Travel – Page 29 – David and Yanmei

May 21, 2015

Cairo, day 2

For the second day we had the same driver and guide. The plan for the day was to go to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, then visit some historic sites around Cairo.

My first impression of Cairo yesterday when we arrived was it was dirty. There is dust everywhere, but I expected that from the desert. There is also garbage eveywhere, except for a few tourist areas. Some times the garbage is on fire.

The other thing I noticed driving around is how many unfinished buildings there are. There are hundreds of unfinished brick towers. They are being lived in because you can see laundry hanging to dry and satellite dishes on the top floor, next to the rebar structure for the next level. The guide said it is to save on tax.

Before we went to the museum I asked to stop at a convenience store for some water. I figured we could bring our own water so we wouldn't get ripped off for drinks at lunch again. We ended up going to a local supermarket, which was interesting. Mainly similar to most grocery stores, but the spice section was definitely something new to me.

We got to the museum and there was a lot of security, including sandbagged machine gun nests and APCs. I asked the guide what that was about and he said this is where some of the demonstrations happened during the unrest a few years ago. Not at the museum itself, but in the large square adjacent to it, which is what the soldiers were guarding.

Anyway the museums most famous pieces are the treasures and sarcophagi of King Tutenkhamen. I do remember seeing some of these treasures a long time ago when they were on display in Toronto, but I had to look up when that was. It was over 35 years ago, when I was 8. I think I can appreciate them a bit more now. There were no pictures allowed in the museum, but Yanmei snuck a couple with some Egyptian women she met. We were in the animal mummy section, which was pretty empty.

Unfortunately the museum is pretty disorganized and there are a lot of pieces without labels or descriptions. The guide said they are building a new and improved museum where they will fix these problems.

After the museum we went to see some historic religious sites. One of the great things about Egypt is how much history there is. Not just pyramids and pharaohs, but Greek, Roman and other civilizations too. We went to old Cairo.

The first place we went is a church built on the place where Joseph, Mary and Jesus are supposed to have stayed after they fled to Egypt. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I took a few anyway when no one was around.

After that we went to see a synagogue at the site where baby Moses was supposedly found on the Nile. They were more strict about the no photo policy and watched us the whole time. You can google Ben Ezra synagogue for pictures.

After that we went to the oldest mosque in Egypt. Pictures were allowed in the mosque. Yanmei was allowed in but she had to wear a robe to cover herself up.

Yanmei and our guide approaching the mosque

After that we returned to the hotel. Jet lag was catching up to us. I lied down for a nap and didn't wake up until midnight.

-David

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May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

Africa!

The day after our return from Seoul had our flight to Cairo, Egypt. First time for both of us to Egypt and Africa for that matter. Before I get to that I should mention Yanmei added to our tally of minor injuries sustained during this trip by splashing a blob of boiling oil on her arm while cooking. It is about the size of a small paperclip, I think it might leave a scar 🙁 .

Anyway our flight left Beijing at 12:30am and arrived at 5:10am local time in Cairo. I actually managed to sleep a few hours, probably because of the medicine I'm taking for my cold. Yanmei slept most of the way.

When we arrived, before we even cleared customs a man approached us to see if we needed a taxi, accommodations, etc. He said he worked for the ministry of tourism for the Egypt government. We went with him to see what he had to offer. We had all our accommodations booked but we hadn't booked any tours. We got to his shop in the airport and his boss went over the tours. Obviously weren't part of the government, but I assume they have government approval. We signed up and paid for two days worth of tours. Yanmei bargained him down 5%.

He described a tour bus and guide, but it is basically summer, which is low season. I didn't realize how low until later. We ended up with a car with a driver and an Egyptologist guide for just the two of us. First we drove to our hotel, which is in Giza near the pyramids, so it was quite a way from the airport. By then it was still only 7:30am and our room wasn't ready and we didn't want to pay extra for early check in.

