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Published: August 30th 2013
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Egypt General Comments. We have to comment on our very positive general experience in Egypt. We liked Cairo very much. This is a very nice city ( a little too big and busy ) with friendly people, good accommodation and very good food. We loved the trip to Aswan, Luxor and the Nile River, and we enjoyed our 2 days at Sharm el Sheik and the resort. Alexandria was a great finish to a very nice visit to this part of the world.
Traveling in predominately Muslim countries takes some getting used to with all the time out for prayers and the early morning wake-up call everyday with the very loud call to prayers from all the mosques ( over 1000 in Cairo ) and some very formal rules related to Islam including not being able to buy a beer except at hotel bar prices in the hotels and restaurants. For us it was not a problem, but not what we are used to with the amount of personal freedom in our western society, particularly for women.
The followers of Islam here talk a lot about their tolerance of other religions but the fact is the truly devout all believe that there is only one answer and all of the world will someday be Muslim. The other comment that was evident from almost everyone was the dislike of the Americans, and “George W” that all seems to go back to the USA, and the wests support of Israel in most political matters. We did find a lot of people who don’t agree with most of the Radical Fundamentalist Islamic followers but we also were hard pressed to find anyone who would come out and say so publicly.
We were very surprised and somewhat shocked at the amount of out and out requesting of “TIPS” by federal employees including the police who ask for a “TIP” for almost anything and we were most shocked by an x-ray security operator at the final checkpoint before we boarded the plane in Cairo. He advised me that I couldn’t take my camera bag on board because of the battery and gave me the internationally known “ rubbing a thumb on index finger” signal to indicate that for a little money he could overlook that. I refused and told him I was taking it on board as I had never been questioned about it before on any flight including a few in Egypt and he waved me through. We spoke to many others on the same flight who were also asked outright for money by the same security team ( and I mean team as they were all working together ) at the Cairo airport. The fact that this was a security operator was, to say the least, a little unnerving when you wonder what could get on board with the right amount of cash.
Egypt has some serious work to do in this regard. One good way to start would be to pay these people enough that they don’t have to ask for “extra income” from the foreigners who visit their country and to set some precedent with some serious punishment for those who are caught abusing their authority in this regard. It seems the attitude of the people in general is that “ the leaders of our government do it so why shouldn’t I “. Maybe that’s where the reform should start.
Despite some of the little issues as mentioned we can feel comfortable with recommending this as a very interesting place to visit with lots to do and too much to see. Egypt is doing a lot to improve the tourist experience and we feel they are succeeding. We hope they can continue to encourage support for this important part of their economy.
This is the kind of place we would come back to for a second visit.
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