I have escaped the clutches of the tour operators! Never wanting to be in their greedy hands I was rather upset to find that no one here will make any simple arrangements for just what you want. Even taxi drivers try to take you on a huge itinerary. That was actually useful once, but only once for me. I wanted a train ticket to Luxor, they were happy to obilige at the hotel. However that quickly became a full itinerary for my full trip all over Egypt with a $1000 price tag. I allowed that I might be interested in a bit of it, but not with all the hotels. They'd be happy to do that, but they could not be persuaded not to charge me for the hotels anyway. Eventually gave up and walked out, feeling much much better already. I might be in a strange land with no idea what would happen next, but I am very happy that way, and totally unhappy having other people make plans for me that I don't want and treating me like a private gold mine.
Things instantly started looking much better, and I began to enjoy Cairo. The cab driver started up an impromptu Arabic lesson as we drove to the train station. He kept the words and grammar coming fast enough that I had to rush to write it all down, but I can massacre several useful phrases now. The train station was noticably empty of foreigners, and everything is in Arabic of course. (The trains that foreigners are allowed to go on at in the morning or at night.) My guidebook led me to platform 11 where I was momentarily stumped by a lack of communication. Everything I've read, and of course the hotel people, said that you can't get tickets yourself, you need an agent who knows the right people to give baksheesh to and can speak Arabic. In practice it was super simple. A tourist policeman asked me where I was going and if I had a ticket, then led me to the right window and ordered it for me. He also translated everything so I would have the train, car, and seat number and the time. It was only LE82, perhaps $15.
Now my trusty knapsack and I are wandering downtown Cairo, hanging out at internet cafes andeating and relaxing. Everyone I've run into has been wonderfully helpful and friendly and almost none of them are trying to sell me anything. The police wanted to know where I was going when I first left the station. Actually, they wanted to know my nationality. Then they were full of useful directions to the metro and Tahrir square and the internet cafes. As I left I heard one (the car had three of them in it) say to the others "Canada OK."
Yesterday's rather expensive hotel-arranged tour included the pyramids, and for me that was a highlight and worth putting up with a lot. I don't recall when I first got interested in the pyramids, but I was quite young. All young boys fall in love with ancient Egypt, I think, and I was no exception. Part of why I'm here now, of course! I'd heard that they only let in 150 people each morning, but it costs LE100 extra, so I guess not too many do it. Also there's probably no time allowed for it on the group tours that most people take. After reading about and imagining the insides of this place for three decades, I was definitely going in! I'm afraid I can't describe it in a way that will be more meaningful than anything else you've read, but I have to say it was a wonderful and worthwhile experience for me.
Now I am waiting for the night train with my little cardboard rectangle of scrawled pen-marks and a flimsy scrap of paper. One of them is my ticket, probably the paper :-) I wish I could upload pictures, but like most places this cafe uses Microsoft Windows and so they are (properly) afraid of security problems around mounting USB drives. Oh for a world of Linux :-) I did get some pictures that I think are good, and I hope they survive the trip, and that I can upload them somewhere along the line.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Cairo Traffic
No time to blog, but here's a quick note:
Cairo is kinda crazy, but lots of fun. I know some people won't believe me, but RAGSN take note: there is a city with much worse and crazier traffic than either KL or PP: It's Cairo.
The trip so far in a nutshell: London for two days: had grand time-- met a friend I had lost track of by wandering aimlessly following intuition that I was going somewhere I should be. (Hi Gemma! Thanks for the pint, BTW my turn next time.) Went to Greenwich and loved it. That was a RAGSN moment for sure, though I managed to leave the flag in the hotel.
Met an SJ neighbour on the tube to the airport. BA lost my luggage-- wandered Rome for a day tired, cold, and scruffy (no shaver in my carryon-- the one and only time I did that ironically). Had fun anyway-- it's Italy!
Night flight to Cairo, day exploring old parts of Cairo and the museum. King Tut had some lot of stuff! Visited a huge market at night, and also my first time in a mosque.
The old, and "real"? part of Cairo was the best for me. Reminiscent of Siem Reap with traffic from Kuala Lumpur added in and lots more people. Donkey carts everywhere, mostly laden down with onions or garlic, or something that looked like that. Cats everywhere too-- little things. I saw hand carts made out of hardwood, and many other things that are essentially medieval, which I love. Watching and horses donkeys compete with cars in three lanes of weaving aggressive traffic made me worry for a moment, but there's a system and while it seems dangerous, everyone seems to know what's going on and I only saw one major accident.
