Cairo, survival tips

The problems start at the airport, the minute you arrive. Visas are easy, as you arrive at Cairo International airport, there are money changers who will sell you a visa good for 30 days. The costs is US15 or 15 euros or 15 pounds depending on which country you come from. You affix the stamp on to a page of your passport. It is best to have the hotel send a car to pick you up or else you will be at the mercy of the touts and trust me, there are a lot and they will fight over you. I was so scared. Sophie, having lived in Hong Kong was better at dealing with them. I was a basket case even though I am the more seasoned traveler. We, still, got taken, and thankfully we reached our hotel safely, it was only money we lost, not much in US dollars. I failed to call my hotel to make sure they received my fax regarding my flight arrival. They may charge a little bit more but trust me, pay it. The odd thing is, international flights always arrive around midnight in Cairo. British Airways and Lufthansa. I think Air France arrives at 10 pm, a little earlier. After God knows how many hours, it is hard to deal with touts. It costs money to park outside the arrival hall, so ask, the men in uniform, where the taxis are parked or follow the flight crew. Taxis are black and white or yellow with 'taxi' in English or Arabic signs on top, English means the driver speaks some English. My hotel was going to charge 75 Le or 75 Egyptian pounds. We ended up paying these 2 touts US40 which is 240 Le (Egyptian pounds) and that wasn't even for the driver. Thinking back, I don't think he was a legit taxi driver, the 2 touts kept saying, 'look, this is a legit taxi, with a government seal on the side'. What bunk, it was only a sticker. He got us to the hotel, we only had like 5 Le left, we gave it to him and ran into the hotel with the driver, gaping at us in disbelief, we cheated him of his fare. Well, too bad, I'm sure he's in cahoots with the other 2 touts. That was the first encounter with taxi drivers in Cairo. Throughout our 5 days, we had to haggle with all of them. Always ask the hotel the rough cost of the fare whenever you want to go anywhere. Egyptians always know the fare and they just give the fare and leave, they don't engage the driver anymore. The alternative is to haggle and determine on a fare first. Sometimes the driver will not be interested but find another one who is. There are lots of taxis roaming around. Most of the time, when they know you're a tourist, they are more interested in waiting for you and to take you to other places for a total price. That's OK, maybe give them 100 Le for a half day to drive you to various places in Cairo, wait for you and take you to the next destination, wait and so on and finally bring you back to your hotel. If you like them, give them a 20Le tip. On our first day, after visiting the Citadel, we went looking for a taxi to take us to the Spice market, we said, 'Khan al Khalili, one way.' Four taxi drivers turned us down, they don't want to make 15 Le driving us one way. This driver, Ghalal, said,' come, I'll take you. When we got into his taxi, he asked,' where are you going next?' I said, 'Mosque Ibn Tulun'. Then he suggested a tour of Cairo, naming a few places, like 'City of the dead and Garbage city'. He was smart, he hit the nail right on the head, these were places I wanted to go to. W agreed on 100 Le but we later ended paying him 120Le. We used him to take us to Giza, Saqqara and Dashur the next day for 250 Le. While on this trip, he steered us to his friends, we ended up paying 250 Le for riding on a horse and cart around the Giza pyramids, went to his friends' papyrus museum, lunched at his friend's restaurant before coming home. I tried to look for a local company to take us to some of these sights but I didn't know where they are located. I later found out that Thomas Cook's office is across the street from the Egyptian museum. At the museum we paid some jerk 200 Le who gave us the briefest tour of the museum. They are all over the place. They are in the toilets, they hand out toilet paper for a tip. Be sure to have small change. They use only paper money. Be sure to have lots of 1Le, 5Le, 10Le and 20Le. The small ones are for the toilet attendants. The larger ones are for forbidden entries to mosques. Some attendants at mosques and cemeteries charge a fee, baksheesh they call it. Some are not happy with 10Le or even 20Le. Hold your ground, you can give them whatever you want even though they ask for more. They always ask, 'are you happy?' If you are, you are expected to give more. We went into an old mosque which was undergoing renovation, the guard, a little boy, told us it was closed. I slipped him a 5Le note and he let us in. I smiled, thinking to myself, 'I'm getting good at this baksheesh thing'.

Crossing the streets takes some finesse, follow a local. The traffic is horrendous, the honking, the fumes takes some getting use to. We survived. We stayed in the Zamalek district where the expatriates live and all the taxi drivers think we are loaded, we had to pay at least 20Le to get back each time from downtown Cairo.

The food is great. Egyptian food is wonderful. They eat a lot of Fuul on the streets which is garbanzo bean paste. I didn't have any but we did like 'kushari' which costs about 5Le (US$1).t is actually macaroni, lentils in a spicy tomato paste. We loved it, it is so filling and so cheap. Where our hotel was there is an Egyptian restaurant known throughout Cairo. It is expensive when it comes to Egyptian standards, 100 Le per person. We loved the stuffed pigeon. We loved the sweet mint tea. We were advised not to eat salads and drink only bottled water. This we followed and had no problems. I did bring some Imodium AD with me, I always bring some, wherever I go, even to France and Italy. We also loved Baba Ganosh, the eggplant dip, be sure to try some, they make the best Baba Ganosh. It is nice and smoky.

The exchange rate is US$1 to 5.6 Le (Egyptian pound). Sometimes when they can't communicate with us, they'll show us an Egyptian note but if they only flash the Arabic side, we still don't understand, we have to tell them to show the other side. We had a stopover in London on the way there and back, we were able to get some money at the money changers at Heathrow. On the way back they even bought back our leftover money. I did go to the ATM a couple of times in Cairo. Next to our hotel was a branch of the French bank, BNP Paribas. Also remember their weekend is Friday and Saturday.

Be careful going to some neighborhoods especially if you are a woman. They are so decrepit, they are scary. Here we are, 2 Chinese Americans, going down these streets, unaccompanied by a male person, and I have this huge camera. I saw people giving me and my camera the evil eye. I ran the hell out of there. We, later, had a taxi and driver wait for us while we visited and took pictures, paid him 120Le. The guidebook said, don't let anyone take your camera to take a picture of you, you might have to buy your camera back. We did let a few people take my camera, the guy just wanted to feel this huge camera, he couldn't take pictures even if his life depended on it, his pictures were all blur. Don't let go of your camera will be my advice, not so much you'll have to buy it back but they might ruin it and they don't know photography.

Other than these tips, enjoy yourself. Understand that Egypt is the repository of one third of the world's antiquities and a trip to Cairo and Egypt is a must. It was a very informative trip and I'm planning to go back, this time to Luxor and the South.