The Egyptians

“Welcome” – you hear it everywhere you go as a foreigner in Egypt. But just how welcome are we and how sincerely is it meant?

Lonely Planet – Middle East makes little reference to the psyche of the Egyptians. I guess this is just diplomacy on their part.

Travelling around on the Metro around Cairo, no-one is reading. No books, no newspapers. How they ever raised themselves for a people’s revolution mystifies me completely. Literacy rates are low – just 60% of the population – and of course considerably less for women.

Surprisingly, Ancient Egypt does not appear on the school curriculum - History begins only from the release of the Koran.

Men are loud, often over-perfumed and lecherous to women – whether appropriately dressed or not. Not many international women avoid serious gropings, whistles, hisses and/or verbal harrassment.

Rates of domestic violence levels remain one of the highest in the World, and the subject is very much taboo. After all, such behaviour is deemed acceptable in the Koran and marital rape is no crime at all.

From my own personal experiences i have found them to be as difficult as i found those wretched Tanzanians. All smiles as they approach you, almost all have one thing on their mind – let’s get as much money off you as possible.

They are incredibly lazy, lethargic and slovenly – i even here Egyptians say that of themselves, although they justify this by saying family and social life are far more important than work. The security guards at the temples are either asleep or sit around sipping tea.

Women, for their part are totally focused on running the household, although it is the men who grocery shop and keep hold of the purse strings. Although the Koran does not advocate the wearing of scarves and veils, women only need to “dress modestly”; it is almost unheard of for them not to adorn their heads. The general Western perception is that it used by men to further disempower women, but there is both status as well as peer-group pressure to don the head-gear. Interestingly, there are several women who veil their faces but wear kohl, foundation, eye shadow and lip-gloss. A sign of defiance? I don’t know.

Like so many of the African countries i have travelled through, they have no concept of recycling and litter dispension is the floor, street, road or river. Some off-shoots of the Nile are polluted beyond belief.

a dead donkey in a canal

I notice a number of men with huge bruises on their fore-head. Are these night-club bouncers? I find out that this is referred to as “The Raisin” and is a sign of such devotion and piety that their head literally bashes the ground during severe prostrations.

Pestering is a national past-time and “no” does not enter their vocabulary. A typical conversation goes as follows –
“Hello Friend. Where do you come from?”
Aubrey responds
“We love the English. Tally Ho! Hubbly Jubbly! Do you want papyrus?”
“No thank you”
“Cheap price ... i give you Egyptian price”
“No thank you – i don’t need any”
“Number One best quality”
“No – really”
“Excellent present”
”NO!”
“I give you best price”
“No! Non! La shukran (Arabic for no thanks”)
“My brother made it – it bring you good luck”
“”What don’t you understand?” etc. etc.

Self appointed “guides” pester for baksheesh at every turn – i’m offered out-of-bound tombs and to climb a pyramid for money. The revolution centred on the corruption of officials, but they are all at it.

Three quite helpful tactics work for me.
• “Where does it say in the Koran to try and cheat tourists?”
• “I support Shari’a Law. When you steal they cut off your hand and when you lie they cut out your tongue”
• “I support the People’s Revolution. End baksheesh and corruption now”

Is it any wonder i have been close to the receiving end of physical violence?

after begging me to take his portrait, i was asked to cough up baksheesh

Car horns were surely invented for the sheer pleasure and joy of Egyptians – be it in any city, town or village. Noise pollution sucks.

I am used to bartering – years in India have trained me well, but Egyptians take it further. I know one packet of L and M cigarettes costs E£7.50 – i spend an afternoon trying to pick up a carton (10 pack) and the marketeers won’t go below E£100 – even after i show them evidence. Ridiculous – tourists are simple cash cows to be fleeced at every turn. In Ethiopia it usually stems from poverty, in Tanzania and in Egypt it is often just sheer greed.

Theft is also a common occurance. Elizabeth has had her point and shoot camera stolen from her bag on a bus, as well as over US$2,000 stolen from a locked suitcase. At Pension Roma an Italian tourist has her bag stolen at knife-point at dusk on a busy main road in Central Cairo.

I can count on one hand the amount of decent and trustworthy Egyptians i have met here in Egypt, and still have a few fingers left over.. And it’s not just my perception; i heard exactly the same thing from arrivals into Wadi Halfa from disgruntled travellists. Such a shame because the country is a fascinating country to explore. Luxor and Aswan are far more hassle-filled than Cairo and Alex, and the Bedouins rock.

Maybe it’s just because us non-Muslims are simply infidels and deserved to be treated as unworthy scum. I can only hope the Arabs in Jordan and Syria are more honest and sincere.

If this blog-post isn’t enough to get a fatwa issued against me, i don’t know what will. However, ALITD prides itself of telling you as i perceive it, and goes places where Lonely Planet dares not tread.