Been There Done That Too…

Cairo

// October 28th, 1996 // Egypt, Passage To Africa

Port Suez and Cairo – Arriving at our first stop in Egypt, we anchor at Port Suez and take tenders to the busses that are waiting for us on the shore. Because the Egyptians are very “Security” conscious, all 11 busses must travel in convoy. There’s nothing like visiting all the best sites with 500 of your favorite friends… Travel time between Port Suez and Cairo is around 3 hours of nothing but desert that is definately a no man’s land. Traveling through a very congested Cairo to our first stop, the Pyramids, we pass several statues and the “City of the Dead,” a huge cemetary that the living actually inhabit too. We finally arrive at the Pyramids, and there are two things that everybody notices:

1) How close Cairo is – the sprawl practically touches the base of the Pyramids and 2) How many people there are crowding the busses trying to sell you something, sell you a camel ride, or just get a hand out. I’m probably one of the few people that will say this – I was a little dissapointed with the Pyramids, they didn’t impress me much. They’re in fairly bad shape, and for the most part are just a pile of strategicly placed stones. They’re also smaller than I thought they’d be – so was the Sphinx.

I was much more impressed with Borobodur on Java and Chickenitza in Mexico (I know they’re not as old…). I was intrigued by the tombs near the Sphinx that they are excavating – now those might be interesting!

We left the Pyramids and went to lunch at a very famous hotel that sits almost next to the Pyramids. Beautiful architecture and great food. After lunch we went to visit a papyrus workshop. There were some beautiful works there – definately the place to pick up a nice gift. The craftsmanship of the drawings is wonderful and the prices are good. After the shopping stop we headed to the Egyptian Museum.

I should note here, our tour guide was a complete JERK! He was insulting to the women, and he hated answering questions. The other Egyptians we ran into in Cairo were just as bad. The attitude seemed to be “Give us your money and get out!” I have never felt more unwelcome in a country. Even the government gets in on it. The policies in the museums regarding cameras is as anti-tourist as you can get. It’s more than double the admission price if you want to bring a still camera, and approximately 10 times the admission price if you want to take a video camera in.

I would strongly suggest that if the Egyptians want to keep making money on the tourists they start treating them a little better. They need to learn how to be nice instead of rude, and conceal their money gouging tactics a little better. The only previous experience I had had with Egyptians was with the wonderful couple I met in Athens, so I had high hopes for Egypt – beautiful antiquity and nice people. Unfortunately the only nice Egyptians I met were the couple in Athens. The last stop was the Mohammed Ali Mosque.

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