Three months later, I often remember the afternoon that just arrived in Cairo, and a Jewish man was sitting in the back yard of the Egyptian opera house for coffee and the absurd conversation with him.
"There's such a poor man - we call him Chocolate Man (a chocolate man) - he has a daughter who brings him back with chocolate every day after work. But he was so poor that he had no money to buy. When his daughter asked her to do so, he decided to go to the store to steal it. He said.
At the scene of the theft, the Jews met Chocolate Man and saw him putting three pieces of chocolate into his bag. "He and I told me why he had to steal, and of course I sympathized with him, but stealing was wrong. So we argue. "
The quarrel attracted the boss, and the Jew was brainwashed to tell the boss that he was a magician. He would become a magician. If he got better, he would send him three chocolates. The boss agreed.
When the Jews were in the face of the boss, the three chocolates were finished one after another. The boss was silly. The Jews then took out the three chocolates in Chocolate Man and said, "Hey, chocolate is here!"
Finally, he ate three chocolates for free, and the boss gave him three extra chocolates.
The Jews repeatedly emphasized to me the truth of the story, and finally asked me, "what do you think the story tells you?"
I'm a little indescribable, "uh... How do you do a good job? "
He laughed and did not give me the answer.
I can't recall why I talked about this story and how we continued to chat later. The Jewish man was born in Alexandria. After many years of study abroad, he came to Cairo two years ago to start his academic research.
Like Cairo, he remained in my mind with an endless, chaotic, but self-contained image.
The streets of Cairo.
The market in Cairo.
People in Cairo.
The Museum of Cairo.
Cairo style "accosted"
Egypt was the first travel destination I said to go. I did not intend to hurry to the ancient country that can be traced back to four thousand BC. But in Jordan, he suddenly didn't expect to return to northern Israel. So he bought a second day ticket and came to Cairo so unprepared.
Most of the Egyptian history of university learning has forgotten that only the mysterious and romantic Pyramid and Nile constitute my Egyptian imagination.
When I first arrived in Cairo, I sat in the back of a taxi without air conditioning, and was attracted by the troubled market. Although the weather is fine and the sky is not clear, the yellow yellow mosque can be seen everywhere in the street. As the driver pointed everywhere, he said, "this has a history of two hundred or three hundred years. That's longer. It's estimated for four hundred or five hundred years. Look at that new point. It was only recently repaired.
On the side of surprise, I promised, "uh huh", that the hot air was moving into the car intermittently along with the body. In the downtown area, the dusty dust forced me to turn off the windows and let the driver turn on the air conditioner. The car's dull wheeze, the unscrupulous voice of the pedestrians, and the driver's enthusiasm, but I can only understand half the English, and fill the gap between me and the strange city.
The mosque on the streets of Cairo.
This is the center of the city, surrounded by all the European architecture left in the British colonial era, and the outer walls have mostly turned to gray. I live in a corner on the corner of the city. It's worn out. A ceiling fan is hanging in the staircase. It creaking and turning. Only a beam of light comes in from behind. The bottom four layers seem to be a warehouse, the top is transformed into a small hotel.
I didn't look at it too much. After I left my luggage, I plunged into the bustle downstairs.
The streets of Cairo, the remnants of the colonial period.
The chaotic streets of Cairo.
"The traffic on the streets is more crowded and busy than before, and even more hysterical. Even through the double glazing in the hotel room, we still got the sharp, harsh Symphony Orchestra out of the window: the driver's rebuke, the horn of the car, the howling and roaring of the engine. This is the background rhythm of Cairo's boiling life. "
(William Goldin "Egypt's trip", Zhejiang literature and Art Publishing House, 2016)
When Nobel, the winner of the 1984 Cairo prize in literature, traveled to Cairo, he wrote.
Over the past thirty years, the noise of this city has been increasing.
In a sense, Cairo represented Egypt. The country, which looks like a vast country, is less than 35 thousand square kilometers in size, which is equivalent to the size of a Hainan Island. Most of the population is concentrated in the Nile Delta, and Cairo alone accounts for almost 1/5 of the country's population.
This city with nearly 20 million people has a magic power, like inhaling everyone and becoming a part of it. You don't need a backpack, take a plastic bag, buy a copy of Pyramid newspaper, and cross the street without being hurried, then you look like a Cairo person.
Obviously, I don't seem to have attracted many accompanies. "Hello!" "Chinese? (Chinese?)" "Welcome to Cairo!" (welcome to Cairo). "
Once they speak, they will show a few sentences in Chinese. "How long have you been here?" "Go to Pyramid?" "Where do you live?" A series of problems followed. Some chased me for a block, only to hand out a leaflet. The purpose of these problems is not to let you buy their products, go to their stores, or ride in their cars or their hotels.
Busy crowds and impatient cars often stand in the street. They don't match each other. The traffic lights are very small. There is no sidewalk. As long as you miss the time to cross the street with the crowd, you may stare at the place for a few minutes. Traffic jams are a common occurrence. At the same time, the urgent Egyptians will let the honk of the car accompany you until late at night.
A local person who has crossed the road.
I met the Jewish man Jacob when I hesitated across the street.
He looked at me with a look of panic and smiled at me. He said, "follow me." His skin was black and he was tall and thin, and he was very quick in his steps. I could catch up with him in two steps in three steps. Afraid he was a salesperson again, so he did not dare to speak more.
Jacob, who called himself a language teacher in Cairo and a volunteer of the Egyptian Art Association, was still working on his own research. I saw that I was going to the Nile and enthusiastically took me to the past. Facts have proved that he is just a warmhearted person who has not sold anything to me.
Jacob is far more distaste for brokers in cities than I am. He thinks these people have damaged the international image of Egypt. "You mustn't trust anyone who calls you to stay in a hotel on the road." He looked serious. "I'm sure they will pay you a high price."
After knowing that I had been sent by a lot of people on the way, the new Cairo man seemed to shoulder the "sense of mission" to take me to the most primitive and most native Cairo, and after having finished his coffee at the opera house, he took me fast through his familiar streets and ready to take me a meal.
He stressed that we eat koshali (a mixture of pasta, rice and all kinds of beans, about ten yuan RMB) is the treatment of local talent, if I go alone, the price will be different.
Sometimes I even think his worries are a little overtaken. In my case, the brokers were part of Egypt, and the eagerness to try to make money from tourists might be closer to the reality of Egypt.
But Jacob disagrees. He has taught me two Arabic words, one is "I am from China" and the other is "I TM is not a tourist".
On the way, as long as the eyes are confirmed, the local people will be enthusiastic to follow you. The most left uncle said he had worked in the United States, so he would speak some English and leave me with tea. But because I was too vigilant and afraid that they would tip me, I finally declined. This street is a street of furniture
