Oh Cairo, why do you make it so hard for people to love you?

Perhaps the title of this post isn’t entirely accurate— I haven’t been to all countries in the world after all. Even if it isn’t though, I bet Cairo comes close to the top spot. I’ve read lots of blogs, I’ve browsed through a lot of travel forums. I knew scams were a common problem in Egypt in general. A lot of people say it’s the worst. I thought I was already prepared for it. Turns out I wasn’t.

Egypt is the country at the top of my travel bucket list. I just kept putting this trip off for several reasons. Safety reasons primarily. But for the past couple of months the situation has mostly become stable and the popular areas were generally safe. Add the fact that everything has become remarkably cheap due to the continued depreciation of their currency. There are also less tourists in the country since the prevailing impression was traveling to Egypt still wasn’t safe. It seemed like the perfect time to go. I decided it was about time to turn my dream trip into reality.

As I’ve said, I’ve done lots of research. A lot of people on travel forums were complaining about scammers. The best advice anyone could give was to make friends with a local who can accompany you on the trip and give you tips on how to avoid scams. I posted a public trip on Couchsurfing, not to find a place to stay but to make friends. Hostels were incredibly cheap, I didn’t see the point of finding a free place to stay. Most messages I got weren’t from hosts but from tour guides/ touts. I should have expected this. I’ve had similar experiences whenever I posted public trips in less developed countries. They don’t seem to be familiar with the concept of couchsurfing and instead use the site to find customers. I eventually gave up on it and started planning the trip and doing research on my own. I forgot I even posted that public trip on the site. Then I got an invite from a guy who seemed like a legitimate couchsurfer based on the feedback he’s getting on his profile. Though I didn’t need to save money for lodging, I accepted his invite because it would be a good way to see and experience how the locals lived in Egypt. It would give me insights about the country that I wouldn’t get by simply being a tourist. He helped me plan my route, and warned me about the scammers and how to prepare for them. When I thought everything was set, I started looking for cheap flights.

The first advice he gave me was how to get to his place from the airport. The cheapest way is via public bus, it only costs 3 Egyptian Pounds (EGP) to get to the city center. From the city center I could either take a mini van or take the train to Giza. From the terminal it’s about a 15 minute walk to the Cairo Airport Bus Station. If you don’t feel like walking you can wait for the free airport shuttles that stop outside each arrival hall. He wasn’t recommending this though. The buses get really crowded, they make a lot of stops, and there’s barely enough room for luggage. In fact, according to him most locals arriving do not take the bus. he wasn’t recommending a taxi either. They would surely charge ridiculous fares. True enough, when I asked around outside out of curiosity, I was being quoted fares that range from 500- 800 Egyptian Pounds. He advised me to just book an Uber. That’s what I did and I only paid 168 EGP (about 9 USD)to Giza.

So there are Ubers in Cairo. That was definitely a good thing. Most of the locals do not speak English so this would definitely make traveling within the city easier compared to taking public transport or taking taxis. I just had to buy a sim card first so I’d have data. Good thing there are several stalls selling sim cards at the arrival hall and they’re remarkably cheap. Now Ubers aren’t allowed to pick up passengers directly outside each arrival area. The pick up point is clearly marked on the app though. It’s by a parking lot about 5-10 minutes away by foot. However, I encountered problems so I had to book thrice. The first Uber driver wanted me to pay the same amount in cash so he asked me to cancel the trip before getting in. I politely said no. The second Uber driver also asked me to cancel the trip and was asking for a higher amount in cash! Damn, and I though I wouldn’t have to deal with scammers so soon on this trip. In fact the main reason why I decided to take an Uber was to avoid dealing with them as soon as I arrived! Good thing the third Uber driver was honest. The only problem was he didn’t speak much English. He couldn’t really figure out where I was heading since the destination was in a very crowded area with lots of alleyways and side streets. The location on the Uber map was vague. When I called my friend he was able to explain everything to him and we were on our way.  To avoid this problem, just write down the address of your destination in Arabic or take a picture of the written Arabic address. It would help if you can get written directions in Arabic for hard to find destinations. Usually when you show this to any Uber driver they would know where to go.

