Day 4 - Cairo - Smart Village

On day 4 (which was yesterday as I write this) we spent the day at Smart Village, Cairo. It's a recently built ICT/business park with about 28,000 people working there which will increase to 100,000 in the next few years. This might sound like a boring location but we got a lot of nice shots of metal and glass structures, distorted reflections in plate glass windows etc.

Smart

We spent a lot of time looking for a good spot to film the sunset here, but couldn't find one in time. Luckily the next day we got some really nice shots of the sun setting over Cairo, though you'll have to take my word for it as I forgot to take any still photos of it.

On the way to Smart Village we drove down a motorway that ran alongside a big area of farmland with the pyramids in the distance. If it wasn't for the road and cars speeding along, the view was probably exactly the same as it was 3000 years ago.

Enjoying the view

While we're on the subject of cars, the traffic in Cairo is unlike anywhere in the UK. The only rule in the highway code is "Upon seeing another vehicle, beep your horn angrily at them again and again, then try and ram them". Although they're extremely friendly to foreigners and each other, Egyptians are pretty aggressive drivers, and all 13 million Cairo residents seem to be in their cars every day trying to cram onto the same roads.

This morning (which was day 5) the blue-grey haze and industrial smell from the pollution was so bad it gave me a sore throat, but going to Al Azhar park in the afternoon was much better. I'll try and take some photos tomorrow, we're going to Khan El Khalili, the big market.

One more thing - It looks like I'll be in Egypt until February 18th now, not the 14th. To be honest, I'd happily stay for another four weeks, let alone four days.