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Long time no see... and now all you will see is the beauty of the sea that I was honored to see last weekend... oh what a joy... Especially with the two lovely ladies Claudia and Tineeee... Look at all the lovely fishies and I even met NEMO.

The location of this lovely rencontre is called Marsa Alam by the Red Sea which lies in the south of Egypt. Check it out under corayadivers.com (not that i dived ;o)

How to reduce the taxi price in Cairo

Ya habibi, I'm local!

Even for a fairly seasoned ex-pat Cairene, cabs can be a major rip-off in Cairo and therefore, CROQ. MAG is willing to give away some highly confidential "codes" to help you pay the "local" foreigner's price.

You regularly get hustled for 7-10 LE for a ride from Zamalek to Downtown.
Here's what you do to take it down to just 4 or 5:
- Discard the bottle of Baraka water prior to hailing the cab (minus 1 LE).
- Don't carry a fancy backpack, or any bakcpack for that matter (minus 50 piastres).
- Yell "Tax!" (and not taxi) while firmly shaking your hand towards the direction you are heading (minus 1 LE).
- Greet the driver with a "Samu-aleikum"(minus 50 piastres, with a further 50 piastres reduction if you perfect a deep manly voice).
- When giving directions: 'yemeen insha allah / shamel insha allah (minus 1 LE).
- When paying, throw the driver a bundled-up pile of dirty notes (minus 50 piastres).

Remember not to overdo it! Don't try to sound "local" because you're NOT and a "Ya habibi" will not only make you sound lame, but will add 5 LE to the ride.

Rocky & my driving licence

Coming back from Germany didnt only mean coming back into a cold and more or less empty appartment but also coming back to my new companion, Rocky. After doing minor beauty opperations and repearing the front tire, rocky took me and Carsten (friend from Germany who came over for two weeks) to Alex. It was actually quite a nice ride. We drove up to Alex, had a nice walk along the "beach", ate lovely fish (yam yam) and then decided to go back to Cairo. Well driving in the dark with these maniacs around aint that easy. Once back in cairo, I really did collapse. All i thought of in the car was why dont they stick to basic street rules??? It would be so much easier if they would only overtake from one side and not two at the same. Even when driving far right on the road, the other cars find another way to drive past you on the right... Oh well... we arrived okay...

Well I asked all way how they (the Egyptians) get their driving licence. This question got answered. Last tuesday I was accompanied to the licence department in order to apply for an egyptian driving licence (which i need in order to get correct number plates). We (Tobias and a GTZ consultant for these issues) drove with rocky to this place. It was like a big square with bungaloes around. We went in and waited. Our consultant went back and forth, money went back and forth and finally my pic got taken and we are directed outside. What now... I am asked to bring Rocky... I look into the area they show us - what do i see... A big square with some lines, curves, parking lot, how big would it have been? 50m2???
My task: Drive around the square in order to get your license. Yihaaaaa... And so I did... all i hear then is a mabrouk - here is your driving licence!!! Wow that was easy, 2 minutes driving in a square in second gear... and thats it...

YOu see this is the answer to my question... the driving licence is haded out against money... thats it. And I have one too...