The ends justify the means

After an uneventful first day in Cairo, we got to live the experience of residents here courtesy of EgyptAir and the Cairo Airport. First we were checked in by a friendly agent who complimented D on her slimness (saying she wouldn't weigh more than 30kgs). So taken were we by this cheery manner, we didn't realise that the flight he checked us into was MS162 instead of MS062. The former departs 20mins later and MS062 itself was retimed a week ago to depart at 7:40am instead of 7:15am. To add to this confusion as we approach the MS062 gate to check, we had to descend two floors to the boarding gate and to get back up we needed to take two lifts... each going up only one floor. 

There are places which are lawless and there places with clear rule of law... and then there's Egypt where the law exist merely as a destination but not the path to get things done. F was sharing last night how his team would file bogus police reports to undertake repairs even when there was no grounds for police involvement. They did so because it was the only way to get the job done officially. In a way, there is no better manifestation of "the end justifies the means" as it is practised here. 

Well, right now, D and I are still waiting at the gate an hour after our originally scheduled flight was to have taken off and we are completely unsure what has happened to our flight. All passenger queries are greeted with an ambivalent shrug of the shoulders despite there being from 1 to 5 ground staff sitting/walking around at all times for the one hour plus that we have been sitting here. 

I think of Singapore's efficiency and how it wenr from a colonised island to the paragon of success it is now and try to imagine if this outcome could have been achieved in Egypt. This culture of bending the law (without actually breaking it) is not easily eradicated. It was how these people's have survived over millenia, ruled as they are by mortals who governed like Gods and the population were noting but a workforce for their megalomania. One example today is the "No Helmet" rule for motorcyclist. This head protection gear was disallowed on grounds of it being something terrorists would don when going about their activities. Talk about prioritising needs of the state over the citizens. 

An hour after the departure time of this flight, we were finally boarded and onto an Airbus 320 NEO instead of a Boeing 737 800... which is better I guess, being a bigger plane. We finally left two hours after originally scheduled flight - all done without notice - and got into Luxor safely with time to spare on a city tour in a horse carriage before we boarded our ship, Movenpick's MS Hamees to cruise up the Nile to Aswan for the next 4 days. As I said, the ends justify the means.