cairo at 3 am and why 361457 is my new obsession
woke up at 3 this morning because the coffee shut down for 12 hours and i didn’t want to stare at the wall. found myself standing in the souk near kiosk 361457, which is either a number from a dream or a receipt i lied about paying. either way, the air here smells like spices and regret. the temp is exactly 20.51, which feels like a lie because the feels_like is 19.9, making me question if the sensors are psych telling me i’m doomed.
i’ve been chasing numbers like 361457 all week. maybe it’s a room number in some forgotten consulate, or maybe it’s the code to a vending machine that sells iced tea in a desert. either way, it’s my new weird ritual. the weather here is this weird neutral zone where it’s neither too hot nor too cold, but also, like, just existing. i just checked and it’s...there right now, wish you liked that kind of thing.
neighbors? well, egypt isn’t a village. if you get bored, london or dubaí are just a short drive away. don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. i heard that once from a taxi driver who was either high or lying about having a family. either way, he said something about pyramids guarding secrets for tourists. i’m here to debunk that. or maybe confirm it. who knows.
reviews? i overheard a tourist at the airport say the food in cairo is ‘authentic chaos.’ which is either a compliment or a warning. another person told me the minaret next to my hostel was built on a buried church. a local warned me about the traffic near tahrir square-says it’s haunted by drivers who don’t pay attention. i didn’t check. i’m too busy taking photos of random graffiti that looks like hieroglyphs but isn’t.
here’s the map-wow, it’s just one giant sand dune with a city in the middle. not sure if it’s a metaphor or real. [iframe src="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.4305,31.0368&z=12&output=embed" width="100%" height="300"]
i took three pictures of the desert, a bowl of shawarma, and a cat napping on a rooftop. eat this:
the locals here seem to exist in two states: either bustling like they’re preparing for a war or completely ignored. i tried asking a vendor what 361457 meant, but she just handed me a spice bag and walked away. classic. i also tried asking about the number 1818896076, which i’m pretty sure is a phone number or a bank account someone lost. whatever.
someone told me that the best way to find hidden gems here is to follow people who look lost. which is solid advice, but also, how do you not get lost in the first place? i almost got lost in the subway system once. or maybe that was a hallucination. the temp_min and temp_max are both 20.51, which feels like someone set the thermostat to a very specific number and then forgot about it.
i’m not sure if this place is a destination or a mistake. maybe both. if you ask me, the real cairo is in the numbers you stumble upon-like 361457 or 1818896076. they don’t mean anything, but they do. it’s like the internet but with more donkey bells.
links? yeah, here’s a tripadvisor for the souk: https://www.tripadvisor.com. a yelp for the shawarma place: https://www.yelp.com. and a local forum where people argue about the meaning of 361457: https://egyptlocalboards.com.
woke up again at 6 am because the sun was too bright. the weather’s still 20.51, which is either a blessing or a curse. i’m leaning into the curse. hope you like that kind of thing.
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