A busy sleepless day in Cairo, Egypt ( part 1 )

After waking myself up at a little after midnight thinking that I had a flight booked I downed coffee and coke then slowly came to realise that both the timings and the caffeine were a big mistake. I tried in vein to get back to sleep for a few hours before finally being able to drift away and catch at least a couple of hours sleep only to then be rudely brought back to the land of the living by the noises of the hotel waking up and the light streaming through the rooms thin curtain.

I tossed and turned for a few more hours, but I always knew that check out was at midday and as the room rate was extortionate I was super sure that I didnt want to slip over into being charged for an extra day.

I suppose that I could have checked into a dingy one star hotel and crashed for the day but instead I decided to leave my main rucksack in the aiport hotel and go check out the classic touristy places on Cairo, the Citadel; the pyramids; the sphynx; the national museum; the old town.

Outside the hotel was a taxi driver who spoke great English and we came up with a price of 250 Egyptian pounds for me to hire him for the day, or whatever was left of it, and although that is a bit high, but the hotel was near the airport which is a fair way from the city centre, he had a modern car with aircon and with his good English it meant that I could at least get a good conversation out of him instead of just grunt and repeat over and over again the destination I wanted to go for hoping he would catch my meaning.

First on the agenda was a driver by the old Citadel, graveyard and old fort. Being close to midday already I figured that I would not have much time to waste going round them all, but I checked them out and took a few good piccies before we stopped off at a Papyrus shop. In Egypt they call shops Museums as a marketting ploy, and all it really means is that they give you a thirty second introduction to whatever it is that they are sellin before the shopping and the haggling starts.

With prices around 150 for a small piece of work to 2800 for the medium size bits, none were cheap but the trick here is either to not bother going in ( there really is no information to be gained and nothing is on display except the items for sale ) or to feign total disinterest and see how low he drops his prices. In the end I refused to be tempted at any of the small pieces and when he pushed I indicated a few of the medium size ones that I liked but told him flat out that they were way out of my budget.

For his new "friend" he first cut the list price in half" but this was stil 1400 and I continued to tell him that i was not here to shop and that I didnt have a budget for such lavish items. After more bargaining I slipped in a low bid of 300 ( which on reflection was still a bit too high ) which he of course refused and when I went to leave he then dropped the price to a flat 500 and meant that he "was not making any profit" but just liked me and wanted to be sure that I told all his friends about his great shop and gifts ( like hell he wasnt !?! ).

Next stop was the pyramids themselves and here things got a little silly and ugly. I had already told him that this was my third visit ( its actually my second but I didnt want to be hassled too much ) to the pyramids and I was just going to kill time and take a few photos, nothing lavish and with in no desire for special needs like a camel or horse.

Despite this he took me to his friends camel and horse place that was a good fifteen minutes ride away and then they told me that the entrance to the area was 60 and they expected another 60 for the horse. I told him flat out that I was not going to pay that much and yet still he smiled, gave me the usual flannel about I could pay whatever I thought it was worth and then my taxi driver / guide drove away which sort of left me at their mercy.

The big mistake on their part was that this was the very same dirty, cheating, no good guide that had screwed me over the last time when I was on riding the camel, his shifty eyes and carefully rehearsed speach about being good to each other for mutual satisfaction unmistakable as well as being instantly recognisable.

Sticking to my guns, I refused to be cajouled into buying anything from his friends or the 'random' locals we happened to be passing by, and after I told him that I could ride a horse perfectly well ( a little white lie but done for a good reason ) and thus he could send back to the shop the boy who was leading my horse ( and would expect a tip if I didnt send him back right away ).

From then on, I took the lead whenever I felt he was slacking the pace, refused to let him take my camera for photo opportunities and managed to reach the pyramids in good time. The fact that you can walk off the street ( right across from the pizza hut over the road ) through an entrance and be at the pyramids within seconds is one of the reasons I was angry, as the route we plodded over was mostly empty dessert and took a pain staking fifteen minutes.

After no more than five minutes at the pyramids, and not even given the oportunity to pay extra to see the sphynx up close, we headed on back to the shop which took another fifteen minutes and all along the way back I was figuring out what a fair price would be for the use of the horse that I didnt want or ask for but never-the-less accepted. In the end I settled in my mind at 25 for the horse and only 1.50 as tip for the so called guide, though really all he did was take me on a long winding path that ate up time and serioulsy hurt my backside.

