Cairo, Egypt: Nightmare or Dream City? | Crazy Traffic, Extreme Poverty & Dust

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Cairo, the capital of Egypt, a country with a rich history. When you come here you can't believe the ancient pyramids are somewhere nearby. There are abandoned architectural monuments among traffic chaos and piles of trash here and skyscrapers looking like one another next to huge street markets. I went to Cairo last year. I was guided in the city by a girl named Olga who had stayed to lived here. Here is Olga waiting for us. — Hi! — Hey! I'm Olga, this is Hamza. — Olga and Hamza. — Yes. — I'm Vadim. — Nice to meet you. Olga decided to show me what I could love Cairo for. Now you'll see if she succeeded. But before we start, I'd like to ask you to subscribe to my channel. Soon I'll post a video from Portugal, a former great empire, that went through a devastating earthquake, dictatorship and massive heroin addiction. Life here is absolutely amazing, guys! It's dirty, noisy, dusty, crowded... Cars parked all over the place. Nevertheless, the overall vibe here is amazing. So, I wouldn't say one can fall in love with Cairo. At least me. I have been here several times, but still can't fall in love with Cairo. Olga, on the other hand, is in love with Cairo. I wonder how she could fall in love with a city like this. To see non-touristy Cairo, we've decided to go to the neighbourhood of cheap housing, that many students choose for accommodation. — There used to be a dedicated bus lane in the middle of this street, you know, like in Istanbul. it was really convenient, because you can easily get to places going down this street. But they removed the bus, built a bridge, widened the road. So, this is what it looks like now. Now everyone is stuck in traffic jams. Traffic here is a different kind of torture. In terms of traffic jams, Cairo is considered one of the busiest cities in the world, although it only ranks 41st in TomTom's 2021 traffic intensity ranking, well behind Paris, Jerusalem, Tokyo and New Delhi. — A question! How safe are the roads here? — Look, it depends on how safe you drive, how carefully you drive, how attentive you are about other road users. Because, actually, there are no traffic rules here. So you just drive as you have to, I'll tell you more. I am about to get my license. I'll tell you more. I am about to get my license. And to get license you have to prove that you are educated. So, you need a certificate that you can read and write. — That's all you need? — Well, yeah, basically it is. A certificate of education and 100 pounds. That's it. You come to the station, pay 100 pounds, they ask you: "Do you know how to drive?" You say: "Yes". And he's like: "Okay, great." and signs your papers. So, we are in a poor neighbourhood. — This is where subway construction workers used to live. — Pyramid builders, basically. The new ones. — Around 60 years ago, when they started developing the subway, they would accommodate builders here, so it was supposed to be temporary housing. But as time passed, people settled down here. By the way, a lot of houses here are rented under the so-called Old Rent law. It's like when you signed a rental contract a thousand years ago at the price of 5 pounds, and you still can't terminate it. — Just like in New York. — So you still pay 5 pounds for your rent. And your kids can rent this apartment as well. I mean you can pass the contract to your children. But the houses aren't in the best condition. — All houses here are built like this: there's a reinforced concrete structure and it is lined with bricks. In Cairo there are a lot of houses with utility systems outside the building. That's because there was no running water or sewerage in the houses of the past. That's why when civilisation arrived here, they started adding facilities on the walls of buildings. People got used to doing it this way. So, now even in new houses, they often don't hide pipes in the walls. It looks strange, but on the other hand, maintenance is cheaper. — So, this is some street food? — Yes. — Fruits look great. And these carrots... — These carrots are perfect! And all this stuff is very cheap. — Kids are also nice. The ones playing over there. Hello, kids! Building design in Cairo is compact for a following reason: It's really costly and time-consuming to beautify the area, to plant all these trees, etc. That's why once it's done in a neighbourhood, they are trying to put as many buildings there, as possible. Because Cairo is basically a desert, All the greens are in the Nile delta, everything else is a desert. And it's really hard to beautify a desert, you know. That's why they put as much housing as they can. What is more, a lot of people add "illegal floors" above the roof. A lot of tourists ask: "Why is there roof reinforcement sticking out?" And tour guides tend to say: "That's because they pay less taxes if their house is unfinished". That's not the case. In fact, they leave the construction there to fill it with concrete, and build