SIGHTSEEING IN EGYPT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 259, 17 January 1941, Page 3

SIGHTSEEING IN EGYPT

EX-TANEATUA BOY'S EXPERIENCES

DOING THE ROUNDS OF CAIRO SERIES OF LETTERS Those who remember Mr W. B. (Bill) Harlow cf Taneatua will probably welcome the series of interesting letters written by his son.. Frank, l'rom Egypt where he is nowserving with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. 'She writer was also of Taneatua and possesses a descriptive power which would be worthy to any journalist. His letters which have been handed to us for use, deal mainly with the tourist aspect and as such are particularly appealing. Though writtva Avell before the iccent 'push' into Italian Libya, the letters (of which there "will be a series appe.ariim) will, avc feel M.'re, be welcomed bv all who have sons or relatives serving in that country. The letters run on dairy line's, the extracts reading from day to day and covering the activities of the men, mainly when on leave. The first instalment opens: "Yesterday afternoon avc Avent doAA'n to the Divisional Baths, lhey are not finished vet, but finished enough to swim in. At the olTicial opening the DiA'jSional Committee is going to run a carnival and Ave were down there yesterday Avith Div. Cav's representatives for a tryout. Some cf our boys are pretty good. There were tAVo other units down there on the same thing— Harry's unit and Albie Sim's. The baths are about the same size as N.P.'s and are set among some low trees down on the edge ot the vo£;elation. The Boy Scents' camp is just alongside. In fact I'm not sure that the baths are not actually in their camp area. To-night some of us are going down there again for a practice to f> and to see Avhat sort of Polo team avc haA'e in the Regiment. Trip on the Nile. On Good Friday avc Avent or at least started off at 10 a.m. on a trip to the Barrage Avhich is some miles down, the river from Cairo. A launch was to have met us behind the M«adi Casino but the engine broke down. We Availed there for over an hour and then came back to the Maadi Station to go by train., We had lunch and before Ave AA T erc finished someone told George (our guide) that the boat Avas there, so we Avent back to find, not the launch, but a native boat, a 'felouka' one of those high-masted boats they have on the Nile. Hoaa*" ever a felouka was better than no boat at all so in avc Avent. Had a head aaukl—only Avent about threequarter mile in about 194 hours', Avhen a tug came along towing, a barge. George stopped it and Avas going to get a tow,, but the price must lia\ r e been too high so avc just kept pegging along. A feAV minutes later a launch came along tOAving the one Avhieli had broken down so AA'e pulled into the bank and swopped over. Getting on to the launch one of No. 2 Squad men, who had been doing a spot of drinking, found the 1.2" plank toe narroAv and in 'le AA'ent. As it happened the AA-ater was not very deep, but it sobered him up a bit. The natives running the launch ahead (towing us) only Avent about 200 yards and pulled int« shore again for benzine. Another two miles or so he Avas in for more, this time he stopped in a slum area and avc- saAv women doinj» their Avashing and not far away a man busy Avashing ladishes. It's all the same to them. Around a bit of a bend and Ave passed a building AAhich was being pulled down—it Avas a thousand years old and looked it too. All this part of the trip Avas betAveen the Western bank of the Nile, Giza and Roda Island. Coming down the Nile we passed a lot of date 'palms, orange groves and. the naliA'e lucerne or Avha'ever it is. it's a cross between luecne and. clover. Glimpses of Old World. Friday: W r as nut for training last night so couldn't go on with this, but will do a little more now lie fore we line up for pay. On t'he way floAvn the Nile avc passed a lot <*f both small and large brickworks. Passed one fairly large show win re the clay and water are mixed in a sort of huge chir/wi, I he mixing \ying done by a couple of bullocks working on the same .principle as the old-time water-wheel. Roda Island kes seine v\ ry i; lookiiVj. c,n it. Tt ««• the rrsii'vnHn'

I mentioned before. It is mainly Mats whereas Maadi is separate homes. Connecting Roda Island to Giza on the other side of the Island is a fine steel bridge 'Abbas 11.' On the island end it has a span which swings round to allow the highmasled feloukes to get through-. Roda Island is connected on the other side with Cairo by the K1 Miiikel Salih Bridge which is onlv a very short cne. About another hail' mile further and we pulled into a bank and clambered to the top. Here we were not very !ar from the main entrance to the zoo. The grounds of the house on the corner overlooking the river took my eye—the high hedge growing through an iron vailing fence had a !'r\v gaps and we were able to see the grounds. It avhs very well laid out in lawns and (lower gardens and in one corner was a small square pond with a s-tatue ot a woman and one of a stork. Set in such surroundings with such a blaze of colour it looked very good, We had, .a hurried look round the zoo as it was getting late. Some day I'm going back there to have another look round. Costs nothing to get in unless you have a camera and that means P.T.s. ft is a fairly big shoAV and well laid out. Most of the animals and birds and snakes too aj'o African. Padre Speaks Out. Sunday Morning: We have just come back from Church parade and are waiting for the C.O.'s inspection. The Padre gave a good sermon this morning and I hope it sinks in. He gave it Co t'he boys about the* use of profane language, especially on the trains between Maadi and Cairo and told them straight that swearing is a sign of a weak will, not manhood. I'll hand it to our Padre he speaks straight—he went through the last war, not as a Padre but in the ranks. To get back to the last week-end, this letter is getting a rough spin, but unless something goes wrong should be able *o finish it soon. The sky is still overcast and the temperature quite bearable. The Guezirah Club. When we left camp last Friday morning the party was sixty. We still -had two guides, four officers and three other ranks. Ihe officeis went back to Cairo in a taxi and the rest of us went by tram. The tram took us through an area of mixed old and modern buildings,/ mostly Hats, and then along a canal. The Nile flows down the Cairo side' of Guezirah Island. Near the southern end of the island is the headquarters of the Royal Agricultural Society, also the grounds of the Guezirah Sporting Club, which is one of the biggest in Cairo, and caters for everything—swimming, golf, ten nis, cricket, polo, croquet, bowls, hockey, squash, and from November to March they have a race meeting every alternate Saturday. They had the last for this season yesterday. Along the banks of this, canal on both sides are house boats, floating homes—there arc dozens of them. Further along on our left we passed the new Egyptian Hospital. It is a great place, not finished yet though and is about 6 or 7 times as big as the N.P. Hospital. Near the end of this long straight we crossed the Zamalik Bridge and headed back on an angle for Cairo, after crossing the Island and the Nile. The guides took us back to their headciuarters, v. little Cairo shop and we were given a cup of Persian tea and very nice it was too. From there we headed home by gharry to Babe'-luk Station where we caught the Maadi train. Thd, trip to the Barrage was to have cost P.T. 20 but next morning w r e collected a refund of P.T. 15., so apart from the fare home we had a very good trip for P.T'. 5 (1 -)• home in time to get some tea and then went to the picture "The Good Karlh." I didn't see it in N.P. Thor oughly enjoyed it. 1 went to the second showing and. it didn't come out until 11 p.m. (To be continued).