When I got off I almost caused a fight as the horse owner, the guide and two of their friends all stood around making noises that I had agreed to 60 and that as they took it so badly I threw back a few insults and comments that the main reason I was out for so long was that their shop was so very far away form the pyramids and that I had said all along I only wanted a quick look to take a few photos so if anyone was wasting anyones time it was them and not me.

The final result was that I just stood firm against them all, refused to budge even an inch and then just headed on back over to the taxi where the driver did his best to act as peacekeeper before letting me in and driver away. It was all a bit act, they still made on the deal and they knew it, but they feel they have to or else every tourist will do it and drive the price down. The only regret about this is that I forgot to get a hold of the entrance ticket before we had the big row as of course they were not in the giving vein afterwards.

A busy sleepless day in Cairo, Egypt ( part 2 )

My next main stop was the National museum, which was pretty cool except that I did ask if cameras were allowed and my driver said yes only for the signs all over the plce to say otherwise and it meant that I could not take some amazing shots as there is plenty of cool things there to visit.

I had forgotten about the war boomerangs, and I dont even think I bothered with the christian or muslim exhibits last time, but this time I had a couple of hours to wander round. The place is like a tardis as the big pink building is much bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside, and made all the more full as it rarely wastes space with useless things like information plaques, instead happy to cram in as many similar artifacts side by side as they can.

The entrance price was 60, but the souveneir shop more than makes up for this cheap price with prices being totally out of kilt with the rest of the city. I tried to buy a single can of coke only to be quoted 12 pounds, which is more than even a room service 4 star hotel price, and when I said with shock and alarm how could it be the girl simple replied ( in good english ) that "Yes it is but you are now in the museum. Welcome to Cairo".

After walking around I made it to the exit with only a few minutes prior to my taxi driver comig to pick me up, and a lesser honest man would have just grabbed another taxi and headed off back to the hotel and then off to the airport and thus pay only the 75 or so instead of the full price that was agreed upon.

In hindsight , not that I would ever condone or suggest such a course of action, but ... a lesser moral person could easily walk to a different hotel than the one he is staying in, get an early taxi driver for the whole day, leaving the national museum to the last stop and then give them the slip ( as taxi drivers are not allowed to park out the front of the museum and thus while he is off parking the car elsewhere you just skip the museum and get a taxi back to where you are really staying at, with the taxi driver having no clue as to the deception til it is too late. ).

Of course, as all this entered my mind I dismissed it as soon as I thought of it, myself being far too much of a nice person to do over a taxi driver, even one who had duped me into going into a papyrus shop and then a horse ride that I didn't want or need.

Once my taxi driver picked me up I headed on over to our last stop together which was a cinema / the shopping distict of Helioplis, a much richer and prosperous area of Cairo complete with shops and malls more like Europe than the dirty and grimy filth that describes most of the downtown area.

I did some walking and passed two cinemas, but none were showing anything remotely that I was interested in, and so I walked back after stopping for a McDonalds and then a hair cut, neatly trimming my sideburns back to a non-crazy hermit image for a mere 25 pounds plus tip.

Feeling good with myself I forgot the golden rule which was to seperate my notes in my wallet and always have change, so when I took a normal taxi to the airport and stopped short to avoid paying the parking entrance fee he pulled the old "I have no change" scam and dratted I had given my last small bundle of notes to the hair salon.

Feeling that 15 was probably not going to be accepted I broke the second rule by not getting out and then paying, and then I broke the third rule by giving him the 50 note instead of waiting til we could get change elsewhere.

After a run around the 20 pounds fare suddenly switched into a 35 pound fare and he flatly refused to budge and give me any notes, so feeling very grumpy I got out and swore plenty of nasty insults as he drove away 15 pounds up and almost regretting that I had not stiffed my day long driver.

Finally I made it to my hotel where I collected up my rucksack and was stiffed again through lack of change by the hotel waiter, 15 pounds for a coke that almost anywhere else would be 3 and even here should only be 12.50.

The more I think of it the more Egypt seems to be just one long string of haggles to prevent being ripped off, which takes a lot of the fun away for me and is a real put off from me returning. I have said before, and save perhaps Miss Egypt, the best thing about Egypt is its geography and history, with its worse feature definetly being the locals.

