One of the things that can take up a lot of our free time is finding accommodation. We prefer to have something booked before we hit a city so we can go and drop off our bags and relax after a day of travel. If the place sucks we spend the next day searching our new destination without our bags for something better. For our advance booking we rely a lot on one website, hostelbookers.com, for our needs. They have accurate user reviews from fellow backpackers and we’ve yet to have a bad experience when we’ve stayed at something with over an 80% approval rating. This is how we found the Alexander Hostel in Cairo.

Situated right downtown and only minutes from the Egyptian Museum, it’s a great budget accommodation that we can recommend. Haitham and his crew took great care of us, offering lots of fantastic advice. They can also arrange any tours your interested in only with people and companies they trust. The rooms are pretty basic but clean, with AC and ensuite washrooms, which are a must in this heat!

With any hostel it’s more than just the bed your sleeping on. It’s how the place is ran and the staff that are there. This is why we can recommend this place if you’re going to Cairo on a budget, and certainly to book through them for any tours. We could have booked our tours at many places but felt that if we booked through our accommodation, there would be some sort of recourse if something went wrong. Our pyramid tour was fantastic as we were taken to the destinations we wanted, the same guy that picked us up at the airport was our driver. Haitham’s friend, Wes, was our private guide who was a wealth of amazing knowledge. Wes majored in Egyptology and tourism, complete with some of the best English we heard in Cairo. It was very easy to listen to him, learn lots, and ask many questions. Never once did we have to wait for other people, feel rushed, unable to hear, or not given a chance to ask questions. We feel if it wasn’t for our private guide that day, our pyramid exploration ‘would of ended more in sourness due to not being able to avoid pretty much all touts and scams.

Haitham also arranged for our White Desert tour and again insisted we would have a better time doing it private, which he was correct as we heard some horror stories from other people who did it with a group. We did encounter some problems with the tour operator in the White Desert, and one of the ladies who was with us booked over the internet for the cheapest price and was pretty much left high and dry. Soon as we got back to Alexander Hostel, Haitham was there waiting for us to hear what we thought about the trip. We told him we had a great time once we were in the desert with Iman, but then also told him about some of the problems we encountered with the tour operator trying to charge us for things that were supposed to be included. Without any hesitation, Haitham was on the phone yelling Arabic at the tour operator. After a couple minutes he hung up and refunded us a decent portion of the tour price, which more than covered the inconvenience we experienced.

So, if your heading to Cairo and want to be treated like Kings and Queens book yourself into the Alexander Hostel and say hello to Haitham for us! He’ll warmly welcome you with some tea and give you the most honest advice you’ll get in Cairo. Don’t be threatened by this at all, he’s not trying to scam you we promise!! =)

In my recent post about Exploring the Pyramids in Egypt, Anil commented how lots of people have terrible experiences with the touts. I didn’t really say much in the post about the negative side of Cairo as I had put it out of my mind. But now it floods back like a nightmare, thanks Anil!

Seriously though, Egypt is amazing for it’s history. But Cairo is not a relaxing city in any way. There’s nowhere to go and get away from the crowds. There’s no parks. No open areas. No malls to blend in. It’s just wall to wall city, and while usually that’s great in cities like Paris, London or Amsterdam, it’s tougher in Cairo. The reason for this is that everywhere you turn, someone’s looking to get something out of you. Here’s some of the top scams and problems we found in our 6 days.

We were standing outside the Egyptian Museum trying to get back to our hostel. Unfortunately there was 8 lanes of traffic with 14 lanes of cars in front of us. All of them going fast, you have to frogger your way across. Luckily a man walked up beside us, sizes us up and down, and says “follow me”. Safely he escorts us across and starts asking where we’re from. Says he has a cousin near us and invites us into his Egyptian Antiques shop for a tea. Most people see this as a nice gesture, but as soon as you step inside it’s obviously a sell job as he starts his pitches.

Or we were walking down the street when a guy stops us, and standing in our way asks where we’re from. I tell him Vancouver and he starts talking about the bazaar, and how the local bazaar is cheaper. Luckily there’s a government bazaar around the corner he can guide us to which will save us money. A couple of “no thanks” and he’s still not taking the message, following us while we walk away.

One other time we were simply walking when a guy starts following us. I noticed and through hand communication worthy of Seal Team 6, Dee and I started walking faster. Seeing this didn’t work, I invoked my digg sponsored anti-tracking techniques, all to no avail. About 4 blocks later he just appears again, and starts up a conversation. He says that he’s from Palestine (looked that way) and that his house and family was blown up by Isreal (sounds likely). He starts talking about how great Cairo is and how we’re lucky we have freedoms. How he’s blessed he’s alive and can start working. We actually have a decent conversation while walking, but then comes to the point of asking for money for a hostel. I ended up giving him a couple pounds for the interesting conversation, but obviously he was working us. And he followed us almost a mile to give us this pitch.

