Month: January 2005

I spent my second afternoon hiking around the Great Pyramids of Giza, just outside of Cairo. I decided to take the interesting route and mix with the locals by hopping on the Cairo subway to Giza, followed by a public van transfer (which was for locals, not tourists). The van would pick up any passenger they could fit inside for 1 Egyptian Pound (about US$0.15) and drop them anywhere over a 10km stretch to the base of the pyramids. Every time the van emptied out, the driver would desperately try to woo new customers. By the end of our jaunt, we were riding down dirt lanes and competing with donkeys pulling carts. The locals were very friendly to me throughout the journey. I decided it was fun enough to return to my hostel the same way.

The Pyramids themselves were impressive, but hard to appreciate with all the touts trying to get every last cent out of your pocket. They were clearly on the edge of the desert with sand blowing in to dry out your eyes and mouth. Like the Egyptian Museum, they produce the artifacts, but offer very little additional information.

The hustlers at the Pyramids were much worse than the ones I encountered in Cairo yesterday. I got really upset at one who pretended to work for the administrators of the Pyramids. He asked to see my ticket (as though he were some sort of official), and then directed me into some tombs with a guide. Of course, I knew they were up to something and vowed (to myself) not to fork over any baksheesh (tip). The guide who brought me deep into the tomb was a bit less pushy, so I was about to get out without any problem, but when I abruptly turned away from the “official” and headed off on my own, he started yelling about his tip. I just kept walking. I later saw tourist police chasing after these guys at every chance, but there just didn’t happen to be any police in the area at the time.

I’ve booked a sleeper cabin on an overnight train along the Nile River to Luxor tomorrow. It’s supposed to be quite the experience, but we’ll see how touristy it is down there. The manager of my hostel is already trying to sell me on reservations for his hotels in Luxor, but I thought I’d better check them out first.

After a long day (or two) of travel from Philadelphia to London to Cairo on New Year’s Eve, I was pleased to finally touch down in this very smoggy city just a couple of minutes into 2005. They say breathing the air in Cairo is as bad as smoking four packs of cigarettes a day.

The flight over southern Europe was pretty cool on the big party night, with Athens, Greece, lit up in spectacular fashion. I was greatly relieved to find that the reservations I thought I had made were actually still being held for me at 1 AM in a nice clean hostel right on a busy square in the centre of Cairo. I felt the strong presence of the Middle East from the moment I landed — probably due to the Arabic writings and the fine desert silt that seemingly permeated everything I came in contact with. The drivers are the craziest I’ve ever come across, with no regard for traffic lights or even cops trying to direct traffic.

I spent my first afternoon at the Egyptian Museum (just a few blocks away from my hostel), where I got to scrutinise all of King Tut’s relics. I also saw lots of famous mummies and endless other artifacts. The museum isn’t really very well presented. There is hardly any information available on what you’re looking at. Just the odd typewritten note taped inside a glass case.

One of the coolest rooms featured a series of miniature models from various tombs depicting everyday life thousands of years ago. There were scenes of things like butcher shops that really didn’t look much different from what you’d find in the developing world today. It’s one thing to do an archeological dig and come up with theories about how life was, but it’s another to find actual models available. It was pretty amazing.

I’ve read lots of warnings about touts (hustlers) surrounding the tourist areas here, lying through their teeth about anything — in hopes of getting you into their trinket shops. They always start out very nice and walk alongside of you on the street, striking up a casual conversation. It all sounds innocent enough, and you want to be nice to those who are nice to you — but the intermittent conversation always seems to start accelerating until you’re being given the hard sell on something. One guy outside the museum actually had me going for about a minute, pointing me to the wrong end of the museum (as the entrance) and telling me it was closed for prayers for an hour. He told me he worked in the museum on the second floor and sounded somewhat genuine. Of course, the second he tried to direct me across the street to a trinket store, I knew he was working for someone. He was not pleased when I finally caught on to him and turned tail back to the main entrance of the museum!