Day One Cairo

Wow. Going from a largely globalized Europe, which has shared much of it's culture with the US, Cairo was very different. Made up of roughly 20 million people in the larger metro area, it is the largest African city, and the largest Arab city in the world. I say Arab since Arabic is it's primary language and over 90% of Cairo's population is Muslim. It is an entirely different world. I have known for a long time that true Arabic culture was slow to come to the US. Not until I came here did I fully understand this.

Having said all that, I have had nothing but good experiences with every person I meet here. Everyone is very friendly and helpful. Sometimes that help is in the hope you will buy something from them, but even if you don't they are still happy to help you. You must simply be firm in this explanation. Knowing a few key phrases doesn't hurt either like hello, pardon me, and no thank you. My hostel, American House is fantastic. Very reasonably priced, they gave me exactly what I asked for in the room. Plenty of water and toilet paper available upon request. They do try to push tours on you, but to be honest these are sometimes worth it. Which we'll hear of soon.

So when I got their they said I could hire a driver for tomorrow for 200 Egyptian Pounds (40 USD, 60-80 with tips). So I went with it, having promised Kristen and my parents I would go with tours to be safer. Khaled was my driver, and he was the nicest man. He very easily could have been the Arabic version of any of my friend's fathers. He said he would do whatever I wanted, which was to see three different pyramid sites, and maybe do some shopping. While in Athens airport, I picked up a Cairo guidebook for 10 euros, so I knew somewhat of what I wanted to see. Khaled though made sure I understood, I didn't have to accept the camel ride around the pyramids (even thought I wanted to) and I didn't have to pay anyone extra to see anything. Haggling with the camel ride guys at Giza was actually kind of fun. I'm sure I still got ripped off, but I got a private guide, who spoke perfect english and who honestly loved his job. We rode for about half an hour to an hour at a nice easy pace. Cost about 400-500 pounds with tips. (80-100 USD) We also approached the pyramids from a much higher location, getting better, less people crowded pictures. The cliff had a lot more wind too thank god. I really have to reccommend it, I know it's cliche, but it was fun.

I saw the Sphinx too of course, which was the most touristy part, with lots of people saying I needed to pay extra to take pictures. DON'T BELIEVE THIS. They will also offer to take your picture and then ask for 20 pounds. They are sneaky. Look for a fat guy white guy in a Giants hat instead to take your picture. (Read any tourist.) He'll do it for free. I didn't go inside the Giza pyramids. Apparently it's wall to wall people the whole way down, I would have had a heart attack. Instead we moved on to Sakarra and Dahshur. Both were far less crowded. At Dahshur I walked inside the Red pyramid. Once you walk up to the entrance and then down into the thing, you really get a sense for just how large these things are. They are MASSIVE. And this one is smaller than the Giza one's, by a lot. It was so cool. The tombs are long since cleared out, so they just look like big empty rooms, but the scale is still impressive.

After all that I was exhausted. I meant to get lunch when we got back, but instead I passed out in my room. That night I made some friends while sitting around blogging, and we went out for some food. Some good shwarma and ice cream. Wasn't sure about the ice cream, but Rafeal and Edwardo didn't seem to take notice and they had been here much longer. When in Rome... or Cairo. Anyway, tomorrow is the Egyptian museum and the Citadel, followed by some rest. And the day after is Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city and one of the most famous ports in the whole world. Until next time! Oh and pictures of the pyramids should be up tonight. Greece will have to wait. Sad face.