Personally I feel that unless you are rich or come from a country where haggling for each and every purchase, even the tiny ones, is the norm then travelling to Egypt will either be expensive or a constant battle where the slightest let up will cost you dearly.

Thankfully the hotel had a nice lounge where I could plug in my laptop, crop a few photos and back out a couple of emails and blog entries which is one less thing to do tomorrow, but I still will find it hard to fit in all that I planned to do in Athens within a time phrase less than half of which I had originally scheduled.

Failure to fly away from Cairo

In the morning I waved goodbye to A' & B' and then not feeling confident enough to get myself to and fro the pyramids with enough time for my 2pm flight I just dickered around the room til I felt it was time to get a taxi to the airport.

Cairo airport is not the most friendly or well sing posted place in the world, even though us Brits did own it for a few years, and it was a surpreme struggle to finally get from one terminal to the next only to find that my airlines offices were closed at the terminal itself and the number to call was not being answered.

I also tried to contact my travel agent but their offices were closed at the weekends, which was no bloody good to me and cursing them loudy I gave up on them.

I tried to bluff my way into the check int desk, but you had to clear security first and the guard there was not taking any shit and as I didnt have a confirmed booking time and print out he stood his ground and suggested that I go see information. They were not much help, only saying that the only flights leaving Cairo going to Athens were from the airline that I had my booking and so in the end I gave up and headed off down the road by foot to find the nearest airport to use their internet facilities and place to crash for the day.

After much confusion and problems with my credit card, complete with a few phones calls back to the UK to try and fix it, I ended up with a room that didnt have wifi or internet facilities ( for EU $120 ) and their customer services had a lot to be desired. Forcing the issue as I wanted a confirmed booking a.s.a.p. I argued til they switched my room for one on a different floor and hey presto, instant internet ( for a whopping US $28 for 24 hours !!! ).

I logged on, checked my internet and sure enough my travel agents had not rescheduled my flight and so in absolut desperation to get out of here I called the airline direct and booked another flight, leaving at 03:30 in the morning for less than the cost of my original booking. I was happy and spend the rest of the day half tired and still suffering from my cold so didnt really do much except eat and then went to sleep semi early as I had a very early start tomorrow.

If you have seen the film Oceans Twelve where George Clooney is duped into waking up early and drinks several hot coffees to try and wake himself up ... well that is me today. Problem was, just like him, that it was all for naught as the stupid airline telephone operator had only gone and booked it for 03:30 the day after, being Monday and not Sunday!

I woke up, took a cold shower, drank all the coffee in the room and opened my mail box to triple check the details and stared in horror when recognition hit me full in the face that my flight confirmation email said the 6th, not the 5th. I tried to call but their offices closed at 11pm, I tried the internet to change my flight but the website could not find my details and then finally I tried to check in on line only to find it would not let me check in longer than 24 hours prior to flight time which settled it for me, I was staying in Cairo for yet another 24 hours.

By the time I got my wits together fully it was around 2am and in the hotel everything was closed except the bar which had a few foreign unknown-to-me tennis players chilling out, as there was a tour in progress this weekend nearby, but other than that not a lot going on and noone to talk to.

I went back up to my room and tried to sleep, but after a few hours sleep and then this much caffeine in my system all at once I had zero chances of drifting back to sleep any time soon, so I figured I would just use the time to send a few emails and such before going back to sleep around 5am.

My new plan is to visit the Pyramids and the sphynx this morning and maybe meet up again with A' & B' if there is any way of getting a message to them before they head off for the convention tomorrow.

Travelling in Egyptian Taxi's with Expats ( part 2 )

After the fort we decided that we had starved for long enough so it was a trip to the local Mall which was surprisingly modern and lavish, with a variety of decent stores that you would expect to find in a place like Hong Kong, Milan or Paris.

The food hall was great and had plenty of variety so we all grabbed something different and after pulling a few tables together managed to fit all eight of us together before leaving to catch the return train back from Alexandria to Cairo.

We experienced the joys of travelling by tram, watching the bustling locals cram inside the tiny metal boxes and wondered why the three rich kids thought it was fun to save the fare money ( one quarter of an egyptian pound ) by loitering on the platform and then hopping onto the cars step as it pulled away from each stop, avoiding the ticket inspectors as they did.

This time round the train was a little archaic but what surprised us most was that it arrived and left late, contrary to what my expat friends told me, which was that the only things that ran on time in Egypt were the trains.

