We are home from our Egypt Adventure and had a fantastic time. We took over 1000 pictures, so it might take us awhile to go through those. I have added a few pictures from each day already, along with the hightlights of the day.
What I hadn't added, and will here, is more of the feel of the trip. Living in London (and prior the USA) we are accustomed to very Western and rather proper culture. We had never been in a city the size of Cairo. We have been all over Europe, even Eastern cities, but we weren't well prepared for the life style in Cairo.
We used a tour company for this trip, and I am not sure we would have been able to make it work any other way. Once we stepped off the plane in Cairo, someone was taking care of us. We had locals helping to purchase our Egyptian visas and any goods we needed, drivers, tour guides, and in Cairo, even our own security officer. More about this later.
We are all rather happy to be using tap water again! The water from the River Nile is fine, we just aren't accustomed to the local bacteria, so we used bottled water constantly, even to brush teeth.
We have never been in a Muslim country before, and it was very interesting. We only went to one mosque, but did have multiple conversations about Islam and some of the customs. Now that we are back after a week, it is nice to be able to keep my head up and look around as I wish.
My Arabic isn't very good, but the Egyptians were typically very happy when I tried. Good morning, good day, goodbye, and thank you were pretty much my whole vocabulary.
Kate and I (and Paul and the boys for that matter) dressed conservatively the whole time. We were rather shocked when we saw tourists wearing things like sundresses or low cut clothing. It seemed so out of place even if it was warm. The exception was the pool where I did wear my western swim suit, but we were staying at very western hotels.
I think our favorite memories are from the Great Pyramid in Giza. We went twice, but only climbed once. Jack thought he was going to die in the Great Pryamid. It's a little steep and the air is so old smelling. It was a hard climb for the kids. We took lots of pictures, and had our camel rides. The pyramids are really absolutely amazing.
Here are some notes we had taken during our trip, sorted into two main categories: 1. our amazement at city life in a huge, and less wealthy city, and 2. safety.
City Life
Safety of Tourists
It has been just under two years since the Revolution, and things are definitely getting better than they were. Safety of tourists is a high priority of the government, as tourism is one of the main sources of income. But remnants of the Revolution are clearly visible, from the burned buildings and grafitti, to the strong feelings everyone has about what should happen next.
We felt very safe on our trip, but also planned this trip with an operator and relied on local guides to help us a lot. We dressed conservatively, and tried to be as respectful as possible. But we stand out... four little blond headed, light skinned kids. We had many Egyptians touching the little ones, and we learned that it is a sign that they like us. Tom got himself some free things just by smiling and waving.
Tourism makes up about 50% or more of the income in Egypt. This is especially true in the three tourist cities were traveled to. Cairo has had its share of demonstrations, but had been pretty quiet lately. We did check out the US travel advisory site first, and registered our trip with the State Department.
In Cairo we were assigned a Tourist Police officer to accompany us everywhere. We had two while in Cairo, and they were both very nice. Basic description: Tall, well-dressed Egyptian man (suit coat, over coat, fancy shoes), and carrying a very, very big gun. They are easy to pick out of a crowd, similar to knowing what a US secret service guy might look like. Our heavily armed tourist police escort that went with us everywhere, pyramids, markets, museums.... This is not a small gun we are talking about. I have heard different interpretations of our police escort... our Aswan guide said it was because it was Cairo, while our Luxor guide chalked it up to us being American. It is probably a combination. We did not have an armed guard in Aswan or Luxor. Should we have felt safe because of our officer, or scared? We decided to go with feeling safe.
Back to tourism... we continued to hear the same line while in Egypt. Locals want their economy back. The industry seemed to be down about 50% from where it wanted to be. Guides and hotel operators would ask if we had anyone say bad things about us coming to Egypt. Then they would tell us to go back and tell everyone that it was fine. Tourism is very important and the areas are hurting. They also liked to tell us that they hear bad things about going to Chicago. There is truth in that.
On our drive from Aswan to Luxor we had to register with the Tourist police at the road checkpoints. They were checking how tourists are transported. The officer would take notes about our car, passsengers, driver, etc, to be able to check that we would show up by night. Otherwise in morning they would know where to start looking for us. Our Aswan guide added, "Not that we have this kind of trouble but the system is in place." Huh... not sure what to think.
