to rent the car. They gave me the keys and I headed out to a wonderful Volkswagen. Except the steering wheel was on the wrong side! I went back in and asked, “What side of the road do you drive on here?” She paused, and said, “Let me think…well, it is the opposite of America.” I considered handing the keys back, but then decided that Hey! I am Dr. Williams, Professor at the American University in Cairo, accomplished international man of mystery, and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like driving in the left hand lane stop me from seeing the town! So I kept the car. I’m glad I did, because I couldn’t have done so much without it. The first day with it was tough, however, and I almost couldn’t get out of the parking lot, I made a few wrong turns (actually turning into oncoming traffic once) but by Saturday I had it all figured out. It was also a manual, I might add, which I’m used to but I had to work the gears with my left hand. But as I said, by Saturday I felt like a native South African cruising in the left lane.

I started in the wine country at the Spier Hotel. This place was terrific, my room was like my own private condo, the pools were nice, the staff was nice, and the conference was a nice experience. I presented my paper, got a few notable comments, and saw a few presentations that gave me some ideas about possible future finance papers. Here are some pictures from the conference and the area around the hotel:

Also at the hotel site is area where they have cheetahs that have been raised in captivity. Evidently, cheetahs are under some ecological pressure and they have them here as an effort to raise awareness. So for 10 rand you can walk out on the observation deck and take pictures. For 150 rand you can go inside and pet the cheetahs, and I saw people doing this, but I also heard a lot about that tame killer whale recently deciding he wasn’t so tame and killing one of his trainers, so I decided I would keep a fence between me and the cheetahs. I mean, I’ll drive in the wrong lane, but why be reckless?

I left the conference Friday at noon and drove downtown to the Adderley hotel. I still hadn’t had much practice with the car, and it was Friday afternoon traffic, and I had never been in the city before, so I had a difficult time. I finally found the hotel, but it was in the middle of a busy city block and there was nowhere to park. I finally parked about 10 blocks away, asked a nice young girl on the street how I was supposed to pay (you pay a “marshall” who is walking around on the street). I paid for an hour of parking and walked back to the hotel. I got there, checked in, and asked about parking. She gave me directions to the garage, but I didn’t understand, and it was a lot of turns, and all I could think about was I still am not sure which lane to turn into, and there is so much traffic out there…so I was about to say, “Listen, I’ll give you 500 rand (about $70) if you will have someone go get my car and park it for me.” But before I could offer that, I guess she saw the look on my face, and she said “I can have someone go with you if you like.” And I said that would be terrific. God bless ‘em! I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he cheerfully walked on a hot summer afternoon 10 blocks to my car and patiently gave me directions on where to go and which lane to turn into, and got me parked in the garage. I tipped him 50 rand (about $7), which is a good tip in Cairo but maybe I should have given him more. I saw him later, and it turns out his brother tends bar at the hotel on weekends and his sister works the reception desk. I gave his brother a nice tip at the bar. They are excited about the 2010 FIFA World Cup coming up soon; he said the hotel has been sold out for it for over a year. Here are some pictures from the roof of the hotel, where there is a small pool:

And here are some pictures of the downtown area:

I went out on Long Street Friday night, which is Cape Town’s version of Bourbon Street. I had dinner at a café with this picture on the wall:

I then went out to a couple of other places people had told me about, but it really wasn’t my scene. Everyone was much too young, I hate to admit, and although I did meet some nice people, I ended up just coming back to the hotel around midnight.

The next day I had breakfast at Lola’s Café on Long Street and then drove the car to Table Mountain National Park. I had in mind either walking up the mountain or taking the cable car up, but it was very overcast with a thick blanket of fog covering the entire top of the mountain, so there wasn’t much use going up. I did walk around a bit and took some pictures and video:

I say on the video that it is 720 feet up—it is 720 meters! That is 2,300+ feet, so quite a climb. Maybe I’ll go back next year, but I just wasn’t up for it, especially with all the fog.