Darkness had already set by the time our delayed train left Alexandria and after the fun filled day we had shared we were all a little too pooped to do much talking on the way back, so instead we sat and slept in silence or would have if it were not for the screaming cries of the baby a few seats back from us.

Leaving the train station we found another station wagon and this time they did not hassle us for a price on the way so yet again we managed to cram all eight of us into one car and happily travelled back to the hotel, only for the driver to "pitch the bitch" and complain at our generous payment of 25 pounds, knowing full well that a normal car taking four passeners each could only expect to make 8 -10 pounds. Why is it that train stations and airports always seem to attract the worst taxi drivers.

Back in the hotel Al volunteered to help me find a place to watch a good bellydancing show, so with the motto of "sleep when your dead" we headed out into the night, half aware that we were unlikely to see any dancing til after 12:30.

After a couple of false leads we agreed to let a touting taxi driver take us to a night spot known for local dancing, a floating boat all set up permenantly moored by the keyside and went inside, already figured out how hard we would have to haggle to get a fair price. They started at 300 per person each, including two drinks and salad, but after much negotiation and us half walking out they settled for 150 per each and let us inside, promising that we would have belly dancing in five minutes.

Liars. We had to wait 10 minutes before anything at all got going, and when it did it was just a band loudy bashing their drums while a sexy singer warbled into the microphone amid chewing gum when she thought we were not looking. The place was a ghostship with us being the only customers at this early hour, but still they did not let us sit even within two tables of the front saying that the place would soon fill up and we had not paid for premium seating.

Double Liars. Around 12:30, just as Al had predicted, we finally got to see a belly dancer come on, although she didnt quite have the curves for it and seing that the room was still less than a quarter full she could not muster up much enthusiasm, just going through the motions til her next set started in another lounge or on another ship. All throughout the show the waiters kept trying to push a salad and trays of nuts on us, but they were all at least 25 pounds each ( for a small tray of peanuts !!! ) and so wise to their scams we shooed them away before they could settle the trays and leave.

I feel a little sorry for Al, as he had just ordered himself a shesha pipe when the belly dancer ended her set, being about 1:30 and it was followed by another singer, which was for me enough for one night and so I bitched just a little, but it was enough for Al to get the message and we left, his pipe still more than half full.

What should have been a ten minute taxi ride back became a nightmare as the place was pitch black when we got back, both me and Al had been drinking a bit and the hostel was not in the best place, so after half hours slow crawling drive around the area I finally spotted the non-lit sign above our heads and then we jumped out and finally crashed asleep.

Travelling in Egyptian Taxi's with Expats ( part 1 )

Today was always going to be a bit of a handful, with not only were we a group of eight folk ( broken into four families ) of all ages, but we had to try and get ourselves to Alexandria and back plus visiting the best bits of there without falling out with each other or getting ripped off by the various taxi drivers.

As we had some worldly wise travellers, including my new friends A' & B' who were even former residents of Alexandria, I felt comfortable that we would not fall prey to many of the scams and beggars that I remembered and feared from my last trip, but as the wise say "it is often when you are feeling at your most strong that you are actually at your most weakest" - I just hope that my return to England is not such a similar shock.

We met up and managed to find two taxis to take us to the train station where we had return tickets for a trip to Alexandria for a low cost of only 10 Egyptian pounds each car, showing that for a short distance it will only cost a small amount, nothing huge, and that they do not try to double or increase the price for a full car, or usually.

All in all we must have taken around 6 taxi rides during the day, and the formula for not getting ripped off too much is not to bother asking them for a price and especially not to try and haggle for a good price to start with, but instead to just give them direction and say "we will pay you a good price when we get there". For around ten minutes only 10 pounds is needed, up to 20 minutes and then maybe 15 or 20 pounds, 30 for a full hour and 150 - 200 for a full day.

A few time the driver would be very pushy, and I still say that 99% of the time you should never accept a taxi from either a foreign train station or airport unless it is a proper metered or fixed ticket fare, and more often than not the ones that were pushy, or even touchy feely, were the ones that we gave short thrift to and just walked away from.

The Cairo train station is a relic from WW2 and you could almost feel yourself slipping back in time as you waited in the coffee bar for the train to pull into its platform.

Our train was a more modern Spanish train that had twin seats that could be reversed so that you could sit together in small groups or all face forward much like airplanes, and so with our 8 seats together we did a combination of both and happily chatted and watched the world go by as we sped towards our destination.

