Goodbye, Egypt!!

Date: August 1, 2008
Location: Alexandria and Cairo
Lat: 31° 11.6N Long: 029° 11.6N

Well, we’re finally leaving Egypt and I just want to say, I’m happy. I think one of my problems was that I only saw the people who just sell crap to tourists. Therefore I have a skewed view of the Egyptians. One of the problems is that Egyptians are very friendly and outgoing people. The only problem is figuring out who is being friendly and helpful and who just wants a buck. Usually these people operate the same way so you don’t know if you’re being helpfully led to a place you asked for or if you’re being led to a shop where the guy has family connections so he wants you to buy stuff from his people.

I woke up pretty early to go on the SAS led Classic Cairo trip. Cairo and Alexandria are a good distance from each other so there was plenty of time to catch up on sleep on the three hour bus ride. I drifted in and out of sleep so I was able to see a little of what was going on outside of Alexandria and Cairo. Egypt is an extremely desolate place. Once one leaves the cities its miles and miles of desert. The interesting thing about this is that every so often one sees a walled palace which is an oasis of greenery that looks finer than gold course putting greens. I suppose these are the places where the rich go to get away from the slums.

I guess I have more observations from the bus ride. I have neglected to mention, in the front seat of the bus there was a plainclothes security official wearing a two piece suit. These guys were packing heat, they didn’t show their guns, but by the clip sticking out of the suit they were carrying some type of submachine gun. It seems like everyone has a piece here.

As we approached Cairo we drove through some slums. These were high rises that were typically missing windows and other such basic necessities. The funny thing about these was that it seemed like every one of these things had a forest of satellite dishes on the roof. I guess these people have their priorities.

Our first stop was the Egyptian Museum. This place was absolutely beautiful. I wasn’t allowed to take any photos so I just have my memories. Most of the things were relatively boring, such as clay pots. However, there were some absolutely magnificent items. The huge statues of the pharaohs were really impressive, much more so when one thinks of the time they’ve lasted here.

The trump exhibit of the museum was clearly the treasure from Tutankhamen’s tomb. The Pharaoh’s caskets were quite impressive. The most amazing thing by far was the burial head dress. We’ve seen this thing time and time again in photographs, but it is absolutely mind blowing to see this thing in person. I was stunned by its beauty.

After looking through the museum for a bit we headed out to lunch. The lunch was a buffet style of a wide range of food options. They had some pita bread with a wide variety of sauces to try. They also had a wide variety of other food, such as chicken, beef, and others. It was a real good meal.

Then we went off to the Pyramids. Since our time was rather limited, we only got to go to the Giza Plateau. However, having three large pyramids and the sphinx was quite enough to get my attention. The Pyramids were highly impressive. It’s staggering that something as huge as that could be built so long ago. The Pyramids were ancient when the Romans were around; I can’t imagine having the Washington Monument standing in 6388 AD.

I guess I don’t have too much to say about the Pyramids themselves. They’re huge and impressive. I do have plenty to say about the parasites that surround the Pyramids. Everyone in Egypt is out to hustle you. Everyone wants a buck. Everyone comes with smiles and greetings of friendship, everyone is your brother and everyone is your friend, and everyone wants your money. That’s the thing with Egypt; the friendliness seems so fake, so when a few genuine people try to help you out, you tend to distrust them because of the actions of the multitude.

When we moved from the panoramic spot where one could see all the Pyramids to the base of the Great pyramid, things got from bad to worse. There were a number of vendors at the overlook, but nothing compared to the nightmare at the base.

While I was walking around one vendor ran up to me and threw an Arab headdress onto my head “for free” then he shoved a collection of postcards, two other headdresses, and a collection of three pyramids that had some neat drawings etched on the inside of them. I guess these were kind of cool. He was wearing a Cubs hat too so I guess that was neat. However, the unneat part; nothing is free in this country. Immediately he started demanding for baksheesh, which is Arabic for tipping. I gave the guy ten dollars and walked on my way, despite never actually wanting the things. I guess it wasn’t too bad in the long run because the items weren’t too bad and will be regifted.

However, the bad thing is that the black plastic bag I had from this guy was more or less a bulls-eye. I then got somewhat annoyed at this and decided to return to the bus, having got my fill of standing at the base of the Pyramids. On my way back some Egyptian robber barons with a camel decided to have their way with me. They asked if I wanted to go for a ride and unwisely I accepted, not thinking to negotiate a price ahead of time. I got a variety of awesome photos of me on a camel in front of the Pyramids.

However, they were leading me away from the majority of tourists. I noticed this and didn’t like where we were going but I didn’t think to have them take me back near the Egyptian Tourist Police. So I was gallivanting away from the main group on a camel like Lawrence of Arabia. All good rides come to an end, and unfortunately this one cost me a pretty penny. When they finally set the camel down they expected baksheesh. I, being a good man, decided to reward their efforts with 50 Egyptian Pounds, which is around ten dollars.

However, this wasn’t enough for them, so I opened my wallet again to give them maybe 20 more Egyptian Pounds. This is when they started reaching into my wallet all the while promising to give me change. I was righteously angry about this but didn’t know what to do. I was a bit of a distance away from everyone and I don’t know if these guys were packing knives under their cloaks so I went along with this. Ultimately I lost $22, €5, and £120 Egyptian. They took every bill I had, except for 5 50 Piaster notes. I walked away from this fuming.

