Egypt, Day 1: Cairo

You land in Cairo airport into a scene of total chaos. No signs or anything to tell you where to go or what to do, so I join the line of people looking like they are going through passport control. It is the slowest line ever. Fortunately, I get a text from Dancing Nomad telling me to buy stamps for my passport first at the bank. Otherwise, I would have had to stand through the line twice. You come out of customs into a deeper set of chaos. People asking you if you want drivers, porters, to change your money, etc. Thankfully, Dancing Nomad had used her spare hour to arrange taxi for us. While the guy inside looked official, I'm not sure the taxi was. We emerge from the terminal into a scene of even more chaos. It was sprinkling and the roads had turned to grease. People were queing, shouting, trying to figure out what to do. We got into our prearranged car and drove off. Driving in Egypt is an experience. People don't use headlights at night, they just flash them on and off occasionally to make sure nothing is out in front of them. Lanes are meaningless. Cars just go wherever, inches apart, weaving and honking the whole way. It was madness that made driving in Russia seem almost civil. The other passengers were getting really concerned about the safety of all this, fortunately I've got a higher tolerance for these things and tried to carry on a chat with the driver. We had no real close calls and made it safely to the hotel.

Photos later.