A pop song blasted by sudden in the early morning. My body jerked as I heard some incoherent mumbles from the other bed. F is waking up and my body felt drained from my short nap because we both slept late the night before.

I snatched that bloody phone, scratch my bedside and looked at the time.

"Damn. Wake up, it's already eight!"

I bolted towards the bathroom while F was taking her time. We tried to pull an all-nighter but we dozed off the minutes we prayed for Subuh.  

Half an hour later, we strapped on our sneakers and ready to explore the city. Stepping out of the apartment, we were immediately swept up by the buzzing of motorbikes, the yelling drivers and the constant drumbeat that seemed to pulsed from all corners. F and I walked along the local train station and crossed over to the other side.

Then, as I sauntered up to the taxi's passenger window, F sputtered "Wait. Do you wanna try Careem?"

I turned to look at her. The taxi driver was starting to sounds impatient. "Bisur'ah, lau samah!"

I took a quick look on my Careem account and saw seventy Egyptian Pounds balance on my online wallet. I bid the taxi goodbye, muttering sorry while the driver shouting profanities towards us.

F and I look at each other and shrugged.

"So, where do we go first?"

I explained a little about our activities of the day while waiting for the Careem driver to pick us up near to a big chai place. Fifteen minutes later, we hopped in at the back of the car while the driver was trying to communicate with us in his broken English with thick Arab accent.

"You been here before?"

F answered yes while looking out the window. "But it was like six years ago, so I can barely remember this city anymore."

I was awe-struck. Alexandria has been different from my last visit. Beautiful as it was, I quickly learned that the city's aesthetics had nothing on its characters. We bid him goodbye when we arrived at our first stop - Pompei's Pillar.