Egypt

So Egypt was my favorite country so far. I had already expected all of the tourist sites to be awesome, but everything was actually way better than I expected, especially Cairo, which was great. Egypt is a really amazing country, there is so much to see, the people are really nice, the food is really good, it has a really good vibe, and I would go back in a second.

We had a group of seven going into the trip, although we traveled around in two groups and then met up at random times during the trip. First day, we got off the boat in Alexandria and the port was really nice, it looked really new. We started the day by fitting 7 people into one normal sized cab (which was definitely not spacious) and we went to the train station to get our train to Cairo. On our cab ride, we talked to the driver about America, he said he likes the people but not the government, and it’s the same deal with most other Egyptians. People in Egypt are extremely nice, and no one was ever rude to me because I’m an American (even though I said a lot of the time that I’m Canadian) or because I’m white. Some may think Egypt is dangerous for tourists or that the people there would be hostile towards tourists since it’s a Middle Eastern country, but neither are true. Egypt has tons of tourism, its extremely important to their economy, and it is very rare for tourists to be attacked. The train ride to Cairo took 3 hours, then we took a cab to Zamalek to check into our hotel.

Zamalek is a really cool area of Cairo. A lot of the embassies are there, and it’s a really nice area. It has a ton of hotels, a lot going on overall, and has a really cool vibe. It feels a little bit like Europe, even though it obviously isn’t. Our hotel, the President Hotel, was pretty nice and only $40 USD a night, so it was definitely a good deal. In Egypt, they have a policemen and a metal detector in front of every hotel, but if you look like you are from the West, they rarely stop you. I set off the metal detectors countless times and I was only stopped once.

The first night, four of us went to the sound and light show at the Great Pyramids, which were 30 minutes away from our hotel. The Great Pyramids are in Giza, which is a city right next to Cairo. We took a cab there (and cabs are cheap, it was 35 Egyptian pounds there, which is around $7 USD, and that was a bit expensive by Egyptian standards) and seeing the Pyramids for the first time was unreal. It didn’t feel like they were really there, but that may have been because they were being used in a light show. They lit the pyramids up in all of these different colors, which was really cool, although a bit corny. Also, when it ended, we saw all of the SAS trips there (and that was a ton of people), and every time I see them, I start laughing because I’m happy I’m traveling on my own instead of doing their trips in huge groups….knowing from the experience of doing both, traveling without SAS is way better (although my SAS trips weren’t bad, its just so much better not doing SAS trips.)

One note about the Pyramids: they are right next to restaurants. You look one way, you see the Pyramids, you look the other way, you see Pizza Hut. In pictures, it looks like the Pyramids are in the middle of no where, and if you look at them from one direction, it looks like they are in the middle of no where, but if you look the other direction, its all buildings.

After the light show, we got dinner near the Pyramids and then went back to Zamalek. Teejana has a friend from her home island of Mauritius that lives in Cairo because he goes to the American University in Cairo, so we hung out with him after. We then chilled at his friends apartment that night which was really cool, it was in Zamalek right near our hotel and had an absolutely awesome view of the Nile from the 20th floor. What an awesome place that would be to live at.

The second day, four of the seven of us (we were in a group of seven, but we traveled around in two groups because its hard to get around if there are seven) got a cab to take us to Saqqara, which is a step pyramid around 50 minutes away from Cairo. We were able to get a cab who would take us there, then to the Great Pyramids of Giza, then back to our hotel all for 150 pounds, which was a decent deal…..ended up being around 7 dollars USD a person for the day. We got to Saqqara, and it was awesome. Looks really cool, its in the middle of the desert (it isn’t a 2 minute walk away from restaurants like the Giza Pyramids), and you could see the other Pyramids from it.

We walked around Saqqara for a little bit, then we took pictures on a camel, then left for Giza. Here are some Saqqara pictures though:

Me, Teejana, and Jason

Me on a camel with Saqqara in the background....and the arab headcovering

After Saqqara, our driver drove us to a place to get camels to ride them into the Giza Pyramids. These camels were not like any of the other ones we saw, they were ghetto, had cuts on them, and were acting up. The camel I got on was making weird noises before I got on it, which was pretty sketchy. However, when I got up on it, it was fine. However, one of the other camels was not fine. When Teejana got up on that one, it flew right up, then it tried to walk into cars, then it tried to get in her face, so we all thought these camels were no good since the camels you can find at the Pyramids actually behave so we got off of these, got our money back, and then went to Giza. Besides, riding camels up to Giza would have taken a while, and we didn’t really want to ride them for a few hours, we only really wanted them for a few minutes, which you can hook up at Giza (besides, after riding these camels for 3 minutes, it already wasn’t that great, when we got to Giza, only Mia rode a camel, the rest of us didn’t bother.)

