This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. 

Saturday October 24, 2015

Egypt: Day 3 – Jet Lag in Giza

It was hard to sleep on the plane, especially knowing that it would arrive to Cairo at nearly 2AM.  The girl and I spoke some more. She was from Holland, but I was so tired I kept asking her about “Poland”. She told me how its so flat and there are windmills everywhere. It actually sounded pretty idilic.

As we entered the terminal, my G Adventures airport transfer guide was already past security (or lackthereof) and quickly whisked me away so I could get my visa. $25 USD later and I had a large visa sticker attached to one of my pages. I’ve only ever had stamps so it was cool to see this sticker. I also exchanged some money at the same teller window, hoping to get small bills. I was so tired I didn’t even ask the exchange rate or count how much money I was given. (At some point in the trip I’ve misplaced nearly $200, either I spent it and didn’t realized, lost it, or was ripped off at one of the exchange places.) My guide then helped me (and my new Holland friend) to fill out the arrival form, and then I went through immigration as my guide ducked back behind a divider to meet me at baggage claim.

At baggage claim he helped me find and grab my bag. Now I had been told horror stories that taxi drivers would hold your bag hostage unless you took a ride with them, or that “helpful” people would already be holding your bag so you could pay them to be your porter. I was so fearful of this experience it was one of the key factors I packed light and would have carried on my bags the entire way if I hadn’t been forced to gate check it in Germany. In actuality, there was pretty much no one there at 2AM. No idea if its crazy later (other travelers in my group said it was) but it was pretty dead. My guide (Kahim?) lead me to the right customs line and we were quickly out the door. My holland friend asked my guide for directions to walk to the bus station. He warned her it was not a good time to do so, but she did it anyway. He later confided with me that the bus she needed wasn’t going to run for another 2 hours, and that she was better off just waiting at the airport.

We got to the car, and I was surprised to find it was a nice car. Kahim talked with me as the driver drove. He told me if I wanted some people from my group would be going to Saqqara the next day. I explained I’d probably sleep in today, but the next day I had a private tour to Saqqara already booked through Egyptian Sidekick. I talked with him a bit on what Egyptian Sidekick offered and he looked them up, then talked rapidly with the driver about the service.

Kahim was also great and explained some things about Cairo, like how the airport had a lot of land around it to protect it, which is why it took so long to get out of the airport. He also pointed out the (very dark) nile, night clubs, where the new Grand Egyptian Museum would be, etc as we drove. I was so excited to be in Cairo, but I could smell the smoke and pollution even this late in the evening.  I watched as buildings so close to the main roads jutted into the sky. I couldn’t decide if they were new apartment buildings that were unfinished, or old ones falling apart. You’d see shoddy brickwork, with strange holes here and there. Some units would be nicely finished, others with people living without windows or balconies. I also saw many green-lit mosques.

When we arrived at the hotel, the driver smiled as he got my bags out, and then pointed in front of the car. “Tomorrow…BIG SURPRISE” he said then making a pointed symbol with both hands. I too smiled knowingly that directly in front of us would be the Great Pyramids. I had made it to GIZA!

Kahim took me inside, and we went through security. He helped get me checked in, and a man helped carry my bags to my room. I remembered I needed to tip him and so handed him 10 EGP. I got everything ready for bed…and then was just to excited to sleep. I checked and there was no WiFi, and so I grabbed my cell phone and my key and headed back to the lobby. There was plenty of places to sit, and so I enjoyed laying on the couches while checking my email. I let my parents know I arrived okay. I took photos of the lobby and Instagramed them (yes a little bit to brag that I was in Egypt!)

I chatted with my friend Elizabeth who was finishing packing and would be arriving in a day to join me on my trip. I also checked the news and saw that the hotel next to ours had been damaged that afternoon (hours before I arrived) when a small bomb was found. Police tried to defuse it but it went off, injuring a few people and damaging some of the windows. I had been following security in Egypt for the last year, and so far none of the incidents I had read about (beyond the failed attempt at Karnak Temple) had not been near tourists. I had told my mother it was safe…and here I sat, half a block away from where a bomb was found hours earlier. Well there wasn’t anything to be done, I was already in Egypt. I let Elizabeth know, and then headed back to the room. I took a shower and then went to sleep.

I awoke later that day around 10:30 AM. For the amount of travel I had done in the last 2 days (nearly 24 hours of travel) and for being sick for half of it I thought that this was much too early. I ate some crackers from my bag, and decided to sleep until noon. My plan was that I’d get up, take a cab to Coptic Cairo and explore a bit on my own.

