Cairo, Egypt

Days: 57-59
Miles Traveled: 29,145
Countries Visited: 12


I had originally planned on spending 4 days in Cairo, but after the first day I called up the airline and switched my ticket to the next day out. Wow - what a nightmare!

Maybe it was just a series of bad experiences, but I have a feeling it wasn't just me - it was Egypt. It all started as I arrived at immigration control at the airport. They wouldn't let me through without a Visa - but all you have to do is go to a window a few yards away, give the guy behind the window $15 USD and he gives you a sticker for your passport that lets you get through immigration. The guy behind the Visa window didn't even look at my passport, didn't put the sticker in the passport, just took my $15 and handed me a sticker. What a crock of...! (I said I'd keep this blog PG rated!) Obviously there is no real reason for this than to simply get money from tourists. This may seem uneventful but it was my first experience in Egypt and it should have tipped me off to the rest of my stay here!

After getting my luggage I walked outside to find a cab - my hotel is on the exact opposite side of Cairo from the airport and it's 6pm so figuring out public transportation was not something I wanted to deal with right now. Not a taxi in sight and a line of about 50 people ahead of me. I waited for about 30 minutes and there were now 49 people ahead of me...one cab came in 30 minutes. So, I walked back into the airport to see if I could find other transportation.

Sure enough a guy walks up to me, says he works at the airport and asks if I need a cab - of course I'm very skeptical but I'll hear him out. I ask how much to my hotel and he says $50 USD - I laugh and walk away (although I'd gladly pay him $50 right now!) He comes after me and asks me how much I'm willing to pay. After a minute of haggling we settle on $35 which seems reasonable to me since my iPhone is telling me it's 45 minutes by car to my hotel. Later I find out it should have only cost about $15. Oh well, I'm happy I don't have to wait in line anymore.

The guy takes me outside and calls someone on his cell. Within a couple of minutes a brand new sedan pulls up with no markings on the car...it's just some guy's car. I'm a little nervous but the driver is dressed nicely and seems friendly enough, has a new car that's very clean inside, so let's give it a shot. I put my backpack in the trunk and get in the back seat. We drive off. Not more than 2 minutes later he pulls off to the side of the road - still within the airport grounds. I'm thinking - ahh crap, what have I gotten into? He looks back at me and in broken English tells me we're approaching the airport gates and he needs me to be in the front seat. At this point I have no idea why, but I'm afraid if I get out he'll take off with my luggage. I ask him why, to which he responds - "you need to be my friend." Huh? From what I can tell from what he's saying, he's not a licensed taxi driver and therefore needs to make it look like we're buddies and he's just picking me up at the airport.

After some hesitation, I get out and quickly hop into the front. He then tells me we'll be stopped at the airport gates by guards and I need to tell them we're friends. He gives me the name of his apartment building and tells me to give this name to the guards and to write it down on their clipboard if they ask. Okay, I'm more skeptical now than I was before, but what are my options at this point? We pull back onto the road and approach the gates. Two guards in full uniform and with guns approach my side of the car - not the driver's side! One of them asks me where I'm from and where I'm going. Uncertain if I should tell the truth and the driver gets in trouble, or should I play along and give the guy's apartment building name. I choose the latter in hopes that this guy knows what he's doing. The guards both look at me for what seems like an eternity and then hand me a clipboard, ask me to write down the apartment building name and sign it. I look at the clipboard and there isn't another line filled in with English - it's all in Arabic so I have no idea what I'm signing. I write down the building name and then scribble some illegible name that looks nothing like my name (thinking I can deny it later??)

The guards say something in Arabic to the driver and we pull away. What the heck? My heartbeat is going a million miles a minute and I'm dripping with sweat (it's hot outside!)

So, with that behind us I'm now just hoping he takes me to my hotel and not some random spot in the desert to drop me off and rob me. As it turns out, that might have been the better outcome! He pulls out onto the highway which is a 10 lane highway divided by a cement median and cement barriers on the outside - like you would find anywhere in the US. The only difference is this highway also seems to serve as the sidewalk, the way to push your street vendor carts from one spot to the next and taxis/busses stop in the right lane to let people off and pick people up! This is all going on while the rest of the traffic is going 60-70 mph. It's nuts! And to really make it fun, my driver is going 160km/hr (100 mph)! He's weaving in and out of traffic, coming within inches of hitting people, flashing his headlights, honking his horn, going from full gas to full brake and back again! After a few minutes I was so amazed by it, I considered taking out my camera to capture it on video but didn't want to encourage him! After about 20 minutes, I couldn't resist any longer and pulled it out:

You have to watch the video to truly appreciate it! If you listen closely you'll hear him ask me if it's okay if he lights up a cigarette - while he's going 100 mph and weaving through traffic...he's going to get out a cigarette and a lighter...yep! I also had to take a picture of his speedometer to show how fast we were going:


After 30 minutes (of what should have been a 45 minute drive) we pull up to my hotel and I'm just thankful I'm alive! I give him the money, grab my bag out of the trunk and feel like dropping to my knees and kissing the ground!