Anyway, we got up to the Giza Pyramids and they were packed. We first walked by the Sphinx, which is way smaller than you would expect, but it was still awesome then you would see. Then, we walked up to the Pyramids. The Giza Pyramids have the Sphinx and then 3 pyramids, although one of them is really small. We walked by the bigger two, and at the Pyramids, you constantly get hassled for services. People are always asking you to ride their camel, buy their postcards, etc., it gets annoying after a while, but I’m so used to it right now because it happens in almost all of the countries we go to on this trip, so we know that if you just ignore them, they stop after a while. Also, one disappointment of the Pyramids is that there is tons of garbage right next to them. You see cans, bottles, bags, etc. right next to the Pyramids. They could really do a better job with upkeep there and a better job with not littering them, but to me, it didn’t really take away from the Pyramids, they were awesome, although they felt a bit unreal. You hear about them from the time you are young, and its hard to believe you are actually seeing them when you do. Anyway, we ended up going in the second biggest pyramid, which you have to pay extra for (its 50 Egyptian pounds to get into the Giza Pyramids complex, another 25 to get into the Middle Pyramid, so that’s around $15 USD total for that complex….in Egypt, they really hit up the tourists at all the destinations, you pay $5-$10 at each one and in Egypt, you end up going to a lot of them so it adds up.) Anyway, the inside of the Pyramid was really hot….one of the hottest things I’ve ever experienced. It also has very low ceilings on the descent down, and it’s a steep decent (you keep having to go up and down inclines with 4.5 foot rooves) but it was still awesome to be inside a Pyramid.

Two biggest Pyramids of Giza with the Sphinx
Me, Jason, Teejana, and Mia with the biggest Pyramid behind us

Anyway, after that, we left the Pyramids, and it was already 4:30 so we got something to eat and then we went to our Nile Cruise instead of going back to the hotel. All seven of us did that, and it was kind of a rip off. The boat would just go one way and then turn the opposite way, so we were in the same area which was lame, and the food on it was mediocre. It was just 2 hours of going back and fourth, not really that cool.

So after that, we went back to the hotel and met up with Sachi again, who is Teejana’s friend. He needed us to get him alcohol, and he said that they only sell good bottles at the duty free (in Egypt, alcohol is legal, and some restaurants and all hotels serve beer, and they have some local Egyptian beers which are pretty good, but apparently its impossible to get good bottles of hard liquor unless you hit up the duty free), so we had to do a liquor run for him. Even though he is Mauritian, he can’t go to the duty free because he has a visa allowing him to live in Egypt. Anyway, we went to the Sheraton because that’s where the duty free was, and there is only a 3 bottle limit a person. They wouldn’t let me buy alcohol because you have to be 21 to buy it in Egypt (although they don’t check in the hotels or restaurants) but she is of age so she was able to get him 3 bottles, which is the limit at the duty free.

So after that, we went to some hookah place and just chilled and had some beer, so that was pretty chill, then we went to bed.

The third day (our last in Cairo) was awesome. We started out by going to the National Museum and that had tons of Egyptian artifacts, it was so cool. After spending an hour there (and we bumped into lots of SAS people there, although none were on SAS trips so they were all people traveling the right way), we went to the Citadel, which was an amazing Mosque. Its huge, and it was really cool going to a Mosque. This one, however, was pretty touristy, it’s a really nice building, really old, and the view of Cairo from it is awesome. It overviews the whole city, so you can see everything, and in the distance, you can even see the Giza Pyramids.

The Citadel

Inside the Citadel

After that, we went to Khan el Khalili which is a crazy bazaar in the Islamic section of Cairo. This bazaar had dirt roads, was really hectic, and was a really cool market to see, I liked it. After spending an hour there, Mia and Teejana still wanted to shop since they are female and me and Jason didn’t want to because we aren’t so we left to check out some more mosques. We started out by going to a mosque across the street from the bazaar, which wasn’t that touristy (even though tons of tourists go to the bazaar) and that was so cool. We got to see a really important aspect of Egyptian life as we saw them praying in their mosque. At the mosque, we were both given some newspaper about Islam (most of it is in Arabic, but it has an English part) and then they had all of these books about Islam in so many different languages, so they gave one to both of us in English. The people there were really nice to us and were totally cool about tourists going into the Mosque. We saw a few other tourists there, but not too many.

Many people have this misconception that Egyptians are hostile towards Westerners, but its not true. Yes, there have been some attacks on Westerners over the years in Egypt, but they are very rare, and it’s a very open and safe country for tourists. They are welcoming of tourists everywhere, and there isn’t animosity towards Western people (although a lot of the people don’t like the American government, but right now, most Americans, including myself, don’t really like the current government either.)

After that, me and Jason went to another huge mosque back near the Citadel, but it was closed so we could only look at from the outside. We saw some kids playing soccer there, and they really wanted us to take pictures of them, so we did, and they were really cool and talked to us for a little bit. That was really cool. Then, we got a cab to take us to the Coptic Christian area. Egypt is 7% Coptic Christian, so they are a strong minority, and going to their area of the city was really cool. We saw a church, but couldn’t go in because it was closed so we just walked around the area as the sun was going down. It was a really cool area to explore. Then, some kids started to get all over us because we were taking pictures, which was cool at first. I then got my camcorder out and started to record the area, which I would assume is fine. However, some old guy came and got pissed at me for recording stuff so I put the camera away. Then, we just decided to leave because it was dark at this point. Also, we started to hear bottles breaking somewhere which was pretty sketch. We entered off of a major street, but our exit was off some sketchy, dark street (you know when you are entering or leaving the area because they have police guarding all of the entrances due to the fact it’s a Christian area in an Islamic country.) We walked down the sketchy street for a few minutes before getting to the road, then we wanted to go to the biggest mosque in the city, which is right next to the Coptic area. We got a cab to take us there since it was on the other side (but its okay because cabs are so cheap in Egypt, every cab ride is 2 or 3 bucks, this one was only 1) and we checked out this huge mosque which was awesome.

