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Published: July 25th 2008
Welcome to Giza!
In front of the Great Pyramids of Giza (outside Cairo) -- the last of the Seven Wonders of the World that still remains. Thanks to everybody who has been writing with comments and e-mails. We've read them all and love them. Please keep them coming.
After a long flight from Fez, Morocco, we've made it to Cairo, Egypt and have been safe and sound for the last two days.
Upon going through customs, we were approached by a travel agent from the airport who asked us if we needed help finding a hotel. Our (mostly Aaron's) natural skepticism made us think that maybe we should go it our own way, but it had been a long, sleepless flight and we wanted to get it over with. After listening to his suggestions, he offered us a hotel, with air-conditioning, for $40 per night. This wasn't much more than we were planning to spend for a lesser hotel, so we figured we'd go with it (he did have an actual office in the airport, you know).
When we arrived at the hotel (the King Hotel), we were very happy with our room. The bathroom decor was very outdated (picture olive green everything), but otherwise it had excellent A/C and a fridge and is near a nice supermarket where we can pick up
Cairo Skyline
The view from the rooftop bar restaurant from Hotel King VERY inexpensive lunch supplies. To top it all off, the ninth floor rooftop has a restaurant/bar that serves relatively inexpesive food and beers with an incomparable view of Cairo. After a nap, we spent the first night hanging out with a group of Americans and Australians on the roof and having a blast.
That same night, while taking a walk along the main street of our neighborhood, a guy at a shawarma (chicken or lamb kebab-like pita sandwich, for those who haven't had it) stand we were passing by struck up a conversation with us. This, for those of you who have been to Cairo before know, is not an unusual thing. People are CONSTANTLY coming up to you asking to see their store, have a cab ride, get a tour, take a picture of their camel, etc, etc. We brush them off with a polite "No thank you, La Shokran", because usually they will try some way to overcharge you or trick tourists. We were warned of this by an Egyptian tour guide we met at the hotel, and we've found that there are plenty of people happy to take advantage of tourists. This is not to say
that Cairenes or Egyptians are extortionists -- they have been very kind and friendly to us, just 98% of the people who approach you to "try to help" on the street -- those are the ones to watch out for. Everybody else has been awesome, and we've found Cairo to be extremely safe and friendly.
Safe, if you don't include crossing the street, which is an amazingly dangerous excercise here. This is a city almost as big as New York City with no apparent traffic lights. Driving is crazy, but being a pedestrian crossing the street is crazier. Pedestrians walk out into the street, in front of oncoming traffic, and then zigzag their way "Frogger" style around and past the various lanes of traffic. We saw pedestrians getting so close to out cab at times that their clothes were touching out car as it passed. It's insanity.
...Anyway, this guy approaches us in front of the shawarma stand and makes chit chat. He tells us about a good government tourist office down the street (never mentioning that he is the owner). We walk to his office and it is very nice with various papyrus artwork and perfume bottles
adorning the walls. There is also another American guy drinking tea. The owner, Imad, sits us down and offers us something to drink and eat. "Egyptian hospitality," he says. We're still very leary at this point, just based on what we've heard. We accepted drinks and Cosmina had lamb shawarma, but Aaron (very skeptically) refused the food. With us and the other American, Thomas, he outlined an itinerary for us the next day to arrange for a driver all day for 100 pounds (about US $16) split between the three of us who would take us first to the Great Pyramids and Sphinx and then to the Saqqara Pyramid (the oldest of the pyramids) and will wait for us at the sites. Also, he will take us to a "papyrus museum" and "perfume museum" where we would have demonstrations and be able to purchase what we like. Of course, we knew that that is where the money is being made. He told us that there is no obligation to buy, and brought out this huge book of testimonials written by people from different countries saying that this guy is the greatest. After talking it over privately with Thomas, we figured
Approaching the Pyramids
It's amazing to be driving through the city and have the pyramids just pop up out of nowhere it was a pretty good deal however you look at it.
Later we hung out on the ninth-floor rooftop restaurant/bar of our hotel. Beers were a couple bucks apiece, and the food was cheap too. Unfortunately, the restaurant had closed by the time we got there and we just relaxed with a beer and the companionship of a large tour group of Americans and Australians we came to know.
