mansoura at night.

It has been quite a while since my last update.

How about , for a change we take a nice stroll around Mansoura at night?

The Nile River is the source of life for the Egyptians. Always has been for several past millenia and I suspect will continue to be till the end of time. Here it is at night. The Nile will diverge into two Rosetta and Damietta.

One day I'm planning on doing an entry on Damietta. It is a very nice place. I always show this picture to my relatives whenever they asked me what is so unique in Egypt that you can't find elsewhere. I'd say never once had people not go woah when they see the picture. Go on, click on the link.

On the other side, is a place called Talha. I've only been there once, to buy crystals as souveneirs for my family. They say that Talha has a very high percentage of drug addicts. The boat costs 25 cents for a ride the last time I checked. Don't know how much it costs now though.

But times are hard for the Egyptians. Prices have gone up, their currencies are down, inflation starting to kick in in full gear - the transition hasn't been kind so far.

Wacky Egyptians.

The main road in front of the university. The orangish yellow lights creeping from every corner makes for a very monotone hue along the streets. This picture is inspired by Trading Yesterday's second album cover which is my favourite album of all time. A shame that the group broke up before they even got a chance to go mainstream.

Here is KFF. Pizza Hut directly above it. Next to Pizza Hut is a restaurant named Chicken Tikka, which is famous for its roasted chicken and pigeon. Jimmy, a housemate of mine can't recommend the place enough.

Next to KFC is an electronic store, Radioshack - one of the few rare shops that I regularly visit.

Tipping or "baksheesh to the Egyptians, is somewhat of a practice that is quite strange to us Malaysians. Simply because to give a tip is not a part of our Malaysian culture. The wages for the lower tiered workers are so low and pityful that they cannot survive on it alone.

So remember to give a genih or 2 to those pizza deliverers next time. They money will be well appreciated.

Across the road, which is almost always busy especially during noon are two hospitals next to each other. The Specialised Medical Hospital is one.

Next to it is the Ophthalmic Centre, currently my place-to-be during the day.

Egypt can be a major player in health tourism, especially the eye if they play their cards right. Why? Because LASIK or laser eye surgery costs a mere 2500 EGP here. That roughly translates to 1200 Malaysian ringgit. Unbelievably cheap.

And of course it is safe, the accolades of the doctors here speaks for itself. Harvard graduates, Oxford graduates etc, we have them all.

Spring had just celebrated its Spring Festival. The tradition here is to eat salted fish and to go out into open spaces for a picnic, to smell and feel the air of spring.

Somewhere else, away from the busy streets I took a taxi to a place more intimate.

Even with no roof or space, they find a way to open up a garage. A few metres after this, an elderly woman is selling roasted corn for a mere 2 EGP and a few metres after that, a middle aged man is selling cigarettes to make a living. I could go on and on with this, there are small businesses everywhere.

The sad thing is, the cannot be making more than a few hundred genihs a month with these.

As always the kids love to smile to the camera. They love playing football too in the streets. Slippers are put as goalposts and everytime a car passes through, they would stop for a second to give way and resume again. It was funny seeing the scene because the road is a busy one and they would stop and resume, stop and resume over and over again.

This picture is a bit goofy. I love it.

Lots of spice shop.

Last year this road is no more than a back alley. However nowadays activities picked up and more and more shops are opening up. And cars are passing through without stop over this thin road.

There's the taxi.

We went out for dinner the other day. To a restaurant named El-Enani, known for its servings of lambs. The place is quite well known that just saying Mat'am El-Enani to taxi drivers should ring a bell to them. If not then try to stop another taxi.

One thing that I noticed over the years is that when riding a taxi, the talkative and friendly drivers are the ones that will ultimately charge you more. There are exceptions to the rule of course.

We were charged 4 EGP.

Here's the place. 2 Stories tall.

Grilled kebabs and koftahs, skewered and grilled on the spot. Koftah is basically meatballs made out of minced beef with garlic and an assortment of spices. I'm not too fond of them personally.

A typical design for a middle class restaurant here. Be it a Kosyari shop, a bakery, a sweet shop etc - this is unquestionably their identity.

Don't expect an overly comfortable place like El-Dente, Cappucino or Spectra or Green Corner. It is what it is.

I snuck a picture of the kitchen. It looks clean and well managed. No concern here.

We chose to sit on the second floor. All of us ordered the same thing, a plate of rice and lamb. It costs 45.00 EGP a plate if I'm not mistaken. For sure it is not more than fifty.

Two elderly man behind me were enjoying their koftahs whilst we wait for our order.

It took us quite a while for the foods to be prepared. The salads and sauces were delivered first. A plastic of bread was put on the table and we feasted on it, along with the salads.