Cairo Trip Report - The Anti-Japan

Cairo. I struggled with whether or not to write a trip report. The only other time this has happened was with Japan, but it was for very different reasons then. I've been to over 50 countries and Japan is my favorite by far. Conversely, Egypt is the only country I would never go back to. It wasn't that we didn't have a good time there - we did - it was more that Egypt was so exhausting that the thought of returning is just unthinkable. Saying that would make one think I don't recommend going there...that isn't true. I think anyone who is able to go there should. However, they should be fully aware of what they are in for. With that in mind, I decided to write something short. Hopefully it will be of some help to others.

First, I should state we only visited Cairo (and Giza) so can't really comment on the rest of the country. If you came to America and only visited NYC, you would have a different impression of the country than if you visited the Grand Canyon.

A few things to note about Cairo:

• I had some problems withdrawing money from the ATMs. The error messages I got were not clear, but the problem was I was taking too much out. I tried to take out 3000 EGP (about $180 USD), but that was, apparently, above the daily limit. 2000 EGP worked fine.


• That being said, everything is cheap. We ate dinner at a fancy restaurant and paid about $20 USD for the two of us, including the tip. We ate lunch at a very local restaurant and paid about $1 USD (we split a big meal).


• Uber is the way to go there. We stayed in Giza and it took us 40-50min to get to Cairo proper. The cost, including tip, was between $4.50 and $5 USD.


• Don't try driving in Cairo. Just don't. I've driven in some crazy places, but...the highways have actual debris (rocks from crumbling Jersey barriers) on them. Cars and busses park in the driving lanes. Some people actually DRIVE THE WRONG WAY. And lots of people don't have headlights. Lanes are a suggestion and any two will be shared by three cars at a time. Oh yeah, and people walk across the highway. I don't even want to mention the non-highway streets...


• Speaking of which...be very careful crossing the street. Maybe we were shell shocked from everything else going on, but we didn't see a single crosswalk in Cairo. And the traffic is wall to wall cars. To cross the street you basically need to get up the nerve to step into the street, eying which cars look like they will stop for you and which do not. Pro tip - cross behind a local.


• And the kids just run around in the streets, hoping on the backs of trucks and tuk tuks, or walking blindly. We saw several young kids (less than 5) almost get hit. I googled some stats: the US has twice the number of pedestrian deaths than Egypt does, but it has about 50 times the number of cars. Egypt is not pedestrian friendly.

When we visited Cairo, we of course saw the Pyramids. In fact, we stayed at a hotel that overlooked them (Egypt Pyramids Inn). It is literally across the street from the Sphinx entrance and when lying in the bed I could see 2 of the 3 main pyramids plus the Sphinx. Definitely an amazing view to wake up to.

Other than that we tried to do off the beaten path stuff. For our first day we did visit Coptic Cairo (and the museum there, which I definitely recommend - cheap and zero crowds), but we quickly went down side streets where the locals lived. After a while, we caught an Uber to Tentmaker's Alley near the Bab Zuwayla gate. We purposefully got lost in the myriad tiny alleys lined with shops and restaurants. We saw no other non-locals here.

Finally, we went to Wekalet el Ghouri Arts Center and saw the Tanoura dancers perform (see Trip Advisor for reviews on this). This was, without a doubt, the highlight of the trip. Mind. Blowing. I can't recommend this enough.

The next day was Valentine's Day. We saw the pyramids (by ourselves, no tours, no camel/horse rides), the Boat Museum, and entered the Queen's pyramid. I won't spend much time on these as a quick google search can show one whatever they want about it. Afterwards we went into Cairo and negotiated a sunset Felucca ride. These are often sold on tours for between $50 and $100. We paid $10, but then left a tip for a total cost of $15. If you want to do this on your own, simply go to the Four Seasons Cairo (Qasr an Nile) and walk across the street to Garden City. If you don't like what you see there, just walk down the street to the next bunch of Feluccas.

We then walked across the Nile into Zamalek, ate dinner and explored a little.

