 |
 |
|
Cairo and the Temples of the South
Luxor, Egypt
February, 2005
What a great time in "The Land of Civilization" as they call it on the Billboards around Cairo.
I arrive at the Cairo Airport at 12:30AM with the idea of staying at the Garden City Hotel recommended to me by my friend Nancy from Essaouira. As soon as I got my backpack and was through customs, the touts had a different idea.
"Where you going to stay?" said a well dressed guy. "I have cheap taxi to city, only 50 Pounds, come follow me."
Note: $1USD = 5.8 Egyptian Pounds
I was tired and the price seemed right for the taxi so I followed him to his booth. I told him I wanted to stay at the Garden City. He asked me for address. I didn't have it. He asked me for phone number, nope, didn't have that either.
"Do you have a reservation?" He continued.
"No, but you must have the number in your hotel book."
"Ok, ok, I call." He took out his cell phone, looked in the book, dialed, and handed the phone to me."
"Hello?" I said.
"Hello?" returned the person on the other end.
"Is this the Garden City Hotel?" I inquired.
The guy hesitated, "Ah yes, Garden City."
"Do you have a room?"
"No, we are full."
I was a total sucker. The guy on the other end was definitely not at the Garden City. Then the Tout said, "I have nice hotel for only 40 Pounds." and he showed me a picture.
The place looked OK, it was 20 Pounds cheaper than the Garden City so I agreed.
The Hotel ended up being nice enough. When I arrived I upgraded to a room with a shower and bath for 50 Pounds. The room was clean and I was happy to take a hot shower.
Why it is so important for the tout to get you to his specific hotel is because they really make their money off selling you a package tour, 5 or 6 days around Egypt. I had been warned about the package deals from the budget hotels.
The next morning a really cool guy, Metallia (nick name), who laid out the package over breakfast. All budget hotels in Egypt include breakfast and it is always the same. You get a piece of bread, some fig jelly, a little processed cheese and a boiled egg. I think this meal costs them less than one pound.
Metalica laid out the standard backpacker trip
- Two days to tour Cairo and the Pyramids (hotel included)
- overnight train to Aswan (Aswan Dam, Philae Temple, Abu Simbel, one night accommodation)
-Two days and nights on a Felucca (little sail boat) towards Luxor
-Two days in luxor (Valley of Kings, Luxor Temple, and one night hotel)
-Train back to Cairo and one night hotel there.
A six day trip for the total cost of $150USD. Metallica said this was non negotiable. This seemed like a good deal, but I wasn't sure. I decided to spend the morning wandering around to check the prices.
I found that I could get the same trip for about $100 US from the different travel agents downtown. These trips were all 5 days and more hurried, so I decided to go with Metallica. An extra $50, oh well. Later I realized that if you had lots of time, you could do the same trip, on your own, for about $50USD.
I went back to the hotel and booked the tour to start the next day. Well really it started that day. The first thing they did was drive me to a shady building to get my "International Student ID." Metallica assure me that I would save 50% on all temple so I had to get one. He was right. This is a big tip for Egypt. You get into all temples and museums in Egypt for half price with a student ID. It cost me $10USD.
After getting the card we went back to the hotel and I had a free day to wander around Cairo. I turned down the guided tour, I wanted to wander and experience the city by myself. After walking around the cities in India, Cairo was a dream. No one harasses you and when you do go into a store everyone in nice and respectful.
Cairo is an easy city to walk. I went for a stroll along the Nile and then visited the Cairo National Museum. There were lots of cool artifacts including the Tut Exhibition, but I got a funny feel from the place. A bit like a zoo. I felt the statues and mummies belonged somewhere else, where ever they were found, not in the closed in walls of a museum.
The next day I went to Memphis and the the Great Pyramids. The big day! The Pyramids! We left from the hotel at 9:00AM, me the driver and a guide. The driver knew the way but the guide barely spoke English. First we went to Memphis and the Sakara Pyramid. It was cool, gigantic and the like, but I was antsy to get the the Pyramids of Gisa.
After strolling around Sakara for an hour, I met the guide and we were on our way to Gisa. Unfortunately, a wind had come up and there was a bit of a sand storm outside. Sandstorm and all, instead of driving up to the Pyramids, we went to an outpost where you rent horses to seem the sights. At this point I’m getting frustrated. The guide leaves me with the horse tout who says I must see the pyramids by horse. But there is a sand storm I tell him. “You have come all this way, you must See the Pyramids,” he implores.