When I arrived at my host’s place, he wasn’t there yet so his father let me in. He offered me some corn and bean porridge which was really filling. My host arrived after about an hour and he showed me around. We tried some local food. I especially liked the fiteer, which is kind of an Egyptian version of a pizza. He also showed me the nightlife and introduced me to his friends. It seems most locals just smoke shishas when they hang out at bars. Like most Muslim countries drinking alcohol to socialize isn’t a thing here. There are typical bars and clubs serving alcohol but those are mostly catered to tourists so drinks are kinda pricey. He gave me lots of tips, especially when buying stuff. For instance, a 1.5L of bottled water only costs 5 EGP everywhere. Any small can of juice or soda costs the same. The only exception would  be at tourist attractions and rest stops where the price could go as high as 20 EGP even for locals. Elsewhere, it’s only 5 EGP. Whenever I bought water and gave a higher amount, most vendors would act as if I didn’t have change. I have to tell them I know it only costs 5 EGP. I shared meals with my host’s family and can’t thank them enough for their incredible hospitality. I got a lot of insights regarding the Egyptian way of life, stuff that i would never learn about if I stayed at a hostel and hung out with a couple of westerners. One interesting insight was the fact that no Egyptian guy would marry a local woman who was no longer a virgin– that would explain why tinder was a barren wasteland when I opened the app in Cairo lol.

Looking back, couchsurfing was a great decision in terms of getting to know Egyptian culture. I really lucked out with my host, his family treated me like family. However in terms of sightseeing, I would have had a better experience if I stayed at hostels. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret staying with my host, not even a bit. It’s just that if I stayed at a hostel I’d be able to join other people while seeing the sights in Cairo. I probably wouldn’t have gotten scammed if I walked around with a group of people.

So here’s what happened. I was staying in Giza so the pyramids were nearby. However my host was busy that day so he couldn’t accompany me. It would have helped a lot if I was walking around with a local. I noticed that when I was walking around with him and his friends, none of the touts bothered me. He told me how to get there though. I just have to hop on one of the minivans plying the main road, a single journey only costs 3 EGP. The drivers do not understand English so I needed to have the exact amount to save myself from the hassle of drivers not giving me enough change. He told me the street leading to the pyramids would be clearly visible from the main road and I could just walk from there. I told him I wanted to ride a camel so he warned me about the camel scams. A camel ride for 30 minutes only costs 50 EGP, though a tip would be greatly appreciated considering how hard things are in the country these days. Lots of tourists pay double the amount which still seems fair. The thing is all of the crooks in charge of these camel rides would always ask for outrageous amounts. He also told me not to talk to anyone along the way. After a couple more reminders I was all set. True enough the street leading to the pyramids was easy to spot from the main road. There’s also lots of security so it’s hard to miss.

I passed by the guards and after about two minutes I heard someone calling me. Surely this was a scammer. I turned to him which was a huge mistake because he immediately ran towards me. He asked the usual stuff, where I’m from, how long I was staying in Egypt blah blah blah. The he introduced himself, saying he works there. He must’ve sensed that I was wary so he showed his employee ID. Seemed legit, but just because he works there doesn’t mean he wasn’t a scammer. I said I should be on my way and continued walking, he then said there was no entrance for pedestrians at the end of the road, it’s only for tour buses. Obviously that was bullshit, but for some reason I thought of indulging him. I said okay, so where’s the entrance for pedestrians? He told me to follow him. We passed through a small gate into what looked like a barnyard. My though was— okay, this is where he’s gonna try to get me to ride one of those horses. True enough, he asked me to ride one of them just to try it out. He told me I didn’t have to pay anything yet, I just needed to get a feel of it and see if I liked it. I got on the horse, and that was one big mistake. Right on cue two other people arrived. One was apparently the big boss, and the other was the guide. They kept giving me a hard sell about needing to ride a camel or a horse. I told them I didn’t want to because when I go sightseeing I prefer to walk around. They told me I couldn’t walk around in this heat because the distance between pyramids was too far. It was incredibly hot that day so that kinda made sense. I’ve done lots of research but I failed to find out about the size of the area. I tried calling my friend to verify what they just told me but he wasn’t answering. Apparently he was taking a shower. To make a long story short, we entered the bargaining phase. I asked them for the price.

