Extending Our Network

It has been seven years since we first installed our DSL modem to provide internet access in the apartment.  But our telephone company modem can't push the signal through the three brick walls between the modem and into our two back bedrooms.  It was time to look into a WIFI extender such as we have used back home. It will be nice to provide internet for our guests in the privacy of their own room.

This meant a fun shopping trip to a nearby "electronics mall." 

As usual, Roshdy knows the best place.

Frequently, "getting there" in Egypt is just as interesting as the destination.  The electronics mall we were headed for is located on Al-Arish Street, just on the other side of Pyramids Road (Pyramids Road is called Al Haram. Al-Arish is marked with the red line on the map.)

But Pyramids Road is currently closed in this area since the metro subway is being extended from downtown all the way beyond the pyramids and Grand Egyptian Museum into the suburb of 6th October.  It previously ran only about a third of the way out to the pyramids - just out to Giza Square and Cairo University.   Of course, this is a big project - five years and 9 billion Egyptian pounds according to this article.  As a practical matter, this means that sections of Pyramids Road are closed temporarily while the digging and construction goes on.

When not occupied by heavy Cairo traffic, Pyramids Road is a beautiful boulevard lined with palm trees.  This photo shows the current view from the east end of the construction zone.

We parked near Pyramids Road and walked several blocks around the blue construction barriers which provided a chance for a close-up look at the work.  Petrojet, an Egyptian company, appears to be the lead contractor on the project in this area.  According to their website and project list, they are a large (35,000 employees) and very experienced piping and drilling contractor which seems like a good fit for the job.  Let's hope it only takes the planned five years.

  

  

 

When we got to the other side of the road, walking along the sidewalks that we shared with motorcycles and an occasional tuk-tuk, we arrived at Al-Arish Street.  With Pyramids Road blocked, there were even more than the usual array of street vendors on Al-Arish, selling clothes and miscellaneous goods as cars moved slowly along the street.  The electronics mall is just off Pyramids Road before the Metro supermarket where we occasionally shop.  I was surprised that I had not noticed it previously.

 

We walked into the "Hyper Tech Mall" and headed toward a small shop on the first floor.

 

The owner had no problem coming up with a D-link extender for me. 

 

I also was interested in a small UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) to keep the modem powered up during our frequent power outages - if it was available at a reasonable price.  They had just the item, a low voltage mini-UPS for about seven dollars.  I don't believe I have seen such a small UPS at home, to say nothing of such an inexpensive one.

I installed the D-link extender which works perfectly, forwarding our network connection.  It turns out that I had neglected to note that our TE-Data modem is powered with 12 volts and I purchased a 9 volt UPS.  We will have to check out the store's return policy and see about getting a 12 volt model.  The carton shows models available in 5, 9 and 12 volts with capacities of either 1 or 2 amps.  A very nice product if it works.

Update, 2/8/2023:  Our vendor at the electronics mall on Al-Arish was happy to take back the 9-volt UPS and try to find us a 12 volt model, but came up empty.  He refunded the full price and took back the unit.  We located a 12 volt model downtown where it cost just about three times the price of the Al-Arish unit.  The new unit looks identical in appearance and both come from China, of course.

I suppose the rent is much higher in a downtown mall than out here on Al-Arish street.  The new unit cost me about $18 which isn't too bad.  It works fine, and has been powering the DSL modem for about a day now.  I've pulled the plug on it and the modem keeps on running so I am optimistic that we will still have Internet the next time the power goes off.

 

 

Pizza Tonight

Linda was about to start dinner tonight when she discovered that we had no running water.  Unable to wash her hands, her chicken plans had to be put on hold.  Was the water issue short-term or long-term?

This year the electricity has only been off for a few minutes at a time - probably only a half dozen occurrences in our first three weeks.  The water has been off just a couple of times. A friend has asked us how often the electricity is not working in our Bloomington house. Our answer was maybe a couple times in five years.  He also asked about lack of water. The answer to that was a definite "Never!"