I’m pretty pissed and this whole seen is pathetic. I finally agree and ride out into the dessert on a horse in the middle of a sand storm, great idea. It was only about 9$ for the ride so I finally agreed. Looking back I’m glad I went, but at the time I was not happy.
So the horse guide and me ride out towards the pyramids and the guy says to me, “This is not good weather for the ride.” I shake my head and look at him like, “No shit.” Needless to saw we only lasted in the storm for about an hour and I did get a couple good photos.
On the way back the guide starts telling me his story of woe, how they barely pay him anything etc. I´m still pretty pissed off, but I get out what amounts to about two dollars and give it to him. He looks at me, laughs, and says, “What’s this, most people give me 10 times as much.”
I was boiling. “Well most the people you take are rich and on vacation and I’m not, and most people you don’t take out in the middle of a sand storm!” I exclaim with venom in my voice. He must have seem my eyes. All he said after that was, “Thank you.”
When we arrived back at the ranch, the horse tout met us and told me to come inside for tea and to wash up. My hotel guide joined us too. At this point I wasn't’t pulling any punches.
“So how was your ride in the desert?” the horse dude says with a big smile.
“It sucked, you know, there is a sandstorm.”
“But you did get to see the Pyramids?”
“Yes, from a mile away. The horses started sneezing and we had to turn around. Didn’t I tell you before about the sandstorm?” I said as I finished my tea. “Can we go?”
My hotel guide did not say a word, rose and we started towards the car. The horse tout approached me one last time. “Sir, I’m sorry you did not have good time. Come again tomorrow and,” I interrupt, “Look, I told you before I was leaving to Aswan tonight, I can’t come again, forget about it, OK.”
We got in the car and drove off. My hotel guide then looks at me and says, “You did not have a good time?” I look at him and shake my head and he shuts up. Next we stop at a papyrus dealer shop, big tourist thing, and my guide says to me, “You must go in and see authentic Egyptian Papyrus. You don’t have to buy.”
I go in for about 10 minutes, I’m not impressed, and return to the car. Then the Guide looks back to me and says, “Now we go back to the hotel?” “Fine,” I reply.
On the way back I’m thinking that id sucks that I didn’t even see the Sphinx, I’m pissed, I shouldn’t let the day end like that. Also, the sand storm was over so I ask the guide, “Look, I havn’t even got to see the Sphinx of the pyramids close up, any way you can take me there?”
He looks at the driver, then his watch, and says, “Ok, Ok, but you can only stay for one half hour.”
I agree and we turn around and go back to Gisa. This made me feel a bit better, I did get to walk around the Sphinx, but I didn’t have time to hike up to the Pyramids.
That evening the main hotel dude asked me how I liked me trip and I told him I wasn’t so happy. He assured me a free ride out again when I returned from the south.
At midnight we left the hotel for the train station. It was a 8 hour ride to Aswan. This is where I met Stacy and Kelly who would be with me for the entire trip south. They were nice 20 year old American girls who had been on an exchange program to Prague and were visiting Egypt before they went back home. They were both from Michigan.
We were riding first class, and the guy from the hotel helped us find our seats. As I settled in a guy behind me asked, “Hey, do you know how long this ride lasts?”
I told him 8 hours. I could tell from his accent he was Canadian. We began to chat and he was a really cool guy from New Brunswick named Ryan. He would end up being with us for the entire trip too. As we were ending our typical backpacker type conversation he said, “Hey dude, I got this whole bag of Valium I picked up while in Ko Phangyan, do you want a few to help you sleep?”
The train was an hour late and we arrived in Aswan at 9:00AM where we were met by out driver. They took all four of us to a nice hotel and said we had an hour before we had out tour of Aswan Damn and the Philae temple.
The Damn was impressive. I also learned the story of how over 100 ancient temples are now underwater and gone forever due to the construction of the damn. The only temples that were moved were the Phile Temple and Abu Simbel.
There’s not much to say about a Damn tour, but the Phile Temple was awesome, one of my favorite temples of the whole trip. The temple is on a little island and we took a small Felluka to get there. Even though the temple was moved there, it seemed to fit so well that it wasn’t odd. The hieroglyphics and engraving were in excellent condition and it was overall a fantastic place.
