Egypt: Love of My Life

I woke up this morning at 7:30 having been told the night before by Hussein to be in the lobby at 9am and not to be late. It was a little harder to get up this morning, probably because I'd gotten used to sleeping in late in London. Probably also due to the fact that I didn't sleep much last night, It was very humid in my room, and bugs were eating me alive all night. The cockroaches in my bathroom are big enough to use the shower, and they use up all the hot water before I can get in in the morning.

I got up and got ready and got up to the restaurant on the 8th floor for the complimentary breakfast at 8am, which consisted of a hard boiled egg and two bread sticks. By 9 I was down in the lobby and Hussein and my driver, Wyheed were already waiting for me. I got in the van, and they took me over the Nile to Giza. There we drove off the main road into the Sahara Desert to the tombs near the Step Pyramid (the oldest pyramid in Egypt). Several of the tombs are open to the public for tourists to walk inside, but you're not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the tombs. I climbed down into the tomb of King Titi by myself while my guide waited outside. There are hired guides for major tombs like this one that accompany you through and make sure you don't touch or take pictures of anything inside. However as soon as we were alone inside the tomb, my tomb guide signals to me, "quickly! Take out your camera!", reluctantly I did as he said. He told me I could take some pictures if I did quickly before anyone else came in. So I snapped some pictures as fast as I could of the hieroglyphs on the walls, and he took some of me inside the tomb. And then he led me to the burial chamber and he said that I could take some pictures of the burial tomb where the sarcophagus was originally sealed inside (but had been pryed open to take out the body). "Get in!" He said with boyish enthusiasm. "What!?" I said, "you've gotta be kidding me!" He wanted me to get inside the coffin where the body had laid, and was going to take a picture of me inside. So I did what anyone in that situation would do. I got inside the coffin. He snapped some entirely illegal pictures of me desecrating a Pharaoh's tomb, and then we bolted out of there. How many people in the world can say they actually laid in a coffin which once held the mummified remains of a 2,000 year old Pharaohs. Not very many.

I walked through some of the other tombs of King Titi's servants, and my guide told me about the histories of the tombs and what the different hieroglyphs meant. When we were finished there, we drove to another part of Giza where the Great Pyramid and Sphinx are. We rented camels and rode around the Pyramids, while a different guide, Achmed told me about their history, and taught me how to ride my camel. Achmed was my age exactly, and we had a great time posing for pictures, and he even let me climb up onto one of the pyramids, which again you're not supposed to do. He said he liked me because I'm willing to try anything. After riding around the Pry amids and Sphinx for a little over an hour, we got some lunch, which was provided, at an awesome Egyptian food place (It was a very nice restaurant, very safe and lots of tourists). My guide (who's name I can't remember) and I talked about the differences and similarities between Christianity and Islam. He's a Muslim, and so he was telling me a lot about what he believes, and I shared with him a little of my beliefs. I learned a whole lot from our conversations, and we both concluded that we all pray to the same God, he's just called by a different name over here. I was delighted the whole time how respectful, and passionately our conversation went. We were both brothers with the same father. We talked about his two wives and two kids. He asked if I had taken a wife back home and I told him no, and he asked me if I had ever been in love, to which I told him I thought I had been once.

From there they took me to the carpet factory where I got to see little slave children make carpets (well they weren't exactly slaves, they were students, and the factory was their school slash workplace, but they sure looked like slaves to me). And then they took me to the perfume factory to see how they make Egyptian perfumes, and I got to sample a bunch of them, so I smelled good all day. Afterwards, we went to the paper factory where I saw how to make papyrus plants into paper. It was all a whole lot of fun, and they tried to teach me some Arabic along the way. At around 3:30 we had seen everything we had planned for the day, so they took me back to the hotel.

I remembered I needed to talk to the guy at the front desk about the Internet situation, so I asked him how I can get Internet here. It just so happened at that perfect time the front desk guy was also talking to another Egyptian man standing next to me, who laughed and shook my hand, and said he will take me to where I can find Internet. This man was one of friendliest men I've ever met. He asked where I was from and I told him, and he welcomed me and shook my hand with such gratitude, that I was taken aback. He showed me some places around town where I could pay for Internet service, but he said he'd take me to his shop where I can just use his Internet for free. As we passed people on the street he greeted them as if he'd known them all for years, and it seemed he had. Everyone smiled and laughed, and hugged him as he passed by he introduced me to some, and they welcomed me with a handshake and a smile. We passed by an old woman in a wheelchair, and he stopped and said "wait here one moment. I have to say hello to a very dear friend." Her face immediately lit up when she saw him, and he bent down and kissed her on the hand. They talked for a second, he introduced me, and then he lead me into his store. There I met his cousin, Muhammad and Muhammad's brother (who's name I can't remember), and he insisted that I try some real Egyptian Felafel's, so he bought me a felafel and together the 4 of us sat in his office and ate felafel's and drank Egyptian tea.

