Cairo pell-mell

Cairo pell-mell

Like any large city, Cairo has its problems. With around 15 million people living within its city boundaries, it is no wonder. Visiting the city for the briefest of moments, the main problem one encounters is the volume of traffic. This is nowhere near the problems that a city like Bangkok faces, but it is still a problem.

The other problem for the visitor – an obvious foreigner carrying a camera and wearing casual clothes, is the touts that continually touch your elbow, ask you where you come from, say they are your friend and ‘offer’ to take you somewhere more interesting than the place you had intended visiting.

Not being used to such behaviour, you might take this ‘offer’ to be a kind one, given by someone who actually wants to help you as you struggle to find your way round this enormous city. If you were walking around Glasgow, for instance, nobody would approach you or offer anything unless you spoke to them first. Here it is different.

To begin with, there is a huge difference in cost and standard of living between Egypt and the tourist’s country; particularly if the visitor is from a European or North American country. Second, tourism is one of the country’s biggest earners of foreign currency; “they're just out to capture your dime”, as Americans would say.

Wandering around trying to find the Egyptian Museum, you quickly become the tout’s prey. In the crowded streets of the capital’s downtown shopping area, there is no such problem. If you step into a shop, the assistant will do all in his power to ensure that you don’t step out again without buying something first, but even this is done in a Western manner.

Taxi drivers in Cairo are no different from taxi drivers anywhere – they want to take you further than you want to go for more than you want to pay. Agreeing on the price for our chosen destination seemed to work, with help from people who know about such things – hotel commissionaires and the like.

Really, the hassle and the traffic urge you to leave, or at least want to leave. There is plenty to see in Cairo, but it is sometimes difficult to not see the wood for the trees.
Robert L. Fielding