Alexandria Blues and the Return to Cairo…

The Modern Version of the Alexandria Library...

After Khalid and his family had left for Cairo, I decided to check to make sure that the ferry had indeed been cancelled for the 28^th, and walked to nearby Mena Tours to make a few enquiries… The staff at Mena were not at all helpful, and spent most of the time shrugging their shoulders in indifference to my questions…

I stopped at two other so called “tourist offices” with the same result… Back at the hotel, I began making phone calls in an effort to track down somebody who DID know something about the ferry leaving Alexandria. I finally stumbled across NASCO, the North African Shipping Company, who advised that there was indeed a ferry leaving the following day, and would take my booking.

Why we had been told that the ferry had been cancelled by other tour company’s remains a mystery. NASCO explained where their offices were and told me to be there at 9.00am on Monday morning to get all the formalities sorted out. I was overjoyed at this piece of news, as I had begun preparing myself for a long ride through the Middle East, and was going to ride out to Port Said and down to Suez on that very day… By taking the ferry to Venice on the 28th, I would be gaining a full week, and could still ride down to Spain and Portugal to hook up with my original route!

The offices of Nasco Shipping... One of the very few places in Egypt where service was given with a smile by interested and helpful staff...

The ladies at NASCO were by far the most efficient and friendly bunch of folk that I have dealt with since arriving in Egypt. They had my ticket ready and all the documentation I would require all sorted in a short space of time. I paid EP 2520.00 (R3400.00) for the 60 hour trip to Venice, and began getting my mind around the fact that I would be in Europe on Thursday morning to start the next leg of my journey… Just before I left the office, my euphoria was dampened by a call the General Manager made to the port authorities to advise them that I was on my way down there, and to enquire about the customs formalities regarding the Big Fella… Having spent more than 8 hours getting the bike into Egypt, I wondered how long it would take to get the entire process reversed…

A worried frown settled on the manager’s face, and the stream of Arabic and tense body language, told me there was a problem… I sat down with a heavy sigh and waited to hear exactly what size spanner had been thrown into the spokes of my happy mood… After another few calls, and more raised voices, she advised me that due to the fact that I had only just bought the ticket, my name did not appear on the passenger list that had to be forwarded to the “Authorities” 48 hours before the arrival of the ferry… The Visemar shipping line refused to make an amendment to the list, “as they feared they would get into trouble”… My jaw dropped onto to the floor at this bit of info…

One of the many places to avoid in Alexandria... My hotel, the Ramsis... Enough said...

“But all it takes is a short fax advising them that an additional passenger had bought (and paid for!) a valid ticket on the ferry!” I replied; hope still coursing through me…

“This is Egypt,” she replied, “Nobody wants to do anything on their own initiative and will not do a thing that involves a bit of extra work…! Don’t worry; we will sort it out…!”

Many more phone calls to various officials, including the Manager of the Ferry Service, were made while I waited, watching the time tick by… I finally got to talk to the Manager myself, and he advised me that I should report there by 4.00pm with all the relevant documentation for the bike (5 copies of everything!) I figured that I was home and dry, and hurried back to my hotel to pack all my gear and get the bike loaded. Just as I was about to put my helmet on, my phone rang, and Marci at NASCO told me that the Ferry line had decided not to allow me on board, and was not prepared to amend the passenger list to include my name…

I leaned against the wall of the building behind me, my mind in turmoil…. How the hell could this be happening…!! I had a valid ticket in my hand, my paperwork was all in order, there was still three hours before the passengers and their vehicles would be put through the process of checks and loading… Surely somebody could do something to get me on the list…!

“Go down to the harbor, and make as much noise as possible,” advised Marci, “Explain that you have paid for the ticket and need to get to Europe urgently… Perhaps they will relent and let you on board… In the mean time I will continue to make as many calls as I can, and will get our shipping department involved as well… Don’t give up! We will sort this out…!” were her parting words…

The saying goes that “Hope Floats”, and after the call, mine was up on the surface again… I made my way through the heavy midday traffic and the blistering heat, getting lost twice before arriving at the impressive gates to the Port of Alexandria. A large contingent of police officers manned the entrance, searching every car and scrutinizing identity cards. I parked at the entrance and was told to wait for the agent, who would be along shortly… “Shortly”, turned out to be an hour and a half later… A guy walked up to me, introduced himself as “Achmed” and promptly told me I was wasting my time, and to come back the following week!! There was no way I would be allowed onto the vessel…

Hope sank as swiftly as it had risen just over an hour ago… I tried pleading with him, but to no avail… He turned abruptly away, and walked back into the port complex, leaving me standing there, ticket, passport and a fistful of paperwork in hand…

Parked and waiting at the entrance to the Port of Alexandria... I was not permitted to take any photos in the general direction of the Port... This one of the beautiful Mosque across the road was the only one I was able to snap...