I tried getting in contact with Muhammad, who heads up our HOA and is usually on top of all issues that come up and also Islam, our new bawab, (more on that development in a later post).  Islam sleeps in the pump room so should also know what is happening.  The pump is running but doesn't seem to be filling the tank on the roof.  This looks like it might take a while to resolve.

Linda decided it was a pizza night.

We have a fine Egyptian Pizzeria/Feteer shop not far down the block.

This building has everything we had hoped would develop around our apartment building.  A nice looking front door, a pizzeria on one one side and a green-grocer and convenience store on the other side.

We walked down and ordered a large pizza with chicken, peppers, onion, olives and some "spicy."  The owner offered us a couple of chairs while we waited for the preparation and baking.  The cost came to 90 Egyptian pounds, about $3.

Of course, it came with "pickles" and ketchup, almost all take-away food does.The pickles include pickled carrots, rutabaga, potato chunks, cauliflower and a few olives.

 

Pizza here is usually pretty light on the tomato sauce, but fortunately we had a jar of McSauce in our pantry cupboard just waiting for such an opportunity.  The sauce made a good addition and we had a very nice dinner and will enjoy it again tomorrow for breakfast or lunch.

 

 

It turns out that the water outage ended around 8:30 pm after about four and a half hours so that wasn't bad by Cairo standards.  I have not yet heard of the precise problem.

 

 

 

 

A Restaurant Review - Zahrat Lebnan at the City Center Mall

 We go shopping across town in Maadi at the City Center Mall every three or four weeks.  In the past, we usually planned our outing so that we could start with lunch at Chilis, one of the anchors of the mall.  Two years ago, we were disappointed to see that Chilis had closed, probably another restaurant done in by the Covid crisis.

This year, on our first visit, we saw that the Chilis space had been filled by a Lebanese restaurant, "Zahrat Lebnan."  We decided to give it a try.

They have an extensive menu of middle eastern meals.  I looked over the selection of Shawarma plates and sandwiches and selected the Mexican Shawarma Platter.  I've never encountered that before.  Linda picked out a more traditional kofta with tahina.

 

We each ordered a fresh-squeezed lemonade and I started with a bowl of lentil soup.  These last two items are something we look forward to in many restaurants here.

The soup was outstanding, perhaps the best I've ever eaten.  The lemonade was very good.

The entrees arrived along with three portions of delicious Lebanese "puffy bread," hot out of the oven. Oh, was that good!

 

The Mexican shawarma portion was generous and well presented.  Linda would have preferred a bit less tahina on her Kofta but otherwise agreed with the quality. You can't even see the meat for the sauce. There really are 4 skewers of meat under there. Tasty but overwhelming.

 

Overall we would give Zahrat five out of five stars and look forward to a return visit.

The total price was under $20 - high by Egyptian standards but a bargain by home standard.

 Somehow, I neglected to take a picture of the restaurant but will do so on our next trip and update this post then.

Seeking Sausage Substitutes

I confess to being a creature of habit.  Breakfast, to me, means sausage, fried eggs and potatoes.  For forty years or so, my go-to sausage at home was Hormel Little Sizzlers - until they were discontinued in 2019.  After testing out Jimmy Dean and Bob Evans as substitutes, I finally settled on Swaggerty pork sausage patties as my regular brand.

For breakfast here in Cairo, that presents a problem.  Not with the Hormel or Swaggerty brands but with pork.

For three months of the year while we are in Egypt, I buy a local beef kofta intended for kabobs as my breakfast meat.  Spiced up appropriately, it makes a passable substitute.  In the past, I bought the kofta at Ragab Sons, a medium-sized supermarket just a quarter-mile up the street.  They even had beef bacon for the bacon lovers.  But Ragab Sons has fallen on hard times.  Our first visit to the store this year dismayed us with empty shelves except for a small section of canned goods and cooking oil.

