The Adventures of Mactowne

Trying to catch up once more, this time from the shore of the Red Sea. Okay, so we landed in Cairo and started trying to find our way into town. This was quite difficult. After taking an airport shuttle in a big circle, we got off the second time around at a bus stop and started trying to figure out what to do next. At this point a Japanese guy wandered to the same spot with a guide book. Sweet, sweet Japanese people - this was a fortunate thing. Ian started up with him in Japanese and we were able to put our heads together long enough to figure out that we needed a particular bus number, which we would need to recognize in Arabic. Some local guys told us the same number, then indicated that it was racing through the traffic circle toward us after about 45 minutes of waiting. There's not so much a system of but stopping here as there is bus slowing down and people running and jumping into open doors. Three foreigners with bags couldn't have predicted this, so it ran right by us and left us standing there. So... cabs became an option. We hailed one and had our first cab fare negotiating experience (something we'd become well versed in soon after), got a price and headed for a piece of town that we knew had some hostels in it. Our Japanese companion, Takano, came with us just to get into town. He ended up getting out at our stop too, despite the fact that he already had a hotel reservation across the Nile over in Giza. So, we get out and hit the sidewalk, or what most resembled a sidewalk. The center of Cairo is the most vivid depiction of absolute pandemonium I've ever seen. But I haven't been to India yet.

The scene basically included 4-10 story buildings on all sides, lots and lots of cars, scooters, pedestrians, and incessant honking in the streets, and a surplus of Egyptian people who wanted to talk to us as soon as they saw us in hopes that they could score some kind of dough from us. We didn't really know the scene on the streets of Cairo yet though, so we were really only trying to figure out where to sleep at this point. Enter the first friendly man of Cairo... This guy strides up to us as we're standing on the corner of the road we asked the cabbie for. We're trying to figure out which way to go, and he tells us what direction the address we have is in, but then also wants to know what we're going to do in Cairo. So do all of them... so he proceeds to tell us that we can hire him with a car for a day to go around Giza, Memphis, etc. to see the sights. We'd been told by other people that this was a good way to get around during the day and it could be done pretty cheaply, so we bite to get some information from the guy. His name was Ahmed, by the way. So, he takes us back to his family's shop... just a few doors down. Apparently he hangs out on the corner and waits for people like us to wander by. He wanted to give us a business card that never actually appeared (this happened with more than one person, ultimately), and took us into the shop to tell us all about where he'd take us the next day for 120 Egyptian pounds (about $25). Suspiciously cheap... but we talked on. He was pretty assertive about trying to get us into a hotel just a few doors down, etc. etc. Typical offers that many, many Egyptians have made to try to get commission from us, or something. At any rate, we finally broke off long enough to go check the prices at the hostels and he left us alone. So, bags and all, we walked down this very busy street (Talaat Harb) with pretty much everyone staring at us and talking to us in broken English, found a couple of hostels, checked prices, found them way higher than we thought they'd be, then decided maybe we'd check out Takano's place with him since he was signed up anyway. The city is so chaotic as soon as you land that we just wanted to get off the streets and be free of the tourist costume as soon as possible. But it's not that easy...

So, we go back towards Ahmed, he finds us on the same corner immediately, then after a lot of additional exhausting conversation he says he'll take us over to Giza to Takano's hotel and we can coordinate meeting there in the morning for all three of us to go on this day tour with him. I ask him how much the ride to Giza is and he says "don't worry about it." So, anytime you're in Egypt, just remember, absolutely nothing is free.

