All Entries from the Cairo Category

A man and his arts and crafts store, CairoSeptember 01, 2009

Glimpsed ... in CairoSeptember 01, 2009

Memories of CairoSeptember 01, 2009

15 December, 2008:  3.40am alarm, 4.30am taxi - bone-chillingly cold, 5am airport bus, 7.10 Swiss flight to Zurich and snow.  10.15 flight and 4 hours later I was in Cairo, on the African continent in 22 celsius.

The next day we met Sharif, the film-maker and had cay in the back streets of the city, near the Townhouse Gallery

I was shown a short film titled ‘Snow,’ by Rami Abdul Jabbar.  If…

Cairo, December 2008 - A Homecoming of SortsJanuary 13, 2009

It was good to be back in a country where the call to prayer was a part of my day.  It felt like a homecoming of sorts ... although the excessive quiet of my Belgian life had made me forget just how noisy a big city could be.

I fell into a coma-like sleep that first Cairo night but my travelling companion had no such luck, and no mp3 player.  Apparently the market below us went on until 3 or…

Cairo, December 2008 - At the End of my First Full DayJanuary 10, 2009

At the end of my first full day in Cairo I returned to my room at the Carlton Hotel, not to be mistaken for the Ritz Carlton.  My bed was the place I retreated to at the end of the day.  A place of peace where I could replay the day and its unfolding.

There was the photography, as always ... my client, her Egyptian film-maker, the gallery owner and…

Cairo December 2008 - Ever had one of those visa moments?January 10, 2009

Flying toward Cairo, imagining all my research thoroughly done, I slept for a while ...

I woke to find two blank forms on the empty seat next to me, to be filled out in preparation for passing through Customs.

I dug out a pen and started working on them.  Suddenly there was this ‘moment’ ... one of those heart-stopping ones.  The questionnaire asked me to write the country I had purchased my visa in.

I hadn’t, instead I had…

Cairo December 2008 - From my balcony in downtown Cairo ... Day 2January 10, 2009

I felt an incredible overwhelming of the senses as the taxi flew through the (far too) long underground traffic tunnel taking me to downtown Cairo ... the driver completely ignoring the 50km speed limit, then calmly settling down to wait, windows open, as we were caught in the middle of the tunnel’s 3km length with carbon monoxide choking us.

I noticed that Cairo drivers talk to each other via their car horns ... a gentle…