Archives for June 2010

To be fair, we had been warned.

If your personal travel fantasy predominantly features Egypt, you should probably stop reading. Seriously. I don’t want to be the one to deflate your dreams. Or maybe you’d appreciate a cautionary tale?

Now that I’ve given you the storybook view of our trip, let’s get real.

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I knew what I was getting into… but not really. A friend visited Cairo during our winter holiday and had little positive to say. He was hassled for [monetary] tips incessantly. Another friend visited Cairo during our Eid holiday and provided a marginally better report. She was hassled by the men aggressively. But… you know… it’s Egypt. It’s the pyramids. We had to go!

Honestly, those two and a half days in Egypt were the most uncomfortable I’ve ever felt traveling. (Well… I’m not counting walking back to our hostel in Lima… passing prostitutes and discovering a porn shoot… that was awkward too…).

Our first morning we set out to visit the pyramids with a taxi driver contracted through our hostel. We were given the impression that our only option was to ride a camel or a horse to the pyramids. We were told it was a 12km walk through the sand and that it could not be done. If we had done more research… we would have known this was largely bull****. We found ourselves in a high pressure situation with few options. After negotiating a better price for our camel ride, it wasn’t so bad… until I saw the camels.

Maybe you remember my post about the elephants of Thailand? Yep, I felt like a total jerk climbing aboard a camel of Egypt. Thank goodness for sunglasses because I started to cry as the handlers began hitting the camels for not wanting to kneel down on hot abrasive pavement. As we ventured further on our camel trek, I felt more and more uncomfortable with our mode of transportation. Molly noticed open wounds under the camels’ chins from their harnesses which were being led by… a child.

The tour itself was nice enough although we didn’t get very close to the pyramids. Our guide was entertaining and friendly until it was time for the tip. Not only did he ask for a tip (which he was going to receive anyways), he made it known that our tip was not good enough and became flat out rude. What are you supposed to do when you still have a kilometer to go to reach the stables? Begrudgingly we gave him (and the child guide) more money and they led us back. At this point, I was happy to be moving on in our day. Unfortunately, as soon as we dismounted our camels, another set of tourists climbed on. No rest for the ones performing the real task.

Bytheway… when you see a World Wonder behind a chain link fence… it just takes a little something from the magic. Oh, and did I mention the litter?

As uncomfortable as our pyramid visit was… the best was yet to come. The men in Egypt… they are something. You can’t walk a block without getting hassled. They try to engage you in conversation. If you ignore them, they follow you and get angry. If you politely answer their questions while still walking briskly, they follow you and get angry. At one point in our trip we made it safely back to our hostel… and didn’t want to leave again. Molly even considered manufacturing a baby bump so they’d leave her alone. Wearing modest clothing and avoiding eye contact were completely ineffective.

Seriously. It’s annoying. It’s exhausting. It’s frustrating.

Here are a few memorable quotes:

“Well, have a bad effing day!” – to Hannah after she politely explained that we weren’t interested in furthering our conversation
“You know what? If you ever needed help… I would not help you! You know why? Because you are rude!!!” – love the irony of that one.

And then something to the effect of Molly dying alone amidst regrets of not taking up with an Egyptian man.

It’s difficult because when you visit a place for just a few short days, it’s impossible to gain a full understanding of the culture. But the impression that Cairo left on me, was negative indeed. After speaking with other friends who visited Cairo at other times with similar experiences, we developed a theory of why Cairo (obviously not every single person in Cairo) treats their visitors so poorly.

Because they can.

Egypt has so much history and so much to offer the curious traveler that tourists will never stop visiting. The tourism industry doesn’t have to cater to the tourist to lure them in. You can be a jerk when you have an ancient pyramid in your backyard.

So should you visit Cairo? Of course! You have to go, it’s Cairo. But consider this your fair warning…

xo, jill

*Note: I’d strongly advise against females traveling solo to this particular destination

Step up your game, Western churches.

Back in Egypt now… the morning of our final day we headed to the citadel that sits up above the city. The Cairo Citadel was built between 1176 and 1183 to protect against those wild Crusaders. The highlight of the structure is the elegant Mohammed Ali (Alabaster) Mosque. The mosque was built in the Ottoman style and is quite different from the mosques we have in Abu Dhabi. Not that I’m now an Islamic architecture connoisseur or anything…

Inside the mosque was lit with hanging lanterns that provided a luminous atmosphere. I could almost imagine holding a wedding here… I mean, if it wasn’t a mosque. I liked seeing a very rustic style of decor as opposed to the opulence of Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque (which I will post about soon).

Another highlight of the citdel is the view it provides of Cairo. Just imagine if the air wasn’t thick with haze…

After scoping out a few more bits of the citadel, we scampered back down to find a cab to the Egyptian Museum.

We decided to hire a guide to help us find our way around the rooms stuffed full of ancient artifacts. Our guide must have been able to read us well as he seemed to tailor his tour to the particularly sexy bits of history (I didn’t need to see King Tut’s condom or underwear, but ok). We are loose Western women, after all. Check out Molly’s post on the museum to learn a bit more.

After the museum we took a leisurely taxi ride to the airport. And by leisurely I mean hot, sweaty, and life endangering. But we made it!

xo, jill