This ain't no Nairobi...
Cairo, Egypt.
After more than a month in East Africa, you kind of automatically think that all light skin folks are tourists. So, not a few hours after I got to Cairo, while I was walking in the streets... For a brief moments in my head, I was thinking, "Man..., there is a lot of tourist here?!" But, of course... they are all Egyptians.
It took a little adjustment to get used to Cairo; I mean, you can actually walked the street without looking over your shoulders all the time. The place is like heaven, if you compared it to my four days in Nairobi. Is a relief to be able to let your guard down. You got to be an idiot to commit a crime in this country, because they have like a police at just about every street corners here, each with his own AK-47.
Minya, Egypt.
We got into the city, and find ourselves having problem finding a hotel that will take us. It is either "full" or the price is outrageously expensive, that they might as well tell us to go away. We were starting to wonder why, but we finally find this little place, and we thought nothing of it. The place is so nice and quite, the people were quite friendly, there is not a tourist, nor a souvenir shop in sight, and they have some dame good ice-cream.
So..., on our second day here, we venture out to some of the sights outside of town. That's when the police took notice of us, and decided to escort us to the sights. Being the low season, and we are the only one that showed up that day (prob. for that whole week as well), we got all their undivided attention. We even got a free ride back from one of the sites, sitting in the back of the pickup with five to six guys, all with their own machine guns. We weren't sure just what we got ourselves into, and are a bit nervous, and the guys picked up on that and joked amount themselves in Arabic, which made us a bit more nervous... Do they want some baksheesh (tips/bribe), we don't know., and we just acted dumb, and pretended not understanding anything we heard that resemble English.
Finally, they put us in a bus and send us back to Minya. We thought that was it, and that's when the pickup pulled in front of us, and decided to escort us back to town (slowly), to the annoyance of the driver, and the rest of the passengers. That's when we got very nervous, and started to take the big bills out of our wallet, and hide it. When we got back to town, they followed us back to the hotel and left after talking to the hotel owner.
When we finally left the following day, the hotel owner wouldn't let us walk to the train station until the police gets there. We left anyway, fearing more troubles/escorts from the police. Feel kind of bad for getting the hotel guy in trouble, but we really don't need a couple guys with guns walking us through town (it is only 100 meters to the train station). Now we know, why the other hotels didn't like to take us.... .
Farafa Oasis, Egypt.
Got to this small town all by myself, and got the interested of the local police right off the bus. Don't know much about Arabic, but I am sure that I was the topic on the police radio there. I think I maybe the only foreigner there for that day. When I decided not to stay in the town's only hotel there, the police just couldn't figure out what to do with me. So... they decided to send 2 guys to follow/guard me all day.
It was really annoying..... I tried shaking them loose while roaming through the town's Date-Palm gardens/plantations, and I did managed to loose them. However, My freedom was short lived. The town was so small that I managed to run into them again, not five minutes later. The two guys were very nice, and I don't think they like the idea of walking in the desert heat in the middle of the day (like some certain tourist). My repeated attempt to sent them away failed (I think they just pretended not understanding what I was saying).
So .... finally, after an hour of being escorted by the two guys, I had enough. I walked into the police station, and found the guy with the most gold-plated buttons/metals on his uniform sitting in the biggest office (police chief?), and told him that I don't really need all this protection, and if I am just going to be followed, I might just as well find a place in the station to read a book. Good thing, this guy knows English. They left me alone for the rest of my day there.
The Egyptian Horns,
You know people like playing with their car horns here. In China, the drivers just like to press them all the time. In East Africa, they like them LOUD. Some Matatu (a type of suicidal mini-bus) drivers in Nairobi fits like fog-horns on to their vehicles. Which sounded like a boat coming to port. Which confused me for a few brief moments, while I first got there. "I didn't know there is a sea port in Nairobi? Wait a minute, it's nowhere near the ocean..., Maybe a river? Noo...."
Well.... The Egyptian drivers. They know their horns. They treat it like a musical instrument. These guys can play a musical number with the horns if they wanted to. "BEEP,...Bep...Beppee.....". It is a riot, if you see them parading along the town centers in weddings.... along with all the drums. One down side, if you want to sleep.
The Rest of Egypt
I really should tell you a little bit more about the rest of Egypt, the part about the Pyramids and the Tombs. Yeah.... They are pretty nice, looked just like the pictures. A little disappointing at some places, because quite a few of the relics had been taken away to Europe long ago. The Temple of Ramses II @ Abu Simbal is probably the best of them all. Save that for last, or you'll get real bored with the rest... .