While getting through immigration and the taxi experience are not enough to make me "hate" Egypt, the next couple of days certainly are! Before I describe the next morning, here's a picture from my hotel window - about a half-mile from the Pyramids.


I stayed at the Le Meridien Pyramids - great location but the rooms were old and tired.

I guess I always thought the Pyramids were out in middle of the desert but they're not. They're right up against the city of Giza (suburb of Cairo). What I also just learned is that there are 180+/- pyramids in Egypt. Who knew? Well I certainly didn't but the ones here in Giza (9 of them) are probably the most recognizable and one of the 9 is the Great Pyramid - the largest of them all.

So I wake up the next morning hoping to put the previous day behind me and enjoy Cairo. Since I'm only about a mile from the main entrance to the Pyramids I decide to walk it. I ask the concierge how to get there and he gives me directions but also strongly urges me to walk away from the pyramids a few hundred yards to cross the street. I heed his advice and go to the stoplight...yikes! No one seems to follow the stoplights, cars are going through red lights, motorcycles are driving on the sidewalks and the pedestrians just cross whenever they want. I wait for a few minutes to see if there's a break in the traffic but no luck. By the way, there isn't a crosswalk, no pedestrian signs, nothing. Finally I see a woman and two children walking towards me so I decide to cross with them...ha! How bad is it that I'm using a woman and children to help me cross the street...shouldn't it be the other way around? We walk right into traffic and cars just seem to go around us. Plenty of horns honking, but they don't hit us. I'm now thinking I should take a cab back to the hotel after I see the pyramids!



After crossing the street, I bring up a map on my iPhone and see that there's a side entrance that is much closer to where I'm currently walking. Perfect, I'll go that way. As I'm walking towards what appears to be the entrance, a kid in his late teens asks me if I want a camel ride around the Pyramids for 100 LE (Egyptian Pounds). Sounds fun, but no thanks. I walk a little farther and the same kid comes up behind me and starts telling me about the pyramids - when they were built, how many there are, the names of the larger ones, etc. I continue walking and respond with "oh really?" and "that's interesting, thanks." He seems to be a very nice kid, he's very polite and speaks decent enough English but I'm wondering what he wants from me.

He keeps following me up the hill towards the entrance (we're now about 100 yards from an open gated entrance for cars) when he points to the left of the entrance and says, go this way it's faster. I say "no thanks I'm fine". He chuckles and says "no really, this way is faster." At the same time a completely different guy (in his 50's) says "it's this way" and points the same direction as the kid was pointing. Again, I say no thanks and keep walking up the hill towards the two guards standing at the gate letting cars go through after talking to the drivers. There are no other tourists around so I'm starting to wonder if everyone is right. As I get closer, another guy says "the entrance is that way" and points the same direction as everyone else. Either everyone is in on this together or I'm actually going the wrong direction. Willing to look like a fool, I keep walking to the gate so that I can see for myself. As I approach, one more guy points the other way and says something in Arabic. I ignore him and keep walking until I reach the guards. Both of the guards point the other direction and say something to me in Arabic.

Okay - I must be going the wrong way. I turn around and there's the kid smiling saying "I told you!" I walk towards where everyone was pointing and the kid follows me. We go through a walled in area and we're standing with a bunch of camels. The kid says something in Arabic and a bunch of people come over to me - one of them with a camel. I immediately say "no camel" and ask where the gate is. The kid responds with "how about 75 LE?" I say no again and just start walking towards the mysterious entrance everyone was pointing at - but there is no entrance that I can see. The guy in his 50's from before comes up behind me and says "50 LE for a camel ride?" I say no...AGAIN...and keep walking. He tells me I can't go that way unless I'm on a camel. He then offers 20 LE for a camel ride...I say NO loudly and keep walking. I'm now surrounded by 8-9 guys and a bunch of camels. I look at the map again and decide I was walking the right way before and I want to try the guards again. When I turn around the guys around me won't move out of the way. So I basically have to juke back and forth to navigate between the guys and camels to get back to the street. Everyone is saying stuff in Arabic and the first kid is still trying to get me to ride a camel but now it's only 10 LE!

