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The Sofitel Le Sphinx worked out to be a great hotel. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great deal on a very nice hotel with excellent service. It is located right next to the Pyramids. Our first room had a balcony that overlooked a cement wall, however, I spoke to the concierge and at no additional cost he moved us the next day to a larger room with a perfect view of the pyramids. It was simply incredible. The staff was very attentive and helped us on a number of occasions. Kathryn and I both fell somewhat sick during the trip and they were more than happy to have someone from a nearby pharmacy pick up some medicine and at very reasonable rate. The room service was excellent and we both highly recommend the in-house pastry shop’s chocolate cake. The gift shop stocked some forgotten necessities and was also helpful. Breakfast was complimentary and they had a full buffet of excellent choices. The location of the hotel was nice for us because it is much quieter than noisy downtown Cairo and the street noise around the pyramids is much better, although not silent. Taking a taxi into downtown Cairo only cost about 25 pounds (less than $5USD) which was great.

The sites, the experiences, and memories were great. During our short stay, Kathryn and I saw many sites. Of course, we saw the pyramids and the Sphinx. We walked over to the pyramids and took a tour by camel of the pyramids. The pyramids were just incredible. They took us all the way up to the base and we took many excellent photos. Unfortunately, I ended up getting food poisoning about half way through the ride (which Kathryn later caught too) and part of my memory includes puking in the Sahara – which is pretty funny now. We cut the trip somewhat short and I walked to a nearby shop to use the bathroom. We both had cramps the rest of the trip but nothing that prevented us from going out and exploring.

We explored the Egyptian Museum which is filled with many artifacts including King Tut’s beautiful items. We spent a few hours there as the place has endless halls and rooms full of items from Egypt’s extensive history. We also explored old Cairo’s Islamic district. We had a very extensive tour of al-Ahzar mosque where we were taken up one of the five minarettes and had a beautiful view of downtown Cairo and the mosque. The guide gave Kathryn and me plenty of books on Islam which served as interesting reading material for the flight home.

We spent much more time in the shops in Khan el-Khalili bazaar. Kathryn purchased jewelry and perfumes while I bought some papyrus art. The bazaar is loud and chaotic place, but if you walk around for a bit you can get a good feel for the various sections and find the “real deal” shops. Jewelry, perfumes, hookahs, papyrus art, spices, glass work, and many other handicrafts are the specialties of these stores. While you can get some very nice items for cheap, it isn’t hard to get ripped off in the bazaar if you don’t keep your head up. Here are some helpful tips:

• When purchasing jewelry with stones, use a lighter to check to make sure the stones are not plastic
• Examine papyrus art to make sure it isn’t machine made. Look around before purchasing and choose a real art dealer rather than a street side vendor. Lick your finger and rub it against the ink to make sure it rubs off. Real papyrus art isn’t “stamped” and the ink should be raised from the paper slightly to show it was brushed on. Old papyrus, which looks darker, is simply the same papyrus that sat in the water longer. Don’t pay more for it – but the aged look can look nice with certain prints and backgrounds.
• Remember the rules of bargaining – never show that you like an item, make them lower the price first, point out the flaws, start with at least half the item cost and work up in about 5% increments. Don’t be afraid to leave – this causes them to reconsider and you can get a very good deal. Bargaining is an art and requires practice – do it a couple of times with an item you’re not interested in and you’ll get the hang of it.
• With any item, know the real price. Compare similar items at different shops before purchasing.
• Be calm – these guys make a living by pushing stuff on you. Don’t buy junk you don’t want. If they are getting to pushy, ask if you can sit down or can have a minute to think.
• Find someone who is friendly. If they are a jerk, save yourself the trouble and just leave. A great shop keeper will invite you to sit down, give you a Pepsi or some Egyptian Whiskey (dark sweet tea that is great), and will be happy to let you browse and not push too hard. These guys are usually off a main street but are well worth the trip.
• Watch your belongings. It’s a busy place, shit happens. Egypt shouldn’t be thought of as a place full of thieves but a little caution can’t hurt, right? We had no problems but there are plenty of internet stories of people having their purses slit and other terrible tales. Just watch out.

