Amendment
OK, I want to modify my previous statements about Cairo--it is the dirtiest major city I have visited. Even worse than the nasty parts of Bangkok, which had some pretty filthy neighborhoods. And, rather than a cross between Shanghai and Bahrain as I initially thought, it is definitely a cross between Shanghai and Khartoum.
Now, this isn't to say I didn't like Cairo, it's actually a fun and exciting place with a lot to see and do. It just so happens that I didn't see and do a lot since I was running around working much of the time, and I didn't have an "ambassador" to take me around and show me the sights as I did in Serbia, Moscow, and Sudan. Although, I did interview the American ambassador while I was in Cairo.
Anyhow, I did make it to the pyramids and I actually hired a tour guide at the hotel. Over all it was a wise move, because I saw and experienced much more than I would have if I had taken a taxi and wandered on my own. The downside is that I paid more, and I had to then go to the stores that particular guide had his deals with. I wanted to buy some things anyhow, but I later figured out I paid probably double what I could have paid for things at Khan al Khalili--the classic old bazaar in Islamic Cairo. Still, it was worth getting the guide, and by US standards it really didn't cost that much.
The one thing that he showed me was the value of my US press status. He had me flash my ID at the entrance to the great pyramid, and I got in at the front of the line without having to buy a ticket. That ended up also working out at the national museum. I got in for free, and also got into the royal mummies exhibition without having to pay.
On the subject of the national museum, I couldn't help but think it should be called the "Museum of Wishful Thinking." The place is full of Egyptian treasures, most of which relate to the afterlife and death rituals. All these things designed to carry the body to the next world, the treasures to take along, the whole process of mummification, and the mythology of the afterlife... where did it all get the ancient Egyptians? It got them into glass cases that Japanese tourists try to take pictures of against the rules. I couldn't help but fixate on the idea that people spent so much time, effort, and money to send their dead off into the next life, and, well... by my reckoning they didn't get very far. I can honestly say that given a choice I would prefer not to end up in a glass case on display for hundreds or thousands of years...