From there, I decided I would try to find some surf. My plan was to go down to Camp’s Bay and find something there, because I heard that the swell was on the Atlantic side. But I didn’t see any nice beach areas there. I know they are there, I just didn’t know where to find them. But I got past Camps Bay and decided I would just cut across the peninsula to Muizenburg and try to surf there. I found a route to do this on the map and ended up on Chapman’s Peak Road. I didn’t know it, but I saw later in my guidebook this drive described as “one of the most spectacular stretches of coastal road in the world.” It was incredible, and I was lucky to stumble upon it. Just driving the several miles made the entire trip a success for me. The pictures don’t do it justice, you really need to drive this yourself, so for all of my blog followers out there, put this on your list (especially the Itzkowitzs!). Here are some pictures and video of the drive:

Once across the peninsula I headed into Muizenburg, rented a board at Gary’s surf shop, and headed out into the water. It was fabulous! The water was really cold. I had a wet suit on, but still. My feet got so numb I could hardly feel them. I saw one person out in the water without a wet suit, but everyone else had full wetsuits on. I’m not a good enough surfer to do much in this kind of water, it was too deep for me to go way out and catch the first break, so I stayed back and caught a few smaller waves. I rode a few in, nothing too exciting, but it was just great to be out there with a board and taste the salt water. I surfed until I was too exhausted to paddle anymore and then headed in. Here are some pictures and a video I made on the beach:

I went home exhausted but feeling like I had really made the most of the trip. I slept in Sunday, ate at Lola’s again, and then went to the airport and flew home Sunday night, arriving in Cairo at 5AM Monday. Great trip!

I leave for Amsterdam on Sunday. From the bottom of the world to the top in just 7 days! I love it. I often think, what would the 17^th century explorers think if they could see how we hop across the globe now? I doubt they could ever imagine you could be in Cape Town on a Sunday, spend the work week in Cairo, and then spend the next weekend in Amsterdam.

Flute man, America in Cairo

I haven’t had a lot of time to blog lately, and I haven’t done much that is new. I’m spending a lot of time trying to stay ahead of my students in my classes, working on Arabic, and enjoying evenings in downtown Cairo when I can.

I have today off (Friday) so I spent the morning doing the crossword over coffee at Café Graco. I walked home and stopped to talk to the “flute man” who I have passed by a lot of times but never talked to. He hangs out on Road 9 and sells flutes made from bamboo (or something like it). I think, but I’m not sure, that he carves the flutes himself. As he demonstrated to me he plays pretty well too. He only speaks Arabic, so I was delighted to be able to understand him. Mostly. He really won me over with a gregarious personality. I just said hello (Sabbah Alkheer, which is “good morning” in Arabic) and before I knew it I was spending 70 pounds, about $13, on 5 flutes. But I have some nice souvenirs that will always remind me of Maadi, and a new friend in Maadi. I couldn’t understand his name, but I know it starts with “r” and ends with “b.” Rahib or Ragib. He told me he has lived in Maadi for 30 years.

I’ve spent a lot of time downtown lately. I’ve moved my Arabic lessons from the new campus, which is out in the desert, to the old campus which is “west el balad” in Arabic, meaning center of the city. It’s nice because I enjoy getting around the old campus a bit, working on Arabic and then hanging out downtown for dinner.

Right in the heart of the city are two huge billboards up on tall buildings right in from of the Egyptian Museum. I notice them often because until lately they have been adorned with beautiful Arabic pop stars. This week I was both comforted and horrified to see the new Coca Cola sign go up here, right next to the long standing McDonalds sign:

Comforted because the sign does make me feel right at home in a way, but horrified because it also seems so out of place in Cairo that it feels to me as yet another bit of crass consumerism pushed out of the US. Thinking about that, I took pictures of all these places, which are right beside the American University campus downtown, right in the heart of Cairo:

I don't understand the first Arabic word on this sign, but the second is Kintiky.

The Arabic sign here says "Makdoonaldz."

At the bus stop Thursday morning, I took a picture of two of my colleagues at the university, Rose and Mohammed.

Mohammed is a professor in the engineering department. His family is from the Sudan, but he has spent most of his life in England. You don’t expect it when you first meet him, but he has that charming, sort of royal British accent. He is also a fan of soccer, rugby and cricket, and while I understand the passion for sports I can’t really talk to him about those particular sports.

Rose works in the library. She is from Syracuse, NY, and worked at Syracuse University before coming back to Cairo. She spent a number of years here in the late 1990’s, went back to NY for a few years, and then decided to come back to Cairo. She loves to ride horses, and I think there are few better places in the world to do that than Cairo. Out by the pyramids they have a lot of riding options available, and it is very affordable to go out and get a horse and ride out into the desert. Evidently it is quite appealing because a lot of people do it, so I hope to try it sometime. En shallah.

