Around the World in 80 Days
Day 9: 3 October

We've been going now about twenty-five minutes, the heat, noise and smell of fumes still intense, but the roads have at last thinned out as we pass through Heliopolis. Lots of barracks around here, many soldiers. Howitzers and rockets are proudly displayed outside.
Suddenly we're on the edge of the desert, 96 per cent of Egypt's land surface, and mile upon mile of tips. All Cairo's rubbish; old furniture, rubble, twisted car wrecks, some of them burning. It seems to be an open dump. Pass a huge articulated truck which has swerved and overturned on the side of the road. The cab looks completely smashed in, and two men helplessly wander around the sacks of cement which lie scattered across the road.
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PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Around the World in 80 Days
- Day: 9
- Date: 3 October
- Country/sea: Egypt
- Place: Cairo
- Book page no: 44
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