Cry Hole

Egypt (or specifically Cairo) has been my least favorite city so far in over 30 countries of travel.  I'll withhold judgment for the country until I find a way out of the capital, but it's been.. unpleasant.

It's already hard to travel during Ramadan in an Islamic country (restaurants close during the day, ill-tempered people due to fasting, arbitrary closing hours for attractions, etc.), but Cairo has a firm grip on many of the problems with Third World cities. 

It's dirty, for one.  Trash on the streets, unpaved roads, sewage spillage, foul smells, the works.  Oh my God -- the pollution has given me the coughs for the past four days.

The traffic is horrible. I've seen too many people without limbs, with bandages and on crutches to really trust the drivers in this town to know what they're doing.  The streets are congested from 8 am til midnight -- try sitting in a stalled taxi in the middle of a smog cloud three times as worse as LA.

No city planning whatsoever, and combine that with the first two points, you get shitty hotels, decreprit buildings, soot stained facades, ugly flyovers (overpasses) and no real walkable areas.  Forget any green space.

So the city is bad. Ugly too. Throw on the people and it's worse.

We switched hotels from Central Cairo to Zamalek, a more leafy area where expats hang out.  When we got to the hotel, our reserved room had been given to someone else, and we went through two other rooms (one didn't have AC, the other had a bathroom made for midgets) before bitching out the concierge, who bitched back at us.  That is, until we told him that he was 'considered very rude in our country' and he grudgingly told us to wait until 7pm that night to move to a different room.

And today?

Beyond the touts who pester you every three minutes for taxi rides and hotels and 'hey, you want papyrus shop? maybe later?' and camel rides and packaged tours — we got screwed by a tourist police officer!  I'll repeat it. As tourists, we got screwed by tourist officers.

We wanted to get a train ticket to Luxor.  Try finding the right counter at the Ramses Train Station in Cairo when all the signs are in Arabic.  So we go to the "Tourist Information Office" which was really just a hole in the wall (no tiles on the floor, just dirt and sand), a broken piece of ceiling for a table top, and makeshift chairs.  4 guys in white sat around a spread of mezzes and grilled chicken, waiting for the call to prayer signifying the end of fasting for Ramadan.  They all had arm bands that said "Tourist Police".

Ok -- short story.. get to it!

They pointed us to the ticket counter, which was underneath a tunnel, over the train tracks and around the side.  We still had to check into each room and talk to each counterperson for the train -- as each window signifies a different train and a different class of cabins. Two rooms with 7 counters (and 7 accompanying queues).

"Do you have two tickets to Luxor?"

"Ramadan!" A wave of hand. A look of disgust. Willful ignore(ance). "Full full!"

We encountered surly attendants at each station.  Each had no more than four words to say to us, and each waved us off with guttural grunts.

So we headed back to the Tourist Police. They smiled. The one guy who spoke English asked us to sit down and said that he'll help us get tickets -- but it's Ramandan, so if we can wait thirty minutes until they finish eating dinner, then they'll talk with us.

Ok, I thought. They're gonna walk with us to the ticket counter and maybe help by speaking Arabic. Or maybe they're gonna use their walkie-talkies and tell us that there was a misunderstanding.

We waited.  And then we went to their 'office'. There was another traveler in the office and we all sat there, staring at each other. Chit chat, tick tock. Another 30 minutes. "Where you from? How long in Luxor? Where you stay in Cairo?"

Get to it get to it!

Ok, you know what the guy did?  This tourist police who was gonna help us? He made us wait over an hour, then he proceeded to lead us out of the train station and into a hotel, where he and his buddies pressed us to buy a packaged tour! After all the waiting and the chit chatting and the back and forth, the guy was a hustler!  And smiling all through this time -- he actually thought he was helping us!

Ok, so maybe I had a rough day with touts and the dirty city and overcharging taxi drivers.  Train stations aren't known for having the friendliest of people, and traveling Third-World style was bound to have difficulties.  Besides, it's the end of Ramadan so it's understandable that the transportation system is clogged.

But my God man! A tourist officer! First time I've encountered this.  And the irony of it was: he made us wait until he could finish his Ramadan duties, so he can eat because presumably he was fasting during Ramadan to clean his spirit and connect better with Allah!

Did I wanted to launch into him? Oh yeah. And the city? Definitely. But hey, what good does that do? It's the conditions right? And Cairo is a shitty condition. Unemployment, crime, terrorism -- you name it.  It's a shitty condition and when you're in shit, you're bound to smell.  At least that's what I keep telling myself to calm down.  Doesn't mean I don't stink -- just means I need to get out of here, cause really, cities in the 3rd world is just a fest-hole with a lot of poor people in one place.

And goodness, I hate poor people. Oh yeah, and minorities too. And fat people. And puppies and butterflies.

I almost feel like crying....another hater has been born :)

Posted by: Vinny | October 21, 2006 at 08:36 PM

seriously - that's why i support social enterprise and poverty alleviation.. i just can't stand poor people. =)

Posted by: j.fisher | October 22, 2006 at 01:04 PM

aha funny

Posted by: kyle | October 24, 2006 at 11:13 AM

Cairo sounds like just like Jakarta. But worse.

Posted by: sharon | October 25, 2006 at 09:40 PM

Hi, JOSH AND CHRISTEN

I can sympathize about Cairo. My experience was similar – but don't go to India – Dehli and Kolkata – things are worse!! Carol and I are in Chiangmai, Thailand now much more civil.

I'll be in Albany in a month who knows if that will feel civil!?!?

KEEP IN TOUCH - HOW IS THE BACKGAMMON GAME?!?

Barbara

Posted by: Barbara Spring | October 26, 2006 at 06:44 AM

Barbara --

In Aswan right now and it's not much better in Nubia.. but YupNo or I will recount this adventure soon.

Backgammon??? You don't know what you've done! We're officially addicts now, as YupNo and I keep a running score after each time we play (which you can find us doing almost every night at some cafe while curious men stare on). As of now, she is +8.

Enjoy Thailand and the rest of your trip! Gosh, I do miss the friendly Thais, but heck, exploration was never meant to be touristy...

Posted by: j.fisher | October 28, 2006 at 01:12 AM