To say I was gutted by his attitude to my pleas, and the fact that I faced another week in “The Land of Perpetual Disappointment”, would be the understatement of the year! I sat down on the steps of the police office, shaking my head from side to side in bewilderment at what was happening… With a deep sigh that was probably heard all over harbor, I put my jacket and helmet on, and got onto the bike… Just as I was about the press the starter, a senior police officer walked up and asked where I was going…

“Back to Cairo…”

“But why? You have a ticket!”

“Yes, but they will not allow me on the ferry because it was only issued this morning… I am apparently a massive risk to the security of some petty official’s job!” I said sarcastically…

“No, no…! You will go on this ferry! No problem! Come off, come off..!” he said pointing to the bike…”Wait here, I call the agent…!”

For the third or fourth time today, hope floated to the surface again… Getting on this ferry meant a huge amount to me: It got me back on track again, and most importantly, out of Egypt, which I had now had in proverbial “chunks”…

Another hour passed, until a dapper young man arrived, took a copy of the ticket, browsed through my passport, and then told me to wait while he made a few phone calls… I began thinking about Italy and the ride down to Spain again… Ticking off the days it would take and trying to work out how much time I now had to get up to Norway…

Just then the agent walked up to me and said,

“Sorry Mister, you can’t go on this ferry… Your name is not on the list…!”

I was dumbfounded… I gave him and the police officer who was hovering close by, the longest look I had ever given anybody… My emotions had ridden a roller coaster of note over the last four hours, and I felt a weight on my shoulders similar to that which I got after ten hours in the saddle, on a hot day… For a minute I thought I was going to throw up… The anxiety that I had been bottling up while these idiots gave me hope one minute and then dashed it all the next, had been quite an ordeal… I had wasted three hours of daylight while they cocked about, and would now have to ride into Cairo in the dark… I was not a happy puppy… Realizing that I might have to deal with these same people in a week’s time, made me bite my lip… I reminded myself of what Sam had said in Aswan… “When incompetence and stupidity meet, disaster is the result”…

I called Anette in Cairo, to advise her of my predicament, and confirm that I was heading back to Cairo. The Libyans had not bothered to reply to any of my emails, and waiting in Alexandria among Egyptians was not an option that I was about to consider… Rather get back to Cairo, where I could speak English, be understood, and spend some quiet time getting over yet another disappointing episode of dealing with Egyptian Officialdom…

To complete my unhappy day, I discovered that my GPS was not charging on the bike, and refused to light up when I pressed the “on” button! I would have to ride to Cairo without the assistance of the Garmin Girl… Getting out of Alexandria was an ordeal in itself, and after nearly an hour of fruitless searching, I finally saw a sign that said “Cairo 200km” and swooped onto the highway that led through the delta and down to the capital… This was not the same highway that I had ridden to Alexandria on, and I knew that I would have yet another ordeal making my way through Cairo without a GPS to help me… I had two hours of daylight left, as the sun set just after 8.00pm, and with this in mind, I rode as hard as I could…

How's this for a load of Loofahs !! Despite the difficult day I was having, I still found time to take an interest in my surroundings...!!

This Western Delta Highway is the main artery for goods imported into Egypt, and destined for Cairo… I passed hundreds of trucks, loaded with timber, massive rolls of paper, shipping containers and various types of machinery, all southbound, and jostling with each other to get to Cairo before dark… The huge bursts of acceleration from the Big Fella allowed me to weave through it all, and for a change, I had Egyptian drivers hooting at me, instead of the other way around… Whether they were hooting in consternation, or appreciation at some of the moves I pulled to get past them, I wasn’t sure, but I do know that on a number of occasions I took chances that I would normally not have taken…

I arrived in Cairo just before 8.00pm… The sun was sinking into the Western Desert as I tried to find my way onto the ring road that circled the capital… With very few signs in English, I was soon well and truly lost… Once the sun had gone down, my sense of direction deserted me. I could no longer make out the tall buildings or other landmarks that I would normally navigate by… I crossed the Nile half a dozen times, trying to find my way out of the maze of streets, alleys and other roads I found myself on… I stopped to ask directions so many times, that I lost count… People either did not understand where I was trying to get to, or just gave me the usual “No Englees!”… I tried asking various taxi drivers to take me to the ring road, but they turned me down every time…

Two and a half hours later, having ridden over 80 kms through the streets of the city, I finally found myself on the correct highway, but traveling north, up the western side of Cairo, instead of the eastern side… I soldiered on, knowing that eventually the damn thing would turn east and then south again, and I would find my way to New Cairo… After another short, but unintentional detour through Nasr City, I finally turned into the Steven’s driveway… Anette had waited up for me, and had been making a few unanswered calls to my mobile, wondering if I wasn’t “lying in some ditch somewhere…” A plate of lasagna and a few Fanta Apples’  later had me feeling a lot better than I had the entire day…

Red-eyed and knackered... Back in Cairo, evidence of a sweaty ride etched on my t-shirt...

I trudged wearily upstairs, knackered from the topsy-turvy day I had experienced… A cold shower got rid of the dust and diesel that coated my face, and I lay awake for a while, musing about the present circumstances I found myself in, and wondering what I should do next…

Sleep overtook me before any concrete answers could work their way into my befuddled mind…

©GBWT 2010