Egypt and then some.

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Well Egypt is quite the beast.

Let me start with the good.

We have a very nice room with air conditioning and a sink and its very comfortable. By Egyptian standards I am sure this is a very good place. It has a view and a nice balcony and we are on the 7th floor. This place is also very cheap. I get about 5.76 for every 1 US dollar. A bottle of coke costs me 1 egyptian dollar. I bought 2 fresh watermellon for 10 egyptian pounds. Taxis cost about 4 US dollars to go from here to the pyramids one way. Its really very cheap. In fact we were desperate for food today and found a pizza hut, we got a large pepperoni, mushroom, and olive pizza, 5 Pepsi's, plus tax, service, and tip. That all was less than 12 dollars.

We crawled through one of the Pyramids today, not really much to see kinda a let down really. Its the second largest on in Cairo the one with part of the outer shell still on it. It was kinda hard to climb through it, but it was really cool and altogether worth it. We also walked around some of the other pyramids, and we saw the Sphinx. It was all very cool and worth it.

My head was VERY burned yesterday and I desperatly seeked out a hat, I found a nice baseball hat for 6 dollars US. Was VERY glad. Egypt is hot, but I feel that Athens was hotter. I need to buy some more lighter clothes! Im dieing!!

Anyhow, on to the bad. (I am just informing, not trying to complain lol)

There is something here that is a common part of everyones life. The locals do it, and the foreigners do it as well. Its called "Baksheesh". Its basically a tip for almost any small service rendered. There is in my opinion good baksheesh and bad baksheesh. And example of good baksheesh would be my taxidriver from the airport, he was very helpful and nice. I gave him 5 egyptian pounds, almost 1 dollar US. Thats a really good baksheesh. Or we were trying to get across a very busy road, and a road sweeper dude helped across the road, stopping cars and what not. He definitly deserved baksheesh.

Bad baksheesh. A man came up to jocelyne and veyr forcefully put a good luck stone in her hand. He wanted baksheesh. When i bought my hat, the dude broke a 50 for me, he wanted baksheesh. But its not just them. There are 2 types of police here. Egyptian police, and Tourist Police. The tourist police are like police, but they are specifically to help tourists. They are EVERYWHERE. They will be sitting on a corner in a chair, or walking around or whatever, they are EVERYWHERE. Lots around the pyramid. One of them came up to us and offered to take our picture next to the pyramid. We agreed. After he took it, he asked for baksheesh. I agreed, and I gave him 1 pound. 1 Pound for that kind of help would be normal. He looks at that and says "No, it costs 5 pounds". I look at him, and I say, "No this is baksheesh from me to you". And just kinda nods. We are even kinda afraid of the Tourist police because they might take advantage of us.

There are tons of people here trying to take advantage of any english speaking tourist. They will walk up next to us when we are walking around and point out "That is the Egyptian Museum" which we already know, our hostel is right next to us. If we say yes or whatever, he will strike up a converstion. Where are you from etc. etc. the end of which will either end up in them asking for baksheesh or them trying to lead you and trap you in their shop till you buy something.

When we first got here I wanted to see what would happen. I knew if I even started talking to them where I would end up, and so this guy talks to us and on the way of leading us to a supermarket (we were lookingfor one to buy water) he stops and says "oh this is my shop". It was a shop full of art on papyrus. he tried to make small talk but we were nervous and not talkative so he cut to the chase. He tried VERY hard to sell us a papyrus painting for 250 pounds. Everytime we tried say no the deal got sweeter. By the end he offered us 150 pounds for a big one and 3 free small paintings. That would still have been quite alot for that. When I said I would come back in 4 days and possibly buy something he said he would be gone tomorrow. When I said I would come back tomorrow morning he said he was leaving today. Thats what they do. Anyhow we eventually inched to the door and finally he says "Fine! Get out of my shop!!" And we left. They will try anything to get you into their shop. When we went to the pyramids there was an endless stream of camel drivers trying to get us to ride their camels. First it would start with "take a picture of me like this!!" he would raise his stick etc. This one guy kept bugging us, and I said maybe later. He waited for us after we went through the pyramid. He kept following us because I said maybe. So I started talking to him and got some info from him about the area, he was actually a very nice guy. Finally we were gonna head for the sphinx and I said to him "We are not going to ride your camel, but I will make you a deal". I told him that he was good guide and since he talked to us and helped us a little I would give him nice baksheesh which I did. He seemed disappointed but satisfied. At the sphinx this little boy was almost attacking jocelyne with his merchandise. At one point she started to run away from him which meant she was also running away from me. In a place like this, that is bad. I ran after her and stopped her. I understand why she is running away he was terrorizing her, but if she runs away from me i cannot help her. So I kept grabbing her and saying no and turning my back to they boy, but he would walk around us and start all over again, we could not get away from him! Finally a tourist police guy comes over just grabs the boy by the shirt and drags him away from us. VERY thankful for that!! It sort of ruins some of the sights being CONSTANTLY bugged. We have money and they know it.