The next morning, we had free breakfast in the hotel, and got to the tourist office (Imad's shop) by 8:30a.m. We were offered some more "Egyptian Hospitality" in the form of a round of ice cold Cokes (in the glass bottle ... the best). We met our driver, a smiling older gentleman named Abdul, and were soon on our way. After a 20 minute drive we arrived at the Papyrus Museum... Actually I should say "a" papyrus museum as it seems that there are several of these in Cairo. Inside we were greeted and shown to a demonstration table where we were shown the papyrus plant and the process of making papyrus. The plant is cut in strips, soaked to release the gluttinous sugars inside, laid down in a
lattice pattern over each other (like weaving a flat basket), and pressed between two pieces of felt in a vice. After drying, it's papyrus which they paint (and hopefully sell). That's where we came in. The prices listed are all high and there's plenty of room for bargaining, which we did fairly well. We got a medium-small papyrus of the Ancient Egyptian "Last Judgement" scene with another small papyrus for the equivalent of $45. We're still sure we were overcharged tourists, but we figured that with the nice demonstration they did, and more egyptian hospitality in another round of cokes, it was worth it. They also took the time to show us the difference between real papyrus and the imitation stuff made with banana leaf.
Next we were off to the Giza Necropolis, home of the Pyramids and the Sphynx. It only took us a couple of minutes to get there, and it was kind off strange how you are driving through the city and all of a sudden the pyramids pop up in the background. It's a little bizarre -- the city comes to a pretty abrupt stop and suddenly the desert yields to amazing views with the
Is this the Pyramid?
What a bunch of rubbernecks. pyramids right at the foreground. We first explored the largest one, the Great Pyramid of Cheops, which we actually got to climb around. Then we explored the Pyramid of Khafre. This area is completely surrounded with people ready swarm the tourists. People selling drinks, nicknacks, camel rides, unofficial guided tours ... even people riding camels asking to take their pictures and then charging you a lot for the honor. All of them will be happy to trick you into a higher price than you think. Luckily, we were pretty smart about it and avoided getting trapped. It's too bad that they're like that, because if they were more honest about things, they wouldn't get such a bad reputation and people would be much more willing to buy from them.
The heat was also pretty oppresive, as the mini-thermometer we had with us held at a constant 100 degrees Fahrenheit throughout our time there. And there is no shade anywhere in site. The entire day, between the two of us, we drank three liters of bottled water and six or seven cold bottles of Coke. We did get a little reprieve from the heat when the three of us shared
Climbing Cheops
This is us just before the arrest lunch at the KFC in front of the Sphynx. Yes, that's no joke ... there is in fact a Kentucky Fried Chicken about a stone's throw from the Sphynx. You never see it in pictures because they are taken from in front of the Sphyx (probably from the KFC). A little piece of home, right in the desert.
After that, we drove an extra hour to the oldest pyramid, the "Step Pyramid" of Saqqara. It's really amazing to think that these structures have been around for almost 5000 years -- long before the time of Jesus. But, to be honest, the thing that impressed us the most at Saqqara was the ice-cold air conditioned museum, which suddenly made us very interested to study the ancient artifacts inside at length.
At the end of our explorations, we made a quick stop to a perfume factory that prides itself on the alcohol-free fragrant oil extracts that they produce. We bought a US $15 sample of some lotus flower extract that smelled very nice.
By the end of the day, we were pretty exhausted. We went back to meet up with our guy, Imad, to let him know about the
day. He asked us what we did (and what we bought). We never felt any pressure to buy anything, but we really enjoyed this guy's business sense (especially Cosmina, who wants to apply some of the principles she learned here toward dental practice). Throughout our time with Imad and the two "museum" stores, we were welcomed graciuosly, given cold drinks, and treated well, allowed to bargain, and were left alone when we wanted it. He backed himself up with lots of recommendations and references, and had a good sense of humor throughout. We also think he has spies in his neighborhood, because everytime we're near his office, Imad or his brother (both roly-poly and with goatees) just happen to be coming out of their office and stop us to say Hi and see if we need anything else. As jaded as we can be as tourists, these guys were actually fairly honest with us and treated us well.
Yesterday we met our friend Thomas for a trip to the Egyptian Museum. We spent the day combing through tons of ancient artifacts: mummies, sarcophagi, King Tut's gold deathmask, papyrus art. Pretty fascinating stuff. Later we met up with Thomas, who
The Pyramid of Khafre
The second biggest of the pyramids with some of the original facade still at the top. Somebody important was buried here. is a professional choral singer and a really nice guy, for some shwarma dinner and then back up to our rooftop bar for a couple nightcap beers.
Tomorrow is our last day in Cairo. We've enjoyed it here, but are looking at getting out of the big city and out into nature (and starting our anti-malarials). We fly to Tanzania tomorrow night. We'll probably update after the safari (in about one week) if not before the safari, which we start on July 29.
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Dian
non-member comment
Wow!
I just found out that Josh went skydiving and Cosmina is traveling around the world, all my children are growing up. You guys look great and I am so happy for you. travel on!, Dian.