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Published: October 12th 2010
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Sphinx and great pyramid
The sphinx is missing the nose. Salaam a leikum, habibi! I have made my way out to Egypt, the land of pharaohs, and I am in love with this country!
Cairo is the capital city and it’s a bustling place with rich culture pulsing through its veins. There’s colorful markets drizzled around every corner. There are huge mosques with beautiful white domes. And even though the city can be really crowded, it’s still easy to duck into small alleys where there are friendly food vendors cooking up some delicious shwarma. At night time, you can feel the electric energy vibe through the entire city. The lights are all on but with a dim to give the streets a calming glow. I see people selling every kind of goods to anybody. I see moms and dads taking their excited kids out to ice cream. I see men sitting in front of cafes smoking sheesha and laughing vivaciously. I feel so alive with the cars honking, kids laughing and the aroma of shish kebab filling the air. Then when I walk out of downtown area, I am met with the magnificent Nile river flowing through the heart of Egypt. Such a romantic scene and I thought
Dammit, The great sphinx!
Sphinx riddle: What walks with four legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon and 3 legs at night?
Human Beings! I wish Maggz was here… we’d ditch this romance stuff and get ourselves some shish kebabs!
Is he a Good Man I got ready for my day trip to Giza to see the famous pyramids. I was asking the policeman directions to the Sadaat Metro station and this stranger overhears us. He promptly offered his assistance and said he’ll take me there. Then we start talking and he says that he actually lives at Giza and he’ll take me there with his car. I declined and said that I just want to get to Sadaat metro, but thanks! He says, “Nonono, it’s on the way, no problem habibi!” He kept insisting so I started becoming really suspicious. I kindly declined again. He says fine, and that he’ll take me to Sadaat station (even though I just wanted him to point me the direction). We walk a bit and we actually end up at his car, not the station. He says, “I’ll just drive you to Giza, no problem, no problem.” I kindly declined again and he finally agreed that he’ll just drive me to Sadaat station. After 5 minutes, we still haven’t reached the station. So I question
Small pyramid
Theres a temple of worship there him and he says, “It’s just right there, relax, you don’t trust me?”
I said, “I don’t know you, how can I trust you? I have to be a smart traveler.” Then he becomes very agitated and says that he’s just helping me and doesn’t want anything in return.
After 10 minutes, we still weren’t at the station. Worst of all, during those 10 minutes he kept arguing that he was such a good man. He protested that he can be trusted and that I am the bad man. He wanted to drive to his police friend so that I could ask the police if he was truly good or not. He also said, “Look! Look at my fingers! Look! They are all different, this mean that I am a good person, Look!” Haha, I looked and thought
Well, my fingers are all fat, does that mean I’m a bad man? . Another 5 minutes passed and I realized he wasn’t taking me to the station at all.
Getting dangerous…. Then we get on the freeway and I see signs pointing to Giza. He says, “I wanted to prove to you that I am a good
man, so I drive you all the way there. I just drive you there and not want anything from you. I am good man”
Hmm… maybe a good man after all We got there at the front entrance and he says, “Let’s have some tea first.”
“Sure.”
What does he do? He walks me right into a tour company office.
D’oh! I knew it… . I was greeted with the friendly Egyptian hospitality by a big fellow. What’s weird is that the “good man” was pretending he didn’t know the guy, even though he clearly did. I think they were trying to hustle me. The big fellow gives me the full run down and tells me that the price is $80 USD. Way expensive. I told him thanks, I’ll think about it. I left both behind and then the ‘good man’ comes out after me and says,” What do you want to do now?” I took him out for a quick lunch to show him my appreciation for the free ride. Afterwards, I said, “Thank you, you’re a good man for not wanting anything in return.” I said goodbye to him for the tenth time of
Giza pyramid
Biggest pyramid in the world. Built by King Khufu. The ratio of the base to the height is exactly 3.14. Which means they knew about Pi way before all of us! the day and left for the entrance. He doesn’t let me go and says that if I go in without a tour guide, people will scam me and I can’t trust them. Ha! That’s like listening to a wolf tell you that a sheep can’t be trusted. Any solo traveler knows that tour companies are the biggest scammers! He’s getting impatient and pulls on my shirt. I break free from him and he swears at me as I walk away from him. I safely got into the pyramids and it only cost me 10 USD. And an extra camel ride for 1 USD. So did he help me because he wanted something in return? Is he a good man like he says he is or is he a bad man?
Honestly, I can’t say. He keeps saying that he was a good man but that didn’t necessarily mean he actually was. I told a story about him that makes him seem bad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he was either. In fact, since I wrote a story about him that shines a negative light, that should make me a bad person. Hell, if anybody got scammed, it would be
him since I came out of the situation with a free ride! It's just too difficult to label a person as “good” or “bad”.
By the end of the day, I got lost on the way back to Cairo. I was helped three separate times by different strangers and all of them were so helpful. They would struggle with their English just to help a stranger out. The first person didn’t know the answer so he rounded up some other local people he didn’t know to help me find my way. Then I was riding on the metro, and a group of young army guys just gave up their seats for me. They kept insisting that I have a seat and I finally obliged. Then when I got lost at the metro station, this old guy helped me get around. He even got out of the train to walk me to the right exit and went back to wait for the next train. Incredible! Mindblowing that people can be so selfless!
Doing more good deeds than bad deeds in life doesn’t define me as a good person. I’m still trying to figure out what makes a person ultimately
good. Maybe the definition doesn’t exist because there are two sides to everything. But if a person can genuinely help a stranger without asking anything in return then I think that’s a step towards being ultimately good. A man who has absolutely nothing to gain from helping and can still be happy is a man who is free. I’m definitely not there yet because I still give more importance to the self than to other people. I’m working on it but for now, I’ll settle with just being “not so bad” of a free man!
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Nina
non-member comment
did you ride a camel?
OH MY! You lost so much weight, fatty! I hope you're eating right and staying healthy though! Miss and love you so much! Keep writing :)