Cairo is full-on. It is not a city that you love OR hate: it is a city you love AND hate. We had read something to this affect in our guidebook before we arrived, but it only took two short days for us to fully agree with the sentiment. We arrived at 6:15 AM into Cairo after a 10 hour red-eye. Our friend from Portland, Hassan, had offered for his brother Nader to meet us in the airport, but since he lives 3 hours away in Alexandrya we felt it was too much to ask. We did not have a hotel lined up, or any specific transport from the airport; a sure sign that we are becoming more confident travelers.
We were met at the gate by taxi and limo drivers. Since we did not have a mobile phone (our Thai SIM card did not work in Egypt) a driver called the hotel we wanted and confirmed that rooms were available. When we arrived we found it too small and less than inviting; Lonely Planet was not on the spot for this particular hotel. We had the driver take us to another hotel, The Cosmopolitan, that was close by. The driver charged us 30 Egyptian Pounds ($5 US) for what turned out to be a ridiculously short drive and he conveniently did not have any change for the 50 Pound note I gave him (my smallest bill at the time). The Cosmopolitan was nice, and we decided to stay, but it fairly expensive at $75 USD for a double with an extra bed.
After a short rest we went out to find and Internet Cafe and do a little exploring. The traffic near our hotel was typical of Cairo: loud, fast and chaotic. Dodging cars to find our way to the Internet Cafe, we were met by a friendly young Egyptian man who spoke English well (with a bit of a Scottish accent of all things). His name was “Tiger” and invited us to check out his family business which was just around the corner.
We had been warned about “Touts” who pick up tourists and invite them to see wares in a nearby store where they get a healthy commission. But were jet-lagged and more than a little naive. So we went into Tiger’s family business – a perfume shop. The pitch, delivered by Tiger’s brother, Mohammed, started with tea and a discussion about the quality of the perfumes.

Mohammed had lived in the US for 7 years and his English was very good. He got into things quickly, putting on the hard sell for his perfumes. Like most tourists, we did not really need, or want, any perfume but it seemed too late by that point. We ended up with two bottles: one sandalwood and one lotus flower. The were likely watered-down versions of the pure essence and cost us around $35 USD. It was our first experience with the hard sell in Cairo: the next came the following day after a visit to the Egyptian Museum.
We had spent the morning touring the treasures of Tutankhamen and the other Pharaohs of Egypt.

Afterwards we planned to head home for a nap before taking on the pyramids. On the way to our hotel we ran into a friendly man named Ali

who said he was on his way home from his work at a nearby hotel. He lived in Giza (the suburb where the pyramids are located) and would be happy to accompany us out to the area. He regaled us with stories of his family (5 daughters and 1 son) while we had lunch together an waited for the bus. It was a Muslim holiday (Friday) and the buses were not running very often, so we opted for a cab. Meta became suspicious of Ali’s hospitality pretty quickly; Dave, sadly, was still pretty naive. The proverbial “Straw that broke the camel’s back” was when we arrived at the stables of his “friend” Mahmoud who could arrange a full tour of the pyramids by camel and horse. Meta decided she had seen enough and walked out. Eventually we came to an agreement on a tour, but it was an emotional and aggravating experience.
In retrospect Ali was certainly a tout, although it may have just been a side job that he carried out after work. He got a free meal, ride home and probably a kickback from the stables. But he also provided a service: keeping other touts away, explaining the culture of Egypt and entertaining us with stories. He also took us to a reputable stable that is rated high in the Lonely Planet guide.
The touts also provided an important lesson – one on assertiveness. The Egyptian people are friendly, perhaps even more so than the Thai people, but there are a few that make their living off of selling stuff to tourists. Some are unscrupulous, while others are actually worth the extra cost. In almost all cases you can say “la, Shukran” (no, thanks) and walk away at any time. And that was the hard lesson of our two days in Cairo: how to say “No!” and walk away. It was a lesson that would serve us well later in our trip.

To the Pyramids!
For all the trouble getting to Giza there was a big payoff: seeing the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World. The first glimpses of the pyramids started while crossing the Nile in the southern part of Cairo

and then again as we slowly approached the Giza Plateau.

We entered the busy suburb and walked down back alleys with horses racing by

Then it was onto the two camels and two horses provided by the stables to make our way into the desert. We entered through a small gap in the fence that surrounds the pyramids

and began a steady pace towards the middle pyramid.

Arriving at the middle pyramid

we dismounted and stared at the amazing structure

We went into the middle pyramid, which required walking nearly doubled over through the long sloping passage, until we came to the burial chamber at the heart of the pyramid (no photos allowed).
We came back out

, remounted

and made our way to the temple of the Sphinx

Then it was off to a viewpoint where we could see all three pyramids and take the obligatory photos

Finally we made our way off to a high bluff to watch the sunset.
By this point Anna had ridden every one of our mounts: both camels, all the horses (including the main guide’s horse) and even the little the little donkey that the other guide was riding. But she was not fully satisfied until she actually got a ride on our guide:

We collected rocks on the bluff and ate Koshari (an Egyptian pasta dish) while the sun set over the desert.

A final ride back to the stables and a long taxi ride home ended our day. We were in bed by 7 PM. It was a ridiculously long day, but in the end everyone was smiling: