The Way It Was

It is one thing to read the guide books and look at the pictures, and quite another to actually live the experience. In fact, it is often those little adventures which make your time in Egypt all the more special. On this page we will collect your anecdotes from your travels throughout Egypt and share them with new adventurers. Tell us all about your most memorable, exasperating, unbelievable or exciting experience during your Egyptian Adventure.

Please send details of your Egyptian Adventure to [email protected] or click on the e-mail icon below. The greater the detail, the more the fun!

Egypt is full of great hand-made souvenirs. My favourites are the beautiful stone carvings of Egyptian pharoahs, queens and deities. On my recent visit, I set out looking for really fine quality carvings, ideally of larger and more impressive sizes than the pocket-size versions which many tourists buy. I wanted something that would make a real impression on the mantle or as a centrepiece for the dining room table.

The Khan el Khalili proved to be a treasure-trove for large granite and basalt carvings. While granite was more expensive, it was precisely what I wanted; many of the enormous statues seen at Egypt's temples are themselves granite, and for me, that meant I was getting something authentic. So I hunted down my favourite pieces, negotiated like mad, and came away from the bazaar loaded down in fine carvings. I was thrilled, but never imagined the trouble that was coming my way!

I'd arranged to meet my wife at the Egyptian Museum following my shopping spree. Entering the Museum's gardens, I passed through security and loaded my purchases up onto the x-ray machine. The guards were curious about what was in my shopping bags, which were heavy, dense and strangely shaped. So every parcel was opened. A senior officer joined the entrance guards in rifling through my effects. This held me up and was uncomfortable, but I just kept smiling and exclaiming "Khan el Khalili! Khan el Khalili!"

When I finally made it into the grounds, I collapsed with my parcels on the nearest bench. Moments later, an Egyptian gentleman came up to me and started poking at my parcels. "What's this? What's this?", he demanded. Quite used to being harassed by locals, I ignored him at first and as he persisted, I said "Those are mine", and as he prodded them further, I shouted: "No. No." To my astonishment, he then brushed back his windbreaker, revealing a pistol on his belt, and told me he was with Museum Security. He asked me to open my parcels, and, stunned to find that he was legit, I complied.

The plainclothes officer asked me about the items and told me I should follow him to the Police Captain's office inside the Museum. Fearful of missing my wife, I tried to explain my need to remain where I was, but he insisted. Perhaps my dark side was seeking retribution, so I agreed to accompany him and promptly handed him the heaviest of my carvings (a bowling ball sized head of King Tut!) and off we went.

The Police Captain sat augustly behind his large desk, in his cavernous office, and became about the tenth guard to open and peruse my carvings. He seemed impressed with the quality, and as he scraped the stone with his fingernails, concluded he was out of his league. He then disappeared into the Museum, as I, frustrated, waited what seemed an eternity. Finally, he returned with a woman who I learned was a curator of the antiquities section of the Museum! She examined the pieces very carefully and ultimately told the guards everything was fine. Only then did it dawn on me: the guards thought I had stolen genuine Egyptian treasures!!! The entire episode was totally frustrating, made more so by the usual language barriers, the trauma of being detained, and my total obliviousness to what the problem was.

Some of you are probably thinking that only an idiot would carry artifacts of any kind into a museum! Well, even I'm not so stupid as to try to smuggle stolen art INTO a Museum. I was on my way INTO the building, with some touristic souvenirs (which, incidentally, are also sold in the Museum's own gift shop!) and for me, that's the end of the issue. If I had been found LEAVING the Museum carrying artifacts, the hassle might be understandable, but that's not what happened. (By the way, I checked the bags before entering the building!)