I finally maneuver my way through the camels and walk up to the guards but this time I just walk right past them. One of them says "no camel?" I say no and keep walking. He smiles, shrugs his shoulders and then goes back to whatever he was doing.

The guards are in on it too?!? Not cool! Later I found out from a website that they get you on a camel, take you way out past the pyramids and then have you get off to take pictures. If you want to get back to the pyramids you have to pay their price for the camel ride back which this time will be 100+ LE.

I walk up the hill to the top and now I can see the pedestrian entrance and the tickets sign. I read the board and see that 60 LE gets me in to the park and then there's another ticket that allows me to go inside the Great Pyramid which sounds interesting so I ask the guy at the ticket counter for both tickets. He says the Great Pyramid is closed for repair and I can't go inside so he gives me the general admittance ticket for 60 LE. Bummer, but what can I do. I leave the ticket window and a guy comes up to me and asks to see my ticket. He's not wearing any "official" looking clothes and doesn't have a badge so I ask "why?" He says he works here and needs to take my ticket. I'm standing 10 feet from the entrance with turnstiles with another guard taking tickets so I say "I'll give it him" and point to the guard wearing a uniform. The guy says again "I am an official and I work here - give me your ticket!" I look at the guard who has been watching us and is only standing 10 feet away and I ask him who I give my ticket to. He points to the turnstile. The guy that supposedly "works here" just turns and walks away. What the heck?

I go in through the entrance and hand my ticket to the uniformed guard who just smiles at me like I passed some kind of test.

I walked around the park for about a half hour before coming to the Great Pyramid. There are a bunch of people going in - huh? The guy at the gate told me it was closed. I walk up the stairs to the entrance and try to walk through but there are two guards that stop me and ask for my ticket. I try telling them that the guy at the entrance said it was closed but it was obvious the guards didn't understand me and one of them says 100 LE. Again I try explaining but he just says 100 LE and holds out his hand. Are you kidding me?? It's a racket!



I'll get to the actual beauty of the pyramids in a second, but I need to continue on my "nightmare" story first.

After leaving the inside of the Great Pyramid, I was standing up about 5 levels on the pyramid (the farthest up they'll let you climb) when I noticed an Asian guy and his wife arguing with a local Egyptian guy down on the ground. It looked like the Egyptian guy had just taken a picture of the couple but was refusing to return their camera. I watched for a few seconds and sure enough the Egyptian guy was asking for 5 LE for taking the couple's picture - with their own camera! Two guards were standing about 20 feet away and were watching this all unfold. The Asian guy started to get really loud and obviously very angry...he wanted his camera back! They argued but I don't think either one of them spoke much English so it was just yelling in each of their native languages with the other not understanding a word. Finally the Asian woman pulled out some money as if to say, "fine - let's just pay him and get out of here." I felt like I was watching two little kids trading something because neither wanted to let go of their item until they had the other one in hand. I'm not exactly sure how the Egyptian did it, but with what seemed like a magician's slight of hand, he had managed to take the Asian guy's watch off his wrist but slipped up when trying to put it in his pocket and it dropped to the ground. Needless to say this infuriated the Asian couple and they both began screaming for the guards. The guards nonchalantly walked up and shooed the Egyptian guy away. I watched from above for a few more minutes as the Asian couple was obviously trying to convince the guards to do something about what just happened but they weren't going to do anything and were pretending they didn't see anything.

So when I finally got back to my hotel is when I decided to change my flight. I had enough of Egypt and the Pyramids were really all I wanted to see anyway.

Thinking that I was putting Egypt behind me was a good thought, but I still had to get to the airport and on the plane. The next morning I got a car from the hotel's concierge (no taxi for me!) and I made it to the airport uneventfully. However, getting through airport security will prove to be anything but uneventful.

I go through the first round of security without any problems and then go to the passport/immigration area. When I get up to the counter, the guy behind the counter seems to take forever when people all around me are going through easily. After a few minutes two guards show up and start talking to the guy behind the counter in Arabic. They say something then look at me, then look at my passport, then start talking in Arabic again. I can see the planes on the tarmac from here and I'm thinking - just put me on any of those planes and get me out of here!

