Hi all, I have returned to Cairo from the Western Desert, and am heading my way to the Sinai Peninsula today. As I said last time I wrote, there were a few other things I felt like writing (bear with me, as this serves partially as a journal for myself as well). So hear are a few thoughts:
On Food:
- I have become addicted to felafel (which I had always dismissed as vegetarian hippy garbage) and dates (which I always assumed just sucked)
- I just ate some of the most glorious rice pudding with some sort of cake and frilly hairy crispy stuff on top of it. It made up for the baba ghanoush that I had at lunch that I believe was mashed up soggy cigarette butts rather than eggplant
On Fashion:
-In Siwa, the women take the full cover-up regalia to new heights by wearing black sheets pulled over their face that don't even have eye holes. They literally look like moving tents shambling along the streets, and they're actually quite scary looking when you encounter them in an alley at night.
-young males wear an excessive amount of hair gel and perfume
-apparently 30-50 years ago very few females wore headscarves. This is just a recent semi-fashion/semi-religious shift that has come with a more conservative government. Furthermore, even though the majority of females (Christians as well as Muslims, take note!) wear headscarves, I feel that they are finding ways to express their 'feminity' through other measures which work within the socially construed boundaries of Egyptian culture today in order to be a bit 'flashy'. For example, most headscarves are quite bright and fashionable; some are patterned, some are frilly and lacey, others shiny. Furthermore, girls wear a lot of makeup, especially to emphasize their eyes, even those wearing the full veil that leaves only the eyes visible. Also, even though bare arms and legs are pretty much a no-go, girls still wear mini-skirts over top of jeans or leggings, and some wear big tall boots. To me it seems that rather than being religiously oppressed in terms of fashion (and one girl I met emphasized very strongly to me that these fashions are based on traditions rather that Muslim doctrine), females are exhibiting a fair bit of agency in terms of how they present themselves.
-all that said, I have to say, religious reasons, traditions, whatever, lets be practical: its bloody hot here, its damn tough to be walking around in pants and sweatshirt all the time. and a lot of these people are rocking big jackets on top of that.
On Cairo:
-its insane.
-I have never seen such traffic and crowdedness compared to this. Beijing disappointed me in its unexpected quietness. Istanbul, which I had long considered to be absolutely nuts, pales in comparison.
-Last time I was in Cairo, I went to al-Horreyya and met up with some people that I had met there during my initial visits, and they took me to 2 insane house parties, one of which was in a penthouse suite on top of a 13 storey building with a rooftop pool and patio overlooking the Nile. It was crazy.
-I went to the main cemetery of the city, which not only has some wicked old crypts and ancient mosques, but there is also a population of about 50 000 people living within the cemetery. Very cool.
On the Desert:
-last time I wrote I was in Bahariyya Oasis. From there I went with the Canadian newspaper editing couple on an overnight camping trip into the desert. We went through the black desert, which is black, and the white desert, which is white. Both looked like a Dr. Seuss setting with some absolutely crazy rock formations... and all throughout the desert there is exposed limestone with shells and fossilized fish... which is pretty surreal to stumble upon in the driest place on easth hundreds of km from the ocean. I really wanted to know how long ago this was the ocean floor, but the only explantaion we could get from our driver was that it was from the time of the Great Flood.
-I think that Bahariyya, being so isolated way out in the desert, and with a relatively small population, has a fair amount of in-breeding. I'm just speculating, but I met a lot of Forrest Gump-type characters out there...
On good egyptians/bad egyptians:
-on one overnight bus I sat beside a guy who said his dream was to work for NASA but he didnt do well enough on the gov't standardized test and they put him into economics, and he now sells concrete. He bought me a coke and when he left he told me "you do not have a friend in Egypt, but now you have a brother", which I thought was pretty wicked.
-In Bahariyya, everyone wants to sell you a tour into the black and white desert. The majority of vehicles in town are landscruisers bought on loan from anxious youngsters who figured they could cash in on taking tourists out 4x4ing in the desert. However, as many tourists as Egypt sees, I dont think there are enough for the amount of Land Cruisers in Bahariyya. Therefore competition is incredibly fierce for getting tourists to take the tour. When we arrived we had a young lad immediately grab us out of our vehicle and take us to his reasonably priced hotel. However, he immediately started pushing the tour. We told him we would go and ask around to do some price comparing. He said ok, let him know. He also said he had to meet someone coming into town at the bus station. So we went into town, firstly to find a beer, since Doug (the ex-Province editor) was nearly dying from the dry town of Siwa. We sat on the street at a restaurant, only to notice that our little hotel man had followed us, and was watching us not so subtely. Trying to shake him, we settled in for a few beers, but the kid would not leave. He then sat down and tried to push us some more, but we told him to go away. So he went across the street, and sat watching us. When we got up to leave, he followed us, so we went into another cafe to shake him. Or so we thought. In the cafe we started asking around for drivers, and arranged to meet one at an appointed time, across the city. So we did. As we were talking with this very down-to-earth driver, I looked past him and noticed that our little man was just lurking right behind --- he had followed us all the way across town! He then said something to the other drivers, which we had translated to us as "these are my clients, they are taking my tour. don't take business from me." We got angry and told him to fuck off, and as we were leaving, he drove up to us in his vehicle... not to apologize or anything like that, but to push his tour again! Saying that he could finally give us a better price! Doug straight up started yelling at him, and we went back to the hotel and told them we were leaving in the morning. He said he needed to know where we were going, so he could 'tell the tourist police', but we told him it was none of his business. The next day we switched hotels, and we didnt know it, but apparently the little wanker followed us, called the owner of our new hotel, and demanded comission! The whole thing left a sour taste in our mouths and left us wanting to pound the kid.
-On my last day in Bahariyya I went to a hot spring, where a bathing lady was yelling at a bunch of young men, and a small group of other men were washing prayer rugs in the spring. The lady, who was egyptian, explained the confusing scene: she had changed into her swimming clothes, and the young guys had seen her change --- which to the sexually repressed young egyptian male is probably the highlight of his life so far, regardless of the fact that the lady was pushing 60 and not attractive in the least. She had yelled at them, and gone on to bathe. But then the young men went to steal her clothes, so she rushed into the reed changing hut, which was also doubling as a temporary mosque, and had got sand all over of the prayer rugs. This got everyone really fired up, and they were giving the lady a hell of a time (though she seemed pretty good at keeping her own and firing off the arabic insults as well). "If these people are so religious and care so much about their stupid prayer-rugs", she said, "why don't they bat an eye when it comes to theft?"
-in this vein, some Egyptian men really are fuckheads. Wandering the bazaar with a female friend allows you to experience the full gauntlet of comments, from "wow!" to "lucky man!" to "wanna have sex?". One time, a dude pinched the girls bum that I was wandering around with, and just darted into an alley. In the metro, I saw a young man do a hit and run boob grab to a fully veiled woman as he was getting off the train. I think they are so sexually repressed that they have to resort to this sort of thing for kicks...