I stayed with them and we talked for several hours. I told him about the tour I was on, and the people trying to sell me stuff, and how I was worried about being here and being American. He told me that there was no reason for me to be afraid. He recognized that the tour I was on was a real legit travel agency that work for the airport. He said no one in Cairo would ever hurt me. He said I could walk any street in Cairo till 4 in the morning and no one would ever lay a finger on me. However, what some will do is raise their prices because they know I'm a tourist, which is why I'm paying so much for stuff right now. He said the real Cairo is very cheap, but a lot of companies are not certified by the government, so travel agencies make a commission if they bring you somewhere where you buy something. He said he would like to show me the REAL Cairo, so he introduced me to a lot of people in Cairo, who were all amazingly nice, and he asked me if I'd like to get booked on a Nile River Cruise tour that night. I told him I'd love to, and that was that.

A friend of Muhammad's drove me to the cruise ship and I got on. The cruise was stuffed full of rich white people, and in the ship itself was 4 decks high, with a big buffet in the center. On every deck there was live music. The deck I was seated on had an Egyptian man on a keyboard, and two Egyptian women on mics singing Billy Joel songs. Badly. It was like karaoke night in Egypt, and I had thought the live music was supposed to be a little more in the traditional native sense, and a little less in the 80's compilation album. However, the huge table of Chinese people in the center of the room loved it. As soon as they started their middle eastern rendition of My Heart Will Go On, I had to leave the room to keep from laughing.

I wandered up to the second deck and hung around there for a while because they actually had some traditional Egyptian music...and a belly dancer. It seemed as though deck 2 was the place to be. When she...or um...the band had gone, I went up to the top deck and watched the lights sparkle on the Nile. It looked like the Jungle Cruise from Disneyland in several places along the Nile, and made me feel like a true adventurer.

After the Cruise I was dropped off back at the store, and Muhammad was there, so I sat down and had a cup of tea with him. I showed him my pictures from my trip thus far, and he showed me his pictures of his little twin son and daughter who are 4 months old. We talked about our families, and politics. He told me that he meets a lot of Americans who's families and friends think they're crazy to come to Egypt, thinking that the whole world hates them. He says Egypt is one of the most friendly nations you'll ever find, and everyone in the middle east knows it's not the individual people who make the political decisions anyway. He said, "what does it matter what religion you are, or what country you came from. People are people. A good person will be treated well regardless of what or who he believes in." We talked about the similarities of our religions, and how each of our religions say not to kill. We came to the conclusion that these wars of religions are really just political. It's a couple religious extremists that ruin it for a whole race, or religion. He told me how because he's from Egypt, he can't travel to very many places, because other governments are worried he might be a terrorist because of where he's from and what his religion is. But, he said the middle east is a very friendly place, and it's all very safe, but for some reason, all of America thinks that middle easterners want to hurt them. He also told me that now that I have seen differently, It's up to me to set the record straight, and make sure people back home know the Egyptian people for the friendly, hospitable and God fearing people they actually are. I feel very at home here in Egypt. Mohammad told me I'm welcome in his home anytime, and if I'm ever in Egypt again I should call him and he'll put me up and make sure I have a good stay. I told him I would do the same if he were ever in my country.

Egypt is the most unusual place I've ever seen, but when you meet people here, you become family. I walked back to my hotel at about 10:30pm past both the Kuwait, and Serbian embassy right past several men carrying AK47s. I smiled and tipped my hat to them, and they gave a big smile back and said hello in Arabic. Because I was smiling, all the homeless people on the street were too. This city looks like a war torn battlefield, or third world country, but it's friendlier than Laguna Niguel. I hope to return here very soon and I highly recommend going if you can. They love Americans here.

Unfortunately, I did some asking around and the only way to get to Petra is by bus, or I could order a private car. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go tomorrow to reserve a ticket for the ferry over to Jordan, and then take a bus to Petra. I'm assured it's very safe. It just takes a long time.
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