another floor on top of it. So, this is what happens here. That's why rebars are sticking out. It has nothing to do with taxes. Because you pay tax just once - when purchasing the apartment. Both for land and for the house. — Look! What are they doing? — So, she puts some cash in a basket, lowers it down. Then he takes the money, put groceries in the basket and she lifts it up. That's food delivery. Houses like this don't have an elevator, it's difficult to go all the way down and then up. So, this is the solution they came up with. Besides trash cans and parkings, there're also billiard tables in the yard here. That is unexpected... billiard tables among all this trash and all these cars. Look how everything is ... broken here, how untidy. And then suddenly billiard tables. That must be the influence of the British. — It's a pity we didn't take cues. By the way, if you like this video, share it on Reddit! This helps my channel to grow. Great! — Recently, the government has hired a private company to clean the streets. They got a huge grant. Of course, they embezzled the grant. And for a while they were actually cleaning the streets. — But it didn't last long? – They put metal bins that were all stolen - because they were metal - and yeah, it all came to an end. So, now you'll rarely see public services cleaning the streets here. They are underpaid. And, although they work for the government, there's still the private contractor, who doesn't provide pensions or any other benefits to them. So, they are not really motivated. And people who don't understand that life can be different, throw all this rubbish in the street and the streets look awful, like this. Unfortunately, this issue won't be resolved unless there are strict measures like huge fines for littering. And it should be done in a way that people can't get away with it. That's the only way. Once again, it is caused by poor education. People just don't see what's the problem here. Around 90% of locals have never been abroad, Around 90% of locals have never been abroad, of course they don't understand this is not normal. For them, it's something they are used to. That's the way they grew up, the way they were brought up, unfortunately. It's a city constantly stuck in a traffic jam, a city that makes you stressed, one can't relax here. You can't just enjoy yourself here, because people give you looks, they are annoyed by your camera, annoyed by you, cars are honking, cutting you, there are no sidewalks, there's dirt... I mean... I just feel constantly stressed here. You have to stay focused to survive. But some people love it! To each his own, I guess. This is a regular residential area of Cairo. ACs and pipes hanging outside the houses. Water pipes, sewerage and stuff like this. Cars parked all over the street. You can't go either way - there are cars everywhere. Here is what could be called a courtyard. But of course, it's not really a courtyard. It's packed, it's all packed. I asked Olga how she decided to move to Cairo and how life is here for women. — While we are in the car, tell me how... how are you here? — Well. I got married here. To him. My husband is half Mexican, half Egyptian. He was born in Mexico, He was born in Mexico, lived there for 16 or 17 years and then moved to Egypt. Cause his father is from Egypt. And I am from Belarus. I studied in Poland for six years. I studied in Poland for six years. Because after the Jeans Revolution in 2006 I was expelled from the university. Then I went to Poland, studied at the Jagiellonian University there. Then I came back to Belarus - I was a bit nostalgic then, you know... In 2010, I went to jail for a day again. Yeah, I was very "lucky". And since in Poland, I converted to Islam, I found it difficult to be my true self in Belarus. So, I moved to Kyiv, lived there for 2 years, and then I met my husband, moved to Cairo and since 2015 I've been living here. It took me quite long to adapt to this place, because you see for yourself what kind of city it is, but then I went through all the stages: from depression and denial to absolute love. Now I LOVE Cairo, I love Egyptians. I will never move away from here. I feel so good here. First of all, I had children here. I also have another son. And Egyptian people love children. In general, Egyptian people are very kind and sweet. And when you start looking into the political and social issues here, you understand why the situation is like this here. All this corruption, these roads, dirty streets... In principle... people here are the victims of circumstances. Unfortunately. Here it doesn't matter what colour your skin is, what language you speak, how you behave, if you have an accent or no. My husband still has an accent in Arabic. — You are sitting in the front seat, unfastened, with a baby on your lap. This will probably raise questions. Especially that we are not somewhere in Germany, you know, we are in Cairo. And the roads are not so safe here. — No, actually I usually fasten seatbelts when I am in the front seat. And we