COE: Chapter 2 - How do I get there?

Chronicles of Egypt  : CHAPTER 2 - How do I get there?

Assalamualaikum people and cats and trees and umm everyone - everything. Sorry, just got back from a whole day of class. @___@ Meh.

But but but I shall not procrastinate anymorreh. Today's COE is about TRANSPORTATION. DAHHDAHHHDUMMM.

(Note: I shall only talk about what is common here mostly in Alexandria)

For those who are still confused on how to get to places, fear not! Don't make that stop you from exploring or going to places. There are A LOT of ways. Seriously.

1) Taxi/Cabs

Yes, this is basically how taxis here look like. You don't need to worry because there's TONS of taxis here, everywhere. Just stop them, and tell them where you want to go to. They don't use the taxi meters here so it'd be wise to know for how much, you can get to a certain place. Yes, some taxi drivers do see you as gullible foreigners and will right away, charge you extra. I mean extra, extra. However, I do find them a lot CHEAPER compared to the taxis in Cairo. 

2) Micro bus/ Tram-co

This way is much, much cheaper compared to taxis and buses. How to get to your destination? Just tell the driver the place, and he will either drop you there or somewhere near it. Or, you can stop him. Simple as that. And yes, I recommend this type of transportation if you wish to save your money as taxis cost more. But I shall warn you first, the ride is quite similar to a roller-coaster. So, if you have a terrible case of motion sickness, don't, just don't make it your option. Now that I mentioned it, taxis are kind of like roller coasters too.

3) Trams

Tram is a pleasant way of getting to places...on a holiday morning that is. Yes, compared to all of the transportation available here, this would be the cheapest kind. With only 25 piasters (cents), you can go from one end of the station to the other end of the station! WARNING: the probability of it to be packed with people are high mainly on school days (morning) and in the afternoon. I've been squished into a corner before. NOT a good experience. There are many kinds of trams, some take you only to certain places (e.g : VICTORIA trams take you Victoria but you can stop anywhere along the way. They look different compared to the other trams. They are wooden trams and look more cooler and enchanting. It costs more, about 1 LE.) but don't worry, there will be a map in every stop so you can refer to that. But yeah, I totally recommend this, considering that you're not in a hurry due to some emergencies. If so, STOP A TAXI! 

4) Horse carriage

This is mostly, just for the experience, say if you're on a holiday. Costs waaaay more than a taxi. Found mostly ala bah ( in front of the sea, yes so that you can enjoy Alexandria's sea view)

5) Trains

(Alexandria Train Station)

(Cairo Train Station)

Trains, if you wish to travel outside or even in Alex. Of course, the cost and the seatings are different. 

1st class - around 50 LE, air-conditioned, cushioned chairs (single/2 people), comfortable.

2nd class - Less than 50 LE, around 25- 30 LE. Normal. 

I'm not quite sure about the other classes but I've went on a train before to get to a place inside Alexandria. But that is a WHOLE different carriage. Normally, local people (I mean orang-orang kampung Alex la) go on them. It's packed. You may have to stand as the seats may all be taken. But it costs around 50 PIASTERS - 1 LE  There's also this one train, that carries poultry (a.k.a train ayam). That is also accessible, if you wish to. Warning: it smells. My advice, just hang in there! 

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Of course, there's that option that doesn't run on money and fuel. Just your sweat. WALK. That's what you'll find yourself doing, most of the time. 

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Lastly, enjoy this beautiful scenery. (Taken from my old house) 

Ciao!

Note: Pics are from Google and yours truly. 

COE Chapter 1

Chronicles of Egypt : Chapter 1

Assalamualaikum and a very good day! How are you? Today marks the 1st time I'll be writing about COE. Le grand opening! Wooh!

Today's topic : Language barriers and Charades.

Speaking from my experience, people will react differently to your insufficient knowledge of Arabic words. Mind you, I have NO BASICS whatsoever in Arabic language (minus the ones that's practiced in Malaysia -  Ahlan etc.)

From my first year experience (still muka hingus)  living in Alexandria, some people are helpful and others will just ignore you. Here's how the story goes...

(Helpful people)

I always love how these people react. They really want to help you! Be it, a certain store or the hospital or even the food you want. They will try to figure out what you want! Usually, these are the friendly folks. Well, if you're with me, we'll probably end up playing charades hehe. There was this one time that my friend and I wanted to go to the big library in Alexandria, the Bibliotheca. For some reason, people here do NOT know what Bibliotheca is..hmm...(They call it by a different name and I was too ignorant to know at that time >___<) So, as I told the driver, he was like "Eh??" (What?) My friend and I repeated a few times so finally I decided to make gestures with my hands and was saying "Book! Book!" The driver was a good sport and said "Well, just stop/tell me when we get there!" In Arabic of course. So we rode in the tram-co and the funny thing was, the place wasn't even that far from where we were, a walking distance really haha! We were somewhat lost. The pak cik was like "Ahhh, Maktabah Iskandariah!" My friend and I were like, "Ohh! Maktabah Iskandariah!!", said thank you and left.