Looking back, I laughed at the episode. Until, that is, I arrived at Cairo International Airport for my flight home. Then the whole episode repeated itself...without the friendliness of the Egyptian Museum police. To make a long story short, a low-level guard on the x-ray machine made me open my bags and suitcases, saw the carvings, and panicked. He summoned over three other guards, who called a senior officer who proceeded to rub, scrape, and even wet my carvings with saliva! He then chipped off a corner of one basalt carving with his fingernail. Still not satisfied, he took my passport and disappeared for twenty minutes, before returning with yet another expert to inspect the packages. They asked for receipts, which I didn't have, and only through the good graces of an Egyptian official was I able to communicate where, when and for how much I'd purchased them. Ultimately, I was allowed to pass, but my nerves was frazzled, I was in a rush to catch my flight, and my suitcases and bags, so meticulously packed the night before, were in a shambles. Not to mention the indignity of being on display for half an hour to every person entering the airport terminal.

The moral of the story? I was astounded that none of these police seemed to have the slightest recognition of these carvings made for tourists. Such carvings can be found all over Egypt, and tourists must buy them all the time. Nevertheless, I was hassled as if there were a real risk I was smuggling out of the country priceless antiquities. My advice: buy beautiful carvings, but take them straight back to your hotel, avoid carrying them around, and especially avoid security checks. For departure purposes, have your receipts close at hand and be prepared to explain exactly where you bought them. Don't get caught, as I did, smug and sure that no one in his right mind would think your carvings are genuine!

Submitted by: I.N. Toronto, Canada.

Here are a few treats I discovered while in Egypt:

Before coming to Egypt, we had rented Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile". Little did we know that we would be actually dining on the real boat! The S/S Nile Peking is the original boat used in the movie and is open to the public. The food was excellent and we had a choice of a la carte menu when docked or six set menus when cruising (ranging from LE55 to LE80) in the Mongolian barbecue dining area or the elegant restaurant (every table had a window view). The service was great and we chose to cruise for about two hours. The brochure lists the telephone number as 010 216912/517 0839, located near the El Malek El Saleh Bridge.

The second luxury is flying business class on Egyptair from Cairo to Luxor. For US$20 more you can upgrade to business class (it seemed to be empty on our flights). Although it is only a 60 minute flight, it was still a treat.
Submitted by:G.A. London, U.K.

I'm back from Egypt, and sorting out my feelings. I never saw anything to match the monuments and temples of Egypt. I'll remember them my whole life. The vendors and merchants were as obnoxious as you warned me, and I got sick as a dog with food poisoning, along with my entire tour group. One man in the 29 of us escaped the illness, which he attributes to his heavy consumption of straight gin and vodka. We were on the Nile cruise boat when this happened, and we'd all been served basically the same menus and foods, so we were leveled down like from a machine gun. There were many high points, but a very low point was being served a big bowl of rice, coated in oil, then recoated in cinnamon (!) and topped with raw shrimps and nuts in Alexandria. I couldn't eat it, and nibbled on a dinner roll. Then, damned if we didn't get it the next day for lunch!

But I'll always remember the felucca ride, the peace of the temples, the beauty of the Nile palm groves and banana groves, and sweet children. And I forgot everything but the experience, so it was a good vacation. Don't get me wrong; most of the people in Egypt were fine, but some things were just intolerable for an American: dirt, litter, manners. Thank you for your kindness and all your insights. You might want to consider a strong warning to suburbanites that their ideas of sanitation and tidiness can't be met in much of Egypt, but not to mind!

There's nothing that can cancel the magnificence of Egypt.........as the throngs of tourists show, coming from every country and enduring everything to be there. My heart does ache, though, because our day at the pyramids was so spoiled by shouting vendors and pushy camel riders and obnoxious tourist police. I really never got to reach the second biggest pyramid, because I was cut off my these damned people and yelled at and pushed at. I gave up and went back to the bus. I just can't forgive this.........it's only the Egyptian government that can control this, so it's they who let it happen, and in good conscience, I have to tell my travel agent and my acquaintances who are thinking about Egypt that this will spoil their experience and not to go. At the last of our visit, some of our group decided to try again and see the Pyramids by going very early and to have a better experience, and the same thing happened the moment we got out of the taxi. It was hideous, like an attack. We just went back to our hotel. Sad. At any rate, thank you again. You were so kind.

I took an entire box full of giveaway plastic pens from my company, and these proved to be a great hit with Egyptians of all ages and stations of life. It's a sure way to get a smile and some human to human contact. After each transaction, or sitting for a while on a bench with Egyptians, or handing over my ticket at sites, I'd offer a pen with a smile and invariably get a pleased smile back. I especially liked giving them to children, 90% of whom were perfectly polite and said "Thank you" in English. One little girl in a small Nile village looked so thrilled with her pen that I can't forget her. I thought of American children who are blase about $200 toys and games, and was so touched that this child found a pen to be delightful. Even the tourist police, those adolescent boys who stand around with their guns, relaxed into smiles at my company pens. One of them even pocketed a pen I meant for his companion!

I found a scam with powdered lapis lazuli, which is lapis to be sure, but just a lesser-quality item shaped from the talcum-like powder left over fashioning solid lapis into shapes. Be sure to ask when you're told, "This is lapis" if it's powder or solid. It's no big deal if the item is pretty and you like it; just don't pay for solid lapis when it's powdered. The price should be very low for the powder.

I found some really beautiful, quality, interesting and excellent shops along the street fronting the Nile in Luxor, near the Winter Palace hotel, which overlooks the Nile. The palace is a real sight to see in itself. I tidied up my appearance out on the street, walked confidently by the palace/hotel concierge and straight through to the garden terrace. This was the home of King Farouk before his abdication, and looks it! Mrs. Barbara Bush was staying there at the time of my visit, and although I saw her security guards, I guess I looked harmless enough not to bother. A companion of mine, bolder than I, walked up steps and all around the hotel gawking at the elegant furnishing and fixtures. Definitely, worth a visit.

If you see a great postcard anywhere in Egypt, buy it! Unlike other countries I've visited, the postcards seem to be different in each area.

Now I'm not proud of this, but I was so bothered by so many obnoxious and persistent vendors that a few days into my trip I got kind of hard about things. So I rolled up one 20 LE note and one 4 one-LE notes into a little tight roll and tucked it into my pocket. During negotiation starting at some inflated price, I'd just shrug, raise my eyebrows, and with a "what can I do?" raised palm, pull out my 24 LE roll and say firmly, "Look! This is all I have. 24 pounds. That's it. " It never failed....they'd take it. I never took out my wallet or coin purse...only this little bundle from the pocket. I found an Egyptian economic principle: no vendor is going to take a price that doesn't yield a tidy profit. So I felt I wasn't cheating anyone by paying a minor amount of money, 24 LE in my case, for items.

Submitted by: S.P. USA

My daughter and I realized a lifetime ambition of mine to visit Egypt last year. I had been warned about the street vendors and told that there were beggars everywhere. I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised. The only time we were ripped off was on our first trip out....to see the pyramids and to be honest that was entirely my fault. I didn't have to be stupid enough to end up coughing up LE 60 for the privilege of taking a photo of my daughter on someone's camel. So I blame myself for that. The people that pestered us to buy were not begging but merely trying to make a living. We attempted to use their language at every opportunity and remained polite to the people, even when being firm about not wanting something. We received the same politeness in return even when Bazaar traders were having their (obviously tourist) joke about buying us for a 100 camels. We treated this with a smile but kept about our business. I believe you are right about observing a dress and behaviour code, we had been advised. We had such an amazing time that we are off again in 8 days time.....hope to report a similar experience.
Egypt continues to draw me but this time I went with different eyes. I understood the people and their customs much better. I made an effort before I went to learn a little more of the language and this was rewarded 10 fold. Whilst I originally went to admire the Pharonic relics I am now full of admiration for the current day people, most of whom lead an incredibly hard life by our standards ( physically and emotionally) yet they continue to show humour, friendship and hospitality to anyone open to receive it. We were welcomed into several homes with genuine friendship......not for baksheesh. Admittedly this did result in a few minor tummy probs that I hadn't had on our last sterile hotel trip, but it was a small price to pay and we had a good supply of the right tablets anyway. We came across people with hardly anything sharing what they had with those who had nothing. Of course there are a few con-artists (but then show me a society without them) but the general public were kind decent people who are prepared to give others time. Thanks again for the really informative web site, we did appreciate your advice and it gave us the courage to "get out there" and find out the truth. I'll be looking it up just for the interest in future. (UK)

