Cycling Asyut to Abydos, Egypt: Always Accept an Invitation to Tea

22-23 December 2019

22 December 2019 (100.7 km, 62.6 mi) - Asyut to Sohag
23 December 2019 (60.4 km, 37.5 mi) - Sohag to Abydos

Why tea? Because tea is The Force of social connection in Egypt. Tea is the social medium in which relationships are begun, nurtured, and deepened over time. The importance of tea is so deeply rooted in Egyptian culture, that it is considered the national drink.

As a result, if you really want to reach across the cultural aisle in Egypt, the thing to do is to share a cup of tea.

In Egypt, tea is served in glass mugs, with a layer of ground, black tea leaves settled in the bottom of the glass. Luxor Egypt. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.

Our First Tea Encounter

A unique feature of being a modern bicycle tourist in Egypt is that officials are incredibly eager to ensure your safety. One could argue that they are really just trying to avoid bad publicity for the tourism industry, one of their most important cash generators. But in practice it doesn’t really matter. Egypt may be the only country in the world in which the police will escort a cyclist over nearly every inch of their ride. Although all of the police are friendly and helpful, it still can be disconcerting to have them as constant companions on the road.

When we were asked to stop at the first police checkpoint heading south on the Western Agricultural Highway from Cairo, we didn’t know what to expect. We were greeted, by a senior officer who explained to us how the police escorts would work. That’s where the tea came in. As we waited for our first escort to arrive, and he alerted other police checkpoints of our impending arrival, the officer invited us into his office for tea. Of course, we accepted.

The tea was served steaming hot in cut-glass mugs. It was a light color of golden brown, sweetened with sugar, and with a layer of finely-ground tea leaves settled in the bottom of the glass. As we sipped our tea, we learned that the officer had recently visited family in the United States, and some other details about his life. He also used the opportunity to ask us about our trip, and how things were going so far. The tea helped make the discussion feel more social, and less like we were being quizzed about our plans. Overall, it was a genuinely enjoyable way to initiate our relationship with the police.

Visiting with this police officer at our first checkpoint involved sharing a cup of tea. Atwab, Egypt. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.

Sharing Tea With a Village

Cycling across Egypt, we’ve developed a pattern of eating a substantial breakfast, then snacking along the road until we arrive at our destination, where we have a big meal for dinner. For us, snacks are best acquired at the little shops in smaller villages, or at the edge of towns - where we don’t have to contend with the chaos of busy urban traffic. We’ve found the shopkeepers at these small stores to be very welcoming and friendly. But on 22 December, we were in for a special treat.

In Sadfa, we pulled over at one of the tiny, roadside shops. At first the shop was just occupied by a young boy, about 14 years old. But within a minute, his older brother appeared to help with the sale. We bought a couple of Rani Floats (a Middle Eastern fruit juice with chunks of real fruit in it), and a couple of chocolate wafers.

We’ve discovered that cold Rani Floats are a great, mid-ride drink. They have big chunks of real fruit floating in the drink. Very yummy. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.

It took a minute or two for us to decide what to buy. In that time, a crowd of several men and about 10 kids had gathered outside the little shop. The men were discussing us with our police escort, and coming forward to shake our hands. Before we knew it, 8-10 town elders had gathered around, and the number of kids hanging around the fringes had grown to at least 30.

One of the men, named Hamdi, stepped forward to give us an especially warm greeting. There were a couple of outdoor chairs next to the shop, and Hamdi motioned for us to have a seat. He seemed to be the owner of the house located behind the shop. With the the help of the police officers who kept saying the Arabic word for tea, over and over, in increasing volume, we finally guessed what they were saying. We were invited to tea. It’s interesting how people speaking a different language sometimes think that increasing the volume and repeating a word over and over can make an unknown word understandable. Well, in this case it actually worked. Interested to see what would happen next, we accepted his offer for tea.

Within seconds, a couple of the men were bringing over a long bench for more seating, and a small table was placed in the center of the circle for the tea. Hamdi, four other men from the village, the police captain, and another policeman settled in and began talking and laughing with each other as we waited for the tea. One of the other police officers got out his phone to take some photos, and that started the ball rolling on a whole photo shoot - with multiple cameras, and various men from the town posing with us. They seemed impressed that we would be biking all the way to Aswan, and then through Sudan (we didn’t mention South Africa, which seemed like it would be too far-fetched for them to believe). And we learned that Hamdi was originally from Sudan. We felt warmly welcomed, and had fun sharing a moment of camaraderie with the guys.

A cup of tea by the roadside in Sadfa, Egypt. Mr. Hamdi, our host, is on the far right. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.