It would appear that much has changed in Alexandria, including the train station, and our former local expats were a bit confused along with the rest of us, but they soon got their bearings a bit more once we were on more familiar turf.

Breaking every travelling law we all knew, we allowed this rather clean but English speaking taxi driver to convince us to pay him 200 pounds and the same for his friend for them to ferry us around for the day, with the first stop being food and the golden rule of "Keep Miss B' happy and we're all happy, upset her and you upset us all". Despite us offering good money it would appear that he forgot this main golden rule as soon as we told it to him and right off the bat he took us to a lovely looking but terribly expensive and seedy restaurant.

Anywhere that has no menues is to be avoided, especially by large groups, and here was no exception, only we did our best to haggle and agree a fair price for a fair amount of food, however what we got was 4 standard meals meant to spread out for 8 people, a couple of plates of chips and them expecting us to fill up on bread and Humus ( for extra of course !).

This was not the start that we wanted but our experience here went rapidly down hill when it was discovered that the male waiters had drilled a tiny hole peeping into the toilets and covered one side with a shirt which they would slyly pull back to snoop into the bathroom whenever one of the ladies was in there and they felt they were not being observed. But observed they were, many accusations were thrown and of course denied, and at one point I had visions that a riot was about to occur, but in the end it eased as the women walked off to understandably calm down while the men drastically cut what we were prepared to pay of the bill, almost in half, and left with a firm repremand and the threat of police action if it was ever repeated.

I feel happy to name and shame in such cases, so my advice is to avoid the Mermaid Bar on the sea front at all costs and to always check for tiny holes in walls when you go into toilets.

When we finally caught up with the women they were still fairly steemed up and were rightly refusing to get back in the taxis that had brough us, so after a five minute stomp flanked by the taxi drivers pleading for money which we flatly refused on principle, we ended up at a posher hotel where we felt we would ditch the idea of hiring a taxi for the day and just take them one stop at a time.

Our first attempt was a big station wagon, which we only managed to fit all eight of us in plus the driver with a tight squeeze and us all getting to know our fellow passenges a whole lot more, but then he turned out to be an even bigger thief than the past lot and expected 50 pounds for a tiny trip. Less than a minute later we were prying ourselves out again as he would prefer to lose the entire fare than to not agree a price ( highly inflated ) and just take us to our destination where he would then receive a far price once we got out.

This was, thankfully though, our last bad taxi ride and after this they were all much more friendly, happy to take us to our destination and did not bother to try and dicker around with prices or uphike the cost once we were at the end. The tip definetly is not to even fix a price, only pay when you are out and, asuming you have given him a fair price, to walk away firmly and never stick around to see if he is happy as no doubt he will say it is not enough, whether you have paid him ten or fifty pounds.

Our firs stop was the Catacombs, which were underground burial chambers which were only rediscovered when a laided donkey fell in though the loose top soil covering one of the halls, and is some great example of mixed greek and egyptian architecture. The guards were very strict on the no cameras allowed rule, and try as we might they were very unmoving on the whole give us your camera thing. In the end we negociated with a "we will give you the camera battery, but not the camera itself" which seemed to pacify them.

Our next stop Pillar of Pompey, incorrectly labelled by I think it was the crusaders who thought it was built to honor the Roman general Pompey, when in fact it is much older.

Stop three was a Roman Amphitheatre which, despite being incredibly small compared to some of those I have visited in Europe, had an amazingly clear sweet spot and changed your voice from what you hear to what others hear just by stepping onto or off of the central stone marker.

Our last tourist stop was the Ottoman fort, built on the site of the old Lighthouse, and it was here that we all got suckered into visiting the miniscule marine museum that we all mistook for the entrance to the fort. It was basically the front keep gate house, cut off from the rest of the fort and had barely enough exhibits to fill one room anywhere else, and here replied on the whole entrance trickery and some huge dodgy looking paper machet displays to keep it going.

Here that I picked up a few female admireres who politely requested that they have their picture taken with me on their cameras and cell phones. I naturally agreed, feeling a bit like a c-list celebrity, and was so surprised that I missed how close they were getting or how they were blushing before they approached me. It was only as they turned the corner of the keep just as they were leaving eyeshot that one looked back and waved at me, but by then I was already heading off in the other direction and could not really double back on myself without making it obvious and risking a confrontation with a group of girls that spoke almost no English.