We found the staff at the Nile Hilton to be quite responsive but it is really only a business man's hotel. Food circus may impress the locals but not much of the "foreign cuisine" are authentic. The locationally convenient cyber care in the arcade was a real letdown. He has 6 PC's connected to one 28.8Kbyte line. I simply quit after 20 minutes one evening when the downloads were coming in at less than 200 bytes/secon--yes, 200 bytes. Operator blamed it on the phone lines!!
The Nile Hilton was fine and convenient to the Museum. Rooms were fine and service was ok. Their breakfast buffets were the best of any of the hotels we stayed in because in addition to the usual array of goodies they had the widest variety of fresh fruit (I am a fresh fruit freak). But their coffee shop, like most of the hotel coffee shops, offered a rather limited evening a la carte menu if one doesn?t want the quantity implied by the buffet. The offerings in the food court weren?t very authentic either. The coffee shop at the Semiramis has a much more interesting menu and we suspect that the rooms overlooking the Nile are quieter because a less busy arterial lies between hotel and river.
We ended up with the Blue Nile Suite at the Old Cataract in Aswan for our one night. We would have loved to stay longer as we had a lovely view of river traffic down below. The Nubian Museum was great.
Tthe Oberoi Sheherazade was really first class. Our spacious cabin had two bathrooms which were helpful for our early starts each morning to avoid the crowds, 7:30, 7:00, and 6:30 !! I quizzed the assistant manager on the boat about the relative merits of their three vessels. He explained that while Philae is more highly rated in fact the cabins on Sheherazade are the largest and the only ones with double bathrooms. Service was excellent throughout. Our English group (there were about 30 of us to be herded around), had a guide named Rabie Elammary, works out of MISR in Luxor and has home phone of 095 375 5105. He was undoubtedly the finest guide on the whole trip. He could become a TV MC or teacher if he tires of guiding. Truly excellent. The Sonesta St. George in Luxor (two nights) was fine and service was good even though it was filled with French and Japanese tour groups. Our sixth floor room overlooking the river gave us a wonderful view of river and the pool down below. That is an advantage of the Sonesta over the Old Winter Palace which has the main street between it and the river. The minor disadvantage was that it was necessary to take a cab or caleche to get to Luxor or Karnak temples if one was pressed for time. We wandered through the Mercure and if the lobby was any indicator (and they usually are) it would probably be a good alternative to the Old Winter Palace for those demanding a central location. It had a nice ambience.(Canada)

We hired a taxi on our first day and explored the Red Pyramid at Dashur. Nobody was there and we had the whole tomb to ourselves. We drove around to the Bent Pyramid but then the guards came and told us it was closing time. I purchased 2 large papyrus prints and a variety of knickknacks for gifts. We had a few hours at the Khan el Khalili bazaar, that was fun. Our group also stopped by a perfumery near the Sphinx. I purchased a small bottle of "Arabian Nights". I'll probably be cursed for this, but for each temple and tomb I visited, I filled a film cassette canister full of sand and pebbles. They will be transferred to a nice set of bottles on display in my house. Our cruise ship was the "Ms. Media", a recently renovated boat, quite nice with clean rooms and decent food service. The Luxor balloon ride was a bit pricey at $200/person, but well worth it. They boated us across the Nile at 5:00am and then drove us to the site at the Valley of the Nobles. It was peaceful floating above the ruins. Altogether, I had a very good time. The poverty didn't bother me and I found the people to be kind and friendly, with the exception of the shopkeepers in the tourist areas. I did miss a few things like ice in my drinks, 32oz. Sodas, real pizza and Snickers! (I found a shop that sold Snickers that were manufactured in Poland).(USA)

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