Egypt: Information & Tips

                 For stories from my Egypt trip, read this blog and this blog
                 For my story published in Jet Airways' in-flight magazine JetWings, read this

Travelled in: November 2008

Travelling across Egypt can be tricky without proper planning. Distances by road are long & it is important to choose the right mode of transport to get to a place, if you want to avoid tiring out. We travelled by car for most of our trip. We also flew some sectors.

Egypt by air:

Egypt-air is the only airline available. We booked all our tickets online, from home. Ensure, especially during peak seasons, to book well in advance; flights can get booked out surprisingly soon! The website is efficient & easy to navigate. Make allowances in your itinerary for flight re-scheduling. We’re glad we did; 2 of our 4 flights were re-scheduled by a couple of hours & 1 was cancelled & we had to book another flight. But, for each of these, we did receive email notifications from Egypt-air much before we were due to travel. Re-booking was mostly hassle-free. If you receive any such notices during your trip, like we did; just walk into the local Egypt Air office & they will sort it for you. It is advised to check your e-mail from time to time during your stay in Egypt too, to watch out for re-scheduling notifications.

All our flights were on time & we did not lose any luggage either, contrary to a lot of reports that we had read. At the airports, make sure you are alert; flight boarding announcements are poor and often announced by the ground staff, without any public announcement system. Check-in is smooth. Luggage limit is 20 kg per person for check-in. If you have a higher allowance while flying in from your country, please check Egypt Air’s policy about allowing the excess luggage without any charge, for internal flights. This will avoid last minute arguments during check-in.

Security checks are not as tight as you would be used to, in other countries. At immigration, they did not even verify our details; they just let us out with a quick stamp! Flights typically do not serve meals as the flying time is short. You will be offered water or juice. For children, elderly & invalids, it is better to carry some food as necessary. All airports do have cafes or snack bars where you can pick up something.

Egypt by road:

Travelling by road in Egypt was smooth. All the roads we drove on (Aswan to Luxor, Aswan to Abu Simbel, Sharm to Dahab, Dahab to Sinai, Cairo to Bahariya) were in good condition.

We had to travel by the convoy from Aswan to Abu Simbel & then, from Aswan to Luxor. Both times, we did not find the convoy to be a problem. There was no rash driving, as was mentioned by many travelers; guess we just got lucky. I did not sleep out of fear while going to Abu Simbel by the 4 am convoy. But, I found that though they drove at high speeds; the roads were empty & the entire convoy used a good indicator system while overtaking or warning about bad/narrow roads ahead. Convoys do not stop for bathroom or food breaks, so be prepared. The drive to Abu Simbel was non-stop. During our drive to Luxor, we had breaks at 2 sites – Kom Ombo & Edfu.

Be warned though; even when not in a convoy, there are very few rest stops during road travel for bathroom breaks. So, when you find one, use it; there may be none available for a long time.

Travelling in the desert is a different ball game altogether: no food or bathroom breaks unless you arrive at an oasis / town. There are paved roads linking the oases together, but, if you travel into the desert like we did, it has to be in a 4-wheel drive. They have to be driven fast over bumpy surfaces; climbing over sand dunes if necessary, at odd angles. All in all, it feels like a long rollercoaster ride. People easily prone to nausea are advised to take anti-nausea tablets before the drive. Carry some lemon juice, soda or mints; it helps reduce the nausea.

Travelling within towns / cities:

We travelled to Aswan, Luxor, Dahab, Bahariya & Cairo. We felt absolutely safe in each of these places; even when we were out late into the night. We walked a lot & used public transport. Carry a good map / guide-book with you. Also carry your hotel address & phone number at all times. In fact, it is a good idea to ask your hotel staff to write down both these details for you in Arabic, as it helps if you have to get directions from people who cannot read English.

We picked up a local SIM card for our mobile as soon as we reached Egypt. It helped us to make calls to our hotel / guide as there are no coin operated public phones available. You need to get a calling card for these phones; but, in any case, these phones are hard to come by.