never use car seats for children. — Why? — Look, I mainly get around in taxi. Because my husband is always at work and I don't have my driving license yet. And there are no taxis with baby seats in Cairo. Moreover, if you put your child in a baby seat, people will look at you like you're alien. Like "What is that?" — But... but you told me they love children here. — But... but you told me they love children here. — You know, it's more about Fate is given to one by Allah and Allah only. If your fate is to die, you'll die anyways... — It's all God's plan! I see. So, if you die - you die. — That's some flawed logic... but okay. It's shocking that in a city as big as Cairo they failed to create efficient system of public transport. There is subway here, but the network is not developed enough: just three lines for a city with the population of 10 million. Before 2014, there was a tram in Cairo, but it was "successfully" removed. Even earlier, in 1971, they got rid of a trolleybus. The only other transport you'll find here is vans with unexpected routes. People say you can survive here without a car, but it's really hard. — Public transport here is really at the bottom, it makes me cry, honestly. I tried taking buses here, but it didn't really work out. Cause you can be waiting for a bus for an hour and a half and it never arrives, so eventually you have to take a van. And vans are dangerous. It often happens that van drivers smoke hash. I'm not kidding. They do smoke hash at work. Once my husband and I were going to get our documents, Once my husband and I were going to get our documents, and the driver, together with a guy who collects money and invites people at the stops, they were discussing how they smoked so much hash the other night. Out loud, not embarrassed at all! — Olga, tell us how you eat with this... — I take this thing up, It goes up. Well, most women just lift it a bit and eat like this. But I wear niqab not for religious reasons, but just because I feel more comfortable like this in Cairo. This way I don't attract attention. — So, you are literally under cover. — Yes. Recently in Egypt there have been a lot of initiatives, including actual laws, that are aimed at protecting women's rights. For example, violence survivors who testify in court are guaranteed anonymity. You know, due to local culture, many women choose not to report violence, scared of public condemnation, etc. Now they are legally guaranteed anonymity. The domestic violence law has not yet been adopted, but there're lot of talks about it right now, also in the parliament. They want to adopt a law about domestic violence, meaning violence to a wife, to a daughter, I don't know, to a mother. Because the problem of domestic violence in Egypt is very serious. Although women's rights are protected by the law, at quite a good level. For example, in case of divorce, a woman who can hire a lawyer and go to court, can literally leave her ex-husband without his last pair of pants. Because of all the payments and so on. And, contrary to popular opinion that in Egypt kids stay with their father after divorce, they actually stay with their mother, until she remarries. When she remarries, children go to their father. Here they have this thing - "divorce initiated by wife, but due to husband's fault". So, if your husband mistreats you, you can report him and go to court, then they will let you divorce him. This is when wife asks for a divorce because she can't live with her husband anymore due to some issues with him. In this case, a man should not only pay her compensation for divorce,  but also compensation for moral damage. Up to 24,000 pounds a year for 8 years of living together. It adds up to quite a large sum. So, if a man divorces a woman who is angry at him, then he can actually be left without a penny. Like any other eastern city, you can't imagine Cairo without bazaars. Street trading is so dense here that sometimes whole quarters turn into one big bazaar. What's going on here? People are lining up. What are they lining up for? For bread! What a fancy market we have here! People are waiting to enter this bakery to get some bread. — They get it for free, it's subsidised. — This is subsidised bread? — Yes. And maybe it's better not to film them.. — Do you have turkeys? — Here you are... Wow! What an awesome cage! A cage full of chickens... Oh my God! They have rabbits there! Holy cow! — There are also pigeons here, cause we eat pigeons. Look here! Rabbits! — Listen, those are rabbits to eat, right? So, they'll be eaten today? — Probably.. Here we have rabbits, and here - pigeons. Why aren't they flying away? — They must be tamed, I think. They are raised for food. Pigeons, ducks and turkeys. You can buy them all in this courtyard. Look! They sell bunnies here. All these bunnies will be eaten. They are meat rabbits. Then there are pigeons, also to become food. And one more bunny hanging out with them. Here I became a victim of a street scam by a boy selling glasses. This dude was selling glasses, but it didn't go well. He tripped and broke all his glasses. He looks sad. — Should we... should we help him? Should we buy those glasses he broke? He must be the saddest person in Egypt now. But it turned out to have been staged! To con me out of 100 Egyptian pounds, that's around 7 dollars. So! Our kind hearts have just been scammed! So, this dude falls on purpose. He makes it seem like he broke his glasses. On purpose. He makes the saddest face in the world. And people give him their money. When these glasses actually cost nothing. — Were we tricked? — Well, we were tricked... But we paid him for a good performance. What a talented actor. For me to have a better impression of Cairo we went to the best neighbourhood of the city - Heliopolis. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century by Europeans, in particular by a company of Belgian entrepreneur Édouard Empain. Europeans brought with them wide avenues and trams, not common for the Arab East. The main outcome of their work was that Heliopolis got its own architectural style - the Heliopolis Style. This is basically a synthesis of Moorish and Persian Revival and European Neoclassical architecture styles. — This place is called Heliopolis. And this part is Korba. I don't know where this name comes from. But the district is called Heliopolis, which means 'Rising Sun', because it was supposed to accommodate the Egyptian and British elites. There should've been these villas and beautiful buildings with carved balconies here. But as time went on, there appeared more modern buildings, so now we have what we have. Let's take a look at the beautiful new Egyptian architecture. You can immediately see this is where heirs of the great culture live. Yes. And now they build crap like this. — It's really beautiful, I love walking around here. You get the city vibe here, Moreover, there are still some coffee shops here that have been preserved since the time when my father-in-law was a young man and would hang out here with his friends. All these places are still here. Most of them. It's true, there are a lot of historical buildings in this neighbourhood. And yes, they are messed up with all those ACs, annexes, outbuildings, all this junk. But you still enjoy walking next to this beauty, to all this history. It is still one of the best and most interesting areas in Cairo. This is the street cleaner. That's why it's so dirty here - instead of cleaning he is just sitting there reading newspaper. — Hello! It's all clear to me now. And this is the entrance? — Yes. — It looks simple. Yes, the architecture of Heliopolis is truly amazing. Everything is so fancy. I'd say Heliopolis is like the Beverly Hills of the beginning of the last century. It was a Belgian project, designed by French architects. And in those days, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was really a magical city, it used to be a suburb of Cairo - now it's part of the city, it used to be a suburb, people used to have running water, electricity, there were wide avenues here. And even a tram, Now there's no tram. And almost no magic... It's becoming less and less magical, because, you see, new things are being built... And historical buildings are in a poor condition, but the main thing that used to amaze and still amazes people is this extraordinary magical style. This is how Europeans used to think of an oriental fairy-tale 100 years ago. It's a mixture of Arab and Persian styles with something French. An amazing place! An amazing place that has been preserved until our time. Unfortunately, not in the exact condition that we would want to see it in. And no tram. They got rid of a tram. In Cairo almost nobody uses sidewalks, because sidewalks are like an endless assault course. So, people just walk on the road. Here's a dude collecting cans. I wonder how much you can earn by collecting cans. And it's quite common here to seize parking lots like this. Look, they put tires and things like this to take over a parking lot. And this... this is where parking attendants are sitting. — No, this is where 'bawab" is sitting. — That means 'parking attendant'? — No. Bawab works for this building, he is like a doorman. And he comes to work here. Yes, he can also be responsible for the parking, it will be extra money for him. — Is he like a street cleaner? — Yes, he cleans the common areas, he can do small chores for you also. — So, you can ask this guy to get you something from a shop? — I personally often ask my bawab to go print something for me. — I see. — So he goes to print it. And this is a squat. A true Cairo squat. We'll get a glance of it now. They are already angry at us. Hello! I can see some cats there. Hello! We are just walking around he, no need to worry. Can we enter this house? — She said it's not hers, so we actually can't. — So, people live in these tents here? — Yes. I'll tell you more: if there's a construction site here, especially in Tagamo, where they build a lot of new houses, and people construct temporary houses made of empty boxes or something. And they