We set out on a search last Friday for a market bigger than the small convenience stores that are very nearby but not as distant as the real supermarkets like Spinneys and Carrefour.

Not far past our often visited SmartMart vegetable market, we found this shop.  The signs above the doors looked promising.

 

The freezer section had multiple brands of kofta including this one which I have purchased before.

 

 

The packaging shows that the manufacturer, Halwani Brothers, is located in nearby 10th of Ramadan City - recall that I photographed that town on the flight into Cairo airport.

  

I'm not sure what the preparation instructions say, but I suspect it is more or less, "heat it however you can - but be sure to keep it frozen until then."  (-18C is approximately zero F)

 

This little market is equipped with a barcode scanner to help with the checkout.  Only a few of the small markets have these.  For barcode fans, note that the package is labeled with the 13 digit European Article Number (EAN) rather than the 12 digit UPC familiar at home.

The store appears to be a keeper as it was tidy, well-stocked for its size, the staff were very pleasant, and the cooler appears to keep frozen stuff frozen, I hope.

Getting Around Town

 We are frequently asked whether we have a car in Cairo.  No!  Traffic is insane, parking is impossible and you can't find a car without scrapes and dents on it, no matter how new.  We have historically used the Cairo taxis; see for example, this post from thirteen years ago.

But taxis are rapidly disappearing from the streets being replaced by Uber drivers.  The Ubers are usually larger cars, such as a Chinese Geely or BYD, and much cleaner than the typical taxi.  There are always Ubers passing nearby.

Last night we took an Uber to a friend's home near the Pyramids.  It is only about two miles as the crow flies, but navigating here is much like traversing a maze.  Our driver completed the route in about twenty minutes.

 

The cost was 29 Egyptian pounds, just about one U.S. dollar.  

How does an Uber driver make money?  This fare would only buy three liters of gasoline.

Well, he is also a real estate salesman specializing in properties along the Mediterranean Coast.  Perhaps he counts on making some contacts in the car.  His English was perfect.

On the previous day, we took an Uber to City Centre Mall in Maadi, about ten miles away.  The fare was 69 EGP, about $2.35  

I tipped both drivers generously.

 

 

It's that time again.

 The cookie lady is in Cairo again and it's time to begin baking.

There are some people here who think that "cookie" means chocolate chip ONLY. When I make a different variety they are disappointed and ask, "Where are the cookies?"

There will probably be a lot of disappointment this year because I only brought one bag of chocolate chips and have been to three supermarkets but have not found a single bag of them. Oh, no!

Who will be the lucky ones to receive a batch of "Cookies" this year?

Out for a Walk

I hadn't noticed that our neighborhood in the Southwestern corner of the Cairo metropolitan area had a name until a couple of days ago when a blog reader asked what city she should put into her weather app to follow the temperature here.  Glancing at my own phone, I saw that we reside in  the Al Haraneyah District of Giza, Egypt.  It's a nice compact area just outside the Ring Road that surrounds the city. 

Plug that into your weather app and you can follow the temps here, too.

Yesterday, we walked up to our favorite bakery, about a half mile from home.  I paused to take a picture of Hekma Barbecue restaurant, named for Al Hekma Street where it stands at the northern end of the district.

 

 

At first, I didn't notice Hamada, the owner and our friend, standing nearby.  He immediately came over to welcome us back to Egypt.

 

After giving me a hard time about still not learning much Arabic, he posed for a picture with me.

The overall picture of the area shows some interesting details.  A lantern, for the soon-to-arrive fasting month of Ramadan, is already hanging high above the street.  A dentist's office sign is visible above Hamada's restaurant and a new shwerma restaurant has opened across the street with chicken roasting on a vertical barbecue rotisserie.  We will have to go back and try that our for lunch.

 

Another question we have been asked is "what fruits and vegetables are available currently?"  On the corner of Al Hekma Street there is a market with most of the fare.  Click on the photo and judge for yourself.  We were surprised to see the watermelons already out. In the past, they have not arrived for sale until a week before our departure at the end of March.

