The Travel Bug: Things I learnt in Egypt

*Shinta and I had our reservations about going to Egypt at first. We were a little nervous after reading warnings about how to behave there, what to wear, terrorism, customs, cheats and hassling. Despite some minor hiccups however, we had a fantastic time and it was definitely one of the most exciting trips ever. Egypt deserves its reputation as host of the world's most amazing wonders and everyone should go to at least once in their life.

Here are some interesting things we discovered on our trip. It's a mix of travel advice as well as interesting facts I didn't see on other Egypt guides. Hopefully it will make your own travelling experience better!

1. Independent travel is probably not possible

Many of the archaeological sites are situated in far remote places, and a scary and complicated transport system makes getting there on your own a huge pain. Tourists are not allowed to take the "local" public transport and unless you're used to driving in places like Rome or Greece, don't even think about self drive! You could hire a taxi or a driver + car, but the problem is making sure you find a reputable agency with reasonable rates and pray they don't abandon you in the middle of nowhere unless you pay more...

2. Compromise - A fully arranged private tour

Most people would probably choose to join a tour group. May I suggest you think about a private tour. Basically one company will take care of the logistics from end to end, including hotels, air tickets and transfers, entrance fees. You will be met at each city by your private guide and car. You can personalise your itinerary, have full flexibility over your time, and enjoy a better guide-to-guest ratio. Because you are not travelling in a large group, you spend less time waiting around for others, and more time admiring the sites. We managed to spend significantly more time exploring the ruins without the large crowds/groups around, and had the luxury of waiting for others to move off first, leaving us with a chance to take beautiful photos without other tourists in the foreground ruining the shot like the example below.

3. Talk to your guide - he knows a lot

Don't underestimate your tour guide. To be a guide in Egypt, you have to attend college for 3-4 years to study history, details on the archaeology sites, and read & write a second language. Guides are then given a licence for that particular language and have to take a test to renew it every 6 years. Being a tour guide is viewed as a pretty good career option, and our guide was telling us how his brother chose to become a tour guide over doing a fully sponsored PhD! If you're nice to your guide, he will help defend you from hustlers, get you out of trouble, give you advice on how much to pay for things and where to buy them from.

4. Ask your guide where to eat

If you go on a private tour, breakfast is usually provided, but lunch or dinner may or may not be. The best meals we had in Egypt were not the ones included in the package, but the ones our guide actually eats at himself and recommended to us.

5. High security??!! Er... if you say so...

Tourism being one of the top 4 drivers of Egyptian economy, the government took security very seriously after the 2005 terrorist attacks, in an effort to reassure tourists that Egypt was "safe" and encourage them to return. Everywhere throughout Egypt at the entrances of all the ruins, monuments, hotels (basically anywhere tourists might go), you will find x-ray machines and metal detectors similar to airport security procedures. Maybe they were more vigilant at the beginning, but today these are all pretty much for show. No one gave us a second glance or even looked up when we walked through the metal detectors still holding our bags in our hands and setting off all the alarms. We spotted quite a few Tourism Police nodding away at their posts, not even pretending to look around for suspicious characters.

6. Respect the place

What surprised us was how "open" Egypt was in terms of access to the sites. Tourists were free to wander around the premises, and while most respectfully kept their distance from the pillars and walls, there were the few rowdy ones climbing on the ruins or indiscriminately leaning against the intricate carvings on the pillars and walls. I guess the Egyptians think if the temples have been standing there surviving the hot sun for thousands of years, it can survive a few thousand tourists trampling on its grounds every single day.

7. Cairo and Giza stink. Literally.

Bring your inhaler if you're asthmatic. There was a constant haze in the skies and stink in the air, very much like Singapore at its absolute worst when the fires in Indonesia are raging. Alexandria in the north by the sea was marginally better, while it was very much better further south in Luxor to Abu Simbel.

8. Dress Code

Even if you don't enter the mosques, females should take more care with their outfits while visiting Cairo, Giza and Alexandria. If you don't cover up (no shorts, no sleeveless tops), you *will* feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. In Abu Simbel and the Nile Cruise areas (Aswan to Luxor), the concentration of tourists is very much higher, so the dress code accordingly becomes more relaxed. Covering up a little more does help shield your skin from the direct sun though, making the heat more bearable. Note that the further south you go, the warmer it gets. In Hurghada by the Red Sea coast where Russians seem to outnumber Egyptians, anything goes.

9. There's a lot of construction going on...?

When we first saw Cairo, we got the impression that there was a lot of residential construction throughout the city. The first few floors might look finished although not painted, while the top floor usually looked like it was half done, with no ceiling, unfinished brick walls with wires from open structural pillars sticking into the air... According to our guide, these were intentionally left uncompleted so that the owners could claim the buildings were not finished yet and hence avoid paying taxes. Never mind that families had already moved in and had been living there for years...

Along the way between cities such as Cairo to Alex, or Luxor to the Red Sea, the roads mainly passed through desert land. We did see a lot of what looked like construction of new residential / shopping compounds being built literally in the middle of nowhere. However, there didn't seem to be much on-going activity, and we were wondering if they had been abandoned halfway.

10. Shopping is not easy

The usual things to buy from Egypt are jewellery (Cartouches in gold, silver or metal), perfume essence, vases or carvings made from alabaster. I've heard so much conflicting information about whether the items are good to buy or not, that I must say I'm quite confused myself. For example, our guide brought *Shinta and I to a perfume store to get some perfume essence in oils, that were supposedly used for the base for famous scents like Chanel No. 5 and Tommy. We were later told by another guide that these oils might stain clothes, and so to be careful when using it. Your tour guide is likely to get a cut of whatever papyrus "museum" or alabaster "factory" or jewellery store he brings you to, so do take his advice with a pinch of salt.

In general for bargaining, start at 5% of their initial price they quote, and then settle around 10-15%. Seriously. I am NOT joking. The straw hats that they quote you EGP100 for? Pay at most EGP10. We walked away from an alabaster vase when they countered our 10% price with a 40% price, and only after we got into the car to leave, did they come running after us with an offer for 15% which we finally settled on.

One "safe" gift to buy and bring back is Egyptian sweets. These are not normally sold as gifts, but we got our guide to bring us to the bakery in the compound where he stays(Egyptians stay in "compounds" made up of many condo-like developments, all self-contained and with security around the period), and bought a few huge boxes back. They taste really good and can be easily shared with friends and family back home.