Being a Tourist in Egypt

The hassles of being a tourist in Egypt are many. It all starts with the differential pricing for entry into the famous monuments and the other tourist spots. As foreigners, even as resident expats, we pay nearly quadruple the amount that the locals pay as entrance fees. Maybe, this is justified, given the argument that Egypt being a poor country, most of the locals would be unable to visit these monuments, if they had to pay the higher entrance fees. However, the harassment by the touts at the tourist sites, harassment by shop owners and stall owners is unprecedented and legendary. And you need to be made of sterner stuff to withstand this hassle, without getting your blood pressure up.

Particularly bad are the touts that surround you and your car as soon as you come within sight of the Giza pyramids. If nothing else works, they just jump on the bonnet of your car to stake their claim on you…as their client! If this is not enough to make you feel like turning tail and running away, their persistent demands to purchase souvenirs, to get onto a camel or a horse surely cannot be borne by the faint hearted.

Added to all this, if you happen to be a light-skinned, blue-eyed, blond tourist, then your woes are doubled. When my friend who fitted the above description was visiting me in Cairo, she was met with requests for touching her hair, posing with her for pictures, and also some audacious marriage proposals. All the prices were quoted in dollars or euros-a LE 5 item will be quoted as USD 5 or Euro 5.

The Khan-el-Khalili vendors welcomed you with the comment “You want help in spending your money?” As if we are totally daft and have no clue as to what to do with our money. But the most original line came from this vendor. My friend requested a shop owner to help choose good pieces as gifts to take back home. She said ”you must help me….you know what will be a pretty piece”. The shopkeeper said “you are pretty!” A potential candidate for writing the dialogues for the next Bollywood blockbuster!

If you are eating at a road side eatery at the “Khan”, you will have to ward off people selling everything from scarves to the evil eye. Even sitting at the historic Fishawi café is fraught with vendors offering you a wallet at every sip of your shay bil “na’na (mint tea) and every puff of your sheesha! A firm “La Shukran” (no, thank you) is effective in most cases, except the most persistent.

However, despite all the hassle, the memories that you carry back with you are that of the endearing warmth of the people here, the majesty and beauty of the Islamic, Pharonic and the Coptic monuments. And of course, you must have heard of the saying that once you have drunk from the Nile, you will return again to Cairo.

Cairo Tower

My visit to the Cairo tower turned out to be very disappointing, maybe because I had been looking forward to it for a long time-since the time I arrived in Cairo a year back. But the tower had been closed for renovations. The 187 m high tower with its lotus flower design seemed to beckon me every time I passed it.

The Cairo Tower has been the subject of controversy, mainly with respect to the source of funds for its construction. According to one theory, the tower is said to have been built with American hush money given to the then Egyptian President Gamal Abdal Nasser to bring him over to the side of capitalist America. Outraged that the Amercicans thought that he could be bought, he decided to funnel the money into building the Cairo Tower as a symbol to the Americans’ “monumental folly”. Also, this tower has been the favourite spot for suicide, including that of a German student who leapt to his death from the tower in 1998, to prove his Pharonic belief that the dead are resurrected. Read http://www.dailystaregypt.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ArticleID=2666 and http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/881/special.htm

In its newly-renovated avatar, the entrance fees are a steep LE 65 (foreigners) to go to the top of the tower and obviously raises expectations. I have visited the Berlin tower and expected something like it. A glass covered viewing station, model maps put up around the viewing station to serve as a guide to what you are looking over and powerful telescopes to give you a closer look…..

But what I found is the following…

A viewing station that is not covered-has only a railing running around it. It can be dangerous and also gets very cold and windy. No guidelines to tell you what landmark/ monument you are looking over. A couple of telescopes have been placed for better viewing but beware! I inserted the requisite two LE 1 coins and following the instructions, pressed the button and peered into the telescope but my eyes were met with only darkness. I made a couple of more jabs at the button but no luck. I tried to get my money back by hitting the telescope but the non-functioning telescope coughed up 1 LE only! My other coin was lost forever. So try the telescope at your own risk!

A single lift takes you up to the viewing station. The lift can hold only 7-8 people at a time-the wait can be long if many people are visiting. The waiting area outside the viewing level for the lift is small and gets very crowded with people jostling for space and trying to elbow their way to the front of the line. If you want to take a break from the viewing station, there is the coffee shop one level below or the restaurant “360 degrees” where you can have a meal while enjoying the view of the Cairo city.

However, there is no denying that the view is fabulous, encapsulating the city of Cairo, as it were. The mosques, the skyscrapers, the twinkling lights of the plush hotels, the green open spaces, are all laid out in front of your eyes. The River Nile, snaking its way towards the Mediterranean sea, seems to almost divide the city into two. Visiting at twilight lends a surreal charm to the view with the pyramids in the distance silhouetted against the setting sun, the lights coming on in the dark grey and brown buildings characterstic of the Cairo city and of course, the River Nile flowing placidly. For the view, you could definitely give it a try!