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When I woke up, it was already 11 o’clock Egypt time, 6 hours behind China and 2 hours ahead of UK.  All passengers holding Chinese passports were asked to stay for special check. We were told to wait 5 minutes, but it took more than an hour before we were let go. Questions asked include: is this the first time in Egypt? What job do you do? How long do you stay in Egypt? It was not out of expectation that we received this special check as it was already told by many Chinese tourists online, but still it was annoying.

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The scene from the window is interesting and strange. Not far away is the Nile river. It’s not wide and the water is not blue. The tall tower on the other bank is very attractive.  It looks like a tower used by television station, but the staff of ISIS hotel tells me it’s Cairo tower. Tourists can go to the top and have an all-round view of Cairo. But it is expensive too—750 Egyptian pounds (800 RMB yuan). The staff tells me: you have a better view from our hotel window and you don’t have to pay.

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Egyptians are humorous and friendly (while there are bad guys as well). And he is right about the view from the window. Right in front of me, behind a few grand-looking buildings (guess most are hotels like Hilton), are much lower, crowded and dusty resident buildings. It reminds me of the scene in the movie: The Kite Runner. This gives me the strange feeling of Cairo—the mixture of luxurious hotels and shabby resident buildings.  At night, I wasn’t able to tell the difference. Night hides the ugliness of the buildings in dark and lights ad posters of the grand pyramids along the high-speed road and high buildings presents Cairo as a big and busy tourism city. Many cars are traveling on the road. But some are in very poor conditions and some are good. No matter the conditions is good or not, all run very quickly, competing each other in speed.

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I only take a short walk after my late breakfast. Friday is an important day for Muslims. Men gather at the corner or the middle of the street, sitting and praying on the blankets together. Broadcasting of the leading prayer is overheard everywhere. Shops are closed and there are not many people shopping. The goods in the shops are the cheap, colorful type resembling those I saw on the markets in small cities or towns in China. The only attractive commodities to me are blankets.  Feeling not interested and safe walking alone, I spend most of the day reading the novel I brought for this trip: Root. I want to find more about Africa.