Our last day in Cairo we started at the Islamic Museum. This was just ok, there are many better ones, but cheap and worth a visit if you are looking for something to do. Leaving the museum we "got lost" for a few hours walking and going where the locals go. Since we had to get up early for our flight the next day, we headed back to Giza early and caught the Pyramid Light Show from our hotel room. It was ok...I wouldn't pay for it.

Here are some of our most memorable moments:

• Watching one kid push another kid in a big 80-gallon trashcan. The wheels were wobbly and soon fell off. As the one boy lifted the trashcan to "fix" the wheels, he tipped the other boy out. Laughter and chasing from all involved.


• Seeing two very young boys driving a tuk tuk and looking both completely confused and excited at the same time. Not sure if it was stolen, or they were simply driving it for a friend, but it made us laugh.


• Watching a guard take a selfie of himself holding his machine gun.


• Entering museums and being ordered by guards to place bags on the X-ray machine, but no one was operating the machines so it was really just a high tech conveyor belt.


• Without fail, every metal detector we went through (and there were many), went off. We were just waived through. So, not really sure what the point was...


• Asking a cop for directions to the Islamic Museum, him telling me he didn't know, then turning around and realizing we were standing in front of it.


• Watching the museum guards talk on cell phones and flirt instead of, well...guarding anything.


• Seeing clearly valuable museum pieces of work that were just sitting out, not behind glass, able to be touched (we did not).


• Vampire dogs. These dogs slept all day and as soon as the sun went down they would bark...until the sun came back up again. Luckily, we are heavy sleepers.

So, what didn't we like? Why won't we return to Egypt? When we travel, we enjoy meeting people and talking with locals. It is why we try to travel off-season, and why (as you can see from above), we try to go off the beaten path and go places where local are. It's lead to some amazing experiences for us, and gives us (we think) a slightly better understanding of the country we are visiting since we are there for such a short time. I can't think of anywhere we have travelled to that we didn't meet and hang out with locals - sometimes getting invited to parties or back to their house, and sometime making friends that we still keep in touch with today. In fact, the primary purpose of this trip was to go to Belgium to visit a friend of ours we met about 12 years ago who was opening a restaurant.

Anyway...we did not come in contact with a single person in Cairo who didn't want something from us. Even people we thought were being helpful or friendly were not - they had ulterior motives and wanted to get us to go to a shop, pay them for "being a tour guide" or whatever. Ever walk on a beach in the Caribbean and had the guys/girls harass you for beads in your hair or buying whatever trinket they were selling? This was everywhere. It was incessant. It puts you in a bad mood because you are constantly telling people no and after a while you just shout it. Now instead of looking at the beauty of the pyramids, you are pissed because every 10 feet some guys is asking you if you want a camel ride or to buy something from him.

And then the scams. These started as soon as we landed at the airport. We passed through immigration and hit another checkpoint where a guard wanted to see our passports. Before we knew what had happened, a group of guys came up and the guard gave them our passports and they walked away. I ran after them, yelling. The claimed they were cops but refused to show me a badge. I snatched the passports back and tried to leave but they blocked my path. I said I wasn't giving them my passports until I saw a badge. At this point I knew they weren't real cops, and they knew I knew, but they had to save face. One of them pulled out a piece of plastic with the word Police written on it. I smiled and let them ask me a few questions and they let me go my way.

So you have people constantly wanting money from you. Then there are the scams. You are on edge, nervous, this is not relaxing. And finally, for the trifecta, there is the trash. It is everywhere. I've never seen such a dirty city. People dump their garbage throughout the streets (and yes, I know about Garbage City there). And the few places that don't have garbage have either dog, camel, or horse shit. Many places, like the Pyramids, have both.

I think the problem is I've been places that have one, or even two of these things, but not all three and none of them to the degree we saw in Cairo. So it was just too much. We are glad we went, but have no desire to return.

Well, this isn't a typical trip report for me, and I don't know if it will inspire the reader to visit or avoid Egypt. Again, I believe the pros outweigh the cons and a visit to Egypt (at least one) is worth it.