We are staying at the Mena House hotel. For Egypt I wanted to stay in 5 star hotels for safety. Feels pretty safe. They check cars with a bomb sniffing dog before letting them in, they have X-ray machines for the bags and guards armed with pistols. It's not like we're in a war zone though, they're just making sure nothing happens to their guests.

Anyway we decided to just start the tour. Ibrahim, our driver, picked up Ahmed our guide, then first stop pyramids. Actually, first stop the camel stables to see if we wanted to ride camels around the pyramids. Ahmed told us this was optional and extra cost. They had options, the short, medium and long tours. I wanted the long because that was the only one that covered all three pyramids and the Sphinx. Then he told us the price, 1500 Egyptian pounds, which is about $200, each. Yanmei was appalled. The guy argued that it was a once in a lifetime experience, which is a line of thinking I agree with. But it became clear she didn't want to do it, so we left. The guy followed us all the way to the car thinking price was the issue and kept offering lower prices, but we left. I was a bit worried about the 12km hike through the complex. It was still only 9am, but it was summer in the Sahara desert and it was already getting warm. Turned out I needn't have worried, we could use our car. 🙂

There are always people at the pyramids, but it did not seem busy at all.

Then it turned out we could take a short camel ride out here. Still expensive, but a fraction of the full camel tour.

Great decision by Yanmei to skip the full camel tour. Several minutes riding a camel was enough experience for us. Back to the air conditioned car please. 🙂

After that we went to a papyrus shop to see how they made papyrus, then on to lunch. Lunch was included and we went to an Egyptian restaurant. We were the only ones there, which was a little worrisome (good restaurants are crowded), but we were early since we started the tour so early. The food was fine and reminded me a lot of Greek food. We had bread a lot like pitas with sauces like hummus. I had lamb and chicken kebabs while Yanmei had a veggie dish. We each also had a small glass of mango juice, and Yanmei had a glass of lemon juice. Well it turned out lunch was included but drinks were not, and those three tiny juices cost 120 pounds ($16). We were both pretty annoyed no one told us that and felt ripped off. Oh well.

After lunch we went to Saqqara, where the oldest pyramid is. This is really where I realized how slow it is during low season. We were literally the only tourists there. The pyramid is undergoing some restoration, but it is solid anyway so there is nothing to see inside.

Step pyramid of Djoser, over 4600 years old. Look how crowded it is.

The problem with being the only ones there is we became magnets for the vendors. They became increasingly desperate and pitiful as we left. Yanmei actually ran for the car. I broke down and bought some junk from one. I felt bad for them in the sweltering heat all day with no customers.

Finally we returned back to our hotel and checked in. What a long day!

-David

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May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

Back to Beijing

We had breakfast with Favid and Elizabeth before they caught the train back to their town and we packed up and headed to the airport.

Before I wrap up Korea, I want to relay a story David told me. In the US we hear about the movie “The Interview” and how it upset North Korea. That was minor in South Korea compared to a recent incident that we heard Little to nothing about in the US.

First some background. On the DMZ tour we learned there is the Kaesong industrial complex just north of the DMZ that about 120 South Korean companies invest in. They get cheap labor from over 50,000 NK workers to build their products while NK gets the economic boost. This was one of the purposes of the railway link I mentioned in a previous post, to ship the goods south from the complex. They have to use trucks now since the railway is closed.

Anyway David told us that the North Koreans love wagon wheel snack cakes, Choco-pies, or Orion pies as they are called in China. Basically marshmallow between two cookies covered in chocolate. They love them so much that when they work overtime in the factory complex they accept payment in wagon wheels instead of money. They got so popular that they became black market currency and NK banned them.

The incident started when certain nongovernmental groups in South Korea started sending boxes of wagon wheels over the DMZ with balloons, with anti-NK government propaganda in them, knowing that the NK citizens wouldn't be able to resist picking up a box of wagon wheels. This resulted in the NK soldiers trying to shoot down the balloons. The South Koreans seeing the North Koreans shooting, started to return fire. Thus a shoot out almost started over wagon wheels. Luckily cooler heads prevailed.

Anyway we made it back to our apartment in Beijing without incident.

-David

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