In Luxor we asked about this system of taking notes on tourists... she said it is better than before. After the Revolution but not lately, the tourists were only allowed to travel between Aswan and Luxor in a convey with police protection....yeah, good to hear we are making progress.
What I hadn't added, and will here, is more of the feel of the trip. Living in London (and prior the USA) we are accustomed to very Western and rather proper culture. We had never been in a city the size of Cairo. We have been all over Europe, even Eastern cities, but we weren't well prepared for the life style in Cairo.
We used a tour company for this trip, and I am not sure we would have been able to make it work any other way. Once we stepped off the plane in Cairo, someone was taking care of us. We had locals helping to purchase our Egyptian visas and any goods we needed, drivers, tour guides, and in Cairo, even our own security officer. More about this later.
We are all rather happy to be using tap water again! The water from the River Nile is fine, we just aren't accustomed to the local bacteria, so we used bottled water constantly, even to brush teeth.
We have never been in a Muslim country before, and it was very interesting. We only went to one mosque, but did have multiple conversations about Islam and some of the customs. Now that we are back after a week, it is nice to be able to keep my head up and look around as I wish.
My Arabic isn't very good, but the Egyptians were typically very happy when I tried. Good morning, good day, goodbye, and thank you were pretty much my whole vocabulary.
Kate and I (and Paul and the boys for that matter) dressed conservatively the whole time. We were rather shocked when we saw tourists wearing things like sundresses or low cut clothing. It seemed so out of place even if it was warm. The exception was the pool where I did wear my western swim suit, but we were staying at very western hotels.
I think our favorite memories are from the Great Pyramid in Giza. We went twice, but only climbed once. Jack thought he was going to die in the Great Pryamid. It's a little steep and the air is so old smelling. It was a hard climb for the kids. We took lots of pictures, and had our camel rides. The pyramids are really absolutely amazing.
Here are some notes we had taken during our trip, sorted into two main categories: 1. our amazement at city life in a huge, and less wealthy city, and 2. safety.
City Life
- My introduction to the Egyptian bathrooms and tipping culture was an attendant in the Cairo bathroom asking for 10 Euro at airport bathroom (I only had 2 pounds GBP). I later learned that 1-2 Egyptian pounds (10-20 pence in GBP) was more appropriate. There are attendants in the bathrooms, but not like in Europe which I am used to. There is rarely any paper in these bathrooms, and often the toilets don't work at all. They have water streaming out, and are really rather yucky. And this is at tourist places. At one location, the bathroom attendant asked for a tip, and then informed us that all toilets were stopped up, and then proceeded to plunge a toilet, spilling the water on the floor while we were using the restroom. Soap, paper, and paper towels were non-existent.
- Cairo traffic - wow, I thought London was busy. Not even close.
- There are 3 lanes of traffic but 7 cars across the road.
- Everyone honks continuously to say they are going first
- There aren't really many traffic signs or traffic lights - anywhere. The one light we saw was solid yellow
- Pedestrians walk on the highway
- pedestrians cross the street everywhere, crossing without looking to ensure that the cars stop for them. Checking for oncoming cars implies you are willing to let the car pass first.
- Donkey carts drive on the highway
- We have seen amazing numbers of people in different vehicles:
- A Family of 5 on a motorcycle
- 5 men Riding on a bulldozer scoop on highway
- Men hanging out the door of a bus on highway
- 25 people per minivan (the private version of a public bus)
- A girl standing in front seat driving down highway
- There is very minimal public transportation.
- Housing in Egypt
- We have heard that Egyptians like to live with or next to their extended family. Often in a village a family will buy a house next door for a son. Or more often, they will build a new floor on their house for the next son as he is starting his family. So the houses and even the big buildings look unfinished. There are metal support poles sticking up from the top level. So it looks unfinished but the buildings are inhabited. Construction is just kindof ongoing. Some highrises will have several floors under construction (bare brick walls, no windows), on top of which will be a finished and painted floor, which is lived in, followed by more empty floors.
- We saw that there are people living in the graveyard in Cairo - City of the dead
- Despite the unfinished houses with the laundry hanging off the meal supports, it seemed like every house had a satellite tv dish
- Markets and street vendors.
- Tourism is the leading industry, and the street vendors need to make a living. All the tourist areas are filled with vendors. If you look up, smile, say thank you, or in any way acknowledge them, they might not give up. I had one scarf guy follow me to the car.
