This time of year is called the khamaseen, or the 50 days, and is essentially the period of time where you will see storms, sandstorms to be more specific. Same as the idea of a monsoon but sans precip.
Im sure a lot of people have heard my bar joke about landing in Cairo during a sandstorm and the noises the engines made and the view form the window...well that was this. But it happened in such a dramtic speed that imagining being out inthe desert when this happens is like kissing yourself goodbye. Everything turns to nothing. Fast. Guy was at the house and we headed out on the balcony for a drink and got sandblasted. Though the stuff is more like a fine flour it gets in your teeth and hair and ears and piles up below cracks in doors and windows.
To say the drink was short lived is one thing. The next day I collected a glass from the porch that was a quarter full of sand.
Without rain this land will be eternally dirty and dusty and stinky. Though Im getting an amazing nostalgia from the heat bringing out the summer smells again. I wouldnt call em all good but the feeling is. Nowhere else can you get overwhelmed by the smell of shisha walking down the road and find yourself surrounded by foul water in an urban desert environment.
The following are photos from the storm from a clear day. I tried to replicate the position as best I could and came pretty close for most of them:
1 and 2 are the Queen Boat and the 26 July bridge in background
2
3 and 4 are the tall Govt building across the Nile
4
5 and 6 are the same from the inside of the house
6
What isnt seen here is the crazy orange glow that the sand cast as the sun filtered through. Imagine the day going from clear to orange like the photos in about 10 minutes....
1 comment:
amazing....i am woundering what this sand does to the finish on a car, or the side of a building over a long peroid of time? hard to believe what the pic show. thanks very well done and hard to relate it to snow.
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