The street was lit like a Christmas tree. Music was pumping. It was uncomfortably loud and the taxi vibrated a little with every bump of bass. I covered my ears. I was really looking forward to getting to the hotel after our stressful train journey.

The taxi pulled over.

No no no, we told the driver. We want to go to the hotel. This is some main drag retail/party area.

We drove a bit further on. Our driver pulled up to the Cairo Paradise Hotel. I looked at our reservations which showed Paradise Boutique Hotel. Surely this wasn’t it. Richard called the hotel manager who spoke to our driver. We drove on and I breathed a sigh of relief. We were almost there.

We pulled over at the very same music blaring, lights flashing spot.

Oh gosh, our hotel is here.

My legs refused to propel me out of the car. Even when the hotel manager arrived to take us to our room.

Ok, maybe it is a hidden gem. Maybe there is a garden paradise with sound proofing, just around the corner.

Nope.

The hotel manager led us down a dark alley, through a decrepit doorway and into an ancient elevator. It was one of those old designs where you can see out the wrought iron gate at each crumbling floor we passed.

Then a beach came into view. Or rather it was a beach mural plastered over the entire wall of floor 5. Still, it was an improvement. The lobby looked fairly decent. As the manager led us towards our room I was starting to think a little more positively. Then we got to our room.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

How was it possible for my teeth to be vibrating with each beat of the music playing SIX FLOORS DOWN? The Cairo party scene was challenging the laws of sound waves. Richard immediately tried to secure a different room but apparently this particular paradise was so popular there were no other rooms available. Bloody hipsters paradise.

We sat down dejectedly, our dour countenance at odds with the upbeat party music thrumming through our molecules.

When the manager came back we were still sitting there, frozen with misery. A new room was provided. Hooray! It was still loud but not bone-vibratingly so.

The next morning Richard picked up my parents from the airport. As he left the hotel and waded through the garbage littering the entrance he realized the entrance looked way better at night than in the light of day.

I have to give my parents credit though. After an 11-hour flight they arrived at this rough budget hotel and they rolled with it. They were seemed unfazed by the surroundings and excited to be with us and embarking on this adventure.

On the plus side, the hotel was only $30 a night and it was very central. The staff, while largely unhelpful, were pleasant. The rooms were nicely decorated. There were ill-fitting screens on the windows which were wholly ineffective in keeping out bugs, but the thought was there.

There was a McDonalds a block away which was brilliant for breakfast to lessen the culture shock a bit. We only had to wait half an hour for our fast food. Then we took a short walk to the Egyptian Museum, which was amazing. We saw Tutankhamen’s death mask, ancient statues, sarcophagi and mummies and finished with a lunch of Egyptian food at Felfela.

I’ve known my mom for a long time, my whole life in fact. There are a few fundamental aspects of my mother. One, she likes ice in her rum and coke. A lot of ice. Two, her ideal museum visit duration is about ten minutes. Three, she’s a meat and potatoes gal. Foreign food is not her jam. So, I was a bit worried after we came back from our two-hour tour of the museum followed by foreign food and the ice situation at the hotel was not looking good. The hotel staff responses to our multiple requests for ice ranged from “no” to “yes, in ten minutes” to “check in an hour.” A walk down to the shops was equally unsuccessful.

That night, while sipping on warm rum and cokes in our budget hotel room, with the music pumping in the background and mosquitoes trying to suck some fresh Canadian blood, I was surprised and pleased to hear my parent excitedly recounting how much they loved the day, including all two hours of our museum experience.

As we turned in for the night and the mosquitoes prepared for their evening buffet I reflected on what troopers my parents were and resolved to make this an epic trip for them.

I’m listening to the call to prayer coming in through our apartment window as evening sets in while eating spoonfuls of fresh mango we bought from an old lady on the street. It’s the second day of two years we will be living in Kafr Abdoul, Alexandria, Egypt.