In places along the Nile, you have plenty of options to travel back & forth between the east & west banks: feluccas, motorboats, the public ferry (baladi). Haggle hard for felucca & motor-boat prices. They are moored in docks along the Corniche (road along the Nile). It is extremely hard to not come across one. The public ferry service in Luxor, particularly, was very efficient. They operate till mid-night. We used it extensively as we stayed on the west bank. Ask for the public ferry dock on the Corniche; it’s a huge ferry & not a small motor-boat (which some boats-men would lead you to believe). Buy a ticket & hop on to the ferry. There’s one every 15 minutes or so. The ticket costs 1 LE (Egyptian Pound) per person, for one way travel.

On roads, you can use taxis or a Caleche (horse carriage). Both require haggling for prices. Obviously, locals pay considerably less than you do. Ask for what you feel is a fair price. If it does not work for them, they will refuse. You can always try the next cab. We would ask our hotel staff before leaving each morning, for approximate costs between some places & bargain based on that. Make sure to agree on a price before you get in, confirm if it is for both of you or per person, confirm if it is in Egyptian Pounds & not Dollars or Euros. Also, some Caleche drivers are notorious for deviating off course to take you to ‘this great weekly market’ or this ‘shop having a sale today’. Refuse; firmly but politely; it is nothing but tactics to get you to visit shops owned by family & friends so that they can earn a commission.

All said & done, we loved exploring these places on our own.

Language & communication:

Arabic is the official language. Most people, though, also understand English. It is easy to get by with English, but I would recommend learning a few Arabic words. It acts as an ice-breaker & does elicit a smile from most Egyptians. This is not to say that Egyptians are unfriendly otherwise; they are extremely friendly. We chatted with everybody: drivers, hotel staff, guides; it gives you a lot of insight into Egyptian life & lifestyle. Arabic is also useful in small restaurants & while travelling off the tourist path; for buying essentials. If nothing works, try sign language or sketching on a piece of paper…..worked for us!

Learning to recognize Arabic numbers was another life saver for us. All hotels prepare bills in English. Almost all restaurants too, have English menus. But, again, off the beaten path, it’s in Arabic. Knowing the numbers will help you read prices. Also, while shopping in supermarkets, buying essentials or buying munchies, it helped us tremendously. Prices are marked up considerably for tourists & if you can read the Arabic price on the packaging, it helps you know how much you are being over-charged. More on this in my ‘Food’ tips.

Money:

We carried very little cash with us. It is sufficient to carry some Dollars/ Euros / Pounds to use at airports on your way to Egypt. Keep some more of these currencies as an emergency, to use when ATMs in Egypt are not working. Also, try & get as much Egyptian Pounds (LE) as you can (it was a difficult currency to come by in our home country) before you leave for Egypt. This can help you tide over the first couple of days in Egypt. Many hotels charge for the room in Dollars or Euros. For this, we carried the exact amounts in those currencies & used it to pay the hotel.

Inform you bank that you are travelling to Egypt and will be using your debit & credit cards. Some people may face problems while in Egypt, as their banks view this sudden use of cards in a foreign country as possible fraud & block further card usage. This can lead you to being stuck without money till the matter is resolved. Also, informing your bank will make them alert to any misuse of your card back home. When you make a withdrawal at an ATM, make large withdrawals rather than many small withdrawals. Most banks levy a standard processing charge for overseas withdrawal, irrespective of the amount withdrawn. This can add up to quite a bit.

It is advised to keep track of your bank balance while travelling as sometimes, there are transaction errors. We faced a situation where we received an ‘unable to dispense money’ error at the ATM, but, our bank had debited the money from our account. A second try was met with an ‘insufficient funds in the account’ message! Luckily, we had another account which we could use. Carry at least 2 cards belonging to different banks. It will help you if you face any problems with one bank.

We used Visa, Master & Maestro cards without any problems. Our 4 digit ATM pin in our home country worked for us in Egypt as well. Please check your pin usability before you leave. Debit cards linked to savings accounts worked well. One of our cards linked to a current account did not work anywhere; all ATMs that we tried did not give us the options to choose ‘current account’ as the account type.

