After we finished our run we came back to the hotel and rested up for a bit - we deserved it I think! After we showered we decided to head out for some lunch. We switched on the news around noon and saw that crowds were gathering in Tahrir Square.
It was while watching this that we realised something; we'd been feeling a little miffed that none of our folks back in the UK had returned our text messages to say we had finished the run. No "well done" or even "happy birthday" We thought maybe it was a little early in the morning for them to reply, but then started to worry. A little test between our two phones confirmed it - there was no text messaging. We could phone each other, but couldn't phone anyone in Cairo. Also: no internet. Things not looking too good.
Coming back from lunch though we turned the TV on and didn't turn it off for another 5 hours. We were glued to the constantly changing and dramatically descending events that were taking place.
It was horrible to be watching something happening so close to you, but to feel so far away and isolated. We couldn't contact anyone in Cairo to see what was happening where they were and that they were OK. News was focused on downtown, but that didn't mean things wouldn't be happening elsewhere and we just felt useless.
We decided to call the UK using the hotel land line - expense didn't matter with the thought of actually getting to speak to someone. We reassured them that we were OK and safe but had no communications and so couldn't speak to Cairo.
That evening we come up with a plan. It seems that on Saturday there will be a curfew in place starting at 6pm. The late flight we have booked to allow us a longer weekend is now on our minds. Our flight is due to land at 6.05pm so it looks like if we catch that flight we'll end up sleeping in Cairo airport. We could then get school to pick us up from the airport and go direct to work. That's if the flight runs and if school is open of course! We try to call Egypt Air to see if we can get an earlier flight, they say you need to get to an Egypt Air office and we can't so we decide that we'll try and head to the airport in Luxor earlier than planned tomorrow and see if we can just get a seat on an earlier flight. At least then we can get out of the airport and maybe get to Rehab and stay with our friends the Greens.
All of these options are spinning round in our heads as we go for a beer before the Race Gala Dinner. Over dinner we talk with the friends we have made about the events unfolding. The clashes that have taken place have been horrible, just horrible, to watch and to think are taking place at this time. The only positive is that despite the communications blackout these images are getting through and the world can see them. We are alternating between watching Al Jazeera and BBC World (with a glance at Sky and CNN every now and then). If people can see this, then they know what is happening and something can happen, something can change.
After dinner we watch TV again to see what has happened. Scott catches a glimpse of an army vehicle under a road bridge in one shot. For the whole day he has been saying that the role of the army will be key; who will they side with, the people or the president? If the army are on the street things are getting serious and this is a turning point in a revolution.
We go to bed feeling very uneasy about what's happening and what's to come.
We get up and switch on the news. Things seem to have continued yet descended further into terrible chaos overnight. We have breakfast and when we are back in our room suddenly the phone rings. It's Nicki from school and communications are back up!
We're told that there will be no school until Wednesday but until then anyone can go to the school site where there is bedding, food, water and security if they would feel safer there than at home. Apparently there are tanks on the streets of Maadi, lots of unrest at night and many people are growing worried - especially with the communications down.
We tell her that we are in Luxor and due to fly back tonight, but hoping to get an earlier flight. She says we may as well have an extended holiday down here, but for us we don't feel that we can stay. We really feel that we need to get back to Cairo and see for ourselves what is happening. If we were to stay here all we would do is sit glued to the TV to look for developments on what is happening - it wouldn't really be a holiday but a very expensive way to watch TV!
Noon and we check out of the hotel (after giving another call to the UK to update everyone and create our own mini-phone tree there). We pick up a taxi outside and head straight to the airport.
The drive takes us through part of Luxor town. It's quiet. There are a few tourists and locals about, but it's still quiet. We see one police/security guy by a hotel, but that's it. It's strange as we are used to seeing Police on every street corner, especially in tourist locations, and now they have all retreated. Down a side street we see some army vehicles. One building has the road blocked off by it and its windows have been taken out by rocks it seems. The crest on the outside shows it's an official government building. One the edge of town now and there are proper tanks on the street with army guys and their guns just standing by. They look calm, rather than on edge, which is a good thing we think. Driving away from town now and through the fields and we see more army guys in trucks being driven into town and then more with a tank by the bridge. They are here.
