European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse A v i i f City on the Nile a truck and a pair of donkeys contrast the new and the old As Farmers make their Way to a Market. Egyptian women right Wash their clothes and dishes in a Community Well alongside a garbage filled canal on the outskirts of study of contrasts where modern Cairo meets ancient Egypt by Craig Martin staff writer although Cairo has the allure of ancient Egypt it s the everyday scenes and Street life that add to the character of this City in the desert. Quot Welcome to Egypt Quot is the greeting of the Day from Young and old alike to americans visiting Cairo but venture out into itza Alexandria and Memphis and Quot i to Silver Quot becomes the greeting. First impressions of this colourful City May Well be of overwhelming chaos. Through almost every Street in the heart of downtown Are High Rise Well kept modern buildings contrasted against Muddy streets and dilapidated dwellings with laundry draped Over the Balcony to dry in the Dusty polluted air. Shiny Mercedes benzes Are parked beside shacks. Children Bathe and Wash their clothes and donkeys in garbage lined canals a Block away from one of the biggest moneymaking tourist traps in the City. The typical dwelling in Cairo May have a mom and pop Market game room or bar on the first floor and living quarters on the other two. The Homes have incomplete roofs. Pillars and steel support pipes protrude out the top that is covered with vehicle tires gravel and laundry Hung out to dry. The people of Cairo Don t have basements to store their years of accumulated junk so they use their Quot roofs Quot As cellars. They Don t worry about things being ruined by rain. The average annual rainfall in this desert land is one Inch. According to Abdul Al defray a taxi Driver and guide Mant of the Homes Are left unfinished because of a tax break. The Street life is enthralling. Entwined in traffic is everything from bows to Donkey carts. Constantly honking car horns blare out in always snarled traffic that is bumper to bumper until Well after Midnight. Then it All starts up again before 7 . Pedestrians vie for walking space with donkeys and Pushcart. Buses Are jammed to overflowing and people run along the Street to jump on for a ride. Riding through the streets of Cairo is a Challenge. Broken White lines that normally Divide driving lanes on highways in Europe and America serve Only As a guide showing Drivers where to Center their cars so they can turn a three Lane Road into five. The average Road has potholes the size of Abrams tanks so dodging them takes some dexterity. And if driving in t enough of a Challenge try merging into traffic. Stoplights and traffic cops mean nothing so wait until there s about a four Inch opening Between vehicles then grab that space. Red traffic lights Don t mean Stop. They just mean wait until the traffic cop Points at you to Stop. And if you want to try to Dart across the Street Well follow an egyptian. Yet somehow it All works. Taxi Driver Abdul Al defray third from left and fellow cabbies wait for . Of Abdul Cairo taxi Driver is a travel agent guardian Angel and a pal for life by Craig Martin staff writer he s not a world traveler. He s Only been to London. He s never been to Japan yet he knows about Tokyo. He has t visited Germany but he knows All about Berlin and Frankfurt. And he knows about Paris Washington d.c., and new Orleans too. You see a typical Day in Abdul Al defray s Job takes him to All Corners of the world and he does t have to leave the relative Comfort of his 1976 Peugeot Black and White taxi cab. Just driving people around Cairo keeps him abreast of the world in a City where it seems every other car is a taxi. Quot i get a lot of foreigners in my Job Quot said Al defray. Quot it makes it he introduces himself As or. Abdul and he is known that Way by workers at the Ramses Hilton hotel in downtown Cairo. His fellow taxi Drivers who hang out at 12 stripes Magazine december 10, 1992