So there were three options. One covered everything and it costs a whopping 8000 EGP. The cheapest option only covered the two big pyramids, and it costs 3000 EGP. That doesn’t even include the Sphinx. What bullshit. I told them i couldn’t afford any of the tours so I’d just walk around the complex even if it was scorching hot. It was true, I only had 800 EGP in my wallet. Still they wouldn’t let me down and kept bargaining instead. They kept lowering the price until the most expensive tour was only 2000 EGP. I still couldn’t afford that. The big boss was already shouting and looked visibly angry this time. Was that supposed to intimidate me? I only got annoyed. I told them I simply do not have enough money. Even if they keep lowering the price, additional money won’t magically appear inside my wallet. The first dude who talked to me kept showing his employee ID. Again, I told him that wouldn’t make more money appear inside my wallet. I kept saying no and i was about to jump off the horse. To sweeten the deal, they said the entrance ticket to the Pyramid complex which costs 120 EGP will already be included. I still said no. They asked me how much money i had. I said I only had 500 EGP. That was a lie but I didn’t want to let them know how much money I really had. That was also the maximum amount that I was willing to pay, provided I liked their service. And just like that they agreed to do the full tour including the entrance ticket for only 500 EGP— down from 8000 EGP. I thought that was a pretty good deal. Basically I was only paying 380 EGP for the tour. The total cost of 500 EGP isn’t much. I also knew that times were hard in Egypt. 500 EGP must be a huge deal to them. So yeah, I eventually agreed.

After handing them the money, the third dude rode another horse and led me along the path. We passed through what looked like a village and it all felt shady. Everyone was staring at me, I wished I had some sort of weapon with me for security. Some younger dude came along and they told me he was going to be my guide. I presumed the other guy went back to the barn to scam more people. Finally we reached the entrance. He handed me the entrance ticket and told me to follow this other dude and he’ll just wait for me inside. This other guy asked me if i wanted to go inside the pyramids because if I wanted to I had to pay extra. I looked at the sign showing the prices. If I wanted to go inside the Great Pyramid, I had to pay for an additional ticket which costs 300 EGP. If i wanted to go inside the smaller pyramids I had to pay an extra 100 EGP. That sounded a little excessive to me especially since I knew for a fact that those pyramids were empty. All the contents were transferred to the Cairo Museum. I said no, so he just led me through the gate and into the complex. Once we were there, he asked for 50 EGP.

I got really annoyed but still I couldn’t help but laugh. I asked him what for, it’s not like he did anything for me. I could have simply passed through the entrance by myself. He kept insisting that I give him 50 EGP. I got pissed off and raised my voice. I told him there’s no way I’m giving him 50 bucks. I walked toward my guide and this other dude still kept following me. When I rode the horse that was when he finally gave up.

I was already pissed off then, but once I saw the Sphinx and the pyramids I lost my temper. The Sphinx was close to the pyramids, and so were the pyramids from each other. I can’t walk around the entire complex in this heat they said. Jesus, I could easily walk from one spot to the other. I’ve done a lot of research, but I failed to find out if these structures were really far from each other. Yeah it’s my fault that I got duped. But still I got really pissed. I hate getting scammed. Yeah I didn’t pay much but I still hated the feeling. I told my guide I wanted to get off and I wanted my money back. I didn’t even want to ride a horse for crying out loud, I wanted to ride a camel! He said it’s not possible to get my money back. If I didn’t want to ride the horse i could just get off but he wouldn’t return my money. I then exploded. I was already shouting and i was making a huge commotion so a number of locals working in the area approached us. Two guys tried to appease me, and they managed to convince the guide to return some of my money. He could only give me 100 EGP which was his share, he couldn’t retrieve the rest because it’s with the “big boss” and the boss isn’t answering his calls. I kinda felt guilty shouting at this guy and taking back the 100 EGP because he wasn’t part of the group who scammed me, but I needed to have some of it back. I told him to go back to the “big boss” and take his cut from the 280 EGP that was left. I was still so pissed, I kept saying I hated Egypt, I’m never coming back. Two of those working in the pyramids tried to calm me down, saying they do not like it when tourists get scammed because it ruins the image of their country. They showed their IDs. They told me since they’re official government workers and not touts, they didn’t want me to leave with such a bad experience. I was still blinded by my anger that i completely fell for their good cop- bad cop routine.