We get to the airport and head straight to the check-in desk. It's not as busy as I thought it would be. I thought there would be lots of people trying to get out, but on the other hand it doesn't seem that there are any problems in Luxor, so why would people be trying to get out? They are very safe in their hotels and tourist sites, so why leave? Connecting flights will mean people won't even need to go into Cairo, so can stay out of trouble.
At the desk and there is another guy asking the question we will shortly ask; can we get on an earlier flight. It looks like the clerk has been dealing with him for about 10 minutes and is fed up of saying "no". The clerk looks to the supervisor who gestures for the guy to come around the back of the check-in area. We ask the quick question and are told if we pay 150LE per person admin fee we can change ticket onto a flight leaving in an hour. Bingo. That's what we want to hear.
150LE paid we are back at the check-in desk and putting our hold luggage on the scale. It's only once we get the tickets in our hands that we think this plan might actually work. The flight is due to leave at 1.30pm so that gives us enough time before curfew to get out of the airport. Phew - it'll be such a relief to get home and see things for ourselves. This is our home and we want to be there.
We go through to the departures lounge and suddenly see why it is so quiet at check-in. Everyone is in here. It's packed. There's not a seat left. We look at the board. Our flight isn't listed and all the flights that are listed are delayed. Hhmmm. Not looking too good.
Suddenly we see people we know. It's Amr and Mara who we met at the hotel (we shared a golf buggy from reception to our rooms....the hotel was on an island did we forget to mention?). They greet us warmly and say that they have been waiting here all morning as their flight to Cairo has been delayed. This doesn't sound good. Amr is Egyptian and had been using his charm to find out what was going on. Apparently they weren't flying the larger planes between Cairo and Luxor, but only the smaller shuttles. Their scheduled flight was a big plane and so that's why it had been delayed. Our flight wasn't on the schedule because it was an additional flight that they were just sticking in. They'd got a plane and were flying it back and forth as quickly as possible to ship people to where they wanted to be.
In other news they tell us that the NDP building in Luxor has been set alight. We put two and two together and realise this is the building we passed with its windows smashed out. We must have missed the torching by about 10 minutes.
News about the delays for friends wasn't great, but we were pleased that it seemed our flight might be actually happening. We grabbed some food and sat down to eat when Amr came over and said that they'd just called our flight - he was really looking out for us, what a guy! In the queue to get on the plane we call Nicki to let them know in Cairo what was going on for us. We didn't want to call any earlier in case the earlier flight didn't pull itself off.
We tell Nicki that we're about to fly out and she tells us that she's been told that there's a lot of action taking place in Maadi at the moment. This makes us nervous. Still in the queue we now get a phone call from two friends in Maadi. They say that the action is taking place at the Grand Mall. Lots of people and the army are moving in. Nicki again and it seems that things have escalated as there is looting taking place and fires. She tells us that when we land we should not go to Maadi. We've seen images on the news of fires taking place downtown and heard of looting of stores. The Grand Mall would be a natural focus in Maadi as it's got some high end western shops. We know what it's like when people gather there for the football celebrations, this would be like that, but the opposite. We're not feeling good. We can;t turn back now and stay in Luxor, nor do we want to, but we feel inside very very uneasy about returning to Maadi and what will greet us on our return. On the plane now and we get a phone call from G who is in London recruiting. She tells us that when we land not only should we not go to Maadi, but specifically we should not go to our flat. Words are bandied about like "war zone" and that we might not have a home to go to. Images in our minds of fires, looting, tanks and mayhem. Our phone keeps ringing with these reports until we start to taxi and we have to turn them off. It's a horrible flight.
