08/11/2023
Egypt.
Egypt was our next big leap on our journey. We flew from Zimbabwe, to South Africa (reluctantly), and finally to Egypt on an overnight flight.
Egypt has always been on the travel list. Having amazing family friends from Egypt, we had tried Egyptian cuisine growing up, had been privy to Egyptian cotton, and had experienced the incredible kindness of Egyptian/Canadian people.
On the way, Zac asked me if I was excited to go to Egypt. In all honesty, I had mixed feelings. The draw to Egypt is absolutely undeniable, ancient society, ancient ruins, a true myriad of ancient cultures, but something in the back of my mind wondered how it would be travelling to Egypt as a woman.
The Sites and Egyptian Society:
Exploring Egypt was quite incredible. It was really cool to be in such an ancient place with some of the earliest societies, and a lot of ruins still intact and preserved from covering sand dunes. In our time in Egypt, we got to explore Cairo, the ancient city of Alexandria, Aswan, Abu Simbel, various temples along the Nile, a Nubian village, Luxor, and the Red Sea.
The mix of Greek, Roman, Islamic and ancient Egyptian culture along the way made for some out of this world sites. Driving and sailing through Egypt is like travelling into the past. The whole city of Cairo looks like an archaeological dig, and the Saharan desert that coats buildings in sand and dust adds to this feeling. It’s not strange to see a man galloping down the street on a horse next to tuk tuks, motorbikes, and cars, while someone is walking with a push cart selling fruit in many smaller cities in Egypt.
It’s easy to feel insignificant in large temples with giant structures of Egyptian Gods and rulers, and it’s amazing to think that the Pyramids were built around the same time as Stonehenge, and many of the temples predated Christ. Sometimes it was surprising to see women carrying things on their heads, and statues of African animals, and then you remember that Egypt is still a part of Africa. Then you see tons of mosques which also reminds you that it is incredibly close to the Middle East. I know I’ve said it about other countries before, but Egypt really is a melting pot of several societies.
This is very apparent when watching Egyptian dancing. The dress was Islamic, there was African drumming, people yelled Opa! and women performed belly dancing.
Like Greece, understanding ancient Egyptian history is trying. A lot of folklore involving Gods and rulers is interpreted based on speculation from ancient scripture. Guides sometimes disagree on different interpretations, and we often had conflicting information when visiting temples. However, apart from Greece, the mummification of rulers in Egypt has left better concrete evidence on the rulers of this ancient society, and the ruins, though often pillaged by various religious groups, remained better intact and protected thanks to the Saharan landscape.
There was a certain vanity with the ancient Egyptians, but it was vanity with a purpose. The ancient Egyptians believed that your body had to be in good condition for the afterlife, which is really why mummification happened. Interestingly enough, this led to design of make ups and even prosthetics. There was believed equalization in the afterlife for servants and kings alike, though not everyone could afford mummification. The Egyptians influenced many societies, and the impressiveness of some of their technology shows the advancement of their society. We owe a lot to the Egyptians - including but not limited to writing, advancement in agriculture, irrigation, the calendar, and clocks to name a few.
It feels almost impossible to see many Egyptian sites without a guide. There is no signage, no explanation, and wayfinding is extremely difficult. When you do visit places on your own, you are more than likely scammed, generally by uber or taxi drivers or guards trying to skim off the top. There is definitely a protection of getting a guide in Egypt. Yes, this is true in most places, but in Egypt it is very apparent. Without question, it would have been very hard to backpack all of Egypt. Not that it couldn’t be done, but it would take a tremendous amount of planning and fighting for fair prices. Doing a tour, we got to see a lot more places in a shorter amount of time, but that in its own way was overwhelming. We did get our own exploring day exploring the pyramids of Cairo versus the pyramids of Giza, and while we may not have received as much information about the sites, the place was less busy, and we got to take a few moments to enjoy being in such an ancient place without swarms of others.
My Experience As a Woman:
My first stereotype of Egypt as a woman was squashed on day 1. Women were free to wear whatever they wanted, no hijabs or clothes over the knees required. They were even more lenient in mosques than places in Indonesia about covering up. This isn’t to say that this applied to all women in Egypt. The gul-style or full niqab covering was apparent, and Burkinis were all the rage at the beach. But this varied from traveller to traveller, woman to woman. A lot of vacationing Egyptians were wearing whatever they pleased, including at some points two piece swimsuits.
These were the women that were visible. One thing someone had mentioned before travelling to Egypt was the invisibility of the women. It was rare to see women working, waitering, guiding, selling, driving, except for in urban centres. Mosques were designed for men to roam free, while women had small spaces in the corners which was explained as women generally pray at home while they are taking care of the home and the children.
My experience as a woman in Egypt varied. I got to see two sides of it - one while Zac was travelling with me, and another when I was travelling on my own. It’s hard to say how much of the differences were due to the location of the travels versus Zac being with me or not, but there were stark differences. Generally, in urban centres and selling areas, I didn’t feel much of a difference being a woman. I could bargain with sales people and was treated with respect. On my own, I had varying experiences. Egyptian men seemed surprised that I was travelling on my own. In most circumstances with the Egyptian woman we had encountered hiking, swimming, etc, needed help at every step of the way. One woman was sent on a private transfer and was almost tucked in like a child by her husband to make sure she was safe on her journey. In some ways this was endearing, but in other ways I wondered why it was necessary.
