Air Pollution in Cairo – Yep it’s Still There
People smoke a lot in Cairo. When we asked our guide Maha of Memphis Tours how many people smoke in the city, she replied “90%, that’s why we have short lives.” According to her, the average life expectancy is 60. It is said that living in Cairo is the equivalent of smoking one pack of cigarettes a day. Between the actual cigarette smoking and the air pollution our lungs didn’t have a chance.
That’s why when you stay in a 5 star hotel, you know you can get sneak away from all toxic air, car exhaust and cigarette smoke. Unfortunately for us, the Intercontinental City Stars wasn’t the escape we needed.
Intercontinental City Stars Main Lobby
Did I tell you a lot of people smoke in Cairo?
When we first checked in, unbeknownst to us, we were put on a smoking floor. I had already gone to Cairo with a terrible cold that I caught just before we left for Seattle a week earlier. Suffering from sinus pain and a sore throat, it got progressively worse as the week went on. After two days in our room, we couldnt’ take it anymore. We woke up each morning reeking of cigarettes with a sore throat and more congestion.
When we asked to change rooms we found out that there was indeed a non-smoking floor. We were elated to move.
The rooms were very nice looking
Did I tell you a lot of people smoke in Cairo?
Unfortunately for us, nobody abides by the rules and it was just as smoky on the non-smoking floor as it was on the smoking floor. The smoke seeped into our room. I turned of the air conditioner thinking that it was coming through the vents but it didnt’ help. I opened the window to let some fresh air in, but unfortunately, Cairo is polluted.
My cough worsened and sleep became difficult. We had a full schedule of sight seeing ahead of us after speaking at the IOETI conference and I had to get myself up for the challenge of seeing everything that Cairo had to offer.
Revisiting the Pyramids in Cairo
Lucky for us, we had spent a month in Egypt before and visited most of the sights, so as I slept walked my way through pyramids and monuments, streets and boardwalks, all I wanted to do was go to sleep.
Did I tell you a lot of People smoke in Cairo?
The Pool Bar
I just couldn’t escape the smoke. The sheesha bar outside by the pool was going strong, the smoking section in the restaurant seeped into the non-smoking area sectioned off by an invisible line and the lobby was filled with gentlemen in suits chain smoking while they sat in lavish chairs looking important.
The Last Day
On our final day of sightseeing, it was impossible for me to get out of bed. With my cold holding on for dear life and the cigarette smoke and pollutioin amplifying my symptoms I hit the wall. Dave went to the Alabaster Mosque with the rest of the group as I turned off the air in our room, closed all the windows and slathered myself in tiger balm while loading up on antibiotics that I bought at the City Stars mall connected to the Intercontinental Hotel.
With a good sleep in and feeling a little better, I made my way to the one great escape from smoke in Cairo.
The Spa
Thermal Pool, So Relaxing
I sat in the steam room and then layed down in the sauna. I went back to the steam room and then again to the sauna. It was then off to the thermal pool where I moved from jet to jet letting the pounding water massage my aching muscles. I was starting to feel better. To my surprise, Dave came back early to check on me and found me lounging at the pool. We joined in on the relax-fest and having already explored the Cairo museum in 2008, we enjoyed the moment of doing absolutely nothing for a couple of hours.
The spa was our salvation.
Feeling refreshed and nearly back to normal, we joined the rest of our group for one last farewell dinner to where I joked about how it’s a dangerous thing to eat a seafood buffet before flying.
I don’t know if it was coincidence or just dumb luck, but one hour after eating, it was Daves turn to suffer. We were packing for our early morning flight when the fatal words came out of Dave’s mouth…”I don’t feel so good”
The rest of the night was spent with Dave sleeping in the bathroom wrapped up in towels and a robe with his dinner coming out of all ends. Another sleepless night in Cairo for us both made for rough plane ride home. Especially for Dave who suffered over two long haul flights where the smell of food sent him running to the bathroom.
24 hours later and we were back in Canada, curled up on the couch and recovering for 3 entire days from our Egyptian ordeal which caused us to simply skip Christmas day in 2011.
17 Responses to Air Pollution in Cairo – Yep it’s Still There
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Oh gosh you poor things!!! Being sick while traveling is NO fun.
