Walk like an Egyptian

That phrase has a whole new meaning to it after being in Cairo for three days. It's absolutely chaos in the city. Traffic everywhere and absolutely no method to that madness. There are actually police around to help tourists cross the street. Seems like a simple task, but I tried to do it alone and actually got hit by a car (don't worry mom - nothing major, the side mirror just hit my shoulder and they were only driving about 5mph so...)!

Anyhow, three days in Cairo. First of all, let me explain, this was actually a "work trip." One of our suppliers, ART (a Pan-Arab station based in Egypt) launched a new station so they invited what turned out to be about 25 of us from Dubai, Riyadh and Jeddah to come for the launch. Originally scheduled for 8-10 March, I found out about the trip on 1 Mar. On the 6th of Mar I still had no details about my flight, my hotel, itinerary, etc. When I e-mailed for info, I got the reply "trip has been changed to 11-14 Mar. Will send details tomorrow. Those came 9 Mar. Have I mentioned that advanced planning is not really a forte of the region?

I had no idea if we were going to be busy the whole trip or if this was really just a reason to go travel so I didn't really do any research for my journey. Luckily, as it turns out, 95% of the trip was free time and everyone was keen to sightsee and explore so turned out to be a really fun, interesting trip.

Upon arrival in Cairo, our "host" from ART prompty goes to duty-free to purchase his allotment of whiskey and vodka. At this point, I'm starting to realize this trip is purely pleasure....no business will be done....and I'm diggin' it. Back home, we're not really allowed to accept trips from suppliers, here it's encouraged so hopefully there will be more to come!

Anyhow, we're shuttled to our hotel, the Semiramis Intercon, which as an indication of the poverty of Cairo, is a 5-star Cairo hotel, but by any other standards, maybe a 3 star? Sounds horribly snobby but hey...I live in Dubai now. ;-)

Have obligatory welcome dinner at this restaurant on a boat on the Nile. Then head back with the guys to the casino in our hotel. (and yes, only guys because of the 30 or so total people on the trip, only 4 girls) As Dubai has not yet legalized gambling, there are no casinos (I don't think Sheikh Mo has quite grasped how profitable the gaming business could be! but I digress). Cairo casinos don't hold a candle to Vegas but it's fun nonetheless.

Wednesday, a group of us headed out of Cairo to the Giza Pyramids. We leave the hotel to arrange taxis. Now, I've been told a cab should cost about 50LE (Egyptian Pounds) which is about $10USD. That covers a taxi to drive you approx 30 minutes to the pyramids, the cab driver waiting for you to have your look around - 30 minutes, 3 hrs, 5 hrs.. doesn't matter... covered - and the drive back to downtown. I've also been forewarned that Egyptians will rip us off. They'll rip off other non-Egyptian Arabs (I was with all Lebanese), they'll rip off Westerners. If they know you have money, they will try to take you for everything you have. Don't get me wrong, Cairo is poor so everything is dirt cheap but it's just the principal. I'd rather give money to a beggar than to someone who knowingly is just trying to take my money and rip me off because he can. We end up getting the taxis for 150LE - a mere 3x what it should've cost us.

The cityscape of Cairo is really interesting, relative to Dubai especially. Coming from a place that has virtually no history, I was in awe of Egypt. However, there seems to be little plan for advancing the country into the 21st century. Amazing architecture, but everything was really dirty. The cars on the road are all at least 20-30 years old. I took a bunch of black and white photos of Cairo and you'd think they were literally 50 yr old photos (and i'm not bragging about my photography skills here!)

Back to the cab to Giza. This cute little old man drove us to the Pyramids but he kept on pointing back at me and smiling and saying something I didn't understand in Arabic and laughing. No one in the cab felt the need to translate for me other than to say "he likes you." I can only imagine what else what being said but....

We get to the Pyramids and pay for our tickets. Arabs, 2LE. Non-Arabs, 50LE. Sweet. We first refuse the guided tour which was offered for 40LE each. 10 minutes into our walk, we have a guide and are now paying 80LE each. But at least we got to see the Pyramids by horseback. Pretty cool. It's pretty bizarre and surreal to see a guide riding camel while dialing his mobile. I've never actually seen Lawrence of Arabia but our ride is pretty much what I envision the movie to be (minus the mobile of course).