I talked to another woman about my experiences, and she said it right. You kind of get used to being treated like a second class citizen. If you are buying something at the store, you are often served after all the men, even if you were originally ahead in line. I was called “little girl” and “baby” and was not allowed to carry heavy things. When in a cab, I explained several times directions to my accommodation, showing the map, pointing in the right direction. Nevertheless, my cab driver stopped on three separate occasions to ask men how to get to our location. I overheard an Egyptian man trying to explain to European men how to control things at home. Sometimes you would ask a question, and the answer would be directed towards whatever man you were with. Everything was quite subtle - I never felt outright disrepected, but it felt very different, and in ways I started to feel invisible. It was a different kind of exhaustion fighting this fight every day.
I couldn’t help but think how it may have been different in Egypt had certain groups not conquered it. I look at ancient Egypt with Queen rulers marked up against today where things are starkly different. I even look to neighbouring Greece, with so much intertwined history with Egypt, and look at how different the societies have changed from each other today. To Egypt’s credit, this was most apparent with the elder generation. Most of the younger generation treated me with equal respect, which makes me think attitudes might be changing.
About Egypt:
The economy of Egypt is a funny thing. There are ties to the middle east and the Suez Canal which make Egypt a power house. But it is also apparent that this power does not extend to every citizen. I talked a while back about places in Asia creating jobs for its citizens. This is also true in Egypt. Multiple ticket booths, and golf cart drivers who drive 100 meters to get you from one site to another. But one thing took the cake in Egypt. There was a man whose job it was to operate the vending machine. I kid you not. And no, this was not a tourist scam, we got the items for the prices listed, but he operated the machine. It was bizarre.
Egyptian guides are desperate to tell you that Egypt is safe, and I have to say the country has done a good job in ensuring this is so. You go through multiple securities when going in and out of the airport, cars are checked for bombs at various check stops, and your ID is also often recorded (which may or may not make you feel more or less at ease). Police and military are very present. So in this sense, Egypt is safe, but there are historical reasons the country has to take such precautions. Guides will generally try to gloss over these things, as their income is dependent on Egypt tourism. Like a broken record, I will tell you that Egypt, as well as other places, is still in COVID recovery. Guides also mentioned that the tourism economy is struggling from the Russia/Ukraine conflict, as lots of visitors generally come from Russia and the Ukraine.
When Hamas attacked Israel, I couldn’t help but think how this once again might impact Egypt’s tourism. Now with Palestinian refugees entering into Sinai, I imagine this will become even more complicated. The attack on Israel happened on a Saturday, and we flew out of Egypt on Sunday. I can’t help but admit it felt like a good time to leave.
Funnily enough, while in Dahab, there were signs about doing a day trip to Jerusalem. I thought that would be an incredibly interesting tour and tie into the history I was learning in Egypt and later Greece. But something in the back of my mind said: “Is it safe there?” and I didn’t go. A few days later, they were bombed.
Here are a few other things I noticed about Egypt:
- Smoking is allowed everywhere. Whether it’s ho**ah or ci******es, it’s available, and ho**ah places are always open. A lot of the times alcohol would not be served, but ho**ah would be available. No, smoking is not allowed on airplanes, but that didn’t stop one person from smoking on our flight in the bathroom.
- To our surprise, there were tuk tuks in Egypt
- Some places give you more than you can eat so that they can give their leftovers to their staff
- Men wear prayer marks on their forehead like a badge of honour
- Egyptians seem to know all the same songs, and start singing them together. It’s really cool to watch this bonding experience - in lines, at events, etc.
- The taxi mafia is unreal. They would get into screaming matches about who would take you, they would steal each other’s customers, they would block off each other’s cars. More than once I would just walk away and find another taxi driver on the street.
-There are weird rules in Egypt like absolutely no drones (they will be confiscated at the airport), no VPN, and no skype.
-There are women only and men only lines at airports.
- Everyone creates their own little pile at the checkout counter at grocery stores until they are ready to pay.
Our Experience:
I’m really glad I saw Egypt. It really is one of the most diverse countries on the planet (at least that I have seen to date). I saw ancient Egypt, I saw modern Egypt,and I saw the peninsula of Egypt. It was a diverse experience and I saw it from both the tour and backpacker perspective. It was not without its challenges, and not without some cultural perspectives I didn’t agree with, but this is part of the travelling experience of going to an unfamiliar place - for better or worse.
Along with exploring the absolutely incredible Egyptian ruins, we visited papyrus, spice, Egyptian cotton, and various rock carving shops, took a hot air balloon ride, and sailed along the Nile. I rode a camel, explored the Sinai desert by quad, got rocked around like a rag doll in the back of trucks and overfilled boats, experienced a bedouin party, enjoyed the wonders of the red sea and got my scuba diving ticket. Zac got to do multiple dives and saw his "white whale", a hammerhead shark.
Food favourites:
Lived off tahini
Kofta
Special thanks to Nagwa and Esmat for all their tips on Egypt, to my parents for making the trip, and to Quinci for travelling with us.
Until next time Egypt, shkran.