Another story, this was when I wanted to buy sugar from the shop. The lovely old shop owner is really kind. I went there with my derp face.."Ana ayza sugar. -(I want sugar) Sounds slightly disturbing after it's translated" She was like..."eh?" And I was like, never mind, I'll look it for myself. As I was browsing, she kept taking one thing after another and asked me if the thing she's holding is what I'm looking for. After some time, she took out the sugar and I was like "YEAH! THAT'S IT!" Then, she asked me to repeat after her..."Sukkar...Sukkar." I got to learn a few words from her as I paid for the sugar. She pointed and made me repeat after her..and so I did. I had a fun time learning! We laughed and I said my salam and goodbyes and left, happy, as I successfully bought sugar.

And some other time, you'll find yourself surrounded by local folks playing charades with you. Well, at least I did. ^_______^


( "I don't give a damn!" type of people)

So we have come to this. My experience...TAXI DRIVERS.

Not all taxi drivers are bad. But there ARE bad taxi drivers. =___=

Before you get in the taxi, as always, you tell the driver the place you want to go. Easy huh. Not really. Some of them would have their Don't-waste-my-time- face on and drive on, leaving you in the dust, literally. Common. VERY VERY common. Well, that's better compared to the taxi drivers on PMS. Yes, apparently, I've experienced them all.

Other times, people would either ignore your existence or just find you a nuisance. Sad but true.

...

Okay, so my point is, if you ever find yourself stuck in translation, my greatest advice would be ask or speak politely, play charades, SMILE! You have to have a positive attitude when facing this kind of situations. Smile when you're asking. You don't want the other person to be rude to you, so you SHOULD'NT be rude to them! Lastly, just learn Arabic haha. A reminder to myself too of course. But, I believe that you can and you will pick up a lot of words just by talking to the people in the streets. There will be people kind enough to teach you words so don't worry too much!

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Random picture TIME!!

Vanille chillin'

Everytime I see the buildings here, a certain soundtrack will play inside my head, yes - (Aladdin : One Jump Ahead)

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Streets of Alexandria

I will try to update COE whenever possible. I'm thinking of making it a weekly update so stay tuned! 

Ciao~

ROAAAR

Assalamualaikum everyone! Good day!

Aeroplane: BABUMP...*drifts*.....stops

Me and Fatihah: Hello Egypt.

SECOND YEAAAAARR!!! XD

Yup, I've officially returned to Egypt for my studies. Yes, I'm excited.

"I'm excited to learn." - Goliad (Adventure Time)

So... my flight from Malaysia was pretty epic. Alhamdulillah everything went quite smoothly. The important thing is I'm here, still in one piece.

Class started today...THAT was refreshing. I'm preparing myself mentally and physically of course to face another year. Ganbatte!!

...

I was thinking of making a series. Yes, about my life here in Egypt. I would love to share my experience, living in Egypt. Hopefully, it'd be informative yet fun at the same time. So, put on your adventurer hats everyone heee. I'd call it Chronicles of Egypt. COE for short. "Koe" in Japanese means voice. So this is kinda like my voice/ my opinion on Egypt ^___^ No puns intended even though I'm the pun master bwahahaha FEAR ME!

Hmm...

But today, I'll just be updating about some of the stuff that I'll be taking for this semester. Prepare thyself!!

Ya Allah, how hard it was for me to get them. Don't worry first years, usually you can get them at the convention centre (C.C.)lol code geass much  For some reason, they decided to sell them at a different place. *cough* Darl Elm

I still have more to buy but these are the only ones I managed to get so far. The good thing about them are that they're entirely made/ written by the PROFESSORS or the department in charge, which I find pretty neat! ALEXANDRIA U GO GO!!

Still more to come though...horrrrr....

 yeah awesome stuff. *hands on head* *mouth wide-open* "MACAM MANA NAK SUMBAT SEMUA NI DALAM KEPALA HAAAAA??"

The good thing about being in second year is that, you can adapt better to your surroundings, while studies are on a whole new level, your daily life kinda improves because you know what to expect from the people around you. All the good and bad things that is. Plus, people recognizes you, which can be a good thing...

I have yet to brush up my arabic skills. cannot even be considered a skill, I only know a few words  Getting kinda rusty. hmm....yes, I use a lot of hand gestures trying to describe something...and I still do. DEAL WITH IT! It's like playing charades really. Since I'm running out of ideas on what to talk about, I'll stop now.

CIAO MINNA-SAN!! 

P/S: I'll update COE later~