Now that I'll have some time in my hands I'm going to take this opportunity to add the two missing trips, Egypt-2008 and Brazil-2008. I am also working on adding a few entries for the London 2.0 experience.
I'm not planning on travelling abroad for the next few months but London is a place full of interesting things to do and see and some of you may find some of these things interesting.
The title may sound intriguing but I promise you, when I finish telling you about my trip throughout Cairo you'll understand why Ali Baba and I had so much in common... at least 40 thieves in common.
The reason why I decided to visit Egypt is two fold. First, I received a threat from my favourite cousin in the whole world, in December we were travelling to Brazil and WE would be diving. Hence I needed to get some kind of diving accreditation or I would be spending a couple of days on a boat looking at other people having fun.
Now, getting into the water in the UK didn't sound very appealing to me. The outstanding views of sunk household waste together with the freezing temperatures were a powerful enough reason to send me somewhere else in pursuit of the required diving accreditation.
The second reason is that Alex, a very good friend of mine here in the UK, had offer me to go and spend some time at his place in Egypt.
Now, Egypt did sound a bit more appealing for learning how to dive. Average water temperature in the Winter: 25C, crystal clear waters and amazing underwater fauna. Not to mention a nice constant 30C temperature on the outside (a bit hotter in the summer though, like 20C more).
It was a difficult choice, of course, but in the end Egypt won so I booked my flight, packed my stuff and off I went.
Alex's place is in El Gouna. An amazing little known place in Egypt!
As it was my first time in Egypt I decided to fly to Cairo, spend a couple of days there and then take a bus to El Gouna where I were to spend the rest of my stay in Egypt.
Let me start by saying that my near death experience of travelling from the Airport to my hotel took all the life out of me. Driving in Cairo is not for the heart fainted... also using both hands for driving at more than 140 Km/hour should've made the trip a bit safer, but I suppose it makes sense to drive with only one hand when you are taking half of your body out of the window every 5 minutes to shout about some profanities in Arabic and swerve brutally right and left as you step on the accelerator at more than 140 Km/hour
I was in the back holding myself to the two handles on top of each passenger window, trying not to fly out of the car with each bend.
At this point you may wonder why I didn't say anything to the driver to slow down and take it easy... Well... I tried, but with the speed and the windows open and all the shouting I was doing, I soon lost my voice, plus the fact he didn't understand a word of English didn't help much either. Besides, after a while I realised it was better if I close my eyes and kept my mouth shut that way I wouldn't have to stare at death straight in the face nor would I swallow any more flying by insects sucked into the car by the speed. Also, better not to distract the driver...
When we reached our destination, my hands were in so much pain I couldn't even pick up my suitcase I was also voiceless from all the shouting. As soon as I made it to my room, the adrenaline shot from the taxi experience was starting to wear off so I practically fell unconscious in bed and woke up the following day, ready to start a new day in Cairo.
When I woke up the following day, it really felt good to be alive and in one piece... the things you give for granted sometimes...
The plan was simple. Visit the Cairo Museum, have some lunch and catch the bus to El Gouna...
As it turned out, I did not visit the Cairo Museum, I did not have any lunch, instead I did visit the pyramids, a papyrus shop, a perfume shop, also against my wishes I rode a... let's be generous and call it a horse, haggled with every taxi driver in town, got ripped off more times I can even remember and finally, exhausted, I made it to the bus... with a much lighter wallet.
This is the story of how the 40 thieves took good care of Ali Baba's money.
Once upon a time, in a far, far away place there was a tourist called Ali Baba, one glorious morning he was walking down the street looking for the Cairo Museum when a local approached him and asked him where he was heading.
Ali Baba knew better than talking to strangers so without saying a word smiled to the stranger and kept walking. The stranger, also known as thief number one, smiled back and in a friendly tone told Ali Baba that if he was going to the museum, he would find it closed. It was the end of the Ramadan and a bank holiday in the whole country but the pyramids were open, they never close.
Ali Baba pondered about this for a few seconds, he hadn't planned going to the pyramids but what was the alternative. Going back to the hotel? and while Ali Baba was considering the possible alternatives, thief number one, offered Ali Baba to share a taxi with him to go to the pyramids since he lived close by.
Having nothing to lose, Ali Baba decided to accept the generous offer and after half an hour in a taxi and a longer than normal conversation in Arabic between thief number one and the taxi driver in order to work out how much to pay he found himself in a papyrus shop outside Cairo.