I definitely wasn’t fun to be around either. Every time I got in the van I just went to sleep, I think the year caught up to me. I’ve been very unhealthy this year and since coming home we’ve focused on living clean and getting active. Already feeling much better but not back to prime.
I’m so sorry you guys were sick! I have to say, that as someone who smokes, I still find it appalling that so many places smoke indoors here in Romania… even in places where people are eating too! I also keep all of my friends and other human beings in mind… it’s my nasty habit, why should they suffer too? I hope to quit soon, so being surrounded by it all won’t help either! Hope you are feeling better now!
Hi Dayna, I think it was amplified because I wasn’t feeling well but yes, it sucked to keep walking into a wall of smoke everywhere in the hotel. It was in the lobby, it was outside the conference room, it was outside our door in the hallways and in the restaurants….it was just too much for me.
Ahh man…The one saving grace is that you had spent alot of time in Egypt before…There is nothing worse than being sick while travelling or even worse while flying!
Hope you are all feeling better now! I can see how that spa was a life saver!
Yeah, at least we had been before so we didn’t feel like we were missing out too much. Memphis tours did a great job taking us to different attractions though so it would have been nice if I were up for the challenge. Oh well, sometimes travel can’t all be perfect. I would have been really upset though if it was my first time there. Egypt is so awesome that you want to be at the top of your game to take it all in.
We’re a Canadian couple who just finished a 10 day Egypt trip and found the smoke and air pollution tough, too.
It was impossible to enjoy the common areas (restaurants, lounge, lobby) at our hotel in Cairo because so many people were smoking, but at least our room was a refuge from the smoke!
I’m glad you could find refuge in your room. I think that was the toughest part for me, my room reeked as much as the rest of the hotel. Some other people in our group said that their rooms weren’t so bad, but then others said that theirs were bad so maybe it is just luck of the draw.
Ouch! That was a really, really rough time! Cairo is indeed SO polluted. I often say that the air is brown there. And it is! The last time I went a few months ago we arrived at night and literally all of the cars in front of us on the highway were slightly obscured by a curtain of smog. Just feet in front of our faces! It is THAT polluted. It may be disgusting, but I really, really like that city. The people are wonderfully friendly, the sights and the simple challenge of getting around will keep you plenty busy for days and now its spot in the history books as the epicenter of the Egyptian revolution just has me fascinated. I’m going back in a few weeks and am really looking forward to it.
Hi Sabina, I agree. The people of Cairo are so friendly and we have made sure to write positive posts on the country and the city. I don’t want to damper people’s opinions of Cairo because it is a city worth visiting. They just need to change their smoking habits. I initially started out writing a review of the Intercontinental, but I kept finding myself coming back to the smoke. Not being able to escape it in two rooms really put a damper on our time there. We had a much better time in the small guest house we stayed at 3 years earlier downtown. The rich businessmen really seem to go overboard on the smoking and the high end hotels seem to cater to it. At the mall we had to laugh, a guy was smoking right under a no-smoking sign. What was funny was that there was one of those ashtrays that are filled with sand, directly under the sign. What’s up with that?
Have a great time when you go back, it really is a special place.
Ouch! That was a really, really rough time! Cairo is indeed SO polluted. I often say that the air is brown there. And it is! The last time I went a few months ago we arrived at night and literally all of the cars in front of us on the highway were slightly obscured by a curtain of smog. Just feet in front of our faces! It is THAT polluted. It may be disgusting, but I really like that city. The people are wonderfully friendly, the sights and the simple challenge of getting around will keep you plenty busy and now its spot in the history books as the epicenter of the Egyptian revolution just has me fascinated. I’m going back in a few weeks and am really looking forward to it.
cairo is in the middle of the desert- that is why looks dusty
That is a good point Alex thanks for clarifying, but you can certainly smell the exhaust as well.
So unfortunate! I probably couldn’t deal with all the smoke and would have a great excuse to hang out in the spa
So true, and really, it’s always great to find any excuse to hang out in the spa:)
That’s funny that they try to look important while they smoke, I can totally see that haha. I will say that pool looks amazingly refreshing.
I am not sure if they are trying to look more important (those are just my observations) but I do think it is a status thing. When we stayed in a small guesthouse in Cairo a few years ago, people didnt’ seem to smoke as much. But the businessmen really went overboard in the hotel and during the conference. It was unbearable.