live there. It can be a family of 5 living in a shack like this. Moreover, some of them put their own wires on the existing ones, so they have flat screen TV where they live. And they can watch TV. They have washing machines. In the area where I live, in a foundation pit of a demolished house, there's a tent where people have TV, a washing machine and even a computer. — What a cool system to protect this electrical box! Oh no, it's made to prevent you from climbing over the fence! And look at this one! It's funny how the box is totally plundered. And here's this tunnel made of barbed wire. It's also funny that when you come out of the underpass, you still have to run across the road! That's because the underpass throws you into the middle of a road junction and the people are forced to run across the roads. And then there's this minibus driver inviting people for a ride. And then there's this minibus driver inviting people for a ride. This is the tram that used to run here. This monument is all that's left. — Recently I was at a supermarket near my house when a man came in with his son. The son had Down's syndrome. The shopkeeper was incredibly friendly with him, he initiated a conversation, hugged him, patted him on the shoulder... Their sincerity really inspires me, just like their hospitality. We will now take a subway to Cairo's largest district, where poor people live in old historical buildings. It's only on the way to your hotel, so quite nearby. *Ilya screaming Will he let us go? No he won't. This one will! No he won't, look at him. — They never let you cross the road! No matter whether you’re carrying a stroller or not — a woman will never give way to you! — Why? — I don’t know! — So if you'll be crossing the road with a stroller - will the car hit you? — Yes! I mean, it’s just not gonna stop. And I don’t understand why! No female solidarity whatsoever! — Oh, so only a woman will not give way to you, or anyone? — Only a woman. The men will give way to you, no problem. In the metro, I always sit in the men's section because I'm always given a seat there, every time! — Oh, there are men's and women’s sections in the subway! Let's go take a look! And we're going down to the subway! Here's the thing, guys. We’re now going down to a special strategic secret facility called a subway! Where filming is apparently forbidden. Let's see what they do to us! Olga says that it’ll be a nightmare, they won’t let us out of here! But oh well, let's see. Olga makes it sound really terrifying! In many countries, filming in the subway is prohibited, allegedly to prevent terrorism. Especially in the Eastern Muslim countries. Egypt is no exception. The subway here is quite boring to be honest. Reminds me of the Istanbul metro. Let’s see what the carriages look like. This is what the ticket is like! This is the train. — They don’t announce the stations here, only a sound signal. See, it says 'women's carriage'. — This is where the women's carriage stops. Cairo subway has separate carriages for women. Women and teenagers up to 18 years old can ride in women's carriages. In men's carriages anyone can ride! It’s called discrimination. After a ride in the Cairo subway, we returned to the city. — What is this? *speaking in Arabic — He says filming is not allowed. I asked him 'why?' and he said 'just because'. — But what is he selling? — He says 'I won't tell you what this is'. — Ok, fine! But they have an amazing staircase, look! — He says these are air fresheners. — Basically, the guy is selling something secret in those bottles. I think he's selling either oil or gasoline or some other liquid. It's definitely something inedible. It is starting to get incredibly beautiful here. Who would’ve thought that after half a day of walking around some fancy Who would’ve thought that after half a day of walking around some fancy districts, Olga will finally take me to a decent place. How wonderful, look! We have finally arrived to the real, breathtaking Cairo! We have finally arrived to the real, breathtaking Cairo! Finally, the famous narrow streets with aromas of coffee in the air! Or maybe not coffee... But definitely some very unusual scents! I'm trying to recall the oriental tales, where they burn... — Incenses! — Right, the burning of incense! — Hello! Look at these clothes drying outside! Wonderful, so nice! The old dark houses entrances. Someone parked a bike on the stairs. Wonderful! — Many people wonder Cairo is so grey. The reason is that it almost never rains here. There’s little rain but a lot of sand. Sandstorms happen 2-3 times every spring. Plus it's always dusty here. This is where the buildings got their brown colour from. Look at these beautiful streets. And here’s a flooding! Why is it all get flooded by the way? There are no gutters, so every little rain is always a disaster for Cairo. Everything gets flooded, school and kindergarten classes get canceled simply because you can’t go anywhere. Last year, we had such a big traffic jam that people were stuck in it until 3 am! How do you guys