Egypt 3.5 -Second Class-

We sat in Cairo Train station coffee shop waiting for our 9.30pm second class train to arrive; I could feel everyone looks worried about the 2nd class train. I was expecting the worst; smelly feet, noisy passengers and chaotic seating but that was least of my concern. For a 9hours journey, I was more concern of the hygienic of the washroom, drinks, when to stops and safety of our luggage.

S0oha was with us in the coffee shop and she looks worried, I don’t know why. The more worried she looks, the more worried I become. I am built in Sandakan and I believe I can take anything that come in the train but I was worried about those built in KL & HK, they are simply more “classy” lorrr.

The waiter in the coffee shop asked for our orders and we only wanted mineral water, which pissed him off because he thinks that we ordered too little. I just don’t understand the culture here, everyone is so money minded and it’s very obvious. There isn’t a thing call “customer satisfaction” here, only self-satisfaction. Due to that idiot pressure, we ordered a few soft drinks and coffees. What pissed me off more was that s0oha still let us paid for it, isnt she suppose to show some "sorry" in actions?

Not helping was the advertisement inside the coffee shop “Discover Egypt with Sleeper Train”; keep reminding us of s0oha failure to provide us with what she had promised.

We all went to toilet at 9.15pm and the train arrived. So s0oha rushed with us to the train as we came out of the toilets. Our train was on the opposite platform, we have to go down stairs, through a tunnel, up a stair and rush through the platform to the cabin 2nd furthest from the entrance.

We ran like headless chicken and everyone was looking at us. I gotta give Cherrie a salute as she still got mood to capture a pix before we broad the train. The run was about 400m, 5minutes was not an easy rush with a 10kg backpack, right hand pulling a 20kg luggage and left hand 15k luggage going down and up stairs with lot of Egyptians to dodge along the way. We managed to catch the train before 9.30pm, everyone was so relieve. That’s not the end, the tickets are all in Arabic, s0oha being a responsible guide did lead us through the window to our seating.

That was a good run, chasing an "imaginatinive leaving train" was fun and breath taking. After 48hours in Cairo we should have learn, nothing looks as it should be. The train only leave at 10.45pm that’s 1hour and 15mins late, welcome to Egypt. If we had missed this train, I really don’t know what will happen to our tour.

Everyone settled down very fast and got their train-sleeping gears ready, we were super tired after such a long day in Cairo City. I thought in a midnight train, everyone will fall asleep very fast and I might had to volume down my gameboy if I wish to play Buttttt I was TOTALLY Wrrrrrrrrrong!

It was a Zoo inside with kids running around, women chasing those kids and men going for a puff all this time slamming the door when they go in and out of the cabin. One tall guy even brought an extension cord to recharge his handphone in the toilet (the only place on the train with plug) and a few follow as they can use his extension cord as well. Seems like an experience train-riders to me but why do they need to charge their phone on the train? Saving home electricity bills? We were seated at the door front thus these guys were looking at us like zoo animals.

I got the "Bessssssssssst" spot among eight of us, the guardian of the door to be exact with toilet smells flow through everytime the door is open. From the moment I got on the train, the door has been open-close, open-close... every 10seconds with a broken door closer, every closing of the door sounds, BANG!. It was a physical as well as mental and spiritual toture, I wasnt able sleep till 4am in the morning when every monkeys on the train run outta gas and I almost die of exhaustion. I couldnt even put my left leg too much out cause it will block the door.

But a non-moving train is really killing us. With our food and water reserve running low and the Snacks bar also ran out of stocks! I felt "LOST" but excited as I am always looking forwards to unplanned event. Unlike the others, I was actually enjoying my unintended extended stay in the train. I was wondering what might happen if the train don’t move until the next day. Will there be a rescue operation, that sounds cool to me !

When we just arrived, so0ha cheekily said she wanted to cancel this tour simply because we send her too much enquiry emails. I never met a tour guide like her, a guide that thinks she is the boss not us. Differentiating her dressing from others Egyptian women, she must be from Up-society. We paid her 350Euro in advance three months ago, yet we never seen her face before. I don't normally trust anyone, some more a person that I have never met before. That's "Berani dengan membuta tuli!" some more it’s an Egyptian. Lonely planet has given enough advice on Egyptian, LOL!

When we paid her the deposit three months ago, we dunno which hotels we will be staying in, no timing for our train and no duration of stay in places we visited. We only know what places and stuffs we gonna do on days without timing. She told us to trust her, so we did. It ended up; she failed to purchase our Sleeper Train Tickets from Cairo to Aswan. So we ended up on a 16 hours 2nd class train ride from Cairo to Luxor!

The longer I stayed in the train, the more dulan I become. 9hours become 10hours, 10hours become 11hours… and finally at 3pm after 16hours of train we reached Luxor. Cau ci bai! That was 7hours Extra of pain, Mah Chao Hai Sibei S0ohai!