Anyways, I think I have got a fair share of the thoughts that I wanted to share with you down. Hope you enjoyed. Until next time, please keep on keeping in touch. I'm having a good time, but I miss Canada!
Bryn
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Quran is too loud!
Hello again, I am in Bahariyya Oasis, I have just finished eating some sandy falafels.In my last message I told you that a friend and I were going to try and 'cheat the tourist system' for our train from Luxor back to Cairo. We had been told that there was a train leaving at 8 15 and that we might be able to get 2nd class seats by just hopping aboard. When we arrived and saw the train, we were stopped by the police, who said, this was not our train. Does it go to Cairo, we asked? They said yes, so we said we wanted to get on it. They said we had to wait for the next train (which would have been the tourist train). We decided to just walk down the platform and hop aboard the train... the train car had no lights, no overhead baggage storage, the hardest seats you could imagine, and best of all, no windows! To be honest, I was pretty stoked, it was going to be an adventure. This was obviously third class, the cheapest of the cheap, and there were a lot of sketchy dudes on board. We waited 2 hours however, and the train didn't move. Then there was an announcement in Arabic, and everyone started getting off the train and getting on another one. One guy motioned us to follow him, so we did so, and got on an equallty dingy train, where the police found us. After moving us to a few different seats, they had a long conversation and decided that we had to switch trains again. Luckily for us, it was still a second class car, meaning we would save lots of money and be riding with egyptians, and second class has windows and nice seats. We buy a ticket, and settle in for the overnight trip. Little did we know, our ticket wasnt for an assigned seat, so every stop along the way (this train actually stops at different towns along the Nile, the ones tourists aren't 'supposed' to go to!) new people hopped aboard with assigned seats, and we had to move. This meant that all night we were constantly getting woken up and shifted from seat to seat. Oh well. We saved 25 bucks.
Because Muslims must pray 5 times a day, many of them have alarms set on their cell phones which play calls to prayer at the appointed time and have Quranic verses being sung. Therefore, on train and bus rides, when people cant get to the mosque, at the appointed time, everyone's cellphone goes off with a cacophony of prayers.I am having trouble figuring out how the Egyptian psyche works. In some ways I find them to be incredibly annoying and rude twits that I just want to hit, and then I meet some genuine and amazing people that renew my faith in the place. I have met more than enough travelers that have said that Egypt would be good without the Egyptians --- and at times I have found myself sharing this sentiment, however politically incorrect it may be. So many people here are incessantly pesky and seem to lack any sense of social boundaries or picking up on social cues that essentially say 'fuck off' --- a phrase I wish I knew in Arabic. Everyone here wants to get your money... and they will go to extreme lengths to do so. I could rand forever, but a few examples:
-After returning from Luxor to Cairo I went to Iskanderiyya (Alexandria - a lovely city that reminds me of Istanbul). My first night there I was wandering around alone, when a man appears on the side of the street to say hello (as EVERYONE tends to do, always to sell you something --- you just have to wade through them, say your obligatory hellos and 'canada dry's! and run away) and follows me asking questions. He invites me to tea, which I agree to since I had been looking for a tea anyways and having tea with these people is usually harmless as you can squirm away afterwards without buying anything. So we have a tea and a shisha overlooking the mediterranean, and he tries to sell me drugs. After I make it clear that I am not interested, he backs off, and we get into a pretty good conversation. He pays for everything and refuses to let me pay, and then says he will show me a cheap good restaurant (I had semi-asked, since I was getting hungry). I figure I will see the restaurant and then get away from him and go to my hotel before making my final dining decision. However once we get in front of the restaurant he motions me inside, to 'show me', the next thing I know we are seated and he is ordering food. I ask to see a menu to see the prices but he insists that I dont, since I will be given the tourist menu and he will get me the 'Egyptian Price'. I'm pretty tipped off by now that something fishy is going on, but we continue to have a good discussion (which is welcome, because travelling alone can be a bit lonely) and the food is good. Then the mate goes and talks to the waiter, disappears, and comes back. He proudly announces that if I was here alone the meal would be over 100 pounds, but since he is with me, I only have to pay 80. This is very expensive, and I tell him that I know this after being here for 3 weeks already (the meal was worth 50, tops). I tell him that I am disappointed and that he was being dishonest, and after a few minutes of awkward silence, the dude gets up, goes to the waiter, who gives him some money, and he dashes! I run to the window and see him burn down the street. A young Egyptian couple sitting at a table beside me ask if there is something wrong, I tell them I think I've just been slipped a fast one, and they say that yes, I have. 'You cannot trust anyone in Egypt.' says Adham, the young man, who I join to finish my meal. The couple is incredibly friendly, he is Christian, and his wife, Rihan, a Muslim, both smoke and drink and seem incredibly liberal; Adham is keenly interested in Egyptology, like myself, and we have a great conversation, and they promise to help me sort out my bill. I ask for it, and it comes as 93 pounds. The tally is in Arabic, so I get Adham to translate, and there is a beer that I didnt order plus an extra 30 pounds added on. I ask the waiter what this is and he says that "my friend" took 30 pounds from him and that I will cover it. I tell him hell no, and Adham explains this in Arabic. One thing leads to another, and I put down the money that I owe for the meal I ate and say I'm not paying any more. The waiter says this is a problem and I lose it and start yelling and swearing at him, I make such a scene that he finally just takes the money and leaves... Adham seems amused by this and says we should meet the next morning and go to the Alexandria Museum together. But the whole thing just left me so fired up. Rarely do I lose my temper and yell, but I was just so angry and felt so disrespected. I was ready to fly home that night, had it not been for the lucky meeting with Adham and his wife... It is really terrible being in a place where you actually cant trust anyone.
But the next day I met up with Adham, and spent 4 hours over beer and coffee in the evening with him and his wife... he even gave me some gifts. He wanted to meet the next day, and even arranged to take me to the bus when I left Alexandria... we met again and had a great time, and he wants me to return to Alexandria. 'Not everyone in Egypt is like the man from the other night.' Rihan reassures me. 'Most are, though.' Regardless, my faith in Egyptian hospitality is renewed.
And so things go, up at and down. I meet all kinds of bozos who just want my money or to make fun of me and don't want anything besides that, and meet an equal amount of people who just smile and say hi, or want to talk for a few minutes with no ulterior motives.
From Alexandria I took an overnight bus through the Western Desert to Siwa Oasis, 80 km from the Libyan border, and literally in the middle of nowhere. On this bus, which departed around midnight, the driver chose to crank his Quran tape. Immediately people started yelling in Arabic, and everyone on the bus started yelling at each other for about 5 minutes. It was madness. The fellow beside me, who spoke a little bit of english, explained that some people were complaining that the Quran was too loud, but the driver didnt want to turn it down. I was able to fall asleep to the over-reverbed Imam's singing as we cruised through the dunes in the moonlight...
