Police Scams and Internet Jams

Ok first a disclaimer. The scam I fell into today happens everywhere from the US to Egypt and the actions of one crooked police officer should not be the only reflection on the Egyptian Police forces. I was well aware of this scam and let my guard down for a moment by accident.

Having said that here's what happened. I am really trying to enjoy Alexandria, but everything seems to be getting in my way. Today I decided to go see the Qaitbay Fort and the new Alexandria Library. Both are along the water in opposite directions from my hotel. So I started with the fort because it opens earlier. The fort was really cool, with lots of dungeons and towers and all the cool stuff from the 1800's style fortifications.

As I was walking out of one dungeon section, some police were seated at the entrance. You see them everywhere in Egypt so I didn't pay it anymind. One mentioned that I had missed the prison section, which I thought would be cool. He guided me there, which I should not have let him do. Once I did, he began giving me a tour of parts of the fort I had already seen, and I did not known how to get back out of the dungeon sections. At the time he acted like he didn't speak English well. This seemingly free tour is actually a lead in for a tip. You tip for everything in Egypt, but in a situation like this it is less of an option and more of a requirement, especially coming from a cop. Once we reached an outdoor section (with people) I said I can find my own way, and offered him a 5 pound tip, which should have been plenty for the 2 minute tour he had given me. All at once his English cleared up, his voice dropped, and he demanded 20 pounds for himself and 20 for his friend. There was no other cop ever in the tour, so this was just a way for him to get more money. Unfortunately he is a police officer so refusing him would have been a big mistake. I handed him the money, and swiftly walked out of the fort.

I'm sure there are situations where this could have been a hard working police officer who was just giving a friendly tour in exchange for a few extra bucks. But once he began demanding more money than I was willing to offer it became a scam at best and extortion at worst. This scam is purported everywhere, New York to Beijing, by everyone from legitimate police to security guards. The best way to avoid it is to politely answer any questions they ask and keep moving. Do not allow them to lead you anywhere accept their headquarters or guard station. In essence don't take the tour. I let my guard down for a second and it cost me.

Anyway, after the fort I walked to the new Alexandria Library. It was very impressive, with millions of books and petabytes of data, not to mention a small Sun "Supercomputer" facility and a planetarium. It was pretty cool, I just wish more of the exhibits were historical and less art. The few historical ones were really cool, but the art stuff outnumbers it and as we know that stuff flys right over my head.

After getting back and taking a nice shower, I sit down to the now working wifi... and find that Google apparently does not exist according to the Windsor Palace's ISP. It took me a second longer than it should have to realize the ISP had cleared it's routing tables and somehow lost the directions to the Google servers. Egyptian ISP's you fail. Not to worry, a quick ping and traceroute forced the issue through your trash routers and now Alexandria can see Google again. That pretty much closes it for Alexandria. At least the Windsor Hotel redeemed itself. They really did fix everything but the A/C and were very helpful. So the staff gets exemplary marks. The building gets a big fat C. Meh. Back to Cairo tomorrow and then Istanbul Tuesday. See you guys then!

Egyptian Museum and Problems at the Windsor Palace

Yesterday I got to enjoy the Egyptian Museum. It is pretty cool how much stuff they have to see. Thanks to the Ancient Egyptian preoccupation with the after life, there is just a ton of stuff from this period of history. All in great condition. And of course the sci-fi nerd in me was comparing all of it to the props, etc from Stargate. I know I'm a loser. Because of how much there was, it took me all day to do that and get my train ticket to Alexandria. Speaking of which, I was not aware that the "waiting in line" concept is altogether Western. Egyptians do not follow this concept and simply elbow their way to the front of the ticket window. So again, when in Rome. It wasn't too hard to get my ticket.

Today I took the train to Alexandria. It was pretty cool to see the Nile Delta region of Egypt from the train. Everyone in Alexandria is very helpful and friendly. Thank god my Cairo hostel let me keep my big backpack there while I am here. I'm staying with them again before my flight to Istanbul, so that should work out perfect. Unfortunately, the 4 star hotel I'm staying at in Alexandria is actually worse than my hostel in Cairo. It's incredible. First the chair in my room collapses out from under me. Next the toilet starts leaking everywhere. My A/C isn't doing anything, the room is sweltering. And to add a cherry to it all, the "free" wifi, doesn't reach my room. Fantastic. So EVERY reason I stayed at this hotel has gone to hell. My hostel in Cairo was LITERALLY better than this hotel. I feel bad saying this too, because the staff has done everything in their power to help me. It isn't a fault of theirs, it's the hotel which is clearly in need of renovation. It's beautiful on the surface, but underneath it is falling apart. Sad really. Anway, enough ranting, I'm off to shower and plug in my fan. Thank you parents for sending that! And thank you Kristen for bringing it to me. Without you guys I would die of heat exhaustion tonight.