Typical Tourists

So yesterday we were the stereotypical bad tourists. We were scammed (more later but to put your mind at ease no money or valuables were lost), we ate at a non-Egyptian restaurant, and we yelled at the locals.

1) Everywhere we read about travelling in Egypt mentioned scams. The particular scam we fell prey to was the one I read about the most. I fell for it. Swell did not. She tagged along with me so that she could mock me for the rest of our life.

You see we started today being adventurous tourists. We set out in the early afternoon to find a Falafel stand. Falafel in Egypt is different from what I am used to and probably what most of you are used to. Rather than being made for Chickpeas it is made with some other type of bean (Fava?) and is more moist here. It is delicious and we set out to find a very cheap and filling meal. As we wandered the streets of Cairo a very friendly fellow stopped to talk to us and asked us where we are from. We say Canada (to which the locals all respond as if prompted by God himself - CANADA - CANADA DRY!!) and he proceeds to talk to us a little. He asks if we are staying at hotel X. We reply surprised "why yes we are"! He tells us that he works there and just got off of his shift and is on his way home. "What are we looking for?"

"Falafel! I can show you a great Falafel place it just across this very, very busy street. Come with me."

We follow, albeit a bit reluctantly as we had no desire to cross this crazy street. He points out the restaurant down the street and puts his scam into full effect.

"The restaurant is closed for the next 30 minutes as they are cleaning it out and getting ready for the lunch." (Everywhere you read they mention that this is how the scam starts. Something is always closed. It never really is.)

"While you're waiting for the restaurant to open again why don't you come into my brother's shop?"

I am far too polite and can't say no. So in we go. We are told that we can just sit and wait but while we're waiting they'll tell us about Egypt and the goods they have to sell. Scam continues. Swell says over and over we are not buying anything. The man (the "brother" of the previous man starts to get angry - telling us that not all Egyptian hassle the tourists. We are friends and he just wants to show us his goods. If we don't want them - fine. The pressure mounts throughout our time in his shop and Swell eventually walks out leaving me to thank the man for his hospitality and kindness.) We escape but ended up falling prey to the oldest scam in Egypt. At least we didn't buy anything.

2) We ate at McDonald's yesterday. I'm sorry. We ended up buying Falafel for lunch but ate McDonald's for lunch. I know many of you who read this will be so upset to hear that we ate at an American restaurant while in a foreign land. I do apologize but I did have something not available in the US. I had a Big Mac Chicken. It is exactly like a Big Mac but with chicken. It was ok.

3) We only did one site yesterday. We went back to the Giza pyramids in the evening for a sound and light show (laser and dialogue show that lights up the pyramids and sphinx and talks about their history). Our travel representative arranged for a car to pick us up and take us to the show. We know from our guide book that tickets to the show cost 30 Egyptian pounds ($6 US) and a taxi for the day only costs 120 Egyptian pounds (~$25 US) so when the tour operator told us to bring 100 we assumed it was pounds. We were wrong. When he asked for $100 US Swell went insane. I have never seen her like this before and don't desire it again. She basically called the guy a liar and a thief. It was not a pretty sight. I was able to calm her down and convince her to just go along with it. We got to the show and Swell wanted to go to a particular cafe to get something to drink while waiting. The tour operator stopped at a different cafe (Swell knowing that anytime a guide or operator takes you anywhere specific there is probably some type of commission given to them insisted to go elsewhere.) When we got to her desired location we were unable to get in so we went back to the original one. We sat with the operator for an uncomfortable 45 minutes asking about life in Egypt. He was kind enough to talk to us despite being called a thief and a liar. Swell felt worse and worse about the Romanian in her coming to the surface (her words not mine).

We ended up going to the (obviously) outdoor show where we sat through a wind storm, dust storm, and rain. All in all not worth the money but an experience none-the-less.

We leave tonight to start the real reason for our trip. Hopefully we will have more dependable Internet access and won't have to wander the streets for an hour searching for Internet like we did today. So I'll leave you with that - and the knowledge that as I sit here typing this I am drinking a Strawberry milkshake - from McDonalds