So, we do some waiting around as his cousin goes to get their car. For some reason we had to go to another of their "essence" shops (shelves full of perfume and papyrus drawings on the walls..has to be some kind of front, Ian observed), but we finally got to the car, got in, and they drove us over to the hotel in heavy afternoon traffic. Let me just pause for a second to emphasize that the streets of Cairo are absolutely insane. I've never seen such chaos in my life - people (including women and very small children) walking or running across huge streets and making little maneuvers every few feet to narrowly avoid the cars and trucks and buses that are careening past them and honking angrily if they have to slow in the least. Somehow, we have yet to see an accident. But we made it to this place, or perhaps "dump" is a better term, went to the desk, agreed to stay there (partly to separate ourselves from Ahmed, who was inside with us and insisting on arranging this tour for the next day), then got ready to head up to the rooms. Finally Ahmed asks for a deposit for this tour. We say we're going to meet at 5:30am the next morning, which is no problem with him, but he wants a deposit. Ian was the most reluctant at this point, and so Ahmed gave him a whole lecture about trust, etc. Blah, blah, blah... We were light on cash because the hotel's Visa machine was broken, so Takano pays a 50 pound deposit (about $10), which reflects the fact that we suddenly had to pay 30 pounds for the ride from Cairo to the hotel. Hmm... After much discussion, we finally do this, and he leaves us alone and leaves the hotel. We then head up to the rooms, find them to be moderately satisfying after a very superficial glance, then we tell Takano we'll meet him after we freshen up to get some food. A bit later we headed back down to the lobby on our way out and were immediately approached by a tour operator guy who is based in the hotel, and even more aggressive and insistent than Ahmed. He bad mouths Ahmed (whom he doesn't know) all over the place, offers a lower price, and we tell him we'll talk it over during dinner then get out of there. If this were a decent hotel they'd prevent these guys from constantly badgering every tourist who walked in the door, but it's not. It's called Hotel Europa, by the way. Don't stay there.

After wandering unpaved streets that were obviously strictly local haunts for a half hour, we finally found a recognizable restaurant and went in. It was a tiny place and was just big enough to seat the three of us. We ordered some kind of meat stick hot dog thing, which was all they could really explain to us and all we could understand. It turned out to be pretty good, but a bit much for our pal Takano, whose stomach was less accustomed to such heavy meals. He succumbed to the diarrhea monster first, but not until the next day. Ian and I are still going strong, so cross your fingers. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and had to listen to this slime ball talk for another ten minutes as we told him no on the tour, then went to the rooms. We showered at that point and found that the shower was broken, the main room light was broken, and the place was just kind of grimy in general. At that point, however, sleep mattered most, so we cleaned up and went to bed, only to rise about 6 hours later at 4:45am. Takano met us at our door at 5:00am, right on time, and we went down to collect our boxed breakfast since it was too early for the restaurant to serve their included breakfast. Somehow this did not translate and we had no breakfast waiting for us, but they did pull together and get us a few meals to go just in time for us to go meet Ahmed on the curb. Welllll.... 6:00am rolled around and still no Ahmed. The man who appealed to us on a trust ticket somehow failed to keep his word. The more Egyptian men we have approaching us on the streets, the less surprising that is, but we were bummed that we lost out on sleep more than anything (after all, he only really got away with $5 or so). So, we went back into the lobby, ate our meal, and asked about a driver inside again. A new guy, slime ball #2, invites us into his office (a garage sale quality desk from 1964 that sits in an open area off the end of the check in counter) to discuss our needs. He tries to rip us off on the price and we ultimately tell him to take a hike, then decide we're just going to check our bags with the desk and do a one time taxi ride to the pyramids, then one time it back or wherever we'd head next. So we go to the desk to check our bags. A couple of bell hop types tell us to follow them into the elevator to head to the baggage storage area. We all cram into this undersized box, then watch one of the guys run the elevator down a floor, emergency stop it, force the doors open, and gesture for us to follow him through what is essentially an unfinished basement fit for a bunch of crack heads. There's discarded furniture frames, boxes, and other refuse all over its dirt floor, which makes it a bit difficult to navigate. We are taken back a bit, but press on. They eventually open this little cellar door to a locked room, which has no other bags in it whatsoever. Our options aren't great at this point, so we take a leap of faith and leave the bags there, then go back to the lobby and get out of the hotel to get a cab to Giza. At this point it's all of 7:45am or so, thanks to our early rise. Lovely morning. But we eventually get a cab, or should I say guy with car who saw an opportunity to make some dough, then ride to the pyramids for a mere 5 pounds (90 cents or so). That's more like it!

Coming upon the pyramids, which you can see from the edge of Giza as you approach, was really kind of startling. This was one time when something like this was actually bigger than I expected it to be. These things are mammoth - it just boggles the mind.

posted by Matthew MacLeod @ 9:03 AM