15 minutes till landing according to the map n the TV screen and we're just about Saqarra. But then the planes hangs a left and we start a loop. Nothing too bad with this. The landing time creeps back 10 minutes. Then we loop again and the landing time creeps back again. On the third loop the landing time is now extended 30 minutes later and we wonder if in fact we will land in Cairo or will be diverted somewhere else. But where else? We can't go to Alex or Suez (next nearest airports), so could it be back to Luxor? We see other planes circling too. Everyone is tyring to land before curfew.
We finally land at exactly 4pm. This is the start of curfew. Great. In our minds though we're hoping that actually things will be OK between the airport and Katameya or Rehab. I've spoken to the Greens and they are happy for us to stay with them, but if we can get out with think we'll head straight for the safety of school. The sooner we get out and find a taxi the better. The luggage claim area is packed. It seems that Cairo airport is able to get the flights in, but not the bags on the belts. It is an hour before our bag turns up. There goes our hope of travelling during curfew.
Our in the main airport now we head to the Information Desk.
"We would like to travel to Rehab or Katameya. It is curfew now, do you think this is possible?"
"Yes. This is possible. Go to the desk there to get a taxi."
Easier than we thought!
Or not. There is no one at the desk and after 10 minutes when the guy does turn up he just looks at us and says "no taxi". So we could get away with travelling during curfew, but there isn't anyone to take us. We look out through the glass walls of the airport to the car park. There are taxis and drivers out there but do we want to risk it? We decide not.
We find two seats together and decide that we will just settle down for the night. It's not going to be comfortable, but we are a step closer to our home. Or what's left of it. And therefore a step closer to seeing for ourselves what is going on in the city where we live. Do we trust these phone calls? Could they be rumour? Who else lives near our house who could say for sure what is happening?
We call Nicki and G to update them. Suddenly though we get a phone call back. It's one of the bus drivers from school telling us that he can drive us. There is a school trip arriving in Cairo tonight and they have secured special passes so that the buses can drive the kids to school. I double and triple check the directions I'm given before we leave the safety of the airport and start to walk through the car park. It's curfew, but we're walking outside. There are lots of people walking outside, so we tell ourselves this is OK. But I cannot see the bus. I call again and check. Then suddenly I see the elephant in the room aka large bus in the car park. At last a familiar site.
It was while watching this that we realised something; we'd been feeling a little miffed that none of our folks back in the UK had returned our text messages to say we had finished the run. No "well done" or even "happy birthday" We thought maybe it was a little early in the morning for them to reply, but then started to worry. A little test between our two phones confirmed it - there was no text messaging. We could phone each other, but couldn't phone anyone in Cairo. Also: no internet. Things not looking too good.
Coming back from lunch though we turned the TV on and didn't turn it off for another 5 hours. We were glued to the constantly changing and dramatically descending events that were taking place.
It was horrible to be watching something happening so close to you, but to feel so far away and isolated. We couldn't contact anyone in Cairo to see what was happening where they were and that they were OK. News was focused on downtown, but that didn't mean things wouldn't be happening elsewhere and we just felt useless.
We decided to call the UK using the hotel land line - expense didn't matter with the thought of actually getting to speak to someone. We reassured them that we were OK and safe but had no communications and so couldn't speak to Cairo.
That evening we come up with a plan. It seems that on Saturday there will be a curfew in place starting at 6pm. The late flight we have booked to allow us a longer weekend is now on our minds. Our flight is due to land at 6.05pm so it looks like if we catch that flight we'll end up sleeping in Cairo airport. We could then get school to pick us up from the airport and go direct to work. That's if the flight runs and if school is open of course! We try to call Egypt Air to see if we can get an earlier flight, they say you need to get to an Egypt Air office and we can't so we decide that we'll try and head to the airport in Luxor earlier than planned tomorrow and see if we can just get a seat on an earlier flight. At least then we can get out of the airport and maybe get to Rehab and stay with our friends the Greens.
