Daily Egyptian Life

Shop selling nuts like cashews, pistachios, almonds and assorted peanuts

On the 3rd day, we visited Edfu and Kom Ombo, small cities in the south of Egypt.These photos were taken when I was riding at the front of the horse carriage giving me an elevated view of the city/town and managing to observe the daily life of ordinary Egyptians. Firstly, the pace of life here is very slow, so it the cost of living (I guess). An Egyptian can probably get by with 3 square meals a day for as cheaply as U$$ 1 - 2. Many of the crops,foods and fruits are grown locally as is the various varieties of nuts. Unfortunately, I did not get to see how the Nubians (Southern Egyptians) live but I heard from the tour mates that they have small brick huts with thatched roofs and bare floors. Running water from taps should be available in most houses and so is electricity, but no so in the countryside.


Karate Kids

Most men dress in the traditional Gallabilya which is a full length one piece gown which covers from the neck down all the way to the ankles. In major cities, like Cairo, the men are dressed more in the Western style with jeans, or business suits worn. I mentioned before the Egyptians are friendly to foreigners and alwyays are curious where we are from. They have a vague idea of geography so when we mention 'Singapore' or 'Malaysia' they exclaim that they know of people who have been to Egypt from those countires but probably think our countries are somewhere in China.



Outside a police station ; people making reports of crimes

The women and normally decked head to toe in black and cover their hair with a Burqa (head scarf). A joke is that they look like overgrown 'ninjas' or Japanese assassins. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism has been around for about 30 years since the Ayatollah Khomeni took over power in neighbouring Iran and there are many powerful Muslim clerics in Egypt as is in the Middle East.


A pita bread shop

Most of the houses here look unfinished and brown in colour or no colour. To me they look like slums but are actually apartments for people, so it goes to show how backward and poor the country is. Many buildings had the top part with the girders sticking out into the sky, as if some part of the roof has not been completed,and they look like buildings with 'work in progress' but people are actually occupying them for some time now.



A typical bazaar or market selling fresh produce

We did not dare venture into the bazaar here as it looked quite dirty and not knowing the language could easily be harassed to buy things which we don't need.




Boys hanging outside school

Lastly, I took this photo of boys hanging outside their school-just like Singapore or any place int the world, the boys would like to hang out with their friends for as long as possible before they go home ! Some things are the same all over the world !