No donkeys in that one. Did see someone nearly run over by a horse and cart, but by far the most dangerous part of traffic here appears to be the air pollution, which I am finding a bit hard on me, at least.
Tomorrow an escape from the city to see nearby ancient sites, and maybe I'll have more travel plans sorted out. I don't want to plan, but it seems necessary here. I'm looking forward to some point when I can just hang out for while. Perhaps Dahab will be like that.
Cairo is kinda crazy, but lots of fun. I know some people won't believe me, but RAGSN take note: there is a city with much worse and crazier traffic than either KL or PP: It's Cairo.
The trip so far in a nutshell: London for two days: had grand time-- met a friend I had lost track of by wandering aimlessly following intuition that I was going somewhere I should be. (Hi Gemma! Thanks for the pint, BTW my turn next time.) Went to Greenwich and loved it. That was a RAGSN moment for sure, though I managed to leave the flag in the hotel.
Met an SJ neighbour on the tube to the airport. BA lost my luggage-- wandered Rome for a day tired, cold, and scruffy (no shaver in my carryon-- the one and only time I did that ironically). Had fun anyway-- it's Italy!
Night flight to Cairo, day exploring old parts of Cairo and the museum. King Tut had some lot of stuff! Visited a huge market at night, and also my first time in a mosque.
The old, and "real"? part of Cairo was the best for me. Reminiscent of Siem Reap with traffic from Kuala Lumpur added in and lots more people. Donkey carts everywhere, mostly laden down with onions or garlic, or something that looked like that. Cats everywhere too-- little things. I saw hand carts made out of hardwood, and many other things that are essentially medieval, which I love. Watching and horses donkeys compete with cars in three lanes of weaving aggressive traffic made me worry for a moment, but there's a system and while it seems dangerous, everyone seems to know what's going on and I only saw one major accident.
No donkeys in that one. Did see someone nearly run over by a horse and cart, but by far the most dangerous part of traffic here appears to be the air pollution, which I am finding a bit hard on me, at least.
Tomorrow an escape from the city to see nearby ancient sites, and maybe I'll have more travel plans sorted out. I don't want to plan, but it seems necessary here. I'm looking forward to some point when I can just hang out for while. Perhaps Dahab will be like that.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Travel Plans
Six weeks seemed like a long time. Working out flights and itineraries has reminded me that it's not. Particularly when travelling by rail and ferry, time gets eaten up quickly. I like to spend a few days in a place and then wander on to the next spot, with an eventual destination in mind. Even that is a concession, since there is usually a plane to catch or some event to attend eventually.
My choice of places to visit has changed dramatically since I began planning, and I still don't even know what countries I will end up in. That's as I prefer, however, so I'm not complaining. Some may like a vacation where they know exactly where they are going and what they will do when they get there. I am not one of those people! For me, that would remove both the relaxation and the adventure of the trip. My preferred modus operandi is to arrive and find a nice place to stay, perhaps rent a bicycle, and then go exploring. Each day I get up and decide if it's a rest day, involving casual wandering with no planning; a serious site-seeing day; or if it's time to move on. Moving on simply involves walking to the train station and seeing where the next trains are headed. Whichever one is soon and going somewhere that seems interesting is the one I buy a ticket for.
This trip will be a little different, as I actually have flights to three countries and cities in the first few days, and have even booked places to stay. Not how I like to do things, but necessary due to all the air travel. Once I am in Cairo on the 7th of April, the real journey will begin.
My choice of places to visit has changed dramatically since I began planning, and I still don't even know what countries I will end up in. That's as I prefer, however, so I'm not complaining. Some may like a vacation where they know exactly where they are going and what they will do when they get there. I am not one of those people! For me, that would remove both the relaxation and the adventure of the trip. My preferred modus operandi is to arrive and find a nice place to stay, perhaps rent a bicycle, and then go exploring. Each day I get up and decide if it's a rest day, involving casual wandering with no planning; a serious site-seeing day; or if it's time to move on. Moving on simply involves walking to the train station and seeing where the next trains are headed. Whichever one is soon and going somewhere that seems interesting is the one I buy a ticket for.
This trip will be a little different, as I actually have flights to three countries and cities in the first few days, and have even booked places to stay. Not how I like to do things, but necessary due to all the air travel. Once I am in Cairo on the 7th of April, the real journey will begin.
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