After everyone finished their tea, we prepared to leave. More handshakes and well wishes were offered, and Hamdi even embraced PedalingGuy. By that time the crowd of onlookers had grown to more than 100 people. As we got back on our bikes, we felt truly grateful for their hospitality.

A Flat Tire and Tea

We purchased special, new tires for our trip across Africa, knowing that the roads would throw some pretty big challenges our way. The Schwalbe Mondials are some of the most rugged, puncture proof tires you can get for a touring bike. They’re even lined with Kevlar.

Well, after only one week in Africa, we’ve already picked up two nails in our tires. PedalingGuy got the first one, but he was lucky. The 2-inch nail went into his tire but didn’t puncture the tube. The Kelvar may have made the difference. In the past, when we’ve removed nails from tires, they would instantly go flat. We pulled the nail out of the tire before any real damage was done and the tire never went flat.

I wasn’t so lucky. On 23 December, a little over 30 km into our ride, I heard a sudden “pop!” and instantly my back tire went completely flat. I had run over a 2-inch wood screw, that went straight through the Mondial’s Kevlar lining and punctured the tire tube.

This is the nail we pulled out of PedalingGuy’s tire. He was lucky it didn’t go through the tube. I was less fortunate. A pointy wood screw of about the same length when straight through my tube. Beni Suef, Egypt. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Pu… — This is the nail we pulled out of PedalingGuy’s tire. He was lucky it didn’t go through the tube. I was less fortunate. A pointy wood screw of about the same length when straight through my tube. Beni Suef, Egypt. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.

Let’s just say, it’s quite a production when you get a flat tire along a busy Egyptian road, with a 5-man police escort and several friendly locals that want to help. The first thing the policemen wanted to know was whether I wanted to put my bike in the police truck and get a ride. No, thanks.

After some convincing and insisting, the police let us stop long enough to try and pull the screw out of the tire with our fingers, so that it would not damage the tire further. No luck. Pulling the wood screw out of the tire was like trying to pull one out of wood. It wouldn’t budge. PedalingGuy then had to insist again that the police continue to wait while he got out our Leatherman tool. Using the pliers on the Leatheman and a lot of force, he was able to pull the screw out of the tire.

But when we asked about just moving off the road to change the tire, by going down one of the dirt side roads onto a farm, the police were absolutely dead-set against that. No matter how many times we asked to stop, and how much we tried to convince them, they insisted that we push our bikes to the next town, which luckily wasn’t that far. We were reluctant because the tire was completely flat and we did not want to damage the rim of the bike wheel. On a touring bike, there is still a lot of weight on the back wheel even when no one is riding. We worried that the weight, combined with the rough road, could easily damage the wheel or tire now that it was completely deflated. The solution was that two policemen picked the back of the bike off the ground and carried the bike forward, which was not the easiest task given how much weight is on the bike.

It was only later that we figured out the reason they insisted on going to the next town. It was because they knew a place in town that fixed tires. They didn’t seem to realize that fixing a flat tire is a fairly routine matter for us. After having us push our bikes for about 0.5 km, the police ushered us across the street into the driveway of a repair shop - for cars and motorcycles. It was really nothing more than someone’s garage.

The proprietor came out with a wrench, thinking he would use it to remove the bike tire - clearly not familiar with our quick-release wheel axles. PedalingGuy had to quickly assert our desire to change the tire ourselves, to avoid any damage that might be caused by the well-meaning guys starting to gather around to help. This was not particularly easy since Egyptian police are fairly assertive guys, and love to pitch in and help. It’s their nature, and with the language barrier, it can be difficult to impossible to convince them that you really do know best.

PedalingGuy gently, but firmly shooed them away, stayed focused, and got the tire changed while 5 police officers, a few people from the repair shop and others watched and analyzed every move he made. In the end, I think they were impressed that we didn’t need any help from the repair shop and that we had all the tools needed, including an air pump, in our bags.

During this process, the tire-store proprietor had tea and some chairs brought out for us and the police. After the tire change, we all sat around for a few minutes meeting our hosts and sipping tea. We all joked that it was a great plan that the repair shop had to generate business by planting nails in the road only a short distance away.

In its own way, the tea helped to bring an air of calm and friendliness to an otherwise crazy moment, and create a sense of connection with the people who were eager to help two travelers who ran into trouble along the road.

More Tea in Our Future

We’ll be in Egypt a while longer. And Sudan has a tea tradition just as strong as Egypt, so it’s a good bet that we’ll be drinking more tea. It’s going to be a pleasure to accept more invitations to tea, and see where that leads.