A guy in a suit walks up and starts talking to everyone in Arabic and then finally says to me in English "we have a problem with your passport". Apparently they have no record of me (or more accurately my passport) ever coming into Egypt so they need to verify that the admittance stamp in my passport is not counterfeit. What?? When I arrived all they did is took my $15 and handed me a sticker - now they're saying it may be counterfeit? If that's all it takes to get a sticker why would anyone go to the effort of counterfeiting it?

A few minutes later, the guy in the suit and the two guards escort me off to the side so that they can ask me a few questions. Okay, if I hated Egypt before this - I'm really hating it now! The suit asks me questions like "when did I arrive?" "what airline?" "what flight number?" "do I still have my ticket stub" "where did I stay?" "what did I do while I was here?" "can anyone verify any of this?" etc. After about 20 questions, he started asking me the same questions again - I presume to see if I give the same answers as before. He then leaves me with the guards and disappears behind one of the other immigration counters. After about 15 minutes of me sweating it out and thinking about all the horror stories of people getting trapped in foreign countries, he finally reappeared. In all of about 4 seconds he handed me my passport and said "you can go" then he and the guards walked away. No apologies, no explanation, nothing - just "you can go". I wasn't complaining - just get me to my plane!

Not so fast. Are you tired of hearing about this nightmare? Well it's not quite over yet! For international flights they have one additional security checkpoint at each gate even after going through the main security. I've seen this at other international airports so it's nothing new to me. I put my small day backpack on the conveyor belt (my large backpack had been checked in) and I walk through the metal detector - which does not go off (important to note). The guy watching the monitor says something to the other guard and they ask me if this is my backpack. What the HELL??? Let me out of here!! I say yes. They ask if I have a computer in there. I say I have my iPad and I ask if they want me to take it out. Up to this point I have not had to take my iPad out at any other airports because apparently it's thin enough that the x-ray machine can see through it. Regardless, I do as requested and take my iPad out. They send the backpack through again and ask if I have a watch in the bag. Yes, I say. I usually take my watch off while I'm waiting in line and put it in my backpack along with my wallet, my phone, any coins, etc. rather than putting it all in those little buckets where everyone can see it. I pull my watch out of my backpack and the guard takes it from me and starts inspecting it. It's a Rolex so after all the apparent corruption I've witnessed so far in Egypt, I'm thinking the guard is going to take it! Instead he hands it back to me and motions for me to step to the side behind a partition. He grabs a metal detector wand and motions for me to put my arms out. Wait a minute - I already went through the metal detector and it did not go off! Why the heck are you "wanding me"?? I don't say a word, just do as I'm told. After running the wand over my entire body and not a single beep coming from it, he sets it down and starts feeling my front pockets. I keep my cash and a stick of chapstick in my front pocket but there's nothing metal in there. He feels it and motions for me to take it out. I pull out the cash and the chapstick and say "it's just chapstick" and put both the money and the stick back in my pocket. He immediately grabs my pocket again and motions for me to take it out. I take out the chapstick and start to take the cover off to show him it's just chapstick when he grabs my pocket again and squeezes the cash. When I pull it out he looks at me and gives the "give me some" motion with his hand. I can not believe what is going on here...but then again after everything else that's happened I shouldn't be surprised. I shake my head and say "no." He motions again but this time with a very stern look on his face. I say very loudly, since I know other people are just on the other side of the partition, "Can I see your SUPERVISOR please?" His face immediately turns to a smile as if to "just kidding!" and he motions for me to leave. I grab my backpack and hightail it out of there!


So that's it for the nightmare - I thought I'd end this post with a few pictures of the pyramids themselves. They truly are amazing - the fact that they are 4,500 years old is amazing in itself let alone the sheer size of them. Just think about it, today we are actually closer to the birth of Christ (2010 AD) then the builders of the pyramids were (2,500 BC).


Needless to say, Egypt and I don't get along. I don't want to discourage anyone from coming to Egypt - it's possible this was just a series of misfortunate events that all just happened to me - but I'm guessing I'm not the only one! If you come prepared, be skeptical of everything and trust no one, I think you'll be just fine. I can say with certainty I will never go to Egypt again, but that's because I can now mark the pyramids off my list! It was all worth it because the pyramids are that amazing, but take caution!


(it's hard to tell here, but each of these "rocks" is about 6 feet tall)




Next stop is Istanbul, Turkey.

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Location:El Remaya,,Egypt