There was once an Oracle in Siwa, and Alexander the Great marched his army across the desert so that he could consult it before he went off on his tour de force into the Far East. The Persian King Cambysees and enemy of Alexander sought to destroy the Oracle at Siwa and marched his army into the desert towards it, where the entire army disappeared. Today Siwa is an isolated location that is inhabited by Siwans, who speak a different language from Arabic and who don't see themselves as Egyptians. The Egyptian gov't wants to build an airstrip at Siwa to make it more accessible for tourists, and is sending in Egyptian laborers --- who, it was explained to me by a female British expat who has opened a cafe in Siwa, are all 'dishonest wolves'. The Siwans, on the other hand are 'honest and kind'. Siwa is gorgeous, and has lots of wicked hotsprings, and attracts a lot of hippies.
After Siwa I hired a vehicle to Bahariyya Oasis with a Canadian couple: a book reviewer for the Vancouver Sun and an ex-editor of the Vancouver Province, who quit because 'the newspaper industry is dead', and apparently the Province is leading the pack. I have been given some very interesting insight into how the paper industry works. His obsession with tracking down hotsprings is only topped by his love for beer --- which, since you coudn't get in Siwa, was driving him insane. They were good company for a 7 hour trip along a decomissioned road that has been covered by shifting sanddunes in the Great Sand Sea, a large desolate expanse of sand on the eastern edge of the Sahara. There is no regular vehicle transport along this route, one usually has to go back to Cairo to get to Bahariyya, but by taking the 4x4 we were able to get off the beaten path and see some very spectacular desert. In Bahariyya, we have booked an overnight trip into the White Desert for tomorrow, and this has come with a surreal experience with one of the most obnoxious and fuckheaded people I have encountered yet... which I will save for the next e-mail, since there are about 15 kids behind me wanting me to get off the computer so they can play Counterstrike.
I am behind in the e-mailing, since there is much more that I wanted to tell you about... so maybe expect another one sooner rather than later. But for now, I will leave you with this piece of information that I read in another traveler's guide book:
If you grease a donkey's asshole, it cannot generate the force required to make its loud eeee-haww baying noise. This way, Bedouins can sneak contraband on donkeys into Egypt across the Libyan border without worrying about a baying donkey giving their movement away to border patrols.
Anways, until next time, all the best,
Bryn
Because Muslims must pray 5 times a day, many of them have alarms set on their cell phones which play calls to prayer at the appointed time and have Quranic verses being sung. Therefore, on train and bus rides, when people cant get to the mosque, at the appointed time, everyone's cellphone goes off with a cacophony of prayers.I am having trouble figuring out how the Egyptian psyche works. In some ways I find them to be incredibly annoying and rude twits that I just want to hit, and then I meet some genuine and amazing people that renew my faith in the place. I have met more than enough travelers that have said that Egypt would be good without the Egyptians --- and at times I have found myself sharing this sentiment, however politically incorrect it may be. So many people here are incessantly pesky and seem to lack any sense of social boundaries or picking up on social cues that essentially say 'fuck off' --- a phrase I wish I knew in Arabic. Everyone here wants to get your money... and they will go to extreme lengths to do so. I could rand forever, but a few examples:
-After returning from Luxor to Cairo I went to Iskanderiyya (Alexandria - a lovely city that reminds me of Istanbul). My first night there I was wandering around alone, when a man appears on the side of the street to say hello (as EVERYONE tends to do, always to sell you something --- you just have to wade through them, say your obligatory hellos and 'canada dry's! and run away) and follows me asking questions. He invites me to tea, which I agree to since I had been looking for a tea anyways and having tea with these people is usually harmless as you can squirm away afterwards without buying anything. So we have a tea and a shisha overlooking the mediterranean, and he tries to sell me drugs. After I make it clear that I am not interested, he backs off, and we get into a pretty good conversation. He pays for everything and refuses to let me pay, and then says he will show me a cheap good restaurant (I had semi-asked, since I was getting hungry). I figure I will see the restaurant and then get away from him and go to my hotel before making my final dining decision. However once we get in front of the restaurant he motions me inside, to 'show me', the next thing I know we are seated and he is ordering food. I ask to see a menu to see the prices but he insists that I dont, since I will be given the tourist menu and he will get me the 'Egyptian Price'. I'm pretty tipped off by now that something fishy is going on, but we continue to have a good discussion (which is welcome, because travelling alone can be a bit lonely) and the food is good. Then the mate goes and talks to the waiter, disappears, and comes back. He proudly announces that if I was here alone the meal would be over 100 pounds, but since he is with me, I only have to pay 80. This is very expensive, and I tell him that I know this after being here for 3 weeks already (the meal was worth 50, tops). I tell him that I am disappointed and that he was being dishonest, and after a few minutes of awkward silence, the dude gets up, goes to the waiter, who gives him some money, and he dashes! I run to the window and see him burn down the street. A young Egyptian couple sitting at a table beside me ask if there is something wrong, I tell them I think I've just been slipped a fast one, and they say that yes, I have. 'You cannot trust anyone in Egypt.' says Adham, the young man, who I join to finish my meal. The couple is incredibly friendly, he is Christian, and his wife, Rihan, a Muslim, both smoke and drink and seem incredibly liberal; Adham is keenly interested in Egyptology, like myself, and we have a great conversation, and they promise to help me sort out my bill. I ask for it, and it comes as 93 pounds. The tally is in Arabic, so I get Adham to translate, and there is a beer that I didnt order plus an extra 30 pounds added on. I ask the waiter what this is and he says that "my friend" took 30 pounds from him and that I will cover it. I tell him hell no, and Adham explains this in Arabic. One thing leads to another, and I put down the money that I owe for the meal I ate and say I'm not paying any more. The waiter says this is a problem and I lose it and start yelling and swearing at him, I make such a scene that he finally just takes the money and leaves... Adham seems amused by this and says we should meet the next morning and go to the Alexandria Museum together. But the whole thing just left me so fired up. Rarely do I lose my temper and yell, but I was just so angry and felt so disrespected. I was ready to fly home that night, had it not been for the lucky meeting with Adham and his wife... It is really terrible being in a place where you actually cant trust anyone.
But the next day I met up with Adham, and spent 4 hours over beer and coffee in the evening with him and his wife... he even gave me some gifts. He wanted to meet the next day, and even arranged to take me to the bus when I left Alexandria... we met again and had a great time, and he wants me to return to Alexandria. 'Not everyone in Egypt is like the man from the other night.' Rihan reassures me. 'Most are, though.' Regardless, my faith in Egyptian hospitality is renewed.
And so things go, up at and down. I meet all kinds of bozos who just want my money or to make fun of me and don't want anything besides that, and meet an equal amount of people who just smile and say hi, or want to talk for a few minutes with no ulterior motives.