I was really ticked off that I got taken advantage of like this. It filled me with a great, great distrust of Egyptian hospitality. However, there were two good offshoots from this, I got some really excellent photos and I didn’t have to pay for trash souvenirs as a method to get rid of my Egyptian Pounds. Unfortunately, it pretty much ruined my Pyramid experience. Everyone takes their lumps here and there. I got swindled, but I won’t let it happen again. I’ll do better next time.

We then went down to see the Sphinx. Given my great dislike of everything Egyptian, at the time, I didn’t exactly enjoy the experience. The guide gave us a ticket to let us get a side view of the Sphinx. I tried to find the entrance to this. I had some problems finding it so I sort of went around the far end. I started to turn the corner and discovered an Egyptian who was willing to help me. He started leading me towards a fence where lots of people were on the other side of the fence. This immediately set my alarms off at full tilt so I turned around and high tailed it to the bus. I ignored his shouts begging me to comeback. Maybe he was being friendly and helpful, I doubt it, and he was probably out for baksheesh. Dan Tison doesn’t get swindled by Egyptians twice in the same day.

After the Sphinx, we headed back to Alexandria. I was looking forward to getting back to the ship. Not just for its ice cold air, but also the lack of people hassling you. I made it back and took a shower and laid down for a bit. I decided that I was done with Egypt and decided to stay on the ship for the rest of my time in the Port.

I ran into a friend at dinner and over eating where we swapped experiences. He managed to talk me into heading back out into the town with him. We agreed that I would be on his tab since I had no money. We quickly assembled a group of ten, him, another guy, seven other ladies, and me. We made it through the three circles of landsharks circling off the gangway.

We headed out around 2100. This is conveniently the time of the call for prayer. This was really neat to hear and it was something I certainly hoped to experience. Another thing, the ladies in burkahs are still very bizarre to me. It just seems so odd to be a prisoner because of your body. One only gets to see out of these two small eye slits. When they’re wearing sunglasses they could just as easily be Cousin It, the hairy, formless thing, from the Adams Family. Clearly we are in a very foreign environment.

After this an Egyptian guy leached onto us. He took us to the Bazaar, which wasn’t exactly where we wanted to go. The Bazaars are pretty crazy at night. Everyone is out, selling all kinds of things, there were tons of intestines for sale, also skinned rabbits, and other things. There was also a variety of other things for sale.

We tried to lose this guy a few times. However, we weren’t successful as each time we’d reverse course or take a sudden turn he’d stick to us like glue. Eventually we just told him goodbye like four times straight and he left. Surprisingly he didn’t ask for any baksheesh. He was just being friendly, too bad those thieves at the Pyramids ruined my view Egyptian hospitality.

We eventually found a hookah bar. Hookah is a Middle Eastern water pipe that one smokes flavored tobacco through. It has gained steady popularity in the States. One can usually see at least two or three of these going in a given night around the Purdue dorms. The neat thing about this hookah bar was that it was in an alley, between two shops. We asked a local where one was so we found it. The hookah was real nice and got us all a little light headed. It was kind of funny being the only white people in this hookah bar surrounded by middle aged Egyptians playing dominos. Our whole group enjoyed this for around an hour and a half or so. This only cost us six dollars, so it was a steal compared to what it would be in America.

After this we decided to find an actual bar. This is extremely hard as drinking is not a part of the Egyptian culture. We did find a bar. The girls decided to try to find some sort of local Egyptian style drink. Due to the language barrier, they had no luck but Egyptian Vodka and Mango juice. A few of the other people decided to go with the Authentic Egyptian Stella beer. The beers were surprisingly good. They tasted kind of like Miller Lite. The guys and I decided to do a shot of this Egyptian Vodka. Instead of just a normal shot, we probably got around 2.5 shots in a normal glass. We decided that we’d only be in Egypt once and took it down the hatch in one swoop. After another round of beers, we decided to head back to the ship. Drinks for 10 people probably cost us around 20 dollars, which is what one person would drink in a night at the bars in the states.

The next day I woke up and decided to stay in. I had seen all of Alexandria that I had wanted and a lot of parts that I didn’t. Also, I had no money and thought getting more would be a waste of resources. Instead I spent the day working on one of the papers that are due after we’re done visiting ports. I don’t regret my decision at all.

I don’t intend to return to Egypt. I liked my time, the people are friendly. However, their friendship mostly seems to be a facade to get money. I guess I had a bad experience. I saw the Pyramids, they were awesome, and I think I saw what’s good in Egypt. I guess it wouldn’t be easy to be a civilization that peaked 4500 years ago. Egypt doesn’t seem to have much going for it today. They don’t have oil. They’ve lost pretty much every war they’ve fought in lately. However, they do have the Aswan Dam, which has elicited tons of controversy, and a Glorious past that occurred 4500 years ago. The Pyramids are amazing and awe inspiring, however, when one is done craning their necks down at those lofty, manmade mountains, they are greeted with wolves in sheeps' clothing living in a decrepit, poorly maintained land that’s falling apart.