 

Strawberries are still available.  No garlic appears to have arrived - that usually shows up at the end of March along with the watermelons.  Prices are definitely higher this year.  Most of those signs read 6.50 EGP per kilo, versus 4 or 5 EGP last year.  But 6.50 equates to about 25 cents for us; so, still quite a bargain.

 

  

Annual Gasoline Price Post - 2023

We pulled in at a gasoline station near the pet food store the other night to fill up with gas.  This year the price is up a bit to 9.25 Egyptian pounds per liter versus 8.50 EGP last year, a mild  9% increase.  There are many conversations here about inflation, citing  prices doubling such as eggs at 4 EGP each now versus 2 EGP a couple of years back.

The more startling change is at the bank or ATM where a dollar now buys almost 30 EGP versus 18 just a year ago.  I almost don't know quite what to plug into my calculation for the exchange of EGP per dollar, since the pound has fallen twice against the dollar since the first of the new year.  

 

 

 

If we go by the current rate, the equivalent U.S. price of gas is a remarkably low $1.19 per gallon.  Egypt is fortunate to have a healthy oil industry of its own and has been on track to achieve self-sufficiency this year.  This station on Mansourea Street has a large clientele of tuk-tuk drivers and motorcyclists buying the 80 octane product which is a bit cheaper, but I always base my comparisons on the 92 octane juice.

 

Here are some historic gas prices for as long as I have been keeping track. (Pound and dollar equivalency)

	EGP	US $
Year	per liter	per gallon
2007	1.50	1.04
2011	1.42	0.93
2013	1.85	1.04
2014	1.85	1.01
2016	2.60	1.26
2017	3.50	0.74
2018	5.00	1.11
2019	6.75	1.46
2020	7.75	1.83
2021	COVID	COVID
2022	8.50	2.05
2023	9.25	1.19

Shopping Day

By Thursday, we were caught up on sleep and ready to do some serious shopping.  We headed over to the nearby Dandy Mall, home of a very large Carrefour hypermarket.

The newly completed extension of the Ring Road to the west now provides easy access to towns such as Fayoum and also a convenient route to the 6 October suburb where Dandy Mall is found.  

This was a great day for travel as the air was clear and there were puffy Cumulus clouds that cast patterns of light and dark on the pyramids.  We should probably have canceled the shopping and just gone out on a photography sojourn.

As we passed over Mansourea road, the two larger Giza pyramids stood out in dark profile.

 

At a sign marking the turnoff to Fayoum, we noticed a direction sign for the as-yet-to-open Grand Egyptian Museum.  While the opening has been projected as imminent since at least 2018, I suspect that this signage and other indications point to a possible opening "soon."

 

Nearing the Dandy Mall, we noted the attractive new settlement of Mountain View, not far from the community of Beverly Hills, another Giza suburb.

 

 

Dandy Mall offers a number of fast-food outlets, some quite familiar, in addition to Carrefour and other retail stores.

Carrefour celebrates their anniversary in Egypt each January and this year is special since it is the 20th anniversary.  Large screen televisions were flying off the shelves with the Pluto 43-inch priced at about $200 and a 65-inch Toshiba offered for $400.  That one barely fits into a shopping cart.

  

 

We have read that eggs are in short supply in some states back home - and quite expensive to boot.  They are plentiful here, but there is much discussion of price since last year's egg was selling for 2 pounds (Egyptian) and prices now are almost 4 pounds apiece at the local stores.  Carrefour was offering cartons of thirty for barely more than 3 pounds each.

After packing up a cart-full of groceries, we left for home by way of Mansourea road where we stopped at one the stores specializing in pet food and veterinary supplies for cats, dogs and horses.  Unsure of which brand of cat food to choose for our apartment building cats, we chose the brand that the local area cat chose - after all, ours are of similar color.