Problem was? My phone hadn’t set itself to the local time, and so the alarm never went off. Instead I slept until 4PM. I only woke up because I was starving. I got dressed and went to the lobby. I decided to check out the pool. I had seen lovely photos of the pool and being able to see the Pyramids from it. Turns out that was a lie. The pool was a level below ground level, and so you needed to climb to the cafe above the pool to see the Pyramids. No problem I thought, the “Pyramid Cafe” as I had read was open all the time, and I needed dinner. I walked up there, and took a few photos of the Great Pyramids. I then turned around…to not a functioning cafe. It seems that due to the lack of tourists, the Pyramid Cafe, the pool snack shack, the daytime restaurant…were all shuttered. A few lonely chairs and couches graced the balcony so you could at least admire the view of the Pyramids from here, but it was obvious no food or drink was to be had.

I went back down into the lobby and asked around to see where I could get food. “Dinner isn’t until 7:30 PM” I was told. I was shocked! It was 4PM I didn’t have lunch or breakfast and I was starving. I was told I could order room service to my room, but the options and prices were horrible, and it said it would take over an hour to deliver the food to the room so I passed. I sat down at the bar, hoping at least the bar would have a snack menu. I was ignored by the three bartenders for 30 minutes. When they finally paid attention they couldn’t understand me asking for food in English, so I ended up just getting a few (highly priced) bottles of water. (After getting sick on Apple Wine in Germany I was giving all alcohol a wide berth.)

I then made my way back to the balcony to find to my shock that it was DARK. It wasn’t even 5PM yet. I figured Egypt was closer to the equator and so would still have longer daylight hours. There goes my limited grasp of geography. I took a few more photos and then I went back to my room to sulk. On my way I saw a man hoarding a bowl of bread and butter, eating them silently in a corner.  I really wanted some bread and butter, but the staffs lack of helpfulness had worn me thin so I just went back to the room and rested.

After taking a shower, I headed back to the lobby to find out that the “other” hotel restaurant was closed. (WTH) and only the sketchy buffet was open for 175 EPG (drinks not included). I took a seat and then went and tried a little bit of everything. I knew I needed meat, so I grabbed some hamburger like patties. I ate one and it was fine, I tried to eat the other and it wasn’t cooked all the way through. Not wanting to get sick for the 2nd time in 2 days I made a decision then and there. Egypt was not going to be my culinary discovery trip. My stomach doesn’t handle a lot of things well…so I better stick to what I know.

Going back I found that they were not stocking the buffet with a lot of different options (or bothering to refill the options that were out) so I instead relied on a flavored rice, bread, and french fries for dinner. (I couldn’t find or tell what chicken options were available.)  When I went back for more french fries, someone had stolen my water (30 EGP for a large bottle!) that I had bearly started drinking. I asked a bemused waiter what had happened, and he brought me another one. I could see him adding the 2nd bottle to my bill. After finishing the food I could, I looked around to get my bill or to tell them my room number. No staff member was now in sight, not at the hostess area, not in the buffet area, and nowhere in the entire dining room. I waited about 10 minutes, but after no one came I gave up and walked out and sat down in the bar listening to someone play the violin.

After a while I went back to the lobby and checked my email some more. I had realized now that it was dark, there wasn’t anywhere to go or see as most sites closed before 4. And after sleeping all day I wasn’t yet tired. So I decided to shop the multiple shops inside my hotel. I looked at the perfumery, the papyrus store, the chotchkies store full of every knickknack you could ever want. The sellers eyed my hungrily, and I wondered how many sales they could get at a hotel that obviously scaled back on restaurant offerings due to the lack of tourists.

I then looked at the jewelry seller’s offerings. I had heard you weren’t supposed to wear flashy jewelry in Egypt as it would make you a target to thieves. And so I didn’t bring my nice jewelry. I had thought I brought a simple black threaded necklace with a blue stone on it, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I always have a necklace so I felt pretty naked without even a simple one. As I looked I saw a lotus and papyrus flower silver necklace. It was rather large, and matched the small silver necklace I had bought years earlier. (Bought at a local Colorado importer who imports Egyptian souvenirs to sell in museums around the US.) I was excited to see it, and so asked the seller to see it up close. It turns out…this one was made poorly and looked pretty bad. I decided to pass on it, but the seller was eager to have me in his shop.

