Marketplace

Tea

An observation about doing radio interviews in Egypt: They’re constantly interrupted by the call to prayer . . . and the delivery of tea. There’s a knock on the door. In walks someone with a tray. Delicious. And you simply can’t say no. I finally learned to ask for herbal tea in the afternoons so that I could sleep at night.
-- Amy Scott

On crossing the street in Cairo

Crossing the street in Cairo is an act of pure faith. An estimated 3 million cars clog the streets, and there are no traffic laws to speak of. (Lights turn red, but no one stops.) So walking —anywhere — can be a nerve-wracking ordeal. If you’ve ever played the old arcade game “Frogger,” you get the idea. My guidebook advises visitors to wait for a group of locals crossing the street and essentially use them as human shields. It works pretty well, actually. If you walk quickly and confidently, the cars will stop. When I'm back in New York, though, I'll have to shake that habit because the cars there will not stop.
-- Amy Scott

Asking for Directions

As far as I can tell, very few people use maps in Egypt. Point to the Ace Club in Ma’adi on a map, and you’ll get a blank stare from your cab driver. Asking for directions however, is a way of life. A driver going to an unfamiliar address will pull over as many as a dozen times to ask where such and such a street is. Unimaginable in the States, where self-sufficiency is a badge of honor. You get a sense in Cairo that there’s a communal interest in getting people where they want to go. Locals tell me all the asking is partly insurance. You’re bound to get at least a few wrong answers, so the more people you ask, the likelier you are to find the place.
-- Amy Scott

Baksheesh . . . or Bribery?

One of my first encounters with the particularities of Egyptian culture ... A driver met us at the airport. When he brought his car from the parking lot to pick us up at the curb, he was stopped by a policeman. They argued (chatted?) for a while, and then he came back to the car to ask us if we had change for a 20-pound note. (Twenty Egyptian pounds is about $3.60 US.) We did not. So he took the twenty, paid off the cop, and came back to the car. He didn’t speak enough English to tell us what had happened. But I assumed we’d encountered our first illustration of baksheesh.

Baksheesh in Egypt is the term that describes everything from the tip you leave the hotel housekeeper, to the spare change you give the beggar, to the ... ahem … bribe you apparently pay the policeman at the airport.

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The Middle of Anywhere

Tonight we ate dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in a fake Moroccan souk, served by Indian waiters. And this pretty much sums up my impression of Dubai so far. Exploring this city, where less than 20% of the population actually comes from here, where “Old Town” is still under construction, where the University of Phoenix shares a campus with Mahatma Gandhi University…it’s easy to find yourself asking over and over again, “where the heck am I?” It could be the middle of anywhere.

Like so many workers here, our waiter came from India to make money to send back home. But after just 19 months, he’s leaving next week. After all the folks we’ve talked to who seem pretty darn happy here (despite the high rents, the inflation, the lack of rights, no path to citizenship), it was surprising to find someone who admitted to not really loving it. He thinks he can do just as well back home. And next week some other South Asian will serve foul moudames to an American visitor wondering where on earth she’s landed.

P.S. Kai and I are in Dubai this week preparing for next week’s live broadcasts. Hope you can tune in!

-- Amy Scott

Cab Driver Econ

If you don't have a car in Dubai, you can spend half your life in a cab. So I've gotten to know a few drivers since I arrived last week. Most come from India or Pakistan. One of them, John, is an electrician by training. He's from Kerala, in southwestern India. When he arrived here 8 years ago, he says his rent was 70 dirhams a month. That's about 19 US dollars. Sounds cheap, but consider he was sharing that one room apartment with three other people. Today? That same room costs him 650 dirhams ($177).

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Some fun facts about Ski Dubai

Price: 150 dirhams (about $40) for two hours

Vertical Drop: 203 feet

Snow base: 6,000 tons

Temperature: 28° F

Time to ski from top to bottom: 25 seconds

Carbon footprint: Scary

Unlucky Thirteen

We took a few hours off to go to the beach today. Jumeirah Beach Park costs just 5 dirhams to get in (less than $1.50), and it's beautiful. The water is swimming pool blue, and so salty you can just sit back and float with no effort.

The scene is pure Dubai. European women in thong bikinis seemed right at home alongside fully-covered Arab women. Yet I saw a lifeguard tell an African man he couldn't go around in his briefs. It's easy to be lulled into thinking Dubai is just like America. Until your web search gets censored. Or...as it turns out...you try to get on the bus.

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