The Scam and the Pyramids

May 10th, 2008

So, today we’ve started after just four hours of sleep to the Pyramids of Giza. Because we’re in a rush on this trip (just three full days), we thought it might be a good idea to take the offer of our hotel guys and book a tour to Giza, Saqqara and Memphis for 100LE, so around 12 EUR or so. Don’t get me wrong, the trip was cool and our driver a really nice guy who gave us good tipps and so on, but on the Pyramids we’ve learned our first lesson on Scam.

Because after quick stop at a so-called Papyrus-“Museum“, which was basicly nothing else then a shop for cheesy papyrus art including a quick and entertaining explanation and a commission for our hotel if we buy something, the driver brought us to a friend who is organizing camel tours. Very friendly an entertaining as well, the camel guy offered us three kinds of tours on a camel around the pyramids between 200 and 350LE (25-45 EUR) each. A little suprised on that price we’ve choosen the medium tour anyway, because we where in the middle of freakin nowhere and saw no real alternatives.
So, we did the camel tour, and our first impression was not the best, because the Giza plateau is kinda placed in the middle of a not so charming suburb of Cairo, full of horse stables (Scam-City ;))

But in the end it was great for us. Seeing the Pyramids, the Sphinx and getting some flair of the desert was just great. Cheops and Chephren, the two big Pyramids, are so massive. That impressed us very much and we did a lot of cool pictures and video shots. So we weren’t that pissed anymore of the price we’ve paid for that.

Later we found out, that the current price for a tour like this is around 4-5 times lower than what we paid.

After that we drove a bit more south to Saqqara, where we had a quite good lunch in a garden restaurant for 55LE each (8 EUR), before heading to the step pyramide, the oldest stone monument in the world. There we’ve learned our second lesson: Everywhere are signs, that you can’t take photos inside of the tombs. So far, so good. Now imagine a charming guy, who’s wearing some kind of a uniform and insists that he works there and makes us a tour for free. Still good. While entering the tombs, he was always acting like your best friend when nobody’s around and is whispering that you (because of the deep friendship) can take a few pictures, but you have to hurry.. And so we did, because it was interesting and very impressive by the way. So, but now he gots you: you owe him one, and don’t worry, he’s taking every currency you can imagine, plus a „Kugelschreiber“ (a pen - but he used the german word) for his son. Haha.. Ewa was so pissed after her first day here, because everyone is trying to get your money.
But besides of that, it was a very interesting monument with a lot of tombs and interesting egyptian mural paintings and stuff.

After a quick stop in Memphis, watching some old sculptures including a very impressive one of Ramses II we drove back to the hotel. More soon.

Pictures of the day:

Ewa on a camel

Pyramids of Giza

touching a pyramid

Pyramid of Khafre

two beduin guys

The Sphinx

Mural stuff

Step Pyramid

Mr. Kugelschreiber aka Scam Inc.

Me and my buddy Ramses II

Cairo 2008 | Comments | Trackback