My Second Trip Port Said

The Beginning of The Journey

Last Saturday, on 17th November 2007 I was traveling 210 km far from Cairo to Port Said (Arabic: بورسعيد - Būr Sa’īd) for a shopping spree together with Faris (the mastermind), Shakir, Faeid, Haji Asyraf Zuki, Ikmal, Kamal, Hafiz, Afifi, Hazwan and Safwan. I was personally asked by Faris to be the guide for his group. We began our journey at Sayeda Zeinab Metro Station taking commuter to New El-Marg Station. From New El-Marg (el-Marg el-Gedida as pronounced by locals) we took a ‘Peugeot‘ (taxis of Peugeot 504 model - an intercity cab service) to Port Said. The trip cost LE14 and the journey took about 2½ hours. Approximately at 10.30 am, we arrived at Mauqaf Masr, the southern part of Port Said.

Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road (only desert, factories and military camps can be seen along the road)

Ismailia-Port Said Road (green scenery. And there are a lot of mango farms too!)

MISC’s (Malaysia International Shipping Corporation)‘Bunga Melati 3‘ Cargo Ship is sailing through the Suez Canal. Amazingly, you can see as if the ship is sailing on the land! But the truth is the ship sail on the narrow Canal connecting the West and the Far East.

Another ship…

At Port Said

From Mauqaf Masr, we rode four taxis (4 person for each cabs) to go to M. Ali Street, where the shopping bazaar is located. The taxi fare costs only LE2.50 around the town. Many of the shops are still closed and we roamed the bazaar (Souq Gadid) for a while and waited for Zuhr prayer.

Local taxis at Mauqaf Masr, Port Said

Alongside the M. Ali St.

At-Tawfīqy Mosque, located at the northern part of Souq Gadid

Port Said Trivia

Port Said is a free-trade zone and is a hotspot for shopping clothes (Mdm Zalilah, read this!). Malaysians usually come here to shop for winter jackets. You can also get secondhand clothes from Europe (Europe mali punya!) here and most of them are still in good condition.

Faris was making his choice

After the prayer, we were searching for seafood and I brought these guys to a diner whose its owner can speak broken Malay. We chose 11 sets of fried seafood plate consist of 3 different fishes and 2 cuttlefishes (tempura Egyptian style) with rice for LE10 per person. After the meal, we went to Old Bazaar (Souq Adim) near the fish market (Souq el-Samakk) to shop for secondhand winter jackets. I grabbed a leather jacket for LE50. Only four of us bought jackets. Others end up buying some souvenir or nothing.

The participants after the shopping spree at Souq Adim
From left: Hazwan, Faeid, Safwan, Kamal, Faris, Shakir, me and Ikmal
Sitting: Asyraf Zuki and Hafiz

Visiting Port Fouad

Then, after ‘Asr prayer, we moved to the jetty to go to Port Fouad (Arabic: بور فؤاد - Būr Fu’ād). Since there is no bridge nor tunnel connecting Port Said and Port Fouad banks, we board a ferry crossing the Suez Canal and the cruise took about 10 minutes. The ferry service - chargeless (Penang Ferry Services is still charging fees for their service though. What a shame…). I, Ikmal and Hafiz visited the Mugamma’ Islami Mosque while the others were enjoying taking photographs near the jetty.

Port Fouad as seen from Port Said jetty

Mugamma’ Islami Mosque, Port Fouad

Boarding ‘Bur Fouad 3‘ ferry crossing the Canal back from Port Fouad to Port Said From right: Shakir, me, Hafiz and Faeid

The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, dividing the African mainland and Sinai Peninsular. The Northern Area - the canal’s firth was where 40 ships were dunked during Suez Crisis (أزمة السويس) on October 29th, 1956.

Finally, The Trip Ended...

After that, we crossed the Canal again and moved straight to Mauqaf Masr by hiring a van to return to Cairo. I, Faeid, Asyraf Zuki, Ikmal, Kamal, and Afifi took the ‘Peugeot‘ service and the others took express bus service. We arrived at 7.30 pm at el-Marg el-Gedida and took Metro commuter service to return to Sayeda Zeinab, Cairo. A beautiful journey indeed…

So, if there’s any Malaysian medical students from Cairo University who are looking for a guide (mushrif), find these guys as I already showed them around Port Said.