All of these options are spinning round in our heads as we go for a beer before the Race Gala Dinner. Over dinner we talk with the friends we have made about the events unfolding. The clashes that have taken place have been horrible, just horrible, to watch and to think are taking place at this time. The only positive is that despite the communications blackout these images are getting through and the world can see them. We are alternating between watching Al Jazeera and BBC World (with a glance at Sky and CNN every now and then). If people can see this, then they know what is happening and something can happen, something can change.
After dinner we watch TV again to see what has happened. Scott catches a glimpse of an army vehicle under a road bridge in one shot. For the whole day he has been saying that the role of the army will be key; who will they side with, the people or the president? If the army are on the street things are getting serious and this is a turning point in a revolution.
We go to bed feeling very uneasy about what's happening and what's to come.
We get up and switch on the news. Things seem to have continued yet descended further into terrible chaos overnight. We have breakfast and when we are back in our room suddenly the phone rings. It's Nicki from school and communications are back up!
We're told that there will be no school until Wednesday but until then anyone can go to the school site where there is bedding, food, water and security if they would feel safer there than at home. Apparently there are tanks on the streets of Maadi, lots of unrest at night and many people are growing worried - especially with the communications down.
We tell her that we are in Luxor and due to fly back tonight, but hoping to get an earlier flight. She says we may as well have an extended holiday down here, but for us we don't feel that we can stay. We really feel that we need to get back to Cairo and see for ourselves what is happening. If we were to stay here all we would do is sit glued to the TV to look for developments on what is happening - it wouldn't really be a holiday but a very expensive way to watch TV!
Noon and we check out of the hotel (after giving another call to the UK to update everyone and create our own mini-phone tree there). We pick up a taxi outside and head straight to the airport.
The drive takes us through part of Luxor town. It's quiet. There are a few tourists and locals about, but it's still quiet. We see one police/security guy by a hotel, but that's it. It's strange as we are used to seeing Police on every street corner, especially in tourist locations, and now they have all retreated. Down a side street we see some army vehicles. One building has the road blocked off by it and its windows have been taken out by rocks it seems. The crest on the outside shows it's an official government building. One the edge of town now and there are proper tanks on the street with army guys and their guns just standing by. They look calm, rather than on edge, which is a good thing we think. Driving away from town now and through the fields and we see more army guys in trucks being driven into town and then more with a tank by the bridge. They are here.
We get to the airport and head straight to the check-in desk. It's not as busy as I thought it would be. I thought there would be lots of people trying to get out, but on the other hand it doesn't seem that there are any problems in Luxor, so why would people be trying to get out? They are very safe in their hotels and tourist sites, so why leave? Connecting flights will mean people won't even need to go into Cairo, so can stay out of trouble.
At the desk and there is another guy asking the question we will shortly ask; can we get on an earlier flight. It looks like the clerk has been dealing with him for about 10 minutes and is fed up of saying "no". The clerk looks to the supervisor who gestures for the guy to come around the back of the check-in area. We ask the quick question and are told if we pay 150LE per person admin fee we can change ticket onto a flight leaving in an hour. Bingo. That's what we want to hear.
We go through to the departures lounge and suddenly see why it is so quiet at check-in. Everyone is in here. It's packed. There's not a seat left. We look at the board. Our flight isn't listed and all the flights that are listed are delayed. Hhmmm. Not looking too good.
Suddenly we see people we know. It's Amr and Mara who we met at the hotel (we shared a golf buggy from reception to our rooms....the hotel was on an island did we forget to mention?). They greet us warmly and say that they have been waiting here all morning as their flight to Cairo has been delayed. This doesn't sound good. Amr is Egyptian and had been using his charm to find out what was going on. Apparently they weren't flying the larger planes between Cairo and Luxor, but only the smaller shuttles. Their scheduled flight was a big plane and so that's why it had been delayed. Our flight wasn't on the schedule because it was an additional flight that they were just sticking in. They'd got a plane and were flying it back and forth as quickly as possible to ship people to where they wanted to be.