And that’s the thing about the streets of Cairo. Everyone’s looking to make a buck, and won’t accept no. And those 3 instances above were all within 20 minutes of walking home from the Egyptian Museum. It never stops, in fact as soon as you stop walking it starts.

Outside of the Step Pyramid – hawkers taking tickets

When you first get out of your car at the Step Pyramid, there’s a guard booth and ticket agent right there. There’s then a 150 meter walk up to the outer wall of the ruins where there’s a bunch of men standing. They’re just outside the small entrance through the wall, with no way to avoid them if you want to go inside. Upon walking through the passageway they’ll ask for your ticket, look at it and then start a tour with you while holding your ticket. They have your ticket and look official, and most people start walking with them. At the end the man will ask for some excessive personal tour amount, and most people will settle for $20 US or so.

We had heard about this form our guide, and even knowing this they’re quite convincing. The guy demanded to see my ticket, and I made sure it never left my hand. Even when we were saying we didn’t want a tour and were walking on, they still hassled us. I can easily see how many people get taken here. And there’s no recourse, because if you don’t negotiate the price beforehand you don’t have any power to negotiate. And with 15 men looking menacing all around you, would you really want to start a fight over a couple dollars?

Check the cost of the taxi before you get in

Even if you hop in a taxi that has a meter, it often won’t be turned on. Before even getting into the car, negotiate the price through the window. Often the real amount is about 1/3 of what they first tell you, just keep that in mind. If you don’t they’ll say some high amount when you get to your destination, and you can’t really negotiate it down.

Beware of extra fee’s while on tours.

I booked our tour through Haitham at the Alexander Hostel. When we were doing this he was pretty clear that once we stepped out of the hostel, everything was paid for 100%. So when the tour manager of our White Desert trip said we had to pay for all of our drinking water for the night, we told him Haitham said it was included and to call him. After the tour the manager said we missed our buses for the day and in order to get back to Cairo we had to take a taxi and had to “tip” the driver a couple hundred pounds each. We didn’t believe this and considered it a lie even as he swore on his families life. There was lots of arguing, and again calls to Haitham. Eventually they dropped us off at the bus station and we took the non-exhistant bus back. One lady that was with us had similar cost problems, but she had booked through the internet and couldn’t get ahold of her contact at the travel agency. She ended up having to pay extra for the bus and other small things.

Which is something that I recommend. It pays to book a tour through the place your staying. They have an interest in keeping you happy as your already a customer. Haitham also reccomended that we take a private tour in the desert as we’d have more food and warmer stays. This turned out true as we talked to some other people the next day and they were cold and hungry. Plus if something goes wrong you know who you can go back to. With more people booking online through sites like hostelbookers.com which asks you to rate your stay, customer service matters.

Papyrus Scroll museums

So these museums are hidden everywhere, and your driver is almost guaranteed to stop at one if you go see the Pyramids in Giza. Inside they’ll have replicas of old papyrus scrolls and show you how they make the current ones while giving you a 7-Up or tea to drink. They really begin to make you think that it’s unique and highly valuable, but then they quote you a price which is ridiculous like $200US. The scrolls are beautiful and you start to think you have a decent deal when you negotiate him down to $150.

The thing is you’ve given the salesman about 15-20 minutes of your time building up great rapport and increasing the value of his products. But the real price is closer to 10% of their original asking price. We saw similar scrolls on the street for 5% of what they started asking (tho weren’t quite as nice). We ended up getting 2 scrolls for a 1/3 of the original asking price for 1. So bargin hard with these guys, they’re professionals. Or just skip the shop and buy at the bazaar or museums for less.

Touts and Baksheesh at the Pyramids

The second you step foot inside the pyramid grounds, your being harassed by touts. They’ll put things in your hands and you’ll actually have to put it on the ground to give it back. They’ll come back again when you leave, trying to sell the same crap as before. Or offer camel rides. Or photos. Or postcards which are crap. Just keep walking away from these guys, as difficult as it is. All of their stuff is fifth rate and twice as expensive as it should be.

Then there is baksheesh, which is a custom taken too far. It’s a tip to someone who does you a service, and it goes too far. For sweeping the steps, “baksheesh sir”. When leaving your camera with the guard as you can’t take it inside “baksheesh” is printed on a basket. Someone showed us a shaft down to the “queens” chamber (which isn’t, as the queen’s tomb was always outside of the pyramid), and asked with his hand out for a baksheesh. For directions, baksheesh. It’s gone too far, and the guidebooks support it as it’s an income stream for people.

