I felt that I had been to Egypt all this while. That is so because satellite TV has brought into our houses an overdose of the pyramids of Giza, King Tut and the mysteries surrounding this great king, scholars and Egyptologists and their theories and findings; the stories of mummies and place names like Aswan, Luxor, Edfu, Abu Simbel , Valley of the Kings and likewise the Valley of the Queens , and of course the great Nile. Almost every other channel of my TV had shows and reruns of everything Egypt....the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, History Channel and the rest. That being so, my better half and I finally went to Egypt in November 2007, courtesy of a good and dear friend who had arrange the itinerary including the Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor on the Nile Queen. As expected Cairo is extremely loud on the roads with its black and white Fiats and Ladas ( taxis actually ) jostling and honking all the time ! Flashing traffic lights became meaningless and according to this friend, they were mere attractions to get the visitors' attention ! In our hotel, things were much more sane, plenty of tourists ( mainly europeans ) arriving and departing. The lobby area is always busy, even at midnight. Tourism must be the number one activity for Egypt. After the encounter in Egypt, my impressions : extremely busy busy Cairo; must take the Nile Cruise since it will be a fabulous experience and see the temples of the ancient pharoahs. The pyramids of Giza is just outside Cairo and this is a must see icon. By the way, there are 2 categories of tickets to most sights; one for locals and for arabs from arab speaking countries and one for foreigners. At the Valley of the Queens, we got fleeced pretty bad when they liberally exercise the rule; the restaurant charged us 30 pounds per ice cream coz we are foreigners but only 5 pounds for locals and arabs from arab speaking countries. But the lasting impression was the constant harassment by people trying to sell souveniers to you from the bazaar of Cairo and the other towns along the Nile where you make the stops. To save the trouble of arguing with them it would good just to head for the small shops with clear signs indicating "no hassle" on the shops' glass doors. It will be peaceful, and you don't really mind to pay a little extra just to get away from the constant tiny pyramids and key chains being tossed around in your face ! Maybe the next time I make a visit to Egypt...it will be just the ten-day Nile Cruise. The rest I could easily get from the idiot box !
