Egypt, Land of Contrasts

Egypt is a land of contrasts – rich / poor; fertile / desert; peaceful / raucous. It is very different from Europe (as expected) but it is also completely different than Turkey and Israel.

We arrived quite late to Cairo thanks to a seven hour delay at the TelAviv airport. No explanation, no apologies, we just waited. They did buy us a lunch but it was frustrating to wake up at 6 am to be at the airport for 8 am for an 11 am flight that takes off at almost 8 pm. We could have taken the bus for a bunch less $$ and arrived earlier. Live and learn. At least the Ben Gurion Airport is nice.



Entrance to the Big One

We touched down in Cairo to find a very modern airport. Thankfully Marina read the instructions and we got our $15 visas before we went into the line for customs. We cleared quickly and started walking through the airport – that’s as nice as any airport we have ever been in. We found a taxi counter and ordered a taxi to our hotel downtown Cairo – apparently, Cairo is so large that it’s actually two cities, so we all piled into this ancient Toyota and we headed off downtown (hopefully). The trip took about a half hour and we were treated to some amazing driving. The traffic in Cairo (or all over Egypt for that matter) is hard to describe. It’s anarchy.

Cairo Streets

Cairo Home

 

Cairo Buildings

 Leaving the airport we encountered a couple of buses that were blocking the way, then a car driving the wrong-way down a one-way street. Our driver didn’t seem fazed and didn’t honk the horn … so I mentioned “all that and not even a beep of the horn” … incredulous that all that action didn’t get any horn honking. Boy was that a stupid thing to say. Most Egyptian drivers have EXTRA horns installed and they communicate with one another constantly by honking a series of beeps, whistles and eee-aahhhs from their horns. Lines on the road are ‘guidelines’ at best with a driver often driving his car in between two other cars on a 2 lane road. I don’t think any North American could drive here without going raving mad.
We arrived at our hotel around 10pm and tried to go have a bite, but everything was closed. We had missed the orientation meeting for our tour and the wakeup call was at 7 am the next day. We went to the bar and had a drink; Ross had a desert that was like a bowl of soggy cereal that was heated up in a microwave. Mmmm.

The next day started with an orientation meeting with our tour-guide Ebrahim (ab-rah-Heem), an Egyptian fellow that works for Gap Adventure Tours (GAP = ‘Give us Another Pound’) where we learned what wasn’t included in our tour and what it will cost to see many things. One challenge of having four people on a tour is that a $60 up becomes $240 – so we are going to need a lot of cash.We started out in Cairo with two things that were on the top of the list in Egypt: the Pyramids of Giza and the Egyptian Museum. We boarded the mini-bus at 8:00 am and started driving to the Pyramids. After only 20 minutes or so, there they were. Much bigger than we expected (or at least me) we saw the three main pyramids rise into the sky. They were built by three successive kings – father, son, and grandson.


In the background, the father, son and grandson pyramids.



Each was built to be in harmony with the other with the newer of the two pyramids being careful not to usurp the grandness of the original. Ross told us that they remained the tallest man-made structures in the World from 2500BCE to around the 1890’s, so for nearly 5,000 years they were the largest and tallest buildings in the world.

The entry tunel to one of the smaller pyramids.



The tomb area

 We made our way into one of the smaller pyramids (not the top 3) as we were told they all look the same on the inside - hard to believe but we didn't feel like queuing up for the big one. No photos...unless you pay the guy at the door...so Marina did and thus we have a few. A very  small entry tunnel that opens into the tomb - still not huge but you could pack some pretty good treasures in if you wanted.


Around the pyramids are vendors and tourist police that make their living selling to (or perhaps better described as accosting) tourists. Abrahim warned us not to talk to them or take one of their gifts because they are not really giving gifts … so we need to be wary. It’s easier said than done for a Canadian to be rude – when someone comes and asks you a question it’s our normal mode to answer them. When they hand you something, we take it; when someone offers a gift, we accept it. This is a bad way to conduct oneself in Egypt. One of the popular scams is for a free ride – it’s free to get up, but costs you a lot to get down. 

Our $5 Photo



So after an hour or two of walking around the Pyramids, Marina starts talking to a guy with a Camel who asks her what part of Canada we’re from. After about a minute he’s got Jessie up on the camel, calls Ross in, gives him a head band, then me … and takes a picture or two … then wants 100 Egyptian pounds to let us down. With some quick negotiating, Marina got that down to 20 pounds – around $5.00. Boy did we feel like a couple of hillbillies from Canada, falling for the oldest trick in the book immediately after being warned about the scam and not to fall for it.


 

We walked back to the bus and proceeded to the Sphinx, an amazing structure that guards the entrance to the pyramids. Apparently the Sphinx was a large rock that needed to be removed. The Royal Architect persuaded the king to create a sculpture with the rock … and hence the Sphinx was created. It’s humungous and it’s in the process of being restored. Ross told us that the nose was shot off by French military officers during the time of Napoleon. Something to do on a hot desert day I guess. The pictures don’t really do it justice … but we’re going to post them just in case.