The next morning we had to get up at 4:00AM to go to Abu Simbel. You may not know the name, but you definitely know this temple. It’s one of the most famous in Egypt with four giant Pharaoh statues at the front, two are half gone, maybe I’m not doing so well, go to Pictures Section 1 for the shot.
There is only one government caravan a day that leaves from Aswan to Abu Simbel. All the tourist transport have to meet in their vehicles at the rendezvous point at 5:00AM to make the 3 hour journey south (280 KM). It’s a great ride thought the desert but most of us slept on the Way there.
Abu Simbel is really amazing. The size of the Statues are enormous, over 65 feet high and the tomb inside is well preserved filled with sculpture and carvings. I couldn’t imagine how incredible it would be finding this temple in the desert cliff, its original location. Abu Simbel was taken apart stone by stone and reconstructed at its present location. Were it used to be set in a cliff, its now set into a man made hill. It was strange, but you have to admire the effort it must have taken.
Overall, Abu Simbel was exciting. The only drag was that since all the buses have to go down together, there are a thousand tourists all visiting the temple at the same time. Hopefully, eventually, when the area is safer, they will allow people to go at free will.
That afternoon we arrive back in Aswan and prepped our stuff for two days and two nights on a little boat on the Nile. One of the great pleasures in Egypt is to take a ride in a felluka. The felluka is the traditional boat of the Nile (See Photos). The boat giant sloop sailboat that is about 20 feet long, open air except for small cabin in the front, and good for down wind and down river. About 14 people can sleep on the deck, but luckily there was only 10 on ours.
We departed at 3:00PM and our tourist voyagers included Stacy, Kelly and Ryan, also a Korean Sister and Cousin, a couple from Mexico City and a couple from Germany. Quite diverse, quite funny. There were two guys in the crew, a captain and the mate, both Nubians.
Before we departed we discussed getting some beer with the crew. The mate swore that it would be about a dollar a beer. Ryan was perturbed and decided he would go and find the beer. The mate was a little uspaet but we waited for Ryan to return. He got back about 10 minutes later with a case and said, "Only 50 cents a beer."
I took a closer look and noticed that the beer was non-acholic. I laughed, but he didn´t find it so ammusing. He grabbed the case and ran back into the city. He forgot his shirt and he ran off with the case on his bare shoulder. It was quite a spectical. Beer drinking is frowned upon, but going shirtless is almost an offence!
At this point the mate is a bit mad but the captain didn´t seem to care about the delay. When Ryan returned he was sweaty and had quite the story to tell.
"OK, 75 Cents a beer." he gasped.
The captain smiled and shook his head and motioned the disturbed mate to get the boat underway. As we left the dock Ryan told us the big dilema at the liquor store.
"So I go back and the guy wouldn't trade the beer in for real beer. I started to yell and the owner said, 'Please don´t yell the police will hear,´ so I got even louder. The liquor store guy pleaded and said that it was against the law to sell me beer with alochol (which it aparently is). Because I would't take no, and being shirtless and all, he finally yelled back to the boy to bring a case of real beer. I paid him the difference and returned as fast as I could."
Everyone on the boat laughed and smiled except for the mate who glared at Ryan and said, "You should have just let me go."
We were all happy to be underway and it was much cooler out on the river.
A felluka has no engine so for the two days we were at the mercy of the wind and current. Luxor is down stream so I guess if there was no wind we would just drift. Even with the wind we never went over 3 miles and hour.
It was magical saiuling along the nile with our Nubian crew. No sounds of traffic, mosques, animals, just the wind and the creaking of the boat. Everyone was lulled into a trance. We all felt that the boat ride would be no different 1000 years ago or today.
The first day we sailed north for 5 hours and then pulled up on the side of the river to spend the night. I doubt if we went over 10 miles in that 5 hours. Most everyone got off the boat to strech (it was a bit cramped on the deck) and the captain began to cook dinner.
Ryan and the Mate were now talking and Ryan was negociating getting some pot. I knew the crew guy would somehow get back the money he lost on the beer purchase.