like this part of Cairo? What an incredible mix! Some carts with donkeys, cats, children, a guy selling hair brushes on his head! Some people are cycling! And all this mixed up on one street. Incredible! Let’s take a look at the urban environment! I guess this is supposed to be a bus stop. This is how you cross the road here. Random trash, because we’re in Cairo. These are public spaces. This is a sad guy. He's probably on drugs, maybe. Here we have the skin of a dead dog or sheep. And here’s a Mosque. Everything is close by. I hope the bus doesn't run over us! They sell delicious oranges right on the side of the road! Wow, they look amazing! The scent coming from the bakery is unbelievable, guys! If only you could smell it! An incredible concentration of all kinds of things in one place! My brain is going crazy because it’s not used to such a mix of emotions that you get here. So many different characters and scents, it's incredibly interesting! It's crucial to have the right attitude. I often hear from people that Egypt is so dirty and messy, they won’t go here, won’t go there... You gotta learn to see the good in this mess! You may be just casually walking by and then all of a sudden you see this ancient building in the middle of a mess! Look at this wonderful door leading downstairs. It's probably Aladdin's house! With all this decor and ancient details. With this thousand-year-old beam, on which cats now lie! And trash, of course! All of a sudden there's a workshop in the corner. Strange, rickety buildings. You look up and see beautiful balconies. Children are running! Wonderful. Hello children! Hello, hello! Hi! And now look at this incredible glamorous camel! The guy is making a hookah. Hello! Now that's something unique — a fence to prevent people from running across the road. running across the road. Oh, there used to be an overhead passage, which apparently led to the other side, judging by these ruins. It was either demolished or it collapsed on its own. And now people walk on the side of the road in confusion. Do we have to climb over the fence? Not so easy! It's quite a challenge to cross the road! — I'm not sure if you know, but Egypt is literally a state within a state. There's the military that practically runs the country because the new president is a military officer. There's a military budget that's not subject to any checks or audits. As a result, the military people live very prosperously. They have their own hospitals and even their own roads! In Alexandria there's a separate road for the military. Obviously it's of excellent quality, it's perfect! — Is there actually a separate road that only people from the military can use? — Yes. Moreover, our taxes are used to replenish the military budget, among other sources. For example, we're now on our way to Nasr City, where most of the land belongs to military people. As such, when you buy a flat in the building that's located on this land, the property tax that you pay will go to the military budget instead of the state budget. At the same time, there no social schemes, no child benefits, nothing of the kind. At the same time, there no social schemes, no child benefits, nothing of the kind. There are only food vouchers for the poorest, which let you get items such rice or milk. But there’s very little of that and it's not enough for the people. 40% of Egypt's population lives below poverty line. Some families, sometimes up to 10 people, live on $4 a day. This is how people without cars survive. The buses are on the right and a busy traffic on the left. And you've got to squeeze through the cars and people because there are no sidewalks whatsoever. Although I have to say they’re building a new embankment. But it’s closed at the moment so we can’t get there. The state of Cairo's public transport and traffic in general is just catastrophic. The state of Cairo's public transport and traffic in general is just catastrophic. There are not many cities in the world with traffic like this. It doesn’t make sense how such a large city can lack decent public transport, proper sidewalks or any other aspects of a developed urban environment. How do people live in this chaos of humming cars and the need to constantly survive? How do people live in this chaos of humming cars and the need to constantly survive? It's insane, really. If you don’t have a car in Cairo — you’ll struggle. But if you do have a car — it won’t be much easier! Because there are huge traffic jams. That happens because everyone is forced to buy a car. Also, people drive very badly here; many either don’t have driver's licenses or get them illegally, without any knowledge and exams. As a result, there’s this total chaos on the roads. By the way, the Nile doesn’t look so wide from here. However, it is only at this place, because here it branches into 2 rivers. In front of me is an island and behind that island is the second branch of the Nile. Look, there’s a reconstruction of the embarkment going on. Hopefully in couple of years there’s going to be a nice