Kids outside a mosque

After that, we went back to our hotel where we met up with the girls, then we went to dinner which was awesome (there were two awesome restaurants right next to our hotel) and then we went to the airport to catch our flight to Luxor.

After our one hour flight, we got a cab and went to our hotel, which was the Sheraton Resort. It was the cheapest one on expedia, and it was $80, which isn’t too bad because it meant it would be only 20 a person. I lied to them when I booked it online and said we would only have three in the room (it wouldn’t let me book the room for four, and three and two were the same price) . Our plan was for the girls to use the bed while we would just crash on the floor. However, we had a really bad for covering up the fact that it was four, so we got busted, I should have just never had them come into the hotel instead of having them just sit on the couches in the lounge…dumb idea, it was so obvious. However, while you would think they would get mad, instead they just upgraded us to a bigger room for the same rate! That was so awesome.

This hotel, by the way, was so nice. It was right on the Nile, had two pools, and the rooms were real nice. Anyway, we chilled by the pool for a little bit, then went to the bar there where there were no more than 8 people, then we went to bed.

The next day, we woke up at 8 and went to the train station to get our tickets to go to Cairo that night. The train was sold out, but our cab driver (who drove us for half the day, we hired him to take us to the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsuts Temple, and then back to the hotel) was so nice that he used his hook up at the train station to get us tickets on the train that night.

After we got our tickets for the train, we went to the Valley of the Kings which was awesome. Its on the other side of the Nile in the desert. It was in such a cool spot, and the tombs there were awesome. There are 20 or so tombs, and you can spend all day there, but the tickets only allow for 3 tombs (otherwise you have to buy another) so we saw 3 and they were really cool. So many cool hieroglyphs and stuff in them, and it was just awesome to be in the place where so many former Egyptian kings were buried.

After that, we went to the Queen Hatshepsut Temple which was also awesome. The building was so cool, and there were just some cool statues and stuff inside:

Queen Hatshepsut Temple

Posing like the statues at the Queen Hatshepsut Temple


After that, our cab was going to take us back to the hotel where we were gonna chill for a little bit before going to the Karnak Temple. On the way back, some bee got into the car and then stung me on the neck. Then, when I tried to get it off me, it flung onto finger and stung that too. I thought bees could only sting once, but apparently that’s not true. Anyway, I had stinging feeling in me for a few hours (and I’ve never been stung before) but I was eventually fine by the time we went to the Karnak Temple.

At the hotel, we chilled on the Nile and ate which was cool...view of the Nile:

After that, we went to the Karnak Temple. The Karnak Temple was so cool, I thought it was the best thing I saw in Egypt. It’s hard to describe, but its just massive, has tons of statues (although many had their heads cut off by imperial powers, unfortunately), and overall it was just amazing. It had huge pillars that had hieroglyphs all over them, had 2 obelisks, had really cool, massive ruins, and is one of those places that is just so much better in person than it is in pictures (you can say that for almost anything, but for some things, its more true than it is for others, and the Karnak Temple is just one of those places where the pictures will never do it justice.) We were there until sunset, which was really cool because by the time we left, very few people were there, so it felt like we were in this huge temple by ourselves.

Me with one of the pillars.....way taller than me
Statues in the Karnak Temple

Me at the Karnak Temple with the Obelisks in the background
Statue with its head cut off at the Karnak Temple

After that, we got dinner and just hung out for a little bit before we went to the train station for our 11 pm train to Cairo. The train wasn’t bad, they gave us this room with 6 pretty big seats so we were actually able to get a little bit of sleep on it. The train ride took 10.5 hours, so we got to Cairo at 9:30. We then went to book the next train to Alexandria, which was at 11, so we got to Alexandria by 1:45. We then went to the boat, dropped our stuff off, and then went to the Bibliotecha Alexandrina, which is the library and its massive. It’s in a new building that looks really cool, and is one of the most famous libraries in the world, mainly because the oldest library in the world is in Alexandria (I think.) The library had a museum in it and all of these great things, such as original pages from the New Testament, it was really cool to go to that Library. We wanted to go to the Catacombs too in Alexandria, but we just didn’t have time. However, after the library, we got dinner at this place right near the Nile which was great and so cheap (my meal was $3 USD) and then we went back to the boat. Alexandria looked like a really cool city, its right on the Mediterranean which is awesome, but I didn’t have enough time to check out the whole city, but I am happy I got to see a little bit of it.

Overall, Egypt was just so amazing, there was just so much to see there and I really saw a ton in my 5 days. Egypt was just so cool, and I would love to go back there, it’s just a really awesome place (and much safer for tourists than people think.)