September 1-4, 10, 19-20, and Oct. 1, 1999 -
Cairo, Egypt
We were back in Africa, and our third Muslim
country for this trip. The relative quiet and anonymity we experienced in Europe was
soon just a distant memory. We flew into and out of the Middle East from Cairo, so we used
this city as our "home base" as we explored the rest of Egypt and Israel.
The hounding for guides, taxis, hotels, and
tours began as soon as we got off the plane; this time we were ready. The presence of
armed Tourist Police everywhere meant the touts weren't as aggressive as in other places,
but we were still targeted for everything from papyrus to perfume oils to guides.
Cairo was intense. There were people
everywhere, cars everywhere, yelling, honking, people and kids asking you for things. Just
walking down the street we were be bombarded with a string of "Taxi to Giza, good
price" "Where are you from?" "Need a tour? Special price for
you." At the end of each day a film of filthy black grit covered our bodies and
clothes. There were so many people on the sidewalks shopping at night that we could hardly
walk. We figured this would help prepare us for India.
Several places we walked in Cairo were off the
beaten path; most visitors seemed to take relatively-cheap service taxis, but several
times we decided to walk. Then we became a tourist attraction, especially in
Islamic Cairo. Simply walking by someone would yield "Welcome!" or
"Hello." One day we counted so many "welcomes" that we wondered if it
might have been a national requirement to greet tourists that way. Little kids would yell
hello-hello-hello until we yelled it back to them and waved.
We walked until we saw the Rifa'i Mosque
minarets. We had just approached one of the temples when a little boy beckoned for us to
come in the back gate. Normally we would have ignored the request, but for some reason we
were curious. He took us into a back room to show us the tombs of King Farouk, Egypt's
last monarch and Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. We got a little nervous
when his father locked us in the room and they turned the lights off, but it was only to
show us the colorful reflection of the stained glass window. We thought it was a great way
to scare visitors.
We continued to the Citadel, and ended up at
the Khalili Bazaar where Dave smoked a sheesha (water pipe) with apple tobacco. One of the
highlights that evening we our visit to see Sufi Dancing (Whirling Dervishes). It was
amazing: the main Dervish spun around clockwise for a full half-hour in the ceremonial
ritual of rebirth. We could imagine what a rush that would be. We felt like we'd
come full circle (no pun intended) as we'd seen the origins of Mevlana Rumi's Sufi sect in
Konya, Turkey back in May.
The Egyptian Museum was a disorganized, packed
full-to-the-brim place filled with the coolest relics on earth. We saw the complete King
Tut exhibit, mummified dogs, cats, and 5000-year-old mummified pharaohs, a 3000 year old
monkey, lots of ancient papyrus writings, funerary statues, and numerous pharaonic-period
artwork.
We kept getting "stuck" in Cairo, and
ended up spending more time here than we would have liked. The transportation departments
were NOT run like well-oiled machines. When trying to get an overnight ticket to Aswan we
were told they were booked "tonight, tomorrow, and after tomorrow" forcing us to
book with a tour. We booked tickets on a bus well in advance, went to confirm the day
before travel, and were then told there would be no bus that day. Similar things happened
to everyone we met, and we soon learned this was just part of life in the Big City.
We came and went so many different times:
before and after Siwa, before and after the Nile cruise, and again after Israel, that we
felt like regulars at our hotel. We had gotten to know all of the people on the street -
the guy who sold water next door, Chef Mohammed who sold kebabs and egg sandwiches down
the street, the sheesha shop across the street, not to mention several shifts of hotel
staff. Everytime we'd return it was like seeing old friends.
But eventually, we left Cairo for the last
time, and were off to more chaos in India.