We had a few really great experiences with salesmen. One of which was a perfume shop located near Felfela Restaurant in Giza near the pyramids and is owned by the same owner of Felfela. The owner showed us around the shop, gave us a great price on the perfume compared to the shop keepers in the bazaar (four times less) and had some great perfume vases. After serving us some Egyptian Whiskey (tea), he invited us back out to come see a local belly dancer with him. We watched the belly dancers while drinking beers and smoking hookah. We even joined the dancers! This is the type of local hospitality we wished every shop keeper had.

Another great experience was with a papyrus art dealer near but not in Khan el-Khalili bazaar. Again, he gave us Egyptian whiskey while we casually browsed his apartment art studio and answered our questions. He was very knowledgeable about the stories depicted in the prints and his prices were very reasonable considering how superior his works were compared to many other competitors with inferior quality pieces.

Our best experience was with a jewelry store owner Khaled El Sayed at Chiwicar Building No. 12. He showed Kathryn many beautiful silverworks while he allowed me to meet some workers across the street and take pictures. They showed me their work and shared some special hookah and Egyptian whiskey. He had great pieces but his relaxed manner and friendliness was what really made the sale good for us. We don’t mind paying a premium for that but his prices were also reasonable. We tried bargaining a little with him but we knew we got a good deal and he sold three pieces.

We had purchased the items and had taken a cab about 20 minutes away when Kathryn realized she had left my small camera at his shop. I told her not to worry about it and that we would head back but she was very apologetic. I hoped things would work out but if the camera was gone – it was gone, and I was OK with that. I couldn’t be angry at Kathryn especially over just a camera. We took the cab back after she found a person on the sidewalk to speak Arabic to the driver since he didn’t understand English. The driver raced back to the bazaar as his speakers blasted out Arabic music. Kathryn, who isn’t known for walking fast, ran ahead of me until we got back to the shop. It was closed and locked. The workers near the shop told us to wait. They found the owner who came smiling – holding my camera. He took us with him to his friends to show them that he was returning the camera to us. He had spent the past half hour running around the bazaar streets looking for us. I happily gave him some money for his troubles and he shared a cigarette and a Pepsi with us. The camera is worth quite a bit and he could have easily just disappeared or said he hadn’t seen it. We had a number of photos that could never be replaced. It was a very kind thing for him to do. The whole experience was surreal and romantic to me. When we left the bazaar, we took a cab to the Nile River to find a cruise boat for dinner. The cab driver popped in a cassette of Whitney Houston’s best hits. Maybe it was cheesy but it felt good to sing “I will always love you” while driving through downtown Cairo with Kathryn.

Unfortunately, kind gestures like these weren’t that common. There were many bad Egyptian men. I hate saying this but we really had so many unpleasant experiences with pushy salesmen, rude taxi drivers, and even an encounter with an anti-Semitic “teacher” that we both had an overall negative experience with Egyptian men. I know that I am a “very lucky man,” but having men yelling how many million camels they would pay for my “wife” got to be quite irritating to both of us. Even more irritating was how many times taxi drivers, tour guides, and street vendor propositioned Kathryn for sex. At least half of the taxi drivers managed to say something that was quite offensive to women. Everything was said from how Egyptian men are great in bed to how women shouldn’t be allowed to have jobs. We have both travelled around quite a bit and these men were really the lowest of the low we have encountered and there were a great number of these incidents.

We had taxi drivers who clearly had no idea where they were going and would drive twenty minutes aimlessly before stopping another cab driver to ask where a location is – only to charge us four times the amount it should have cost for the trip. They have meters in the taxis but nobody uses them. It was very frustrating. Honestly, I don’t mind paying New York City taxi rates – just don’t piss us off. We spoke to some other tourists and every one had similar stories to speak about. It is very sad that a place with such a beautiful historical reputation has so many people ruining its future reputation. At least there are a few good people who made our trip to Cairo enjoyable and very memorable. Just being with Kathryn was reason enough to go.