He asked if I wanted Hibiscus Tea. I thought about it for a moment. Accepting would mean I needed to buy something. Now that I had slept through my one free day, I likely wouldn’t go shopping until much later in the shop, and I did need a necklace. So I agreed. As he went to make me tea, I looked around. To my dismay I wasn’t seeing anything my style. I realized I was already really happy with my lotus flower Egyptian necklace back home, and I wouldn’t wear giant scarabs or other ancient Egyptian figures like Nefertiti on a necklace. As I looked harder I saw two ornate pendants. One was small with a ruby-like stone, and the other was a little larger than I normally like but had four slivers of what looked like Jade, although he kept trying to claim they were Emeralds. (I’ve always had a thing for Jade.)  After looking at them, I continued to shop, not wanting to show how much I loved the larger piece since I knew you had to bargain in Egypt.

I also looked at the custom cartouches with your name. The kind shop owner asked for my name and showed me what it would look like. “Lili” looked pretty boring, so I said I didn’t want one. He then asked for my initials, and I gave him all of them (I have a lot of middle names). That actually looked interesting, so I started negotiations while I sipped the lovely hibiscus tea (and would be the best hibiscus tea I had all trip.) I knew he’d start with the price of silver listed for the day (they will never tell you explicitly what this is, grab a paper if you really want to know). He then weighs the piece, and will add some more for craftsmanship (he claimed it was 30 years old, not sure I believe it) and for the “emeralds”. We then had to negotiate on the price and design of my custom cartouche. (I also needed to make sure it would be ready in 24 hours so I could pick it up before leaving the hotel.) And then you had to negotiate for the chains. (I only paid for 1, the other one was thrown in as a “gift”.)  All in all, I think I paid $200 for both necklaces and the chains. I’m sure I overpaid, but it was a fun experience, and I had saved up a lot of money for souvenirs. (I also had priced out custom cartouches if ordered in the states, and so knew at least I paid around or less than what it would normally cost back home.)

I had to pay partly in cash and partly in card. I think he needed cash as it was the weekend and it would take a while for the funds from the hotel’s credit card machine would be given to him, and he needed a deposit for the cartouche maker to start work. He also asked if my mother was still living. This hit me as a really strange question. In my mind I was like “Of course my mother is still living! I’m so young! She’s not old.” And then I felt really sad picturing a day when she wouldn’t be around. “Yes” I replied and he explained that I was his first customer of the day (It was 9:30 PM, business definitely isn’t good if I’m the first customer of the day.) And that was a sign of good luck and required a gift from the seller to me. He offered a magnet of King Tut to me as a gift for my mother. He also gave me a small enameled scarab bead. I thanked him and he thanked me for visiting, and to tell everyone that Egypt was safe and to come visit.

This was the same I heard all over. I had read before going not to tell people you are American, as people would treat you as a walking wallet. But what I experienced much more often was people thanking me for coming, and begging me to tell others back home to go as well. They really are hurting for tourists.

Before heading back to my room, I approached the front desk. I knew I likely would need to switch rooms the next day, but because I’d be leaving early and returning from my day trip late, that would mean I needed to pack now, and leave my bags at the front desk all day. I really didn’t want to do this, and so I asked the front desk if I could stay in my room and not change rooms the next day. This seemed to confuse them. “You’ll have a roommate join!” They kept saying. I kept trying to say, yes I understood, she was my friend, yes I knew that my tour would be starting, but I just wanted me and Elizabeth to stay in the same room so it would be easier on each other. The man at the desk smiled at me, and said “Is your friend as beautiful as you are” in a very suggestive manner. I was tired, and was a bit angry that he was being so pervy (but I had been warned this could happen, people have a false idea that foreign women are loose) and so I just said “Yeah…sure…” he then went on about how he wished he was our “neighbor” (as in our rooms were near each other) so he could see me all the time, and would stop by to visit me, etc but that yes I could stay in the same room. A man next to me kept whispering that he could give me a massage for “cheap” and with “happiness”. This creeped me out but I just smiled and went back to my room, making sure to use the chain lock. I figured the front desk guy was pretty harmless, and was likely trolling for tips or an easy lay. (Neither of which was going to happen.) And I wasn’t sure what “Spa Guy’s” deal was, but I had seen him the night before so I figured he actually did work at the spa.

Either way, I knew I had an early morning, so I tried to force my phone to the right timezone, set the alarm, and went to bed.

Related posts:

Egypt Travelogue: Day 4, Part 6 – Starting the Tour Egypt Travelogue: Day 5, Part 1 – Great Pyramids of Giza Egypt Travelogue: Day 7, Part 2 – Treasures of the Egyptian Museum Egypt Travelogue: Day 5, Part 2 – Khufu, Khafre, & Menkaure Egypt Travelogue: Day 5, Part 4 – Papyrus Trap & Alexandria