promenade along the Nile. For now it's all closed for construction. The saddest part is that it's unclear how to walk here now. There’s no alternative route and people are forced to walk on the main road. There’s no alternative route and people are forced to walk on the main road. The buses just stop in the middle of the bridge to drop people off. Look, it stops here and the people just get out on the road. The challenge now is to somehow cross the road. It’s not an easy task! ****! So how do I cross the road? Alright, let’s just start walking. I’m walking, carefully, and...done! Now from this side. Go, go,go! That’s it! And straight into the beauty of Cairo, if I can call it so. A market under the bridge! As you can see, you can buy absolutely anything here. Any kind of rags, food or livestock. This is where the street begins, right under the overpass. On this side are the last rays of the setting sun. And here, along the overpass, is a beautiful market! One of Cairo's biggest problems is that its government tried to solve the issue of traffic jams by building massive overpasses. As you can see, these overpasses are just a few metres away from people's windows! They reach the level of the 3rd or 4th floor, and that’s how it looks from above. Obviously, this didn’t solve the traffic issues, because the overpasses are now full of traffic jams. Actually, filming in Cairo is pretty manageable. You’re just not allowed to film the military, police and security forces in civilian clothes. Apart from that, the people are very friendly and react positively to the camera. If you're open and friendly, you'll get the same attitude in return. I'm amazed by how densely built up Cairo is. The windows are literally facing each other. Very overpopulated city! If you look at the rooftops you’ll see that many of them have pigeon houses. Pigeons are not only valuable here for their fur but also for their meat! People eat pigeons here on festive days and it's considered a delicacy! So if you come to Cairo, be sure to order a pigeon in a restaurant! Look at these magnificent views! Old Cairo and new Cairo. The old houses and narrow streets are slowly disappearing, making way for the skyscrapers and blurring the line between Cairo, Dubai or China, with their similar looking chain hotels. In my opinion, all these narrow streets are much more impressive than soulless glass skyscrapers. So here end the old quarter. And immediately we see the skyscrapers. After touring the city, we headed to the restaurant. There I was told about dish that supposedly increases potency! Olga, what can you tell me about pigeons? Pigeons are a traditional delicacy and it's believed that they improve male potency. Pigeons are a traditional delicacy and it's believed that they improve male potency. No clue why they assume so but oh well! — Let's ask Shadi! — Hi! — Do pigeons improve male potency? — Yes, it's true and they're very delicious! — How much is a pigeon? — To buy one? — Yes, for them to cook one. I see it's stuffed with something. — Yes, it’s stuffed with rice and seasoning, and oil-fried. They cost around $4 per pigeon. Guys, it's absolutely unbelievable! We're walking around minding our business and all of a sudden there’s a flock of sheep! Just look how amazing Cairo is! Only in Cairo can you be crossing a busy road and bump into a herd of sheep! I can’t believe it! I like the music here! Oh, they’re all yours, nice! The ram is stealing his lunch! Thanks to us, the rams can finally have a proper meal! Or are they sheep? No, they’re rams! Well, urban planning is not perfect here. No sidewalks, you just have to walk around the cars. The people are either walking on the road, driving on the road or selling on the road. The rams are here too. There's also a donkey! Very lively atmosphere! So this is the Cairo you love? — Actually yes! — Me too! I really liked this city. There are a lot of old buildings and picturesque markets here. Although it's a pity that architectural monuments, streets and road traffics are not as organised as they could be. If you liked my trip to Cairo, subscribe to the channel and give it a like! Also, share this video on Reddit so that more people can watch it!
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Channel: World to Go
Views: 26,578
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: documentary, travel, travel vlog, interview, discovery, journalism, citizen journalism, discover the world, varlamov, trip, vlog, how people live, documentaries, people, tourism, amazing country, free documentary, interesting facts, Cars, history, trash, Aladdin, Egypt, country, chaos, dust, subway, education, noise, vibe, metro, abandoned, elevator, city, desert, architecture, capital, traffic, delta, ancient egypt, traffic jam, urban, dirty, Cairo, pyramids, Nile, pyramids of egypt, corruption, poverty, tax, Pigeons, bazaar
Id: 1SfP0cf8l_k
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 40min 51sec (2451 seconds)
Published: Fri Jan 27 2023
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