Due to the main forts ticket booth having no change, even from 50 pound notes, we got seperated from each other and ended up walking around by ourselves for a bit before finally cathcing up with each other before leaving again.

Arriving in Cairo, Egypt

This morning was a little sombre as the news in the apartment block all seemed to be a little bit doom and gloom, with news of my friends visa added to this being my last morning here.

As a nice finishing touch I downloaded some photos for them before I had to pack up all my stuff and once again head of towards yet another airport, but at least this time my friend was taking me there.

Once I got to the airport it was the perfect arrival time of just a fraction longer than two hours before flight time, so ideal for check in and then boarding. Or at least it would have been if the flight was not moved to a different gate twice and delayed twice, making it a much more hectic time and meant that a mini trip to see the pyramids today was out of the question.

However in the line up queue in front of me were two very friendly teachers from the states and once we heard the news that our flight was delayed we got bored and went off for a coffee.

As luck would have it the second time the flight gate was moved to it ended up right outside our coffee shop, which sort of made sence to us, and so we just sat, drank tea and talked til everyone else had already boarded the flight and then joined the back of the line.

The flight was further delayed by standing on the tarmac and unfortunately I wasn't sat anywhere near my two new friends A' & B' but at the least we had arranged to meet up again on the other side and clear customs together.

Once customs was cleared, at the expense of 85 LE sticky visa stamp, I pulled off a bit of a coup as I managed to ride with them in their privately arranged taxi paid for by the hotel for guests staying longer than 6 nights, complete with an old battered meter that is easily twice as old as I am.

By the time we reached out hotel it was still daytime just, but the location was in such a weird and hard to find location that we all had reservations about if we or even a taxi driver could ever find it again, especially late at night.

Once in the hotel there turned out to be no spare rooms for me, so I was bowled over when A' & B' said that I could stay in their room, which had a whopping 4 beds inside it, and that we could just split the bill three ways for the two nights I was there. This was great for me, as it saved me a lot of time and money, not to mention it gave us all more time to chat and get to know each other and within minutes we were plotting and planning where we could go and what we could do.

Just at that moment one of the guys from the next room came in and told us that he had arrived yesterday and that the taxi driver had stolen his passport and wallet while he was rubber necking his way from the airport. However far being a very bad story, the next day ( being today ) he was sent for by the police as they had caught the theif working over yet another tourist while he still had our guys wallet and passport on him. The thief was forced to give back our guys money and then he was given a bit of a beating, right then and there in from on teh guest, before being taken away and thrown into jail. So for him he has what I think amounts to a nice story already and he has yet to visit anyplace.

My friends A' & B' then found out that a few of their other teacher colleagues were also staying here in the same little hotel, so we all arranged to go have dinner and then maybe even stroll through one of the nighttime bazarres if we got time.

For the meal we went to a place called La Bodega, which was a very funky place to visit ... done up like the 1920's and 30's all Toulouse La Trek with the decorations and the prices were very reasonable. For the next few hours we all just sat around the table and swapped stories and travel hints. Although I had done more of South America than most of the group, they sure had me down cold for visiting places like Africa or the Middle East, with the Far East and Europe being about equal.

My experiences travelling had always been either to visit friends or sighseing but with their overseas teaching, aid work and peace keeping efforts where they had worked and lived for two or three years in plenty of places and so had a real chance to get to know the locals, find the good haunts and chance upon discovering some terrific stories and urban legends, which I feel should be written up.

After some good company and scrummy food we then went for a trip down memory lane for some of us while other wandered anew as we went to a few restaurants, antique shops and such all looking for just things that looked shiney and even had fun practicing haggle with the locals just for fun.

My best tip learned ws not to bother arguing with the local taxi drivers, but to first fix a price and anything more than 20 pounds while inside cairo city centre is being over generous, and for anyone who forgets this then the best advice is then to get out without paying at the other end and then just pass through around 10 or 15 pounds, to which they will all say is not enough but then they would say that if you gave them 50 or even 150 it would still be "no no, a little more, is not enough !!!"

Finally with a very early start train ride to Alexandria tomorrow morning we all figured it would be best to go back and try to get some sleep, so my opportunity to see Belly Dancing or smoke shisha and not to mention that I will be try to visit the Pyramids early morning the next day before leaving for an early afternoon flight to Athens.