After more than a month in East Africa, you kind of automatically think that all light skin folks are tourists. So, not a few hours after I got to Cairo, while I was walking in the streets... For a brief moments in my head, I was thinking, "Man..., there is a lot of tourist here?!" But, of course... they are all Egyptians.
It took a little adjustment to get used to Cairo; I mean, you can actually walked the street without looking over your shoulders all the time. The place is like heaven, if you compared it to my four days in Nairobi. Is a relief to be able to let your guard down. You got to be an idiot to commit a crime in this country, because they have like a police at just about every street corners here, each with his own AK-47.
Minya, Egypt.
We got into the city, and find ourselves having problem finding a hotel that will take us. It is either "full" or the price is outrageously expensive, that they might as well tell us to go away. We were starting to wonder why, but we finally find this little place, and we thought nothing of it. The place is so nice and quite, the people were quite friendly, there is not a tourist, nor a souvenir shop in sight, and they have some dame good ice-cream.
So..., on our second day here, we venture out to some of the sights outside of town. That's when the police took notice of us, and decided to escort us to the sights. Being the low season, and we are the only one that showed up that day (prob. for that whole week as well), we got all their undivided attention. We even got a free ride back from one of the sites, sitting in the back of the pickup with five to six guys, all with their own machine guns. We weren't sure just what we got ourselves into, and are a bit nervous, and the guys picked up on that and joked amount themselves in Arabic, which made us a bit more nervous... Do they want some baksheesh (tips/bribe), we don't know., and we just acted dumb, and pretended not understanding anything we heard that resemble English.
Finally, they put us in a bus and send us back to Minya. We thought that was it, and that's when the pickup pulled in front of us, and decided to escort us back to town (slowly), to the annoyance of the driver, and the rest of the passengers. That's when we got very nervous, and started to take the big bills out of our wallet, and hide it. When we got back to town, they followed us back to the hotel and left after talking to the hotel owner.
When we finally left the following day, the hotel owner wouldn't let us walk to the train station until the police gets there. We left anyway, fearing more troubles/escorts from the police. Feel kind of bad for getting the hotel guy in trouble, but we really don't need a couple guys with guns walking us through town (it is only 100 meters to the train station). Now we know, why the other hotels didn't like to take us.... .
Farafa Oasis, Egypt.
Got to this small town all by myself, and got the interested of the local police right off the bus. Don't know much about Arabic, but I am sure that I was the topic on the police radio there. I think I maybe the only foreigner there for that day. When I decided not to stay in the town's only hotel there, the police just couldn't figure out what to do with me. So... they decided to send 2 guys to follow/guard me all day.
It was really annoying..... I tried shaking them loose while roaming through the town's Date-Palm gardens/plantations, and I did managed to loose them. However, My freedom was short lived. The town was so small that I managed to run into them again, not five minutes later. The two guys were very nice, and I don't think they like the idea of walking in the desert heat in the middle of the day (like some certain tourist). My repeated attempt to sent them away failed (I think they just pretended not understanding what I was saying).
So .... finally, after an hour of being escorted by the two guys, I had enough. I walked into the police station, and found the guy with the most gold-plated buttons/metals on his uniform sitting in the biggest office (police chief?), and told him that I don't really need all this protection, and if I am just going to be followed, I might just as well find a place in the station to read a book. Good thing, this guy knows English. They left me alone for the rest of my day there.
The Egyptian Horns,
You know people like playing with their car horns here. In China, the drivers just like to press them all the time. In East Africa, they like them LOUD. Some Matatu (a type of suicidal mini-bus) drivers in Nairobi fits like fog-horns on to their vehicles. Which sounded like a boat coming to port. Which confused me for a few brief moments, while I first got there. "I didn't know there is a sea port in Nairobi? Wait a minute, it's nowhere near the ocean..., Maybe a river? Noo...."
Well.... The Egyptian drivers. They know their horns. They treat it like a musical instrument. These guys can play a musical number with the horns if they wanted to. "BEEP,...Bep...Beppee.....". It is a riot, if you see them parading along the town centers in weddings.... along with all the drums. One down side, if you want to sleep.
The Rest of Egypt
I really should tell you a little bit more about the rest of Egypt, the part about the Pyramids and the Tombs. Yeah.... They are pretty nice, looked just like the pictures. A little disappointing at some places, because quite a few of the relics had been taken away to Europe long ago. The Temple of Ramses II @ Abu Simbal is probably the best of them all. Save that for last, or you'll get real bored with the rest... .
posted by 54 at 2:19 AM
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