It started fine at first. One of the guides walked with me. He kept calling me his friend. I told him I didn’t need a guide. He said I didn’t have to pay him, he just doesn’t like it when tourists have a bad experience in Giza. He just wanted to show me that not all Egyptians are bad. So yeah I eventually followed him, I listened to his spiels, but I said that if he’s suddenly gonna ask for money I won’t be giving him any so he might as well drop the act. He said he’s not like that. We ended up talking some more and he told me a little about his life, his family, and that made me let my guard down. After going around the two huge pyramids he asked me what else I’d like to do. I said nothing. He then asked if i wanted to ride a camel. Damn. I did want to so I said yes. I asked him how much do I have to pay for a camel ride? He said it’s up to me. Most likely bullshit but he seemed like a nice guy and I did like his company. I told myself I’d give this guy 200 EGP to help him out, even though a camel ride only costs 50 EGP.

So he talked to two guys who owned one camel and then he told me to hop on it. When the camel stood up I was impressed. It was a really huge camel, absolutely the biggest one I’ve seen. All the other camels I was seeing around paled in comparison. The guide was taking lots of pictures along the way, and every time I checked the pictures he took I was impressed— he really knew what he was doing. So we circled the pyramids up to the Sphinx, then he told me there’s one last stop: some sort of museum. I knew what was gonna happen, I’ve been down this route so many times before. Your guides would take you to shops as part of tours because they get commission for every item sold. i told him I wasn’t interested, but he told me I can just look around since it’s part of the tour anyway and the entrance is free. When we got there, I knew I was right. It’s mostly a souvenir store and not really a museum. I looked around for about 5 minutes and told him I didn’t find anything interesting. And even if I did, there’s no way any of those items would fit inside my backpack. Once we were outside he told me to ride the camel again so I thought we were heading back to the pyramids. Once the camel stood up, he told me the tour was over and it was time to pay him. I asked him why did I have to ride the camel again then? When I said those words out loud I realized I was about to get scammed. Again.

Unbelievable. 2 consecutive scams in one day. For someone who has traveled a lot I was acting like such a newbie.

I asked him how much. He said it’s 400 EGP for the camel ride. And on top of that, he was asking for 200 EGP for his services. What an asshole. I was going to pay him the exact same amount for his services, and now I do not want to give him even a single cent because he resorted to scamming. I told him I know for a fact that a camel ride only costs EGP 50. He said that’s not true, and if i don’t pay up he wouldn’t let me down. So that was why the camel was so huge, it was part of the scam. I looked down and thought about jumping, but having hurt my foot a couple of months back in Bosnia I didn’t want to risk it. Around this time the two guys who owned the camel appeared. I told them I didn’t have that much money. We could wait all day on that very spot in front of the Museum and more money won’t magically appear inside my wallet. They kept calling me “my friend” which pissed me off even more. They asked me how much I had, I told them I only had 300 EGP on me. I guess they realized they had no choice so they agreed and let me down. I opened my wallet and took 300 EGP out. One of them saw that I actually had 400 EGP left and grabbed the extra 100 from my wallet! That moment I wanted to punch all of them in the face. But then I realized the odds weren’t in my favor. It’s 3 against 1. I could probably take all three of them, but those crooks might have knives or weapons of some sort. And in case this matter was brought to the police, who would they listen to when the police in Cairo weren’t fluent in English. A lot of them didn’t even speak any English at all. Reluctantly, I decided to just let it go. They won. 400 EGP isn’t much anyway. That’s only about 22 USD. That was the turning point though. For the rest of my trip I swore I’d never trust another Egyptian again.

I do not want the same thing to happen to anyone else, so here are my tips to anyone planning to visit the Pyramids:

