Looking back on Egypt: the good, the bad and the ugly

It was dark and we were parked in the middle of Aswan city. We had driven for hours from Luxor and hadn’t found a campsite (Yes, we rookie overlanders still have to learn to navigate on coordinates). We checked a few hotels, but they charged such ridiculous prices, as if they don’t realise that the tourist business is dead. Or maybe that’s exactly why they asked 4-star prices for 0-star venues… Anyway we decided to sleep in the car and pulled over on a parking lot in the city center. Since we didn’t know how the Egyptians would react to camping in the city, we kept the rooftop folded and slept on the front seats. It was still hot, about 38 degrees. I felt tired, yet at the same time restless.

In the middle of the night, I dreamed of megaphones. And about people shouting. In my dream footsteps came nearer and voices were close to my head. I thought about Queensday somehow.  Then my grogginess faded away and I connected megaphone + people shouting + being in Egypt = trouble. I sat up immediately, looked around and felt a slight panic uprising. We were in the middle of a demonstration! I woke up Conny, thinking that when things got worse, we had to decide quickly together what to do. We laid low, were very quiet and watched the masses walk by. It was a pro Muslim Brotherhood party who declared support to Mursi. With whispering voices, we discussed an emergency exit strategy. Hundreds of people walked by, but nothing happened. When the crowds disappeared around the corner, we both sighed with relieve.

Later, we were impressed by seeing more peaceful demonstrations without any trace of violence. It is remarkable to see that, even with the brainwash-like manner that mass media apply here, these groups refrain from violence. They fight for democracy in their country by using their voices, not weapons.

Still looking back on our time in Egypt, we have mixed feelings about the people. Some things were definitely positive, like these peaceful demonstrations, other experiences left a quite negative impression. Again we speak in general terms here and we certainly don’t mean to offend people.

The Good

Those Egyptians that do not have the tourism sector as main employer, are amazingly involved in other peoples business. They are very helpful when you are in trouble. For example: one day our car got blocked on a parking lot, driver of the vehicle was nowhere to be seen. As we were shouting angrily, a group of men approached and started helping us browsing through all the men-cafes looking for the rogue driver. And when the fool was finally found, we didn’t have to say anything: the group of men surrounded the nonchalant drivers (2 young men of about 20 years) and started yelling an shouting. They were educating the boys in a way not even equaled by stern Surinamese mothers. As we drove off a few minutes later, shouting “Sukran, thank you, sukran!” through the windows, the yelling and educating hadn’t stopped yet.

Very refreshing in comparison to The Netherlands and Germany, where it isn’t accepted to so much as looking at somebody else’s kid when it’s behaving like a ratty little bastard. Having others minding your business can be a blessing.

Egyptians are curious. We were stopped by traffic police regularly. Each time we feared that ‘this would probably the first time’ that we had to pay some cash to prevent them from turning the bus inside out. Once we stop, several people rush towards the bus and try to look through the blinded windows. They always check the papers first, then look inside eagerly. Sometime a young, not so formal guy asks where we are heading. When we say Hollanda, Allemagne, Sudan, South Africa, they look excited. Without their superior noticing, off course. Never did we have to pay any money to get through. We seem to be the exception though, we’ve spoken to other overlanders who had to pay the police several times. I like to think that it’s the simplicity of the bus that helps, but I guess we’ll never know.

The Bad

Obviously we know that the tourist business is almost non-existent and there are families to feed, but no need to start cheating and lying. Like: buying a two-way train ticket. When we were ready to take the train back, they said “No, train finish at 11 a.m., no service, you walk. Everyday finish at 11.” Off course the guy who sold us that ticket had bailed out already, the sneaky bastard. hisHfriends, chilling next to his ticket counter (there is always some posse of guys lingering around and doing nothing) had a very bold excuse: “his sister just died, had to go home.” Seriously?!

Or small things like a guy selling me two items for 9 pounds each. When I waited for my change, he said “20!” with a big smile. When I demanded my 2 pounds back, he gave me 1 back at first, but when I persisted, I got the second as well. But he was annoyed and pushed me away from his stand.

For me it’s not about the 2 pounds, it’s about principle. Quite the contrast with the “Welcome, welcome to Egypt!” that many people offer us on the street.

Or the fact that the car got broken into at customs. In our own naive stupidity, we still left some valuables in the car. The damage: Connies sneakers, my running shoes, two little gas cookers, two LED lamps (ouch, difficult to replace) and all our cutlery. And a bunch of other stuff we never thought they would steal: dish washing liquid, tempos, toilet paper and olive oil.

The Ugly

Or that the hotel guys ‘forget’ to register you as visitors to be able to put tax into his own pocket. With the result that 15 police officers visit us in the hotel, many of them carrying very big rifles and looking angry, demanding to see your passports “at once!”.

Or that you walk downstairs in the hotel and you find the breakfast dude sleeping on a couch in the dining room. No problem per se, apart from the fact that his left hand was in his pants. Upon taking a closer look, he was actually holding his whole package down there. Gross! These are the morning treats you can do without!
He was woken by his colleague to get bread. No hand washing off course. The only thing that crossed our minds was ‘when he comes back holding anything in that left hand, we are definitely skipping breakfast.’

So apart from personal hygiene and trying to trick tourists in paying too much, which are minor things, we are in the end really irritated by the Egyptians. How they treat foreigners and the way they undertake their business: hang around and do nothing and sometimes try to make money in a dishonest way. What we don’t understand is when you are not willing to pay their overpriced offers, some prefer not to sell instead of closing the deal at normal price. How can they afford these choices, when they haven’t developed alternatives to tourism yet and the streets are empty?

However, we are both people determined to see the as much good in others as possible, so we will do our best to focus on the positive memories that we have of Egypt. It would help if we don’t get robbed in the harbour again or ripped off by our customs Sjacheraar…

Fingers crossed how Egypt will wave us goodbye tomorrow!