Once in the shop, thief number one introduced Ali Baba to thief number two, one of the papyrus seller and just to make a long story short, after half an hour in the shop, a nice cup of tea, a detail explanation of how the papyrus get made, 10 minutes of endless haggling and of course the purchase of 4 clearly overpriced papyrus, Ali Baba found himself back in the back of the taxi.
You would think that Ali Baba would now be heading for the Pyramids, no such luck I'm afraid. Next stop, some stinking lotus shop. I had enough with all this touristic crap and I told thief number one so. He seemed disappointed (he was getting a commission from every shop he made me stop on) but relented.
Finally, the pyramids! but for Ali Baba's surprise the taxi wasn't going to the main entrance... they just got into some dodgy looking narrow streets. Thief number one always guiding the taxi driver through the maze of little streets until we reached a point where the stench coming from the surrounding buildings made it clear that 4 legged creatures had an important presence in the area.
The taxi stopped by some dodgy looking individual. Thief number one greeted the individual and a couple of minutes later Ali Baba was introduced to thief number 3, they kept talking in Arabic until someone brought a camel into the picture.
Ali Baba told them there was no way he would be riding a camel and that he would prefer to walk thankyouverymuch... They said walking wasn't an option with the heat and the distances which Ali Baba had to admit made perfect sense so after some re-negotiation and another 10 minutes of haggling Ali Baba managed to convince thief number 3 to procure a docile horse instead for an exorbitant amount (mind you, still was half of what thief number 3 was initially asking for).
Once the money exchanged hands, along came the guide, thief number 4, the King of bribes... together with my ride ... Rocinante
Rocinante and I
The poor four legged creature looked more dead than alive and there still are some questions regarding its species but just for the sake of the argument let's assume it is a horse.
The ride through the Egyptian sands reminded me why I do not like horses. Don't take me wrong... I like horses... from the distance! but not riding them... it is worse than a bicycle!. It may all be down to simply having an ass that lacks volume and substance hence the painful experience of bouncing up and down for an hour on the above four legged creature is not my cup of tea.
So summarising... I am in the pyramids that I wasn't planning on visiting, I am riding a horse and I hate riding horses but it gets better.
Thief number 4 turned up to be a very colourful man, the King of bribes and the dodgy deals... so not even 5 minutes had passed that he offers Ali Baba the long tour instead of the medium tour that Ali Baba had paid for to Thief number 3 (Thief number 4's boss). Just for a small tip he would give Ali Baba the grand tour.
These are the pyramids as we were getting closer to them.
Once we reached the pyramids a couple of guards approached Ali Baba's guide, this asked him to keep riding along that he would catch up with him later. Ali Baba couldn't resist his curiosity and looked back just in time to see thief number 4 paying off the two guards...
Ali Baba knew better than to ask directly but through various indirect questions he found out that thief number 4 had purchased an Egyptian ticket for him rather than a tourist ticket and was better off by just bribing the guards and pocketing the difference. This scene of Ali Baba riding ahead and thief number 4 staying behind while spreading the wealth among the guards collective was repeated several times during "the grand tour".
I was in constant fear that my four legged friend would drop dead at any moment so I tried to give it as much rest as possible but he did also come out in some of the photos.
After some extra bribing and me pretending to be Egyptian I've managed to make it into the great Sphinx of Giza. I suppose my olive complexion together with my Arabian nose played an important part in the deception but just in case, money exchanged hands just to make sure nobody looked too hard into my olive complexion and Arabian nose.
From here it was time for Ali Baba to return to civilization... which wasn't as easy as you might expect... and a visit to a lotus shop, four taxis later and hours of haggling with taxi drivers Ali Baba made it to the bus station. Thank God Ali Baba didn't have to spend a week in Cairo or it would end up being the most expensive week in history!, you may think you are an experienced traveller but trust me, no one will make you say good-bye to your money faster than in Cairo. Specially taxi drivers. By default they'll try to charge you 1000% the price of the trip and no, I didn't put an extra zero by mistake. If you haggle real hard you may get it down to 100% the real price of the trip.
When I was in the bus heading out of town I was relieved and at the same time exhausted from being always watchful and also from the constant haggling.
I just couldn't wait to get to El Gouna... but that's another story...
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