In other news they tell us that the NDP building in Luxor has been set alight. We put two and two together and realise this is the building we passed with its windows smashed out. We must have missed the torching by about 10 minutes.
News about the delays for friends wasn't great, but we were pleased that it seemed our flight might be actually happening. We grabbed some food and sat down to eat when Amr came over and said that they'd just called our flight - he was really looking out for us, what a guy! In the queue to get on the plane we call Nicki to let them know in Cairo what was going on for us. We didn't want to call any earlier in case the earlier flight didn't pull itself off.
We tell Nicki that we're about to fly out and she tells us that she's been told that there's a lot of action taking place in Maadi at the moment. This makes us nervous. Still in the queue we now get a phone call from two friends in Maadi. They say that the action is taking place at the Grand Mall. Lots of people and the army are moving in. Nicki again and it seems that things have escalated as there is looting taking place and fires. She tells us that when we land we should not go to Maadi. We've seen images on the news of fires taking place downtown and heard of looting of stores. The Grand Mall would be a natural focus in Maadi as it's got some high end western shops. We know what it's like when people gather there for the football celebrations, this would be like that, but the opposite. We're not feeling good. We can;t turn back now and stay in Luxor, nor do we want to, but we feel inside very very uneasy about returning to Maadi and what will greet us on our return. On the plane now and we get a phone call from G who is in London recruiting. She tells us that when we land not only should we not go to Maadi, but specifically we should not go to our flat. Words are bandied about like "war zone" and that we might not have a home to go to. Images in our minds of fires, looting, tanks and mayhem. Our phone keeps ringing with these reports until we start to taxi and we have to turn them off. It's a horrible flight.
15 minutes till landing according to the map n the TV screen and we're just about Saqarra. But then the planes hangs a left and we start a loop. Nothing too bad with this. The landing time creeps back 10 minutes. Then we loop again and the landing time creeps back again. On the third loop the landing time is now extended 30 minutes later and we wonder if in fact we will land in Cairo or will be diverted somewhere else. But where else? We can't go to Alex or Suez (next nearest airports), so could it be back to Luxor? We see other planes circling too. Everyone is tyring to land before curfew.
We finally land at exactly 4pm. This is the start of curfew. Great. In our minds though we're hoping that actually things will be OK between the airport and Katameya or Rehab. I've spoken to the Greens and they are happy for us to stay with them, but if we can get out with think we'll head straight for the safety of school. The sooner we get out and find a taxi the better. The luggage claim area is packed. It seems that Cairo airport is able to get the flights in, but not the bags on the belts. It is an hour before our bag turns up. There goes our hope of travelling during curfew.
Our in the main airport now we head to the Information Desk.
"We would like to travel to Rehab or Katameya. It is curfew now, do you think this is possible?"
"Yes. This is possible. Go to the desk there to get a taxi."
Easier than we thought!
Or not. There is no one at the desk and after 10 minutes when the guy does turn up he just looks at us and says "no taxi". So we could get away with travelling during curfew, but there isn't anyone to take us. We look out through the glass walls of the airport to the car park. There are taxis and drivers out there but do we want to risk it? We decide not.
We find two seats together and decide that we will just settle down for the night. It's not going to be comfortable, but we are a step closer to our home. Or what's left of it. And therefore a step closer to seeing for ourselves what is going on in the city where we live. Do we trust these phone calls? Could they be rumour? Who else lives near our house who could say for sure what is happening?
We call Nicki and G to update them. Suddenly though we get a phone call back. It's one of the bus drivers from school telling us that he can drive us. There is a school trip arriving in Cairo tonight and they have secured special passes so that the buses can drive the kids to school. I double and triple check the directions I'm given before we leave the safety of the airport and start to walk through the car park. It's curfew, but we're walking outside. There are lots of people walking outside, so we tell ourselves this is OK. But I cannot see the bus. I call again and check. Then suddenly I see the elephant in the room aka large bus in the car park. At last a familiar site.
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