Chaotic Cairo

I was a bit afraid to go to Cairo by myself. Leaving laid back and cool haven of Dahab for Cairo does take a great deal of courage as Cairo is infamous for its chaos, hustle and bustle and obscene gestures from creepy men. Luckily I met three guys working in Cairo for USAid and they were on their way to return to Cairo. I tagged along and took a ride with them. From Dahab to Cairo it's purely hot barren desert landscape along the way.
I stayed at Hotel Brothers located in the busy downtown. In the evening, I took my first walk in Cairo with two girls from the hostel. Cairo deserves the title of one of the most populous country in the world. In this over-capacity city, people manage to fit in well and still consider it a greatest city in Arab world. My first walk through downtown of Cairo wasn't quite pleasant. I was glad I did this with some companies. The street was even more crowded at night than during the day. Swarms of people were strolling through streets. People were standing in lines for ice cream, the sweets or freshly made juice. Side streets were lined up with numerous coffee shop where men hang out for Sheesha or tea. The benches between streets or in a square were occupied with families for some evening cool breeze. People are not dressed as conservatively as rest of Egypt or Jordan. Most of men are in normal two sets outfits except they don't wear shorts. Women wear hair dress to cover their hair and long sleeves to cover their limbs. Not many women wear the traditional black robe and veil. Life in Cairo is not easy. Overpopulation place enormous stress on infrastructure and the economy. An unemployment is officially recorded as being 10%. But by my observation, the figure is way higher than that. During my stay in Cairo (I was in and out Cairo three time before I eventually left Egypt), I deeply felt the stress and unrest. We had Kushari(a popular local street food made of rice and pasta noodle with tomato sauce)for dinner. Soon I got exhausted by the traffic, crowd, noise, heat, pushy restaurant touts and erratic stares. We went back to our hostel and later made a second trip for ice cream in late night. The streets were still as lively. Cairo doesn't sleep. And I found ice cream is the best remedy for the city pain. No wonder there's always long lines in front of the ice cream stall.