We grabbed a taxi to the pyramids and it is not surprising if someone else gets in your taxi its normal you share taxis. Not at the pyramids though, we were ready for this, but it was still annoying. We were almost to the pyramids and a man waives and jumps into our cab and starts to talk arabic to the driver. I start saying NO NO NO Hareem(Hareem is arabic for Pyramids). And the taxi driver starts acting like he doesnt know what he should do. But I just keep saying NO! Hareem!! and pointing. Finally the dude turns around and says something like you cannot drive to the pyramids you must take a camel. I said thats ok we will walk. he spends a couple more minutes trying to get us to agree and shortly after the taxi driver pulls over and lets the guy out. I looked at the driver and said Shukran(thank you). Then the taxi driver knew what we wanted and didnt let any of the other 5 guys that were trying to do that in our car.

I can see money signs in every Egpytians eyes I come across its very sad. You can constantly feel them tugging at your sleeve (metaphore).

Not to mention our problems with Jocelyne being a girl. I gave her sunglasses so she cant make eye contact with any of them. But she constantly gets stare downs (she is dressing consevatively by the way). And I think we just get harrassed a little more in general because she is a girl. I already got offered camels for her. We say we are married and we are both now wearing rings, it helps us out to do that. And the people selling crap around the pyramids and what not, target her first and come to me for money. At restaurants, they give me the bill. Its very interesting to see how they treat me and then how they treat her.

I know I have said alot, but the trip is worth it, and it can kinda be more of struggle here than anywhere in europe, but its still amazing and Im loving it. (sometimes morethan others :P) Anyhow I will try to add a few pictures.

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Photos

Pyramids
Me at pyramids

Sphinxand Pyramids
Some Pyramids and sphinx

Sphinx
Sphinx

Me and pyramid
Me next to a pyramid.

Camel
This was the camel dude that was following us everywhere.

New Hat
My New hat, you like??

Comments

[Justin]

Wow man can you imagine my reaction to some of that?!!?? I'd totally go off on those guys. Looks like you're having a blast. --Justin

[Cairogal]

The Tourist Experience in Egypt
Shawn, first off, thanks for starting with the positive things about Egypt. There are many more of those to be explored, but not often seen when one is passing through. The experience you describe is errily familiar to most people visiting the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum. The hassle, the constant 'hello! hello!" is hard to ignore. Even arriving at the airport provides a foreshadowing of what's to come. One cannot collect one's luggage without several people calling to them (in a manner that indicates familiarity) trying to offer up some service. Having lived in Egypt, I can say that there are loads of places that offer a break from the sensation of constantly being cheated, though it's no where near the main tourist stops. Being a foreigner in Egypt, whether living there or just visiting, makes you a target. Egypt is a very poor country that is very reliant upon tourism for her livelihood. Any time anyone offers a friendly service (particularly if you're near an attraction), one must assume that the offer is based on financial gain. Even Egyptians are prone to this baksheesh sabotage. They park their car: a man offering unwanted and unneeded help comes out of no where. He wants some money for helping you park. You tell him, 'No, I'll pay later."He says he won't be there. Well, later, when you come back, there is another man there. He insists upon helping you pull out of your spot. Guess what? He wants cash, too. Those people helping you cross the street? Or opening your car door when you don't need their help? They view tourists as opporunity. Sadly, many of the less educated (and that's a huge percentage of the society) view foreigners as being suckers. Living there made me a bit callus towards people like that. Being rude and making a lot of noise (and knowing enough Arabic to tell them to get lost) helped keep them at bay, but the rude comments, like those of the shop owner who kicked you out, are not uncommon. There's also a lot of cultural misunderstand going on between 2 parties. Bargaining in Egypt means you're interested. Once you set a price, if the shop owner agrees to it, it is really compulsory to purchase it. On the papyrus note: I did regular souvenir business with a many in Maadi Road 9 called Tarek. He was incredibly honest, and local foreign residents went back to him again and again because of it. I think I paid approximately 10 Egyptian Pounds (less than $2) for some of the prettier papyrus. Even the ones supposedly hand-painted by a famous artist on papyrus: those are bogus. They've been painted by Joe Egyptian following a pattern. Papyrus is probably the single biggest rip off in Egypt for tourists, along with alabaster. Better to shop in the khan al khalili market than buy anywhere near the Pyramids. For off-the-beaten-path sites in Cairo, Islamic Cairo (Ibn Talounn Mosque), Coptic Cairo, Bayt al Suheimi, Sultan Hassan Mosque, and the Sufi Dancers at the Citadel are all cheap or free, and must less of a tourist hassle. It's a nice break from the Pyramids and Museum. One might also consider taking an iPod to preserve their own sanity. http://cairogal.blogspot.com/