From Alexandria I took an overnight bus through the Western Desert to Siwa Oasis, 80 km from the Libyan border, and literally in the middle of nowhere. On this bus, which departed around midnight, the driver chose to crank his Quran tape. Immediately people started yelling in Arabic, and everyone on the bus started yelling at each other for about 5 minutes. It was madness. The fellow beside me, who spoke a little bit of english, explained that some people were complaining that the Quran was too loud, but the driver didnt want to turn it down. I was able to fall asleep to the over-reverbed Imam's singing as we cruised through the dunes in the moonlight...
There was once an Oracle in Siwa, and Alexander the Great marched his army across the desert so that he could consult it before he went off on his tour de force into the Far East. The Persian King Cambysees and enemy of Alexander sought to destroy the Oracle at Siwa and marched his army into the desert towards it, where the entire army disappeared. Today Siwa is an isolated location that is inhabited by Siwans, who speak a different language from Arabic and who don't see themselves as Egyptians. The Egyptian gov't wants to build an airstrip at Siwa to make it more accessible for tourists, and is sending in Egyptian laborers --- who, it was explained to me by a female British expat who has opened a cafe in Siwa, are all 'dishonest wolves'. The Siwans, on the other hand are 'honest and kind'. Siwa is gorgeous, and has lots of wicked hotsprings, and attracts a lot of hippies.
After Siwa I hired a vehicle to Bahariyya Oasis with a Canadian couple: a book reviewer for the Vancouver Sun and an ex-editor of the Vancouver Province, who quit because 'the newspaper industry is dead', and apparently the Province is leading the pack. I have been given some very interesting insight into how the paper industry works. His obsession with tracking down hotsprings is only topped by his love for beer --- which, since you coudn't get in Siwa, was driving him insane. They were good company for a 7 hour trip along a decomissioned road that has been covered by shifting sanddunes in the Great Sand Sea, a large desolate expanse of sand on the eastern edge of the Sahara. There is no regular vehicle transport along this route, one usually has to go back to Cairo to get to Bahariyya, but by taking the 4x4 we were able to get off the beaten path and see some very spectacular desert. In Bahariyya, we have booked an overnight trip into the White Desert for tomorrow, and this has come with a surreal experience with one of the most obnoxious and fuckheaded people I have encountered yet... which I will save for the next e-mail, since there are about 15 kids behind me wanting me to get off the computer so they can play Counterstrike.
I am behind in the e-mailing, since there is much more that I wanted to tell you about... so maybe expect another one sooner rather than later. But for now, I will leave you with this piece of information that I read in another traveler's guide book:
If you grease a donkey's asshole, it cannot generate the force required to make its loud eeee-haww baying noise. This way, Bedouins can sneak contraband on donkeys into Egypt across the Libyan border without worrying about a baying donkey giving their movement away to border patrols.
Anways, until next time, all the best,
Bryn
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Cult of Bob Marley
25% of Egypt's income today is from tourism. In the 70s and up until the 90s tourism made up 75% of the country's income. In the 90s there were a bunch of terrorist attacks in which tourists were sometimes targeted, and tourism dropped substantially. The reason for the 25% these days, I am told, is not necessarily because there was a MASSIVE drop in tourism, but because Egypt's export economy has really boomed. The fact of the matter is that the country still sees shitloads of tourists, and that tourism is hugely important for the country's economy. Because of this, the tourist infrastructure is very well developed, and the government takes great care to protect its tourists.
On February 22nd, 3 days before I flew in to Egypt, there was a bombing in one of the main areas of Cairo that sees a lot of tourist traffic. One French girl was killed, and about 20 others were injured. After this the government supposedly quickly arrested some people (who I am told were only arrested to create the sense of some sort of security and closure), and police security on the streets was heavily upped. It is in this environment that I have been experiencing what I have so far found most frustrating about Egypt: the strict regulation of what a tourist can do and is expected to do for there supposed safety. Though it is not so apparent at first, visitors to Egypt are tightly limited by what the government sees as the 'tourist track' --- and veering off of it is made quite difficult. A few examples:
There are at least 5 daily trains from Cairo to the south of the country. I had heard that the Cairo train station was difficult to navigate, so I went with the Egyptian friend of a good friend who was also in Cairo when I was there. Maher (the Egyptian fellow) walked with my friend (who is American) and I into the train station. A policeman quickly asked what I was looking for, and Maher replied in Arabic. The policeman started asking Maher some questions, and then they got into an argument. As things escalated Maher broke off and motioned us to come with him, where he asked for more directions from someone else, and then we went to find the ticket office for tickets to Aswan (which was very well hidden). Maher explained that the policeman had asked him what he was doing with us foreigners, if he was a guide, and then eventually to see his ID. He had said that he cannot hang out with foreigners, to which Maher told him there was no such law. When we found the well hidden ticket office, and got in the line, which was really just a mass of Egyptians pushing each other for a ticket, Maher was approached by a policeman again, and then sent back and forth, talking to several people. I eventually purchased a ticket for Aswan, and we left. Maher explained again that the policemen had asked what he was doing with foreigners, and why hadn't we been approached by a guard when we entered the station... tourists are apparently supposed to be picked up when they enter the station and sent to buy the expensive sleeper ticket on the designated tourist train. They were not supposed to be able to make it to where normal people buy tickets. Regardless, I was told I could only travel 1st class, and only on one designated train. As it turned out, the train I took to Aswan was full only with tourists, and it only stopped at Luxor and Aswan, the only two towns that tourists would want to bother with, apparently.
Another time, in Cairo, I was exploring the old Christian Area of the town. I like to wander, and so got off into some back streets to just explore, and I was approached by a policeman, who asked where I was going. I told him I was just wandering, and he said I have to go back to the main street where the Christian Area is. By a rather freak chance, I ran into Maher and my friend shortly after this, and as we were entering the old Christian Area (where the street is fenced off with a police checkpoint) Maher was stopped and IDed, and once again asked why he was hanging out with foreigners. This is the exact opposite of what I experienced in Central Asia --- here the police hassle the locals for hanging out with tourists.
From Aswan I took a day trip to Abu Simbel, a magnificent temple buily by Ramesses II in the southernmost bit of Egypt. To get there however, you must travel with an organized tour bus or minibus that travels to Abu Simbel through the desert at designated times in a huge police-guarded convoy. So to visit Abu Simbel, you are forced to go with hundreds of other tourist coaches packed with fat old Americans and Germans. Travel anywhere between Luxor and a few km south of Cairo is only easily possible by train that doesn't stop anywhere --- if you want to explore this area of the country you have to hire a police convoy, and foreigners are not allowed to stay in many of the towns.
The result is a whole shitload of organized tours that you have to try to avoid like the plague (this is difficult), and a whole bunch of travelers like myself who are forced to do exactly the same thing. It does not feel like there is a lot of variety, and the lack of freedom and openness that I experienced in Central Asia (since there is no tourist infrastructure whatsoever) is a bit frustrating.
