Smooth arrival, slow Internet and freezing temperatures—welcome to Cairo!

Good news first—my arrival couldn’t have been any smoother. As soon as I had stepped off the plane, I already saw my welcome sign! A very friendly local tour agent helped me to quickly obtain my visa and clear through immigration. Within five minutes of landing, my bags were already rolling out. Only the bicycle box took a bit longer, but time flew by chatting with the tour agent. Big relief when my bicycle box emerged fully intact!

The pre-arranged transport to the hotel went smooth and uneventful, no drama, no traffic jams, only some police men with over-dimensional machine guns caught my attention as somewhat out of the extraordinary.

Dinner was another pleasant surprise: Two starters, big meat dish, bottle of water, and double espresso for less than USD10! And that in a fairly decent resort hotel!

But my first impressions are not just positive: Given we’re staying in a rather nice hotel, I had also expected a decent Internet connection to start with—not that lucky. Even just posting these lines takes an abnormal effort. Any hopes of regular photo gallery, let alone video, uploads have vanished into thin air.

Finally, I feel obliged to report that it’s freezing cold! Nighttime temperatures are below 10°C, and, mind you, the concept of heating doesn’t seem to exist around here! Brrr, I’ve been shivering all afternoon! But I have no reason to complain because tonight I can still cuddle under two blankets and look forward to a hot shower in the morning . . . —soon to be nostalgically remembered as luxuries.