The food on the trip was great. For breakfast we would have eggs, bread, bannanas and Vache Qui Rit (processed cheese). For lunch we would have lentils, rice, bread, bannanas and Vache Qui Rit. For dinner we would have lentils, rice, bread, bannanas and Vache Qui Rit.
The sunset on the nile was amazing and there were almost no bugs to eat us after sunset. After dinner we all got stoned (everyone but the Koreans) and needless to say, we drank the entire case of beer that first night.
I got out the flyswatter and played a good assortment of songs and everyone laughed and enjoyed themselves. Even the mate was now all smiles and had forgotten the beer insident.
That night I froze my ass off. I was the last to go to bed, the Koreans were hogging all the space and there were not enough blankets, so I wore all the warmth I had which was not much.
The next day was great. The captain let me sail for awhile and I was very greatful. We styarted off at 6:00AM and sailed until 6:30PM and I doubt if we went more that 25 miles. I guess distance was not the point. We all sat speachless watching age old fields and magestic scenery pass by.
That night we camped near the city of our pickup for the next day and thing were not as lively without the case of beer.
In the morning we met a minivan that drove us to Luxor. Luxor was my favorite city in Egypt. Small but with lots of shops and a great temple (Luxor Temple) right in the center of town on the edge of the nile. Our hotel was great, ensuite, aricon and TV for only about $8 US.
That evening a wedding party came by the hotel and it was fantastic. They had about 8 micisiand playing traditional music and the couple was enchanted surrounded by all of their kin. I got some great video and was quite delighted.
The next day we went to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. Interestingly enough, I thought the valley of the queens was much more inpressive. The Kings was just a bunch of Tombs and I was already a bit toumbed out. Tuts tomb was closed under renovation. The queens was an awesome temple that was built intro the cliff. Really cool.
That night we took the train back to Cairo and that was the last I saw of Ryan and the girls. I had two days left in Cairo and I was going to make the ñost of it.
The first day, as my hotel promised, I got a free ride to Gisa and spent 4 hours wandring around the pyramids. It was beyond words. The touts seemed to know I wasn´t interseted and was free to roam anywhere I wanted. I hiked up a hill and got some great shots.
After the pyrimids I got the hotel guys to drop me off in Old Cairo to do some shopping. I wanted to get some t-shirts and stuff for my friends in Essaouira. Those poor street vendors didn´t know what hit them. I just used the tactics I learned in Morocco and was ruthless. They would say $8 and I would say $1. They would laugh a bit and go to $4. I would say one again. Then they were not laughing. When I finally got them down to $2, I would walk away uninterested. I kept this up until I knew the real price of everything.
Finally, when for instance I knew I could get the Tshirts for $1 a piece, I went up to a stand that had all the screens I wanted and said, "I´ll give the right price, 5 shirts, $5."
The man was agast, "But the sign says right here $5 a shirt."
"5 shirts for $5 and that´s final." I replied. The guy at the next booth looked at at my determination, smiled and nodded his head.
The saleman was awestruck, he knew he was defeated, with a whisper he said, "OK, 5 shirts $5."
I almost felt a bit guilty, but in a bargining county you have to be hard core and not take any prisoners.
I went out for a few beers that evening, but since I would´t pay the price of western places, I only went to a few subdued local bars which are not much to talk about. Fairly depressing to be honest.
My last day was really cool. I had two appointments to meet friends of the family. My moter´s best friend in the US Mothere and sister live in Cairo and I was to meet the mother for lunch and the sister for dinner.
The mom, Anna, came by and picked me up at noon. She asked me were I wantwed to go and we deicided on the Cairo Tower. This is the sky needle in the center of town. The view was outstanding. Anna and I got along great, my french was just good enough that we could have small conversations.
After the tower she took me to eat at the Turf Club. This is a private club not so far from the tower. The food was great and after she gave me a tour of all the sporting facilities. It was really nice, pools, tennis courts, shooting range, football field, rides for children, really fun.
After saying farewell to Anna, I took a taxi back to my hotel and only had a few hours beroe I was to be picked up by the sister and husband. They took me for a dinner cruise on the nile and it was fantastic too. Belly dancer, brews, wonderful scenery, and incredible way to finish the trip.
Egypt is so cheap, fun and beautiful I will have to return. The next time for a month or two. I could have stayed in Luxor for a month alone!!!
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
