Cairo was a really interesting experience to say the least. While the city was almost empty of tourists it was absolutely full of energy. You could feel it in the air almost like electricity. The revolution had brought the Egyptian people freedom and they were running wild with it for better or worse.
The streets in downtown were full of people just selling things in the street in front of normal stores. The store owners were pissed because the street people were selling almost the same items but had the luxury of not needing a shop. People sold and shot off fireworks at night, and stalls even sold tasers that you would hear zapping the air all night to attract customers all of which was once illegal. There are basically no police and no rules so everyone is still running a bit wild. But the energy in the air felt great, the people were happy (mostly) and I felt it was a great time to visit Egypt and see the beginnings of their rebirth and its growing pains that came with it.
I saw conflict, fighting in the streets, mass protests, gun fire, and large mobs of people but I didn’t feel unsafe. Their fight was not with tourists or americans it was among themselves. I think most people thought that I was a photo journalist because I was taking photos of both sides in the middle of the fights. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that shortly after their revolution all of the news media moved on.
The biggest problem I had was with visiting the Pyramids. I will tell you that I certainly am not a tour bus guy. The guys at the hostel told us over and over again to take the tour bus but I figured they were just selling me on it. All I had to do was take the subway and a bus to the pyramids and pay to walk in myself. Well almost none of that happened. My full story will get its own post but let me tell you this. Take the tour bus! Seriously. I don’t care how much you have traveled or how cool you think you are. The situation there is really really bad. You need to be on a tour bus to keep away the seemingly hundreds of scam artists and hustlers that will constantly attack you. Remember the police are pretty much gone at this point. You can’t just say no thanks and walk past them. Make sure you pay to go on one of the tour buses or have one of the worst days of your life. Its just not worth your pride as a traveler.
