Egypt 2000, Part 1

How are you, Mustafa Dawud? Are you still in Cairo? You must be fluent in
Arabic by now. Whe will you next be in Lodnon? We should meet up wheni get
back. I write this from a university in the Dominican Republic. Inshallah will
be back in London in about 12 days time. Reply soon.

Anyway, here's how it all started...


TUESDAY 8 FEBRUARY

Having missed the flight on Monday I had to say goodbye to my family again. But
it was easier this time – there were no tears in my mother’s eyes. I was very
sad to leave everybody but also very excited about the next few months. I’d
been looking forward to this tour for nearly a year and the time had finally
arrived. No more countdowns. Mustafa, for whom the adventure started on
schedule, called from Cairo just before I left the house.

And so I headed for Heathrow airport. How would I fare with the London
Underground today? First, I had to go to the Bangladesh high commission. Both
my parents hold the Bangladeshi passport and even though I only have the
British passport, I don’t need a visa to enter Bangladesh. But I do need a ‘no
visa required’ stamp saying that I don’t need one! Free service but it’s red
tape nonetheless. 

I had photocopies of my parents’ passports but the official said that they
could’ve been anybody’s for Rashid is a very common name after all. He was
right but I spoke Bengali, explained that I was flying in just a few hours,
smiled, answered questions about my village in Bangladesh and he eventually
obliged. - helpful guy with a lot of commonsense, rare qualities amongst
embassy officials.

Arrived at the airport in plenty of time, London Underground behaving itself
today. Slight problem with checking in, as I didn’t have an onward ticket from
Egypt. Was I destined to travel at all, I asked myself? But I thanked them for
the warning and said I’d take the risk of the Egyptians returning me. Went to
another terminal to pray Zuhr and Asr. Changed some money at a place where the
lady thought I was a foreigner. Already? I put away my Palestinian scarf.  
  
Sat next to a couple of Japanese tourists (who have a relative married to a
Bengali in the States). Talking to an airhost about the profession I became
interested in it but the interest would soon wane. Felt quite emotional when
the plane took off. I was leaving my city, my home. It was neither a sad nor
happy emotion but just one that makes you feel. I can’t describe it exactly but
it made me feel thoughtful and reflective.

I felt very happy on the plane. Very happy and even more excited. The tour had
barely started and I was already feeling on top of the world. (At that time, I
literally was on top of the world!) I was to have these feelings of sheer joy
and contentment many times on this tour. Whenever I felt like that I wanted to
bottle the joy and keep it forever. That not being possible I guess the next
best thing is to talk to people so that I can pass on some of the happiness.
Talked to the Japanese but the conversation didn’t progress much. The Japanese
are the worst speakers of English of any minority world country. Listened to
the in flight radio that made me feel even happier! 

Hadn’t ordered a vegetarian meal but got one anyway. It must’ve been good, I
guess. Arrived in Cairo at about 11pm. Cairo airport smelt stuffy but I’d soon
get used to that. Bought a visa for 16USD and went through immigration without
any problems.
Mustafa wasn’t waiting but came soon after. The last bus had left and so we
took a taxi - 8 USD was to be the highest we’d pay for any taxi ride on this
whole tour. The taxi had no seat belts; the driver ignored the red lights and
drove like a madman. But I’d soon get used to that. 

Went to the house of a friend of Mustafa, also of the name Mustafa (Mr. Dawud
from London), who lived near the Al-Azhar mosque and university. Dawud was
studying Arabic and living with Al-Azhar students from Yemen, Syria, the
Comoros and Egypt.  It was a great place to spend the first night of the tour. 

Dawud asked what my intention (niyaah) was for the tour. I couldn’t give a
straight answer for I hadn’t thought of it much. He pointed out that whatever
we do, we must have a clear intention and then we will have a good time,
Inshallah, and meet great people.


WEDNESDAY 9 FEBRURAY

I was surprised that we didn’t go to a mosque for Fajar. Nonetheless it was a
sizeable jamaat at home. After the prayer there was a long series of group
dhikirs. “Ya hayyu, Ya Qayyum, Ahlis Sunnah…”. Take over, Ahsan! One Yemeni
seemed to go in to a trance whenever we did the dhikirs but he always seemed to
be in another world.

We went back to sleep and I was so tired that I slept through breakfast. By the
time I was ready to go out it was almost time for Zuhr. Dawud first took us to
a hostel where we were planning to spend the night - the house was very
crowded. We then went to the Al-Azhar mosque for Zuhr. The first day and there
I was in one of the most famous mosques in the world. Very nice indeed. The
supporting wooden pillars reminded me of pictures of the Cordoba mosque in
Andalucia. (I haven’t been to Cordoba so the two probably look nothing like
each other.) I wish I’d taken more pictures.

Dawud left us for his classes. At the bus stop we met a Bengali who studies at
Al-Azhar but he also had to go to classes. Ahsan and I had lunch and then did a
tour of Old Cairo. 

Old Cairo is a bustling place. Sometimes I loved it, other times I wanted to
get away. So many people, so many vendors, so many cars, so much pollution. To
me it seemed very hectic and disorganised and yet the people were going about
their business the way they always do. Not a place for the feint-hearted. (Or
should that be ‘faint’?)

We visited souks and many mosques, including the Ibn Tulun, which I think is
the second the oldest in the city but it is not very used.  Prayed Asr at
another mosque. Cairo has so many mosques that it's no surprise that it is
known as the City of Mosques. 

Can’t remember where we prayed Maghrib but after sunset we went towards New
Cairo, which was different to the old city - different architecture and
differently dressed women, with fewer wearing the hijab in the ‘modern’ part. 

Cairo has Africa’s only metro. It is quite good. Took it to the mainline train
station. Bought tickets to Luxor for Thursday. Returned to the old part by bus
– very busy but I’d soon get used to that. Tried to enter the beautiful Hassan,
which I think it had the tomb of Imam Hassan, mosque but there was a guy at the
door who wanted to charge us. We didn’t pay and he didn’t let us in. Should’ve
barged in for it’s a mosque after all, not a museum. 

Had my first fool and falafel (though I remember having them before somewhere)
for dinner. Returned to the students’ house, talked, prayed Isha, and it was
now very late so we spent the night in the house again. I think we had dinner
again before going to bed.