City Oasis

Cairo is without doubt the noisiest place I have ever lived. It has been described to me several times as the New York City of the Middle East, a comparison that seems to fit because of the noise, traffic, grime and chaos.

The relative peace on the Nile is surprising and welcome.

On Tuesday, a new photojournalist friend arranged a Nile felucca ride, my first since moving to Cairo. A felucca is an Egyptian sailboat, and you pay by the hour to sail around on the river. It is affordable and definitely one of life's little pleasures.

There was plenty of wind to fill the sails, and we spent an hour and a half touring around.

Yes that is the Four Seasons Hotel in the background. The feluccas are understandably popular with tourists.

Roadkill

I had to learn the Egyptian way to cross the street, an art which requires timing, concentration, depth perception and guts.

Crossing the street seems like a pretty basic thing, but in Cairo, a city of 20-25 million people, where cars, buses, trucks, donkey carts and motorcycles all traveling as fast as they can pack the roads, it's a whole new experience. Stoplights, crosswalks and blinkers are optional (and often ignored), as are the lane markings on the road. Cars sometimes go the wrong way down the street. Drivers may slow down for people on foot or swerve within inches. They rarely seem to stop.

Like driving in Egypt, crossing the street takes a little aggression. Egyptian pedestrians generally just step into traffic and start walking across, stopping between "lanes" when cars are coming too quickly. Hopping, running, walking, weaving and holding a hand up to slow cars may all be involved. It's actually easier to cross when traffic is really heavy and cars are moving slowly. I have the most trouble when traffic is only moderate, because people drive too fast.

Tourists just confuse Egyptian motorists. They get confused if you don't just GO already, like all the other pedestrians. I am actually much better at it now, but I have spent many an afternoon working up the nerve to cross a busy street, only to have every taxi slow down in front of me to see if I need a ride. So I finally GO already but I chicken out halfway through and just run across, saying, "Please don't hit me, please don't hit me."

Of course drivers don't intend to hit anyone with their cars, traffic just moves quickly here, and if you drive too slow, someone will surely pull around you, pull out in front of you or use some other aggressive tactic.

Luckily crossing the street Egyptian-style does get easier.