City Don’t Cry – Page and Plant

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1-14-07  8am

Got into Cairo last night and things are  . . well surreal is the best word in mind.  I heard about bad drivers but I don’t think I had actually ever seen them until last night.  Wow.  No lights, swaying around the lane without cause as if they were all drunk, insane high speed lanes changes, crossing the cement barrier for highway u-turns at will and then there are the huge pieces of garbage/appliances blocking lanes at random without a cone or cop in sight.  Amazing.  Stop giggling, I was never this bad.  Believe me.

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Cairo at night on a first visit is a bit concerning.  Bunkered down army/police buildings with machine gun nests, apartments with that nice war torn look and cops that look at you like you’re nuts for being there is just the beginning.  The hotel’s dark back alley entrance didn’t help and the taxi driver/hotel manager trying to scam me right off the start also continued the stomach churning.  Is a bunch of really old stuff worth all this? , I started to ask myself.

But the room was nice for the price, I slept well and the manager knocked down the cab fare when I questioned him.  I think some locals sometimes like to test tourists to see how much they’re paying attention.  Anyway, all trepidation is gone this morning and I’m off to see the pyramids.  If I can find a taxi that won’t try to say I rented him for the entire day.

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Cairo and Pyramids 1-15-07 3pm

Okay, after reading yesterday’s comments I need to modify the some description when it comes to Cairo locals looking to make a buck off of you.  It’s an epidemic.  They stop you in the street, act like you’re their best friend, give you things and then expect the big buy or payoff.  You can really get jaded about this place but I think the key is to just smile, act stupid and walk away.  Saying ‘la shokram’ (no thank you in Arabic) just seems to encourage all the touts here.  Walking the streets can get a bit sketchy too.  The VERY few western tourists I see walking have that bug eyed, fearful look that I probably had earlier too.  It all takes some getting used to.  I spent all afternoon yesterday at the pyramids (amazing descriptions to follow shortly but I want to get this out of my system) and the touts almost ruined it for me.  From the second you step out of the cab they’re on you.  I was walking fast and ignoring everyone when one of them really started to yell.  I walked faster.  He grabbed me and showed me his gun.  I was ready to tear ass when he finally said ‘police, buy ticket’ and pointed at a shack behind me.  Fun huh?    After that I was a bit shell shocked and saying no a thousand times to guys selling do rags, postcards, camel/horse rides, expert ‘Egyptologist’ guided tours from a 12 year old, and all of them wanting me to take their picture for money; even the so called tourist police.  I started to envy the bus loads of Euros and Japanese who could respond in a language other than English.  I even tried a little ‘no comprendo por favor’ having just got back from Spain but the tout just started calling me gringo and kept following until I gave him the universal symbol for take off.  Anyway, yeah this place definitely takes some getting used to.  I think the best way to go about it is to jump right in.  I took the metro to Ramses station to buy a sleeper train ticket today.  Imagine being the only westerner on a car full of 100 Egyptians staring you down.  Some eyes had that curious, ‘Wow, what are you doing here?’  Others had that ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ target stare.  I got a bit lost in one station until I questioned a well dressed elderly gentleman.  Turned out he didn’t speak English well but understood where I wanted to go and took me to that platform himself, skipping his own train.  And there you have it.  That’s why people travel.  My faith in humanity restored I walked the city streets with a little less bug in my eye and only got suckered into one store for tea and a sales pitch.

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Pyramids of Giza

5000 years old, I responded to his question.  A sad head shake from my volunteer local guide.  10000 he says, at least.  Atlanteans?  Aliens?  I ask smiling. Nope, farmers he says.  Farmers sculpted the Sphinx as a lion out of rock 10000 years ago and the Pharaohs remodeled it in their image 5000 years later, he says.  I nod, having saw that theory on the Discovery channel episode too.  I just never expected to hear it from a 12 year old on the Giza plateau.  Enlightenment, all for 2 Egyptian pounds (50 cents US).

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All that whining in the above posts needed to be said but now we get to the whole point of this visit, probably the biggest reason for the whole idea of this round the world extravaganza, the Great Pyramids of Giza.  I’ve been dreaming about them all my life and now I’ve seen them in person, I’ve touched them and climbed them a little.  It takes a while to realize you’re actually standing there looking at them.  The shock wears off slowly.  All afternoon long I’d shake my head and whisper to myself, ‘The f-in pyramids’, like this was something that I wasn’t really ever supposed to see in person, like it was supposed to stay a picture in a book or on a screen.  24 hours later and I still can’t quite believe I’m the one who took all those photographs.

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All the guidebooks say you need an afternoon to see Giza.  That’s true but one trip isn’t enough.  I have to go back, at the very least for the big Sound and Light Show.  Remember the scene in, 007- For Your Eyes Only with Roger Moore fighting some guy at night near the pyramids?  That’s the one.  It may be hokey and touristy but I have to see it.  There are a bunch of pyramids south of Giza as well so I’m thinking of going on a real Egyptologist guided tour of them all too.  I need to climb inside them as well.  Like I said, an afternoon isn’t enough.  I’m taking the train down to Aswan tonight and will be back in 8 days.  Hopefully I can give you a better description of these unreal monuments when I’m a little less starry eyed.  All I really can say now is that standing in the desert by myself without another tourist or tout in sight, staring at the sun set upon the greatest wonder of the world is a memory that will always be close to my soul.

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Ma’a salaama (See ya)

Bill