That said, I am having a very good time, and meet lots of very friendly people. The nice thing about a country with so many tourists is that there is always someone easy to meet and spend time with, and since I am traveling alone, this can certainly be comforting. I am seeing a lot of amazing things that I have been dreaming of seeing since I was 5 years old, and in this sense, a lot of the experiences are thrilling, surreal, and borderline religious for me. I have also managed to get a little bit off the 'tourist track' a few times, and these have certainly made for the most rewarding experiences yet:
From Aswan I booked a 2 day, 2 night sailing trip on a small boat called a felucca down the Nile towards Luxor with 4 other people that I met in my hotel there. Our boat was called Bob Marley Family, sailed by Captain Bob (a reallly tall and skinny Nubian with very dark skin who wears a white galibiyya all the time) and his crew of permanently stoned Nubians. The south of Egypt grows a lot of marijuana, and EVERYONE tries to sell it to you, which I find quite ironic, given how difficult it is to obtain alcohol here (in the government liquor store you have to show your passport to make a purchase, to prove that you are NOT Egyptian). The trip down the river was spectacular --- the Nile Valley is packed with really lush green agricultural land sandwiched between the barren desert hills, and the majority of farmers use really traditional agricultural methods. Captain Bob did not sail the entire first day with us (he was really good at disappearing and showing up out of nowhere at the most convenient times) but told us to meet us at his village for the evening. As we sailed, the crew insisted we listen to Bob Marley and nothing else. "We listen to Bob now!"
When we arrived at Captain Bob's village, which was a small mudbrick Nubian village on the west bank of the Nile, we had dinner on the boat with the sunset over the river, and then he invited us to his house, to see the 'Bob Room'. He told us to bring beer. We packed our stuff up to his place, and entered his room, where we found him, and four other old guys (some over 50) dressed in gallibiyas and head scarves who were just rocking out to Bob Marley and BLAZING. These giggling old men were chain-smoking more hash and marijuana than I have ever seen consumed, in a room where a shrine had been set up against the wall on a dresser outlined with flashing Christmas lights, a stereo system, stuffed Santas and plush hearts. The wall behind it was plastered with Bob Marley posters, as well as N Sync and Aqua posters. It was REALLY wierd, and a much more interesting 'local' experience than I would have expected in Egypt.
We sailed all day next day, with the Nubians continuing to smoke and sleep, and eventually reached our destination, where we spent another night on a really cool little island. The following day we went to Luxor (stopping in at a big camel market at a small village on the way, which was very cool), where Captain Bob reccomended we stay at (surprise surprise) the Bob Marley House. The Bob Marley House is a wicked place in a dark back alley, very colorfully painted, and, of course, adorned with Bob Marley everywhere. At 7 bucks a night including a massive breakfast, I really can't complain.
Luxor is the old Egyptian New Kingdom capital of Thebes, and so some of the most famous and impressive ancient Egyptian monuments in Egypt are here. The west bank is the necropolis, where massive mortuary temples stand, and tombs of all kinds of Egyptian nobles are cut into the cliffs. Yesterday I rented a bike, and cycled to the Valley of the Kings (where most New Kingdom pharaohs are buried). People said I was crazy to try and bike there, it was too far, too hot, (aka --- it wasn't a standard part of the 'tourist track'). It was ripping hot, but all in all a very nice ride, and I was able to go in the afternoon after all the tour buses had cleared out. The tombs were quite cool, and there was definitely a sense of awe. I went a bit off road behind the 'do not climb the mountain' sign, and climbed the mountain to the top of the cliff, where I was able to peak over to the other side of the cliff directly above the famous Dier al-Bahri mortuary temple of Hatchepsut, from where I could see all the temples and tombs on the west bank, the fertile Nile Valley, and all the way across to the desert on the other side. It was stunning. Today I saw the temple of Karnak, the largest still standing religious complex in Egypt, and one of the biggest in the world. Given that I have been dreaming of seeing these places since I was a kid, it has been quite exhilerating. Sometimes I wish I had someone to share the experience with, but seeing them alone is peaceful and meaningful in its own right.
The modern town of Luxor is beautiful, and of course, filled with Egyptians hassling you to take their taxi, take their boat ride, ride their carriage, or just straight up give them baksheesh. In the temples and sites it is ok, because sometimes the guards will let you go behind a closed area or show you something you wouldnt normally notice for a bit of baksheesh, but when they come up and start telling me stuff that I already to know or give me 'permission' to take a picture of something I have already photographed and want baksheesh, it gets a bit tiresome. Everyone here wants to be your 'friend', and hook you up with some sort of deal. It gets frustrating quickly, but you have to be good natured about it, as it is amazing how good natured the shameless touts are. And sometimes they do just genuinely want to be your friend. But when EVERY horse carriage that goes by whistles at you and asks if you want a ride, and when you finally convince them you don't want a ride, and then they smile at you and say "so you want to get high?", it goes from funny to annoying quite quickly. I even had a kid, no old than 13, come up to me on the ferry yesterday and sit beside me:
"hello my friend"
"hey there"
"my cousin have taxi, you want taxi?"
"no"
"you want carriage?"
"no thank you"
... a bit of a pause ...
"you smoke ganja?"
to which I just give a shocked laugh.
"Seriously man, hash marijuana, you name it, I've got it"
you've got to be kidding me. "no little man, I'm alright thanks"
"ok friend, you sure?"
And for some reason, whenever you tell someone you are from Canada (EVERYONE asks "where from?"). The immediate universal reply is "Canada Dry!". It has got to the point where when I am asked where I am from I just say 'Canada Dry', or I say "Uzebekistan" --- to which they give a bit of a confused smile, pause, and say "Very nice people! Number 1!".
And so I am sure it will continue. I want to talk more, but I realize that this is long, like usual, so I will save more for later. I am actually taking a train back to Cairo tonight (but a friend and I are going to try and sneak on to the non-tourist train --- which is 75% cheaper! --- wish us luck!). I will stay there for a day or so, and then go out to the Western Desert, where I hope to roll around in some sand dunes and swim in some oases, and soak up some sun. I have a RIPPING sunburn right now, which is going to turn into an immaculate farmers tan very quickly. I will have to wait until I get to a less conservative Muslim country to even things out, so I may not be taking off my shirt until I get back to Canada!
Also, one last thing, just to toot my own horn a bit (I am sorry, I cannot resist), but I just got word today that a paper that I co-authored with my professor at UBC has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Archaeological Science, one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed journals in the discipline. So you should all subscribe for it and look for Martindale, Letham, and McLaren 2009 in the near future. OK, I am done gloating right now, I just needed to tell somebody...
I wish you all the best, and please keep in touch.
