Egypt (2): The Path to Corruption

Temple of Karnac

All said and seen, I should be wide-eyed and awe-struck by this magnificent country of Egypt.  And yes, most of the ancient structures are superb: I mean, the carving rocks, right?  The architecture is cracking, too.

And yet, I'm struggling to get a handle on the local culture.  Before arriving in Egypt I mostly read and received warnings about touts and crooks - there was little positive said about the country, outside of tour brochures.  Nothing new in that, really.  It's true that when travelling you may be fooled into over-paying for something, or suffer a theft, or get asked for a bribe. You try to minimise your risk in response.

Smoking a water pipe over a cup of wickedly strong coffee

However, after biking across almost fifty countries I can still count fewer than a dozen occasions where I've encountered such problems.  Almost every place I've visited has been friendly and welcoming, honest, hard working and kind.  The worse the reputation, the warmer the greeting seems to be...   Iran, Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, Ethiopia... They've all proven the nay-sayers to be very wide of the mark.  And I put this down to neither good luck nor sharp senses on my part - most touring folk say the same thing.

Nowadays, my experience is less Motorcycle Diaries, more Brief Encounter.  However, even in a matter of weeks (or days), I think it is possible to get a flavour of a given country.  And the more you learn and research, the more your taste refines.  You compare and contrast, take note and reflect.

The trouble is, this cuts both ways.  Just so for Egypt, where my first days have been marked in a sad way.  Despite my positive-bias, I felt the need to be defensive; to avoid getting swindled.  Is this fair?  Why can't I see beyond that?

It's a horrible feeling, which starts when a friendly greeting turns into a hard sell; each time a gesture distracts from a slight of hand; every time a smile hides the dishonest attempt to confuse, mislead and exploit you: the gullible tourist.

If I seem a little paranoid, consider some basic scams attempted on me:

• Adding drinks to a (short) group bill that were neither ordered nor consumed.
• Failing to give any change following a transaction, then 'distracting' the payer to make you not notice. 
• Failing to give the proper change following a transaction, and again distracting the payer to make you not notice. 
• Distraction after payment received, then requesting payment for a second time with a look like butter wouldn't melt... 
• Passing off a small bank note amongst similar-looking larger notes, to leave the tourist short changed.

• Charging double, triple or quadruple the price of goods or services, and feigning innocence if caught or questioned about it. 
• Cartel pricing of services when tourist tries to elicit the going rate. 
• Failing to display set price for a particular good or service, leaving user to guess and negotiate. 
• Displaying set price in Arabic only, and then translating it falsely into English.
• Displaying prices and then, when payment is due, announcing that the prices are 'out of date' and subject to inflation of 100%. 
• Charging an entrance fee for something, e.g. park entrance, but then charging again for entrance to the specific attraction itself - a particular tomb, say, or museum exhibit. 
• Prohibiting the use of cameras in locations where 'flash photography' would cause no damage to the site at all: e.g. a photo of the landscape panorama. 
• During negotiation, demonstrating a tendency to lie without a qualm and to 'forget' or alter anything previously agreed.
• Threatening, abusive, or intimidatory behaviour, incessant harassment and haranguing to pressure folks into complying / conceding / caving in to such pressure. 
• Charging non-nationals significantly more for the same good / service. 
• Oh, and I've not even mentioned the elaborate schemes perpetrated on those freshly-arrived tourists trying to locate their hotels: even the rose-tinted guide book includes a warning on how to best survive the fraudsters.

No, I don't want a ride in your bloody taxicab

Scams.  I spot many of these as they are perpetrated, or before they are successful, but like every other tourist I get conned plenty all the same.  Some of the above occurs in other countries - yes, in the UK too, I realise - but not usually on an hourly frequency! 

Then there's the dark art of tipping...

Tipping in Egypt is called baksheesh, but it’s more than just a reward for services rendered. Salaries and wages in Egypt are much lower than in Western countries, so baksheesh is an essential means of supplementing income. It’s far from a custom exclusively reserved for foreigners. Egyptians have to constantly dole out the baksheesh too – to park their cars, receive their mail, ensure they get fresh produce at the grocers and to be shown to their seat at the cinema.

For travellers who are not used to continual tipping, demands for baksheesh for doing anything from opening doors to pointing out the obvious in museums can be quite irritating. But it is the accepted way in Egypt.     (Lonely Planet Guide)

That says it all, really

Business here is bad, I can see that: huge Nile cruise boats are moored three or four abreast - empty.  Restaurants are deserted, shops dusty and crowded with unsold stock.  The tourist boom has bust, and in fairness perhaps I'm mistaken in seeing naked dishonesty, and not appreciating the raw desperation that comes in tough times.  In the middle of seven years of famine, who could be blamed for bringing in every buck, however hard won?  

Other famous sites I've been lucky enough to visit show some of the same traits, touts and pricing (Machu Pichu in Peru and the Tomb Raider temple sites in Cambodia spring to mind).  However, with its ultimate tourist-draws and its proximity to affluent Europe and the Middle East, Egypt is starting to feel like the finishing school for ambitious crooks.

So, despite the attraction of ancient Egypt, perhaps I'm wasting my time here? Wealthy Russian or Asian tourists will soon replace any disenchanted Westerners, as they have in many other must-see holiday destinations.  

Maybe I should just motor north as quickly as I can, and deny the scammers any more of my time and money.  Serves them right, right?  

Wrong.  That cheap temptation is why I've decided not to.  That is, not to hurry through the country and dismiss it as a freak show.  Not to judge Egypt as lacking moral merit; all modern Egyptians as people who have, over the years, become ruined by the tourist dollar. 

I want to find something better, somewhere less spoilt to remember Egypt by.  I need to dig deeper to identify its core values and reconcile them with my own.

Nice temple, shame about the touts on the door

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I've decided to branch away from the main roads that follow the Nile river north, even though I will miss many marvellous sites that line the waterway to Cairo.  The main roads on either bank strain with traffic, are littered with speed bumps and police posts, and represent a danger and expense that I can do without (accidents, fuel, wear and tear). 

I'm still reeling from the fact that all locals drive at night without their headlights on - presumably in an old-school attempt to avoid dazzling one another.  This might comfort them as they bounce off a cow, through the rickshaw and under the heavy truck.  Personally, I prefer to light up the road like a full moon party in Vegas.  

But perhaps this could be a cultural metaphor too: does dazzling your oncoming motorist really make for safer road and a more illuminated journey?

The issues are not all black and white

Riding north east, to the coast, will not serve me much better - what I'll find in the seaside resorts are sun burnt tourists or swivel-eyed tour operators looking to sell scuba packages.  No thanks. 

Instead, I'm going to ride west into the desert - towards the Sahara.  Here, I hope, the harder-to-get-to regions of Egypt will reward my endeavour and reveal cultural subtleties lost on me at present.  

And besides, heading into the desert for contemplation has a fine tradition to it.

[After reading all the Egypt blog posts, you can view a full photo gallery here: Photo Gallery - Egypt Slideshow ]