Rose was actually on the plane with me when I first arrived in Cairo, so we shared a car from the airport to Maadi. I will always remember riding into Maadi that night. The university gives you a “moving in” allowance when you first arrive, so you get in the car and the driver hands you a bag stuffed with Egyptian money. Of course, this was the first time I had ever seen Egyptian money. You have to sign a receipt for it, so he asks you to count it on the way. So right after arriving in Egypt I’m riding in a car counting all this strange money, driving down strange streets, and then delivered to my apartment. It is sort of a surreal experience, but a lot of fun too.

In about an hour I’m going to join the Cairo Hash House Harriers. Which sounds like a place to go smoke hash, (something that is actually surprisingly easy to do in Cairo), but that isn’t it. This is a group that goes out into the desert at a place called Wadi Degla for a hike/run every weekend. I’ll see how it goes, but I’m itching to get my physical fitness routine going again. I’ve gotten lazy and soft, but not fat yet, in Cairo.

Then I have a two softball games with the "Wildmen" this afternoon, and then I’m meeting my friend Nate downtown tonight. Looks like a nice weekend full of activity. I'll get a picture of Nate for the next blog, he is a quite interesting character.

I leave for Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday. Look for exciting pictures in my next blog!

Sangria, late night at Giza

I headed out Friday evening for dinner at Sangria downtown. I wasn’t sure exactly where the restaurant was, but I knew the general area so I took the subway downtown and walked up the Corniche. Corniche is a term used all over the arab world (at least that I know of) and indicates any street running along a large body of water. In my case, of course, that is the Nile river, but in Alexandria the Corniche runs along the Mediterranean Sea, and I think the term is used for roads by the the Red Sea in other parts of Egypt. I guess the word comes from all the French influence in this part of the world. It is strange how there is a mix of British and French influence here. Napoleon was famously here, although things didn’t turn out so well for him, but the French influence in Algiers and Morocco is quite strong. It seems like most of the influence in Cairo is British (they basically ran the place in the early part of the 20^th century) but some French influence lingers.

Anyway, I walked up the Corniche looking for the Conrad Hotel, because I was told the restaurant was across the street from the hotel. Along the way I saw this beautiful Coptic church, and I stopped to take pictures.

Some locals saw me taking pictures and came out to talk to me. I knew just enough Arabic to have a brief conversation, but I didn’t understand them most of the time. One of the guys kept asking me if I had something, and I heard something like “bwutoth” and I kept saying “mish fahim,” which means I don’t understand. He finally pushed a few buttons on his cell phone and showed me the word “Bluetooth” in English, and I said “Aha!” now I get it. I guess he wanted me to send him the pictures of the church that I was taking, but I don’t have Bluetooth. I took some pictures of the guys and told them I would put them up for the Americans to see.

A few blocks down and I found Sangria. It was a nice dinner, and I enjoyed the company. I met some really interesting folks there and had a nice time. 

After dinner, I was invited out to the Cairo Jazz club, which was nice but way too loud (because I’m getting old). So I only stayed a brief time at the Jazz club. That is a misnomer, by the way, it is really more of a discotheque most nights, and only has jazz one night a week. I’ve also noticed something about Cairo society: the “hot” places to get into are carefully controlled by large beefy looking men at the door. If your name isn’t on the list, you don’t get in. Unless, of course, you happen to be in the company of a tall, beautiful, blonde hair blued eyed German girl (and fortunately I was) so we were allowed right in. Sometimes it is nice to be a foreigner.

The German girl and I left the Jazz club and wandered around downtown Cairo for a brief while. Claudia knows her way around downtown quite well and showed me Garden city and the entrance to Dokki, which I was unfamiliar with. She mentioned that she once saw the pyramids in 1996, but she hadn’t seen them since. So we decided to jump in a cab and go see them. So here is a picture of the Giza pyramids at about 2AM Saturday morning.

Here is a picture of Claudia in front of the pyramids, but it was so dark my camera didn't work so well.

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I'll have to get a better picture of Claudia for the blog. She teaches at a German school here. She is another one who has traveled all over the world (she told me she has been on every continent save Antarctica)  and she is fluent in German, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

While writing this blog I had my first experience with Otlob. Everything in Cairo is available via delivery, and good food is no exception. Otlob is a web site where you can log on, choose your restaurant (everything from McDonalds to Chillis to high class local places) order from their menu and for a small fee it will be delivered within the hour. So I am now enjoying pizza from LaRosa's delivered for 40 pounds, which includes a 5 pound tip. That's $7.20 for a delicious large pizza brought to my door. Hum di lilah!