Love always from the hot sandy lands,
Bryn
On February 22nd, 3 days before I flew in to Egypt, there was a bombing in one of the main areas of Cairo that sees a lot of tourist traffic. One French girl was killed, and about 20 others were injured. After this the government supposedly quickly arrested some people (who I am told were only arrested to create the sense of some sort of security and closure), and police security on the streets was heavily upped. It is in this environment that I have been experiencing what I have so far found most frustrating about Egypt: the strict regulation of what a tourist can do and is expected to do for there supposed safety. Though it is not so apparent at first, visitors to Egypt are tightly limited by what the government sees as the 'tourist track' --- and veering off of it is made quite difficult. A few examples:
There are at least 5 daily trains from Cairo to the south of the country. I had heard that the Cairo train station was difficult to navigate, so I went with the Egyptian friend of a good friend who was also in Cairo when I was there. Maher (the Egyptian fellow) walked with my friend (who is American) and I into the train station. A policeman quickly asked what I was looking for, and Maher replied in Arabic. The policeman started asking Maher some questions, and then they got into an argument. As things escalated Maher broke off and motioned us to come with him, where he asked for more directions from someone else, and then we went to find the ticket office for tickets to Aswan (which was very well hidden). Maher explained that the policeman had asked him what he was doing with us foreigners, if he was a guide, and then eventually to see his ID. He had said that he cannot hang out with foreigners, to which Maher told him there was no such law. When we found the well hidden ticket office, and got in the line, which was really just a mass of Egyptians pushing each other for a ticket, Maher was approached by a policeman again, and then sent back and forth, talking to several people. I eventually purchased a ticket for Aswan, and we left. Maher explained again that the policemen had asked what he was doing with foreigners, and why hadn't we been approached by a guard when we entered the station... tourists are apparently supposed to be picked up when they enter the station and sent to buy the expensive sleeper ticket on the designated tourist train. They were not supposed to be able to make it to where normal people buy tickets. Regardless, I was told I could only travel 1st class, and only on one designated train. As it turned out, the train I took to Aswan was full only with tourists, and it only stopped at Luxor and Aswan, the only two towns that tourists would want to bother with, apparently.
Another time, in Cairo, I was exploring the old Christian Area of the town. I like to wander, and so got off into some back streets to just explore, and I was approached by a policeman, who asked where I was going. I told him I was just wandering, and he said I have to go back to the main street where the Christian Area is. By a rather freak chance, I ran into Maher and my friend shortly after this, and as we were entering the old Christian Area (where the street is fenced off with a police checkpoint) Maher was stopped and IDed, and once again asked why he was hanging out with foreigners. This is the exact opposite of what I experienced in Central Asia --- here the police hassle the locals for hanging out with tourists.
From Aswan I took a day trip to Abu Simbel, a magnificent temple buily by Ramesses II in the southernmost bit of Egypt. To get there however, you must travel with an organized tour bus or minibus that travels to Abu Simbel through the desert at designated times in a huge police-guarded convoy. So to visit Abu Simbel, you are forced to go with hundreds of other tourist coaches packed with fat old Americans and Germans. Travel anywhere between Luxor and a few km south of Cairo is only easily possible by train that doesn't stop anywhere --- if you want to explore this area of the country you have to hire a police convoy, and foreigners are not allowed to stay in many of the towns.
The result is a whole shitload of organized tours that you have to try to avoid like the plague (this is difficult), and a whole bunch of travelers like myself who are forced to do exactly the same thing. It does not feel like there is a lot of variety, and the lack of freedom and openness that I experienced in Central Asia (since there is no tourist infrastructure whatsoever) is a bit frustrating.
That said, I am having a very good time, and meet lots of very friendly people. The nice thing about a country with so many tourists is that there is always someone easy to meet and spend time with, and since I am traveling alone, this can certainly be comforting. I am seeing a lot of amazing things that I have been dreaming of seeing since I was 5 years old, and in this sense, a lot of the experiences are thrilling, surreal, and borderline religious for me. I have also managed to get a little bit off the 'tourist track' a few times, and these have certainly made for the most rewarding experiences yet:
From Aswan I booked a 2 day, 2 night sailing trip on a small boat called a felucca down the Nile towards Luxor with 4 other people that I met in my hotel there. Our boat was called Bob Marley Family, sailed by Captain Bob (a reallly tall and skinny Nubian with very dark skin who wears a white galibiyya all the time) and his crew of permanently stoned Nubians. The south of Egypt grows a lot of marijuana, and EVERYONE tries to sell it to you, which I find quite ironic, given how difficult it is to obtain alcohol here (in the government liquor store you have to show your passport to make a purchase, to prove that you are NOT Egyptian). The trip down the river was spectacular --- the Nile Valley is packed with really lush green agricultural land sandwiched between the barren desert hills, and the majority of farmers use really traditional agricultural methods. Captain Bob did not sail the entire first day with us (he was really good at disappearing and showing up out of nowhere at the most convenient times) but told us to meet us at his village for the evening. As we sailed, the crew insisted we listen to Bob Marley and nothing else. "We listen to Bob now!"
When we arrived at Captain Bob's village, which was a small mudbrick Nubian village on the west bank of the Nile, we had dinner on the boat with the sunset over the river, and then he invited us to his house, to see the 'Bob Room'. He told us to bring beer. We packed our stuff up to his place, and entered his room, where we found him, and four other old guys (some over 50) dressed in gallibiyas and head scarves who were just rocking out to Bob Marley and BLAZING. These giggling old men were chain-smoking more hash and marijuana than I have ever seen consumed, in a room where a shrine had been set up against the wall on a dresser outlined with flashing Christmas lights, a stereo system, stuffed Santas and plush hearts. The wall behind it was plastered with Bob Marley posters, as well as N Sync and Aqua posters. It was REALLY wierd, and a much more interesting 'local' experience than I would have expected in Egypt.
We sailed all day next day, with the Nubians continuing to smoke and sleep, and eventually reached our destination, where we spent another night on a really cool little island. The following day we went to Luxor (stopping in at a big camel market at a small village on the way, which was very cool), where Captain Bob reccomended we stay at (surprise surprise) the Bob Marley House. The Bob Marley House is a wicked place in a dark back alley, very colorfully painted, and, of course, adorned with Bob Marley everywhere. At 7 bucks a night including a massive breakfast, I really can't complain.
Luxor is the old Egyptian New Kingdom capital of Thebes, and so some of the most famous and impressive ancient Egyptian monuments in Egypt are here. The west bank is the necropolis, where massive mortuary temples stand, and tombs of all kinds of Egyptian nobles are cut into the cliffs. Yesterday I rented a bike, and cycled to the Valley of the Kings (where most New Kingdom pharaohs are buried). People said I was crazy to try and bike there, it was too far, too hot, (aka --- it wasn't a standard part of the 'tourist track'). It was ripping hot, but all in all a very nice ride, and I was able to go in the afternoon after all the tour buses had cleared out. The tombs were quite cool, and there was definitely a sense of awe. I went a bit off road behind the 'do not climb the mountain' sign, and climbed the mountain to the top of the cliff, where I was able to peak over to the other side of the cliff directly above the famous Dier al-Bahri mortuary temple of Hatchepsut, from where I could see all the temples and tombs on the west bank, the fertile Nile Valley, and all the way across to the desert on the other side. It was stunning. Today I saw the temple of Karnak, the largest still standing religious complex in Egypt, and one of the biggest in the world. Given that I have been dreaming of seeing these places since I was a kid, it has been quite exhilerating. Sometimes I wish I had someone to share the experience with, but seeing them alone is peaceful and meaningful in its own right.