I say enough is enough! If I gave 1pound each time asked, I’d easily have spent more than our food and accommodation budget. If someone actually does a service for you, sure. But for doing SFA, don’t be guilted into it.

So that’s my short list of constant barrages we encountered in Cairo. Have you been to Egypt and experienced anything I missed? What are your thoughts on the baksheesh culture?

Our campsite at night

The night before our camping trip to the White Desert I had nightmares. I was scared about having to go to the bathroom in the desert as we just spent an entire day not being able to move due to our Indian Jones adventures inside the pyramids. Our legs were as stiff as metal poles, changing positions, getting out of bed, walking, using stairs and sitting on toilets were quite the ordeal. Spent the entire day hiding in our hotel room and watching movies, wondering if we would make it to our White Desert camping trip the next day. But, low and behold, our human bodys are indeed miracle machines and after a night of nightmares I was able to get out of bed easier and with excitement to truly experience the desert!

Our middle of no where stop

We didn’t know much about the tour other than it being a 1 night camping trip in the White desert with all food, water, and supplies included. We awoke early and had our included breakfast, which is nothing to brag about; Tea, non-toasted hot dog buns, jam, and cream cheese. But what else can you expect in Cairo for a free breakfast at a budget saving hotel? Then soon enough the hotel driver was taking us to the bus station. Our bus was a public bus that made frequent stops all the way for passengers and parcels to the small oasis town where we would be picked up by our desert guide. It was about a 5-hour drive, a drive that took us very far into the desert. So far that the midway rest point was literally in the middle of no-where! You could not see a single thing for miles except sand and the small building with a washroom and some snacks for sale.

Black Desert Sunset

After some typical confusion upon arriving to our pick up point we were finally off in a 4×4 Jeep with our desert guide Iman, and a security officer who carried a gun under his shirt. Iman told us it was protocol for private camping tours, both for his and our safety. Was a little strange at first as the thoughts ran through our head. The deeper we drove in the desert national park the more and more security check-points we passed… Where are we going??? But soon enough the strangeness passed as we relaxed and just enjoyed the sights going by. The sun was setting and the desert at this time of day is a beautiful glowing sight.

Black Mountain

We had to travel through the Black desert to reach the white. The Black desert is yellow sand that is covered with black soot from volcanic cones that erupted many years ago. We quickly stopped at Black Mountain for some shots and were back in the Jeep, whipping through the sand and sliding on all the turns. We were driving fast enough to frighten me but I had to remind myself Iman drives this everyday, so just trust him and enjoy the ride! Insert adrenalin smile here.

We arrived to the White Desert shortly after sunset. The ominous glow of the sun mixed with the white and purple hues from the rocks made the terrain we were exploring look like and alien wasteland. It was quite surreal and almost dreamlike. Where in the world are we? I never knew such a place of alien beauty existed on this planet, and to think it’s located in the middle of a giant dessert. A place usually associated with nothingness.

We arrived to our campsite, located just behind a large white caulk rock formation and our guide set up camp while we enjoyed our surroundings. The sand was so soft and deep and the surrounding rock formations were something we’ve never seen before.

Camping Food is always so good!

Soon enough, dinner was being cooked over the fire and then served to us. It was the best food we had in Egypt. Amazing! Funny how camp food is always better then regular food. We don’t even really know what we ate… it was so good we barely had a chance to examine it.

After dinner Iman disappeared for a bit and came back with a shisha pipe. Both Scott and I have never smoked out of one before, only heard about them. But this seemed like the perfect time to break our shisha cherries. The flavor was apple and it was the perfect match for sitting by a fire and enjoying the stars. The desert was so quiet that we could hear our ears ringing and the stars lit up the sky, almost to the point it seemed like we could touch them.

We are actually awake for sunrise!

White Desert Sunrise

Soon enough the heat of the day got to us all and it was time for bed. Mats and sleeping bags were pulled out and we were presented with a bed under the stars. Iman insisted we take a huge pile of blankets, we almost didn’t but were glad we listened to him, as it got really cold later in the night. This time I fell asleep dreaming of the sunrise and hoping we would wake up to see it. Low and behold, we both woke up as we felt the heat start to rise, the sun must be rising and we had the best seat in the house to watch it! It was a breathtaking moment watching the sun rise over the lime stone formations and made us think of the Sunday morning sunrise we always stay up for at Shambhala each year.

Our campsite during the day

Our time in the desert was a remarkable experience. The desert is a vast playground of nothingness that is also filled with some of the world’s most beautiful things.

Chicken and the Tree, White Desert

Chasing Beetles

It just keeps going!