Collect as much small change as possible, to give away as tips. Use the larger notes at restaurants & shops and then, save the change. Spend or convert all Egyptian pounds before you leave Egypt; Forex bureaus back home had warned us not to get back any LE as they would not buy it from us. Dollars / Euros work well at airports on the way back home, too.

Watch out for 50 Piastre notes (half an Egyptian Pound or 1/2 LE) which can be mistaken for 50 Pounds; especially when you are given "change" for the 100LE you tendered!

Tipping:

Tipping is a very tricky & sensitive issue in Egypt. I had done a lot of background work, so we were prepared for tipping. But, nothing prepared us for the amounts that were expected as tips. We had read that you have to pay a ‘few pounds’ as tips to almost everyone; but, to the contrary, we paid a total of 1500 LE as tips during our 3 week trip! This being un-expected, did dent our modest budget quite a bit.

Tipping is expected whether the service is good or not. We are not averse to tipping at all, but here, something as small as pointing out the obvious (say, Horus on a temple wall) demanded a tip. We learnt fast; when people would come to us offering help which we didn’t need, we would politely but firmly tell them “No, thanks”. For bad service, we would leave just a very small tip behind. A few times, people have demanded more tips & gotten angry. We realised that most people expect such huge tips only because their livelihood depends on tourism.

After over-coming the initial shock & slight anger, we resigned ourselves to doling out tips as expected; to avoid upsetting anybody including ourselves. We spoke to our hotel staff & our guide to come up with this ready-reckoner for tipping (figures for 2008 Dec):

Car driver – 30 min to 4 hours – 15 LE

Car driver – 4 to 6 hrs (half day) – 25 LE

Car driver – full day / driving between cities – 50 LE / depending on distances

Guide – half day - 30 LE

Guide – full day – 50 LE

Egyptologist guide – maybe 75-100 LE for a full day?

Felucca / motorboat captain – upto 3 hours - 30 LE

Restaurant (not up-market) – minimum 5 LE or 10% of the bill, whichever is more.

For carrying luggage / room service – 5 LE

Toilets / for minding shoes at mosques – 1 LE / 2 LE

For good service – use your discretion

It is nice to tip drivers at the end of the day, as you may get a different driver the next day. Guides can be tipped on the last day. At our hotel, where we would eat breakfast & maybe 1 other meal, we would tip every day. At hotels, you can also leave a tip for the cleaning staff at the end of your stay. While in restaurants that have a service charge, it is still nice to tip the waiter separately, as the service charge is distributed only at the end of the month.

Please tip in the local currency. It is advised to keep all the change required for tipping in a separate pouch so that you don’t have to dig into a loaded wallet while tipping. Of all the places we went to, Aswan, Luxor & Cairo are where tips were demanded. In Bahariya & Dahab, all the people we tipped were pleasantly surprised & there was no demanding.

Clothing / Climate:

We followed all the advice given to us on various travel forums & dressed sensibly - Full length bottoms or capris, with modest tops / t-shirts. Half sleeves were not a problem anywhere. In beaches / resorts, you can dress like you would in a beach anywhere else in the world. Sleeveless clothing was quite ok in Cairo….just remember to carry a scarf / stole to throw over your shoulders, for visits to mosques. All this minimised being stared at or comments being passed. Despite this, we were stared at, quite openly; everywhere and by both men & women! Don’t take offence……a lot of times, it is just general curiosity.

Check the weather when you go. Even in December, it can be quite hot during the day & cool at night. During the day, use a lot of sun-block, sun-glasses & a cap / hat. You can tan quite a bit despite this. It is cool at night in Aswan, Luxor & Dahab; take something light to cover up. Cairo gets cooler than these places. The desert is the coldest, with temperatures at night hovering around 5-10 degrees celcius. The wind, of course, makes it much colder than what 5-10 degrees would feel like in a city.

While climbing Mt.Sinai, layer your clothing. It is cold in winter, but, a few minutes of climbing & you start to warm up. Layers will allow you to take off warm clothes as you go up. Once you reach the summit, it becomes very cold again. For those planning to ascend on camel-back, you will feel much colder than the people climbing on foot, as you are not doing anything strenuous….bundle up accordingly.

Sunset in Nov/Dec was at 4.45 or 5 pm