Day 89

Sleeping location: Pyramid Loft Hostel, Giza
Distance (km today/total): 22 / 6887
Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 57500
Wait for visa: 7.5hrs
Day in three words: The Sudanese Embassy*

*A tribute to the Seinfeld episode The Chinese Restaurant, which is set entirely in that establishment, except that lasted 22 minutes and not SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS

Today was spent mostly in the Sudanese embassy in Cairo, trying to get our visa sorted. As it was on the way to Giza we packed up, left our hostel and cycled the few km over, arriving about 9.15am. It was chaos inside and out, but we were given a number and told to wait until it came up. The visa clerk arrived about 10.15am and seemed to be going through a messy divorce, as he seemed determined to take his pain out on everyone there. He immediately did away with the number system, meaning that every attempt to reach him involved queuing, except some people didn’t bother with the queue and just pushed in from the sides. He was also only there about 1/3 of the time. The entire process was something like:
- Queue to be given form
- Fill out form
- Queue to be told that we need to provide a copy of the form
- Leave the embassy to visit the copy centre, which was basically a man with a (quite fancy) photocopier in a garage
- Queue to be told that Rebecca’s application in red pen is unacceptable and that she needs to do it in blue. At this point the man randomly disappears and Rebecca is able to fill out the form in the time it takes him to return, so I keep our position at the front of the queue. During this I am constantly hassled by a little guy who continually tries to physically force his forms around/through me, and doesn’t like it when I repeatedly and carefully push them away.
- Man returns. Give our forms to man, who accepts them.
- Playfully ruffle little guy’s hair. He does not like this. 
- Wait approx 2.5 hours. During this period I catch up four days of blog, and Rebecca goes on a mission to try and find camping gas in a distant supermarket. Despite google saying 30 mins each way, the return trip takes 3 hours. It transpires she was planning her route from the South Sudan embassy. There is no gas at the supermarket. 
- Called to booth to pay $150 each for the visa. This part is very efficient.
- Wait approx 2.5 hours.
- Receive visa at 4.45pm

After this palaver was over we cycled out of Cairo to Giza, which is kind of just another bit of Cairo anyway. Obviously the traffic was the usual chaos, but today there was no wind and the pollution down the boulevard we took was absolutely awful. My eyes and throat were stinging after half an hour in it. It must seriously shorten the lives of anyone who lives here. In Giza we checked into a nice hostel with a big comfy room for a mere £16. As befits the name of the hostel, it has a cracking view of the pyramids, which are RIGHT THERE up against the city. Although, as we arrived at night they were just big dark triangles and looked a bit like a giant toblerone. The hostel sold beer so we enjoyed a couple on the roof whilst admiring the slightly dodgy and distant “Pyramid light and sound” show. 

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