The modern town of Luxor is beautiful, and of course, filled with Egyptians hassling you to take their taxi, take their boat ride, ride their carriage, or just straight up give them baksheesh. In the temples and sites it is ok, because sometimes the guards will let you go behind a closed area or show you something you wouldnt normally notice for a bit of baksheesh, but when they come up and start telling me stuff that I already to know or give me 'permission' to take a picture of something I have already photographed and want baksheesh, it gets a bit tiresome. Everyone here wants to be your 'friend', and hook you up with some sort of deal. It gets frustrating quickly, but you have to be good natured about it, as it is amazing how good natured the shameless touts are. And sometimes they do just genuinely want to be your friend. But when EVERY horse carriage that goes by whistles at you and asks if you want a ride, and when you finally convince them you don't want a ride, and then they smile at you and say "so you want to get high?", it goes from funny to annoying quite quickly. I even had a kid, no old than 13, come up to me on the ferry yesterday and sit beside me:
"hello my friend"
"hey there"
"my cousin have taxi, you want taxi?"
"no"
"you want carriage?"
"no thank you"
... a bit of a pause ...
"you smoke ganja?"
to which I just give a shocked laugh.
"Seriously man, hash marijuana, you name it, I've got it"
you've got to be kidding me. "no little man, I'm alright thanks"
"ok friend, you sure?"
And for some reason, whenever you tell someone you are from Canada (EVERYONE asks "where from?"). The immediate universal reply is "Canada Dry!". It has got to the point where when I am asked where I am from I just say 'Canada Dry', or I say "Uzebekistan" --- to which they give a bit of a confused smile, pause, and say "Very nice people! Number 1!".
And so I am sure it will continue. I want to talk more, but I realize that this is long, like usual, so I will save more for later. I am actually taking a train back to Cairo tonight (but a friend and I are going to try and sneak on to the non-tourist train --- which is 75% cheaper! --- wish us luck!). I will stay there for a day or so, and then go out to the Western Desert, where I hope to roll around in some sand dunes and swim in some oases, and soak up some sun. I have a RIPPING sunburn right now, which is going to turn into an immaculate farmers tan very quickly. I will have to wait until I get to a less conservative Muslim country to even things out, so I may not be taking off my shirt until I get back to Canada!
Also, one last thing, just to toot my own horn a bit (I am sorry, I cannot resist), but I just got word today that a paper that I co-authored with my professor at UBC has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Archaeological Science, one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed journals in the discipline. So you should all subscribe for it and look for Martindale, Letham, and McLaren 2009 in the near future. OK, I am done gloating right now, I just needed to tell somebody...
I wish you all the best, and please keep in touch.
Love always from the hot sandy lands,
Bryn
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Lost in Cairo
My first real strong interest as a young kid was dinosaurs, and my second obsession was ancient Egypt. I think a lot of the early obsession from 5-year old Bryn stuck with me and influenced me to study archaeology, and it has always been a dream of mine to visit Egypt. I knew since returning from Central Asia that I wanted to travel again, and after sitting around in Salmon Arm for a while after Christmas I realized I had to get out again. So on February 17th I flew to Istanbul (where it seems that all of my trips seem to begin for some reason), where I spent a week with my Turkish friend Turan and some other really good friends there. February 22nd was my birthday, so we did it proper Istanbul style. On February 25th I flew into Cairo, the capital of Egypt, where I have been for the past week.
Egypt is by far the most conservative Muslim country I have visited yet. Turkey's official line is that they are secular, and the Central Asians are too pissed on vodka to worry too much about the wrath of allah. In Egypt, however, I would say that 90% or more of women are cruising around in headscarves (and a decent handful are rocking the full black veil), alcohol is not easily found nor is it abundantly consumed, and there seems to be a mosque or two on every block, and many shops pump arabic religious programs on their TVs and radios. When the call to prayer rings out around the city its really quite impressive to listen to, as it echoes from every corner around you. I was walking in the main bazaar area (they are called souqs here rather than bazaars) on Friday (the equivalent of a Christian's Sunday) and people were rolling out mats everywhere to pray one. People were literally praying on the medians in the middle of busy streets and in some cases on the streets where cars were ripping around them. It was pretty intense.
And Cairo IS intense. It is the most populated city in Africa (20-25 million) as well as the most densely populated one. The streets are packed and traffic is insane. People park in neutral on the side of the street as people have to park so tightly that cars get boxed in, so there are men that hang around and push the cars around and maneuver them to make space for people to get in or out. Crossing the road is terrifying at first (you just have to go and dodge cars... but luckily there is usually so much traffic that the cars move slow enough that you can meander through them), and the sidewalks are so packed with crap that most people just walk in the middle of the street amongst the cars. The city is humming 24 hours, and the chaotic atmosphere can be quite draining --- though you do get into the rhythm of things. I went back to the busy market area today and was so tired from cruising around that I went into a mosque and fell asleep... perhaps the beginning of my conversion to Islam?
Egyptians are incredibly friendly and welcoming. In the 70s up until the early 90s tourism made up 75% of the country's income. Since some terrorist attacks in the 90s and a large boom in Egyptian industry, that number has dropped to 25%, but that is still quite significant. Therefore Egyptians are no strangers to foreigners and nearly everyone can speak English. They also know that tourists can be a major source of cash and will try every trick in the book to get some from you. In Cairo it seems like EVERYBODY is trying to sell you a tour, a painting, some perfume... or hook you up with someone who can, etc. There are people that try to trick you into going to certain places to eat or to stay, and they will in turn collect a commission... I actually had tea with a guy who collects commission from an Arabic Language School for sending them students --- and he told me that if I sent any potential students to HIM, then I would get commission too! So everyone is friendly, everyone wants to know where you're from, what you do, how you like Egypt, if you want to go for tea, etc. but it seems like most of the time there are ulterior motives involved. And Egypt has a major tipping culture. Called baksheesh, it is expected that small tips should be given for just about any service, from opening a door for you, to turning on a tap in the bathroom, to tipping on top of your food bill AFTER tax and obligatory service charge has already been added. I don't like to tip at the best of times, so this has become extremely annoying really quickly. I went to the pyramids of Giza, where people harass you everywhere for money. They tell you a good place to take a photo, and expect a tip. They let you into a monument that you've already paid the ticket price for, and they expect a tip. They call you over, and tell you that you're at the pyramids and that this pyramid belongs to this person (which I already know/have been told by 10 guys already) and expect a tip. And for whatever reason, small bills are always hard to come by here, and so baksheesh quickly burns a hole in your pocket. At one point I went to the bathroom, and came out where the guy had turned on the tap for me and had some paper towel ready, and I was just so fed up with tipped/didn't have any small bills to give the guy any ways, that I felt that I couldn't wash my hands, and so left without doing so.