At the end of the ride, we gallop into "town" which is in essence, a tourist trap. We're told about the "essence of lotus" oil, Cleopatra and Nephretite fragrances and then, again, after initially refusing, we're all suckered into buying bottles of perfume. (we found out the next day, what we got was not the best stuff and we paid about double what we should have) Then to the papyrus shop next door. Same deal. Given the explanation of how papyrus is made and then suckered into buying my zodiac sign with my name in heiroglyphics for 80LE (that, i was told should've been 10LE).

After the pyramids, a group of us went to an authentic Egyptian restaurant, had loads of food and shisha. Egyptian shisha is much stronger than Dubai shisha, but quite tasty! Tried pigeon, rabbit, and a handful of other things that I'm not really sure of but food was also really nice. At this point, I'm wondering how I'm having so much fun. Most of the people I'm with are speaking in Arabic which I don't understand. But that's when I realize, I'm starting to pick up little (very little) bits and pieces. This makes me happy. I'm finally assimilating.

Wednesday night was the launch of the new station so we all go to the Four Seasons for the event. This part of the trip, I could've done without. Reception from 9p-11p (with no alcohol) and then a presentation with really over-the-top Arab women and a pseudo-famous Lebanese singer. I only say "pseudo" because he seemed more than happy to sing for what seemed like hours. I assume if he was actually famous, he'd've been khalass after a couple tunes (that means finished!). The whole presentation was in Arabic, so while I picked up on a couple words here and there, I didn't really understand anything. It finished at 2am. At that point, I'd had about 6 espressos to stay awake so when we returned to the hotel and someone suggested going out, I was totally up for it. Big mistake. Ended up at the Hard Rock in Cairo, dancing with 20 or so Lebanese guys until 4am. Totally surreal. And of course, finished the night in the casino.

Thursday we did another tourist trip - to Khan L Khalili. I think it's the oldest souk in Cairo (but don't quote me on that). Really colorful place, but mostly filled with souvenir trinkets and junk. I started to figure out why they're so poor. Most of the stuff for sale was just junk. Literally.

In the afternoon, I took a walk around our hotel area. That's when the "hit-and-run" occurred. (I like being melodramatic sometimes!!) I saw what I think is the only building in Cairo built in the last decade. The Opera House. Really cool area actually. Within the compound, there's a modern art gallery, and music library, the opera house, sculpture gardens and it seemed to be the only place in Cairo that A.) was clean and B.) wasn't poverty-stricken.

Walked around this park which I now think is a rendezvous point for Muslim couples. After looking back at my pictures, I think I was the only solo person in the entire park.

In the evening, went back to Khan L Khalili with a different group. Went to a popular shisha cafe in the middle of Khan L Khalili. While we were smoking, I think at least 6 little kids tried to sell us some junk - from kleenex to bobble-head dolls, shoes to henna. It's pretty sad to how they exploit the children. One of the guys gave a little girl 5LE (remember, that's about $1) and she absolutely fell in love with him. Hung around hugging and kissing him! It was actually really cute but sad still.

Friday was our last day and by this time, I think we were all ready to get back to Dubai (the Saudis left Thursday). Spent the morning at the Egyptian Museum. My official last rip-off. Again, 2LE for Arabs, 50 for me to enter. Then we went to the special mummy exhibit. That was 10LE for the guys and 100LE for me. Totally worth it in a really bizarre sense. The mummies were INSANE. Literally looking at bodies preserved for thousands of years. Some still had hair and fingernails. I could only stomach about 10 minutes in the exhibit before I literally was going to vomit but it was incredible nonetheless. I wonder how in a city that's so chaotic and poor and in a museum with hordes of artifacts that are just stacked on top of one another and labelled with a sharpie marker, that they somehow managed to keep the mummies intact.

Anyhow...so that's ALL my commentary on Egypt. Wow that was long. I'll understand if no one ever visits this blog again. As with my photos, I don't self-edit.