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.
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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