In terms of sites, I have seen the Great Pyramids, as well as some south of Giza, like the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, and the Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid at Dharshour. They were absolutely awe inspiring to see and touch first hand, and it really was a great experience. I have also been exploring the city in depth, seeing the old Christian Quarter, which is the oldest part of Cairo, and the Islamic Quarter, with all kinds of amazing mosques and cool back alley streets. The Egyptian Museum is an overwhelming and unorganized mess of incredible important artifacts. The downtown of Cairo is noisy and chaotic, and very fun. The food is good and cheap --- lots of felafel, baba ghanoush, tehina, shwarma. I have met lots of international people that live here, as well as many liberal-minded young Egyptians at a local watering hole called Al Hurreyra (the Freedom Bar) --- an place started by communists in the 70s that has historically been a hangout for Cairo's intellectuals and activists. In there I met a Palestinian refugee working as a journalist in Cairo now and an exiled journalist and activist from Ethiopia, as well as a slew of other very interesting and amazing people, who all seem to have a very great community here.
Tonight I am catching an overnight train to Aswan, the main city in the south, where it supposed to be hot and beautiful. I will kick around there for a few days and hopefully ride a boat on the Nile for a bit... and eventually work my way to Luxor, where the Valley of the Kings (think Tutankamun's tomb) is located, as well as some of Egypt's most impressive ruins. After about a month in Egypt I plan to work my way back to Turkey via Jordan and possibly Syria, and then I am hoping (fingers crossed) to be going on an archaeological dig in Tajikistan in May.
As always, I hope all is well with you, and I hope you will all keep in touch, as I really love hearing from friends and hearing how things are at home! And if any of you are coming to this neck of the woods in the next little while, let me know, maybe we can have an adventure together!
Love always,
Bryn
Egypt is by far the most conservative Muslim country I have visited yet. Turkey's official line is that they are secular, and the Central Asians are too pissed on vodka to worry too much about the wrath of allah. In Egypt, however, I would say that 90% or more of women are cruising around in headscarves (and a decent handful are rocking the full black veil), alcohol is not easily found nor is it abundantly consumed, and there seems to be a mosque or two on every block, and many shops pump arabic religious programs on their TVs and radios. When the call to prayer rings out around the city its really quite impressive to listen to, as it echoes from every corner around you. I was walking in the main bazaar area (they are called souqs here rather than bazaars) on Friday (the equivalent of a Christian's Sunday) and people were rolling out mats everywhere to pray one. People were literally praying on the medians in the middle of busy streets and in some cases on the streets where cars were ripping around them. It was pretty intense.
And Cairo IS intense. It is the most populated city in Africa (20-25 million) as well as the most densely populated one. The streets are packed and traffic is insane. People park in neutral on the side of the street as people have to park so tightly that cars get boxed in, so there are men that hang around and push the cars around and maneuver them to make space for people to get in or out. Crossing the road is terrifying at first (you just have to go and dodge cars... but luckily there is usually so much traffic that the cars move slow enough that you can meander through them), and the sidewalks are so packed with crap that most people just walk in the middle of the street amongst the cars. The city is humming 24 hours, and the chaotic atmosphere can be quite draining --- though you do get into the rhythm of things. I went back to the busy market area today and was so tired from cruising around that I went into a mosque and fell asleep... perhaps the beginning of my conversion to Islam?
Egyptians are incredibly friendly and welcoming. In the 70s up until the early 90s tourism made up 75% of the country's income. Since some terrorist attacks in the 90s and a large boom in Egyptian industry, that number has dropped to 25%, but that is still quite significant. Therefore Egyptians are no strangers to foreigners and nearly everyone can speak English. They also know that tourists can be a major source of cash and will try every trick in the book to get some from you. In Cairo it seems like EVERYBODY is trying to sell you a tour, a painting, some perfume... or hook you up with someone who can, etc. There are people that try to trick you into going to certain places to eat or to stay, and they will in turn collect a commission... I actually had tea with a guy who collects commission from an Arabic Language School for sending them students --- and he told me that if I sent any potential students to HIM, then I would get commission too! So everyone is friendly, everyone wants to know where you're from, what you do, how you like Egypt, if you want to go for tea, etc. but it seems like most of the time there are ulterior motives involved. And Egypt has a major tipping culture. Called baksheesh, it is expected that small tips should be given for just about any service, from opening a door for you, to turning on a tap in the bathroom, to tipping on top of your food bill AFTER tax and obligatory service charge has already been added. I don't like to tip at the best of times, so this has become extremely annoying really quickly. I went to the pyramids of Giza, where people harass you everywhere for money. They tell you a good place to take a photo, and expect a tip. They let you into a monument that you've already paid the ticket price for, and they expect a tip. They call you over, and tell you that you're at the pyramids and that this pyramid belongs to this person (which I already know/have been told by 10 guys already) and expect a tip. And for whatever reason, small bills are always hard to come by here, and so baksheesh quickly burns a hole in your pocket. At one point I went to the bathroom, and came out where the guy had turned on the tap for me and had some paper towel ready, and I was just so fed up with tipped/didn't have any small bills to give the guy any ways, that I felt that I couldn't wash my hands, and so left without doing so.
In terms of sites, I have seen the Great Pyramids, as well as some south of Giza, like the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, and the Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid at Dharshour. They were absolutely awe inspiring to see and touch first hand, and it really was a great experience. I have also been exploring the city in depth, seeing the old Christian Quarter, which is the oldest part of Cairo, and the Islamic Quarter, with all kinds of amazing mosques and cool back alley streets. The Egyptian Museum is an overwhelming and unorganized mess of incredible important artifacts. The downtown of Cairo is noisy and chaotic, and very fun. The food is good and cheap --- lots of felafel, baba ghanoush, tehina, shwarma. I have met lots of international people that live here, as well as many liberal-minded young Egyptians at a local watering hole called Al Hurreyra (the Freedom Bar) --- an place started by communists in the 70s that has historically been a hangout for Cairo's intellectuals and activists. In there I met a Palestinian refugee working as a journalist in Cairo now and an exiled journalist and activist from Ethiopia, as well as a slew of other very interesting and amazing people, who all seem to have a very great community here.
Tonight I am catching an overnight train to Aswan, the main city in the south, where it supposed to be hot and beautiful. I will kick around there for a few days and hopefully ride a boat on the Nile for a bit... and eventually work my way to Luxor, where the Valley of the Kings (think Tutankamun's tomb) is located, as well as some of Egypt's most impressive ruins. After about a month in Egypt I plan to work my way back to Turkey via Jordan and possibly Syria, and then I am hoping (fingers crossed) to be going on an archaeological dig in Tajikistan in May.
As always, I hope all is well with you, and I hope you will all keep in touch, as I really love hearing from friends and hearing how things are at home! And if any of you are coming to this neck of the woods in the next little while, let me know, maybe we can have an adventure together!
Love always,
Bryn
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