- Street vendors saying, and I quote"how can I take your money?" At least he was honest.
- In Aswan the sales people are much more pushy here. Young boys driving the boats. Young children selling to tourists.
- Food and Animals
- There are Fruit vendors all over
- Farm animals all over
- we saw rats in the trash in the canals
- In Cairo there are wild cats throughout city. Tons at the Egyptian museum.
- In Luxor we passed a few local butchers in the morning, with a full cow carcass hanging in front of the shop on the street. The butcher was cutting up pieces on a table in the street, hacking of carcass pieces as people purchased meat. When we passed by the shop in the afternoon, the carcass was almost gone, but still hanging in the street.
- Smoking is allowed all over in buildings
- Luxor - seems more wealthy. Less garbage on the streets, more people cleaning up. But more wild dogs, many in Karnac temple. They come from neighboring villages.
- Tipping
- Tipping is common and expected. Ok, sometimes demanded. The prices aren't crazy, but you tip everyone.
- If a guide in a temple or monument even talks to you, you pretty much owe him around 10 pence to 1 pound GBP, something under 1 USD.
- In the Great Pyramid in Giza one man took Tom out of my hands on the last steps and handed him to Paul. Then asked Paul for a tip, "I helped you. I need a tip. " I think he made 5 GBP for that, as we didn't have much small change on our first day.
- Culture - To me Egypt is an intriguing mix of cultures... rural life, ancient ruins, Islamic influence and Western influence. There were American hotels and restaurants (KFC, McDs...) and wow, American TV!! I watched Glee on the TV while K and I treated ourselves to a manicure. And so many movie channels!! We haven't seen American TV in months, and pretty much no movies, so it was fun.
Safety of Tourists
It has been just under two years since the Revolution, and things are definitely getting better than they were. Safety of tourists is a high priority of the government, as tourism is one of the main sources of income. But remnants of the Revolution are clearly visible, from the burned buildings and grafitti, to the strong feelings everyone has about what should happen next.
We felt very safe on our trip, but also planned this trip with an operator and relied on local guides to help us a lot. We dressed conservatively, and tried to be as respectful as possible. But we stand out... four little blond headed, light skinned kids. We had many Egyptians touching the little ones, and we learned that it is a sign that they like us. Tom got himself some free things just by smiling and waving.
Tourism makes up about 50% or more of the income in Egypt. This is especially true in the three tourist cities were traveled to. Cairo has had its share of demonstrations, but had been pretty quiet lately. We did check out the US travel advisory site first, and registered our trip with the State Department.
In Cairo we were assigned a Tourist Police officer to accompany us everywhere. We had two while in Cairo, and they were both very nice. Basic description: Tall, well-dressed Egyptian man (suit coat, over coat, fancy shoes), and carrying a very, very big gun. They are easy to pick out of a crowd, similar to knowing what a US secret service guy might look like. Our heavily armed tourist police escort that went with us everywhere, pyramids, markets, museums.... This is not a small gun we are talking about. I have heard different interpretations of our police escort... our Aswan guide said it was because it was Cairo, while our Luxor guide chalked it up to us being American. It is probably a combination. We did not have an armed guard in Aswan or Luxor. Should we have felt safe because of our officer, or scared? We decided to go with feeling safe.
Back to tourism... we continued to hear the same line while in Egypt. Locals want their economy back. The industry seemed to be down about 50% from where it wanted to be. Guides and hotel operators would ask if we had anyone say bad things about us coming to Egypt. Then they would tell us to go back and tell everyone that it was fine. Tourism is very important and the areas are hurting. They also liked to tell us that they hear bad things about going to Chicago. There is truth in that.
On our drive from Aswan to Luxor we had to register with the Tourist police at the road checkpoints. They were checking how tourists are transported. The officer would take notes about our car, passsengers, driver, etc, to be able to check that we would show up by night. Otherwise in morning they would know where to start looking for us. Our Aswan guide added, "Not that we have this kind of trouble but the system is in place." Huh... not sure what to think.
In Luxor we asked about this system of taking notes on tourists... she said it is better than before. After the Revolution but not lately, the tourists were only allowed to travel between Aswan and Luxor in a convey with police protection....yeah, good to hear we are making progress.
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