Oasis

Once you got out into the unsecured area of the airport, you were fair game for all the shysters who were wandering around. We found ATMs and after trying a few different things eventually we got one to give us some money. Our next task was to find the airport shuttle desk. We found the shuttle desk, but I'm not sure the guy we talked to actually worked there. He was wearing a suit and seemed to be official, but upon reflection, he was probably just an opportunist. He did get us a cab, and he charged us an exorbitant $30 to take us to our hotel. Then we had to endure our first request for baksheesh (tipping). It was definitely not our last.

Our hotel was called Oasis, and it truly was. Ma and I affectionately called Egypt "the land where stuff didn't make sense". Well, the Oasis was a bit better than the rest of Cairo. It was relatively clean and stuff mostly made sense. The staff were pretty indifferent though. It was definitely not the warm welcome we enjoyed at the Economy Hotel in Athens.

The accommodations were nice, definitely up to Western standards. The room had two full (or were they queen?) beds, but they didn't use fitted sheets. Instead, they just tucked a flat sheet around the mattress.

TRAVELERS' TIP: Just like in Athens, there were no washcloths or alarm clock provided.

You see the left door of the dresser? Tucked behind this door you will find a fridge.

There were several English channels on TV. They showed lots of American TV shows. CSI came on channel 3 at 7am with Arabic subtitles. We could also watch Lost, NCIS, and others. Every night they had at least one good movie on. Ma and I watched the Bourne Identity, Risky Business, and fell asleep during Air Force One.

The bathroom was big. It had a bidet, but we didn't know what to do with it. It also had a hairdryer and even a retractable clothesline.

We spent a lot of time out here by the pool. At dusk, they would float this fountain light thing into the pool, which made swimming (or even touching the water) a hazard.

We ate poolside every night. The prices and menu were the same no matter where you ate. The temperatures cooled off when the sun went down, so you could definitely enjoy the ambiance while sitting out here. I read some reviews before I came, and despite what they said, we were not really bothered by mosquitoes out here. In fact, eating poolside was very pleasant. The only things that spoiled the evenings were the ubiquitous hookas (water pipes) that everyone smoked.

The other place we ate was the breakfast room. They served up a hot buffet breakfast every morning. They had European offerings like yogurt and fruit, plus some American things like cereal and toast. They also had some Egyptian things, like fiteers (a sort of rubbery pancake) and fuul (mashed fava beans). I ate a lot of the hashbrown-like potato things that were shaped like chicken nuggets. They had "orange juice", but it tasted more like a flat Fanta orange soda.

The Oasis Hotel was meant to be kind of a resort. It wasn't quite the Four Seasons, but they did manage to have a few fountains and some pretty courtyards. All the rooms were on the ground floor, so you didn't have to mess with elevators or noisy people above/below you. We were in room 1501, adjacent to a well-lit courtyard toward the middle of the map. It was a good place to be.

The Oasis Hotel is on a very busy road, but the rooms (or at least our room) were far enough off the street that we could only barely hear the street noise. In the mornings we would occasionally hear the melodic sound of a truck horn. (Egyptian truck horns are nothing like American ones.)