who can breathe in cairo?

breathing is a basic right to life
a must for life
life is breath
and for you to breathe you need air
not black fumes, but fresh clean air

that is why we egyptians like to travel
we are all crammed up in cairo and lately i could not breathe in cairo

if it is not the exhaust from the cars it is your smoker friend or relative puffing in your face
all day and night

you have to choose between loneliness and being antisocial and left out or breathing
off their puffs, second hand smokers have more friends and smokers have the most friends

so you are either breathing fresh air alone or coughing with the people you love
many have just started smoking too to escape the dilemma
and many have gotten so accustomed to second hand smoking they have no idea what i am talking about and that is just sad.

and if you want to go out to a cool place at night
you have to get your whole system used to the smoke


tamarai is a killer
the cairo jazz club although has live music is a near death experience for me
and la bodega is well ventilated so you can breathe more there
but you have to get used to going home with hair and clothes that smell like an ashtray wherever you go at night
and you have to get used to the smoke to have a social life in cairo
to go for coffee even

the mohandseen cilantro is a walk into suffocation
i made the mistake of going in once, i had to cover my nose and mouth to buy my coffee and i had to run out
i am not exaggerating its not even funny anymore

however there is hope
i come with good news finally:

beonos the once smoke filled cafe with a few non smoking tables has dedicated the first floor which is the best floor to non smokers

and i congratulate them for that, finally going back to cairo i will find a place for coffee without coughing

so in addition to great coffee and sun light you can also breathe there!

the zamalek costa is a bubble of smoke for the exception of two tables who are cornered and suffocated

they always tend to give the non smokers the worst tables everywhere

so we travel we book tickets and we go to a different continent sometimes just to be able to do one basic thing: breathe

i just want to breathe thats all.