Steeped in History, Egypt was our first holiday abroad after coming to UK. Most of the standard trips that were available were centred around Luxor and Aswan. In order to cover Cairo as well I decided to engineer my own trip, but to minimise hasell once I had decided on the dates and destinations I asked Kuoni to purchase the long haul as well as internal flights as well decent hotels that they regularly use. I decided to base the visit on the 3 destinations Cairo, Aswan and Luxor, and visit Esna and Edfu from Luxor.07/12/2002 – Flew out from London Heathrow by Egyptian Airlines to Cairo, put up at Sofitel Maadi Towers, Cairo. It was quite late in Cairo by the time we arrived but as it was just after Id the streets were quite crowded. I could see mosques that were lit up due to the ongoing festivities, however I knew we would not be able to make it to these as there was so much to see and do in Cairo.08/12/2002 – Sphynx, Khufu and Khafre’s Pyramid at Giza during the day and Cairo Tower at night. Woke up in the morning and stepped to the balcony. Since it was dark and quite late by the time we had arrived I did not realize that our room faced the Nile. The freshness of the morning breeze and the unexpected site of the nile right in front was quite a pleasant surprise. Had a sumptuous breakfast and then got some directions to the Metro. Got of at the heart of Cairo at the Sadat station. On the metro a chap started chatting to us. He introduced himself as a teacher and spoke good English. In a matter of factly manner and without showing too much interest he gave us some information about the Pyramids and mentioned that something in particular was open only on the 8th and we should divert of the Pyramids and leave the Museum for the next day. Little did I know he was a tout. Anyway even after exiting the metro station he kept chatting to us. As we got interested in what he was telling us he then made his move and invited us to share a taxi as he himself was going towards Giza. Later I realized that this was in the opposite direction to the one we had travelled in. Anyway we agreed to share a taxi with him. How gullible one can get!!!Anyway in the taxi he started talking about a Papyrus Museum that we should see. And guess what it was on the way to Giza. So we stopped, as you do trying to be polite. This what he called a Museum was actually a shop and I could by now see what was happening. They gave us a demonstration of how Papyrus is made and then showed some samples for us to buy which were quite expensive. There were couple that I liked but I had no intention of buying them. However there was a fair bit of force selling going on and to put an end to it I thought it might be a good idea to mention a completely unreasonable cost and they might just leave it at that. So the two papyrus (not sure what the plural is paypyruses or papyri) I liked they were asking 1800 Egyptian pounds for it, I said I was willing to pay 160 as I had no intention to buy them. Guess what, the answer came – TAKE IT!!! So much for fixed price written all over and all the nonsense that this was a Government shop and bla di bla di bla. Anyway once you have mentioned a price that you are willing to pay its very difficult to get out of it. So I ended up buying something for most probably 5 times the cost of what it really did cost. At the till when I was cursing myself for trying to be smart, I came across a Welshman from Cardiff. He had purchased a much bigger piece of work for 3800 Egyptian Pound and he told me proudly his story of how hard he had bargained to bring down the price of what he had bought from 4200 to 3800, I did not have the heart to tell him about my experience and the drop from 1800 to 160, but it did make me feel a little better. However this glib feeling lasted for a very short period of time and completely disappeared when I saw the teacher more like a tout by now as I was fairly certain that he was picking up a comission. Anyway on arrival at Giza he tried to tie us again with another lot of people who would guide me through the Pyramids. I told him to get lost and had a go at the shop keeper who did cart or camel rides to the pyramids. I needed a patient ear and I told him about how angry and violated I felt and that one should never put there trust in another person and what has the world come to and so on and so forth. They must have been laughing beneath there big Arabic moustaches but seemed quite kind to me. I think they realized that my pride at being an Indian (which implies that I have seen every kind of con possible) had been hurt. When I told him that at the Papyrus shop this tout had said something to the shopkeeper in Arabic when we walked in, he proudly reflected back to me “a sentence in Arabic is more than a book in English,” wisdom that I kept close to my heart for the rest of the Egyptian trip. Looking back it seems that he was quite a nice person, he apologised to me for this other person’s deceit and requested me not to keep this incident as a lasting memory of Egypt. As a goodwill gesture he even mentioned that we could return and at no cost see the light and sound show from the terrace of his house as it faced the Pyramids. I did not take him up on his offer but I felt better after this gesture and could enjoy the pyramids. We got on a horse drawn carriage to visit the pyramids.09/12/2002 – Egyptian Museum10/12/2002 – Flew out from Cairo to Aswan, put up at the Oberoi, Aswan. Saw the Unfinished Obelisk, Philae Temple, Light and Sound show and met up with Ravi and Vidya.11/12/2002 – Motor boat trip to see Tombs of the Nobles, Kitchener’s Islands, Aga Khan’s Mausoleum and Nilometer. Evening trip to Aswan’s Nubian Museum.12/12/2002 – Flew from Aswan to Luxor, put up at the Mercure Coralia, Luxor, saw the Luxor temple in the evening13/12/2002 – Valley of the Kings (Tuthmosis III and two other tombs), Temple of Seti I, Temple of Hatshepshut, Medina Habu, Ramasseum, Colossi of Memmon, Light and Sound Show at temple of Karnak.14/12/2002 – Temple of Horus at Edfu, Temple of Khnum at Esma15/12/2002 – Karnak Temple16/12/2002 – Luxor to London Heathrow aboard Egypt air