We finally set foot in Egypt during the wee hours of yesterday morning having successfully navigated the Istanbul Airport (lots of walking), acquired tourist visas (25 USD per person from a kiosk at the airport after queuing whilst carrying a sleeping child) and navigated passport control (another queue).

By 4am a group of us were being driven to our hotel in a bus. In the dark, all I could see out the window was a few feet of desert on either side of the road. The air smelled of flowers and herbs and occasionally manure. After about half an hour we came to the sign for the Panacea hotel and travelled up a sandy road edged by crumbling walls. I exchanged looks with one our bus mates, both of us a bit dubious, and mentally prepared myself to spend the night in "rustic" condition. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop the smile that came to my face. If nothing else, it was an adventure. I may have been ever so slightly disappointed when we were ushered into a modern, high-end hotel lobby. We had a view of the pool and gardens from our room, but alas, we were to be picked up at 11am that morning.

Outside of our hotel (it looks much worse in the dark).

The pool at the Panacea, inside the courtyard.

The next morning the bus drivers were about an hour late to pick us up but I’d read about “Egyptian time” so I kind of expected everything to be bit late. I glanced out the bus window to see a cow wandering nonchalantly down the street. Once we got moving we passed a large expanse of desert occupied by rich-looking dwellings and ruins, often side-by-side. Traffic consisted of cars, trucks and donkeys. I saw a man shucking corn beside an outdoor oven while another sold roasted cobs to people stuck in traffic. The city itself was quite busy and if the is a rhyme or reason to the rules of traffic (both cars and horses), it is beyond me.

A view from the bus while heading into Alexandria.

When we reached the British School where Richard will be teaching, our host Manal gave us a tour of the area. The streets of Kafr Abdoul are dusty and busy and there is a nice supermarket and several clean and cool cafes and restaurants with good food and coffee. Oscar started pointing out every piece of litter he saw, but eventually gave up.

When we got to our apartment I have to admit I had a period of adjustment. The kitchen is extremely small and the door didn’t open all the way before it hit the stove. Our view is of another apartment so close that I could probably hop to opposite balcony if I had the inclination. I couldn't help thinking about our beautiful house in Whitehorse with the huge kitchen and back deck, mountain views and miles of trails out the backyard. Hot and tired, I indulged in about an hour of lying on the bed staring at the ceiling thinking “What have I done?!?!”

This morning, having finally had a good night’s sleep, everything looked brighter. I realized I would have to be quite the acrobat to actually "hop" to the facing balcony. Mina, from the British School, came to our rescue and had the door removed from the kitchen which is an improvement (although he was an hour late). In fact, the main area of the apartment is quite big and everything was very clean. There was even fresh milk, eggs and bread in the fridge, tea, coffee, biscuits, new pots and towels. Also a plus, no cockroaches or ants! At one point I did think we had birds due to an incessant chirping noise. It turns out the chirping is our doorbell and a man was at the door offering to take out our garbage.

This afternoon, just as I'd decided that "Egyptian time" meant about an hour late and was mentally chastising the rest of the group for being late to our outing, the few of us that were "on time" discovered that our iPhones had automatically set to the wrong time and we'd been an hour early for everything. Apparently Apple disagrees with the rest of Egypt about the current time of day. In hindsight, everyone so far has been remarkably on time.

We did some more exploring today. Wandering the streets is an experience in itself. Today I saw saw a group of men smoking shisha in a large open doorway, an old women selling produce on the street using an old fashioned scale and weight system and posh people sipping cappuccino in fancy cafe patios. I've found overall the people are very friendly but we haven't encountered any of the harassment I've been warned about. The food is very international in this area. Weve eaten at a European-style cafe, a Spanish tapas restaurant and the Indonesian restaurant just outside our apartment building.

Oscar enjoying a Boston Cream doughnut at Bruxie's, supplied with a knife and fork.

Tomorrow the mission is to find the beach and the outdoor market.

Upper Egypt Trip - Part Two - Paradise in Cairo

First impressions of Alexandria, Egypt