That was agony! I am trying very hard not to use vulgar words in my blog but I beh tahan liau. I need to change her name from s0oha to S0ohai. Indeed the rightful name for her. Nobody diu her kow-kow because everyone wanna act like a saint.

Tev did mention about talked about asking her to return our money but nobody wanna take lead not even he himself. I hate people complaining especially since we are in it together, no complaining is gonna take the pain away. There wasn’t much choice for us, it’s either fucked up with s0ohai and end the tour in a fucking mood or continue as if there nothing has happen. We choose the latter of cause, we were here for vacation, for happy, for relieve not Wars! This was the most diu part of our trip as it makes our remaining schedule sibei very tight.

The most dulan thing about this whole train thing is that s0ohai tried to blame others for it. Really an asshole, I have think over a zillions time and cannot find a reason not to blame her. First of all, we paid her 350Euro deposit Three Fucking Months before our trip and much to her annoyance LL has called her numerous times enquiring about our train schedule. If those reminders aren’t enough, we arrived in Cairo 2 days before we suppose to ride our sleeper train. 2 days isn’t enough time for her to buy us the fucking sleeper train seats?

What boiled my blood more was that s0ohai tried to blame her subordinate for not being able to buy the tickets. WTF! She isn’t just a fucking lansi guide but also a bad fucking asshole irresponsible person. I don’t give a damn who the hell or what the hell her staffs is doing, I just deal with her from day 1, will she blame her grandmother for the Fat ass genes she had. Asshole!

The pix above it some books given by s0ohai to us. Those are "wui-kow" books, how to pray, what to do and etc. We made good use of it as hand-fan in the non-Aircon, non-moving train and no knowledge whatsoever about train leaving. I left those books at the top luggages area when we left the train, not interest in the -Religion of s0ohai!

This shit hole remind me of s0ohai because just like the shit hole that lead your shits to the train tracks below, s0ohai also lead us into a shit hole and left us on the train track.

The best thing about this mishap, s0ohai became not lansi anymore. Fall of the Lansi… hahaha better than the light & Sound Show. There isn’t any good from being lansi, lansi people will fall one day. I should learn from that and not being lansi anymore. S0ohai oh s0ohai, you have change my most memorable moment in Egypt from groping the pyramid to this fucking 16hours 2nd class train ride.

There is nothing wrong in the 2nd class train, after all it’s a 2nd class train and I don’t expect it to be a 1st class train. a 2nd class train ticket from Cairo to Luxor cost is USD6 and a sleeper train cost is USD60, s0hai compensate us with a 4stars hotel for us to bath and rest at the last day when we arrive to Cairo from Aswan, that’s only USD 10! So where is the balance USD44? The balance USD44 x 8person = USD352 was for s0hai registration fee for the course of “Learn Not to be Lansi”.

Pat ji Pat kok the sun already up by the time I woke up, it was around 6am. I just slept 2hours that day. It was almost impossible to sleep in that seat I'm on! Morning but no sign of Luxor yet, if according to s0ohai we should have reach Luxor by 7am or maybe 7.30am the latest. An hour more to tahan, Boleh la...

What worried me most is the station. Luxor is suppose to be 9-10 hours away from Cairo but the train had delayed it departure and stops so many times I have lost count. Time for “Lonely Planet” to the rescue again, inside it there were English and Arabic words "Luxor" in the lonely planet. So we tried to compare the Arabic wordings with the schedule! Dot… dot… dot… Nothing seems a like, Sei Lol!

Passengers on a 2nd class train don’t speak much English so communicating with them was hard. The answer will always be "Next… Next…", sometimes "Next… Next… Next". Not sure how many next are there? In fact, I am not sure if they understand what “NEXT” is. From all the train station that we had stopped briefly, there isn’t any signboard in English! I believe Luxor as one of the main station should have some English Signboard.

It's now 10am; the train has been stopped for more than an hour. Not only we don’t know where are we suppose to get down, we also have no idea when is the train going to move. Some teenager even jumped off the train a take a bus home, then we started to realise something was seriously wrrrrrrrrrrrrrroong!

Luckily Roy has his GPS phone with him; it is a good phone. With the GPS at hand, everything seems alright now. We still 2hours from our destination. LOL! We supposedly to reach Luxor latest by 7.30am. There are so many delays and stops that we are stucked in nowhere at 10am!

It was agony for all of us! I started to wonder if we have taken up the offer of taking a private van to Luxor, will the situation be better. The train do provide a better moving space, toilets are also available and snacks and drinks as well. Safety wise, train is much safer than van; it would be harder for bandits to kidnap people from train.

After 16hours of inhaling sweats, toilets’ smell and smoke, such a relieve to be able to breath Real air again! There was an english singboard of "LUXOR" but I didnt manage to snap it.