Trip to Egypt was OK because historical ruins, most built approximately 5000 years ago, are in remarkably well preserved because of very few earthquakes and an extremely dry climate. But Egypt is not a place I would want to go back to. Most people seem really happy. But for the most part they are dirt poor, live in one room of a communal hut or apartment building. There is garbage everywhere and I mean everywhere. Rooftops, in the streets, yards, floating in the canals, in the fields, everywhere. The most astonishing thing to all the people on our tour was how Egypt could fall from being the richest most highly developed society in the world 5000 years ago with a population of only 500,000 to a poverty stricken third world country of 68 million today nearly all concentrated within a mile of the Nile river..
In the country side, all marriages are still family arranged with dowries . Bride and groom see each other for first time at wedding. A typical rural family has 10 to 12 kids and maybe 3 wives. In the cities the average family has 3 or 4 kids. A father can and still does normally kill a daughter if he finds out she in not a virgin at marriage. The sole purpose of marriage is to have kids. Companionship, etc is a bonus if it happens. 6 to 12 year old "rug rats" everywhere. In the current the population explosion a new kid is born every 26 seconds. Despite all this there is absolutely no suicide or homeless as families and religion provide support to all for basic survival.
Cairo is the most grayest most polluted city I have ever seen. Population is 22 million at 37,000 people per sq km. (London 11 million and 4,500 per sq km) Unbelievable traffic with no rules and I only saw 2 traffic lights. Old cars, new cars, busses, trucks, donkey carts and pedestrians for the most part all use the same road. If you get into a traffic accident you barter your way with the other party about who is at fault and make arrangements to pay. Court cases or police assigning blame is almost unheard of.
After 9/11 Egypt lost all 100% of their 7 million annual tourists (Vegas gets 38 million, Banff 3 million) so they instituted "Tourist Police" All the hotels have zig zag concrete mazes for vehicles with a armed check point guards at the entrance behind heavy steel plate shields on casters. At the hotel doors there are more armed guards, metal detectors and luggage scanners like at our airports. All tourist buses have armed bodyguards and if there are three buses in convoy there would normally be an unmarked escort car front and rear. The riverboats each had 2 armed uniformed guards with automatic rifles and several undercover bodyguards. Despite this, in 2004 terrorist attacks killed 34 tourists and in 2005 several other incidents killed approximately another 100 locals and tourists. However, at no time did we not feel safe walking even in the poorest areas or several block of the main tourist paths. Locals, especially the kids were all extremely friendly. One hooded teen age girl even winked at me in a shop and one of our carriage drivers after giving Joan (who was riding on the drivers bench) the gears for our 45 minute ride, sincerely invited us to his home for supper the next night then turned around to me and gave me a huge kiss on the cheek surprise.
Both Joan and I agree that the Pyramids were the least impressive of the remarkable historical things we saw.
After all this culture shock, Hawaii will seem very tame with only several shark attacks and a couple hundred car deaths a year.
Joan's Impressions
The antiquities are absolutely incredible, and it was everything I
dreamed it would be and more. Our guide Vivian was outstanding, so we learned so
much. We also had a great travel group, and spent time with Susan, a single lady
from Maine, and couples from Boston, Miami and New York. Great fun! If you are
interested in going, we booked through vacationstogo.com with Gate1 Travel, and
they were absolutely top notch. We paid about $4000 per person, including air
fare and every excursion imaginable, and I saw the identical itinerary, boat,
hotels with air fare out of Toronto advertised in the Globe and Mail last week
for $8299 per person. And it would not have included all the excursions, so we
are feeling quite smug about our deal. And this was an excellent time to go -
very few tourists so no crowds, weather in the mid 20's every day, sunny and
dry. At Abu Simbel where the Ramsey's Temple is (which to me was the highlight)
it has not rained in 12 years. Not a drop. So no need to take the umbrella. Or
the snow shovel.
We had a bodyguard every where we went, and there are tourist police everywhere,
armed to the teeth to protect the tourists and the antiquities, so we felt very
safe. The country is extremely poor, yet the people are very happy and friendly.
We felt and saw no evidence of anger or anything negative towards us or tourists
at all. Just the opposite. Imagine a trip that is so outstanding in everything
we saw that the pyramids were really at the bottom of our awe list. And they are
truly awesome. We had all experiences - rode camels for an hour getting to a
restaurant for dinner, had a carriage ride into rural Luxor, and another
carriage ride in Kom Ombo, sailed the Nile, saw the Aswan Dam and its largest
man made lake in the world, flew over thousands of square miles of desert with
nothing but sand, and had a goats head complete with fur passed to us in our
carriage in a suk - don't know what we would do with a goats head, but the guy
sure wanted to sell it to us!
For lovers
of Egypt - it is a MUST go. I have never seen such squalor, poverty, appalling
living conditions, mounds of garbage in every street, rooftop, canal, even in
Cairo with its 22 million people and only two sets of traffic lights in the
whole city (but then Mercedes, buses and donkey carts seem to do okay without
them), yet experienced such wonder. The food was wonderful, you can brush your
teeth with tap water (although we drank bottled water) so we ate salads, fresh
fruits and never had a moments discomfort. The food was quite Mediterranean with
lots of olives and feta cheese, rice and chicken. We passed on the pigeon, and
whatever was served for beef one night was maybe donkey or oxen, but it sure
wasn't beef!! Their big navel type oranges are the BEST I have ever tasted, and
peel like Mandarin oranges. Lots of fruit and veggies of every type, all grown
along the Nile. The eggplant was to die for. Oh, pigeons are considered a
natural Viagra and are the only thing served to a bride and groom on their
wedding feast. Although mainly Muslim with 10% Christians, they are still very
superstitious, and seem to pay homage to the ancient gods and pharaohs in many
ways. The scarab (beetle) is revered and everyone passes them around
(likenesses, not real beetles) for good luck. Some of the most exquisite jewelry
is of the scarab. Of course, King Tut's exhibition is a heart stopper. And
sitting on the Giza plateau at night for the "light show" on the
Sphinx and Pyramids with a Bedouin camp in the distance is really quite an
experience. Now I could go on and on about the Valley of the Kings. We went into
three of the tombs. Remarkable. The Karnak temple at Luxor is the largest temple
ion the world - would hold St Peters square many times over. It has an avenue of
Sphinxes (huge ones) that runs for 2.5 kilometers. But it really defies
description, so
I'm going to stop there.
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