1. Do not talk to any local on the way to the main entrance. The only person you should talk to is the one selling tickets at the ticket booth. Others will just try to scam you. Maybe there’s an Egyptian in the area who would genuinely try to help tourists, but i seriously doubt it. There are too many scammers and crooks near the Pyramids, i wouldn’t risk talking to anyone. It’s just too much trouble trying to figure out whom to trust.
2. Do not bring a lot of money. Just take enough money to pay for the entrance ticket to the complex. Take more if you plan to go inside the pyramids. Add maybe a hundred extra if you want to ride a camel. That way, even if they pulled the stunt they pulled on me they won’t be able to get much money.
3. The cheapest way to the pyramids would be via public transport. It could be hard to do this if you don’t speak Arabic– you’d be asking strangers for directions, and again my advice would be to refrain from talking to locals on the way to the pyramids. You might be tempted to take a taxi but all taxis heading to Giza would refuse to use the meter and charge outrageous fares. I’d recommend Uber. If you’re traveling solo just use Uber scooter. It’s ridiculously cheap.
4. Lastly, the best way to avoid these touts and scammers would be to join a tour group. I know it’s not always an option for a budget traveler, but looking back I realized I should have done this. Touts barely bother tourists who were being led by a legitimate Egyptian guide, and scammers stay away from them. And when they try to scam you, legitimate guides would give you a heads up. It’s easy to find cheap tours. Hostels often offer the cheapest ones because they know most of their guests are on a tight budget, and most of them allow people not staying at their hostels to join them. I’ve met travelers who did tours offered by their hostels and they were able to see so much more for a fraction of the amount I spent in Giza. I would have seen much more of Cairo if I joined a tour. I wouldn’t trust touts offering tours on the streets, they will most probably try to scam you. I wouldn’t book a tour online either, those are way more expensive than tours you can book in person. The trick is to book tours with a legitimate agency. Hotels and hostels are affiliated with them. You can easily contact several of them and compare prices.

This incident got me so pissed and depressed. I lost any desire to explore more of the city. I did get to visit one other place though, only because my host told me I shouldn’t miss it— the Cairo Museum. An entrance ticket costs 120 EGP, and they ask for an additional 50 EGP if you want to take pictures. I didn’t see the need to. There were so many people taking pictures and there weren’t enough staff members roaming around to check if you have a photo ticket or not. If you want to see the mummies, they ask for an additional 150 EGP. The museum isn’t huge, you could easily breeze through it. But you can easily spend hours in there if you check out everything since it’s really packed with artifacts. I’m not really into museums though. I Imagined I’d be in awe if I saw all these structures in their original place– like inside the pyramids. But I guess they’d have to put all these in one place so it would be easier to secure them. 120 EGP isn’t much though, so I thought spending that money was still worth it.

I can’t really say more about Cairo. I’ve been to other places with my host and his friends but those places weren’t really attractions. Almost every moment i spent by myself was horrible. For every Egyptian who seemed trustworthy there would be 10 who would try to scam me. It seemed that every time there would be an exchange of money— every time one needs to buy something, it’s gonna be an opportunity to get scammed so one has to be extremely vigilant. Everything is real cheap. For meals I can buy a burger for 12 EGP, a huge bowl of pasta from 15-20 EGP— you won’t break the bank as long as you don’t get scammed. The best places to eat would be at those restaurants that show prices in the menu. If you don’t see any price, there’s a high probability that they will try to scam you.  I wouldn’t eat at places with menus written in English. Those are obviously catered to tourists and therefore expensive.

Outside the museum, a professor waiting for the bus talked to me as I was waiting for my Uber scooter. When he realized that I was incredibly guarded, he told me he understood what I must have been going through and he apologized for the behavior of his countrymen. It saddens him that the reputation of his country is ruined by the scammers in Cairo. He then went on about how times were hard, and these people were used to earning so much more before the crisis hit a few years ago, so understandably they’d resort to such behavior to make ends meet. I just kept silent, but in my head I thought that was such a lame excuse. I’ve been to lots of less developed and poor countries, and they’re not all like this. Poverty does not automatically breed crooks, scammers, and thieves. There has to be something deeply ingrained in one’s culture for people to resort to this. The fact that they do not choose their victims make it so much worse. I’ve met a number of budget travelers who got scammed and they had to resort to just eating flatbread for weeks in order to stretch their budget and continue their trip. They also had to skip several popular attractions because they suddenly lacked sufficient funds. I tried to understand the situation of these locals, but there comes a point when their deeds are no longer justifiable. I get it, times are hard. There are less tourists. That’s why touts are relentless and overly persistent. I totally understand. That’s why I was never rude to any of these touts, I always politely refuse. They are just trying to make ends meet. But nothing can justify scamming other people. My experience in Cairo was just the start. I kept experiencing the same shit throughout my travels in the country. You won’t see the sights in Egypt anywhere else, so in spite of all the scammers I’d still recommend a visit. Once is enough though. I’ve been to a lot of countries. I’m itching to go back to a number of them. As for the others, I wouldn’t mind returning. Egypt is the only country I swore I’d never set foot again. Thanks to all the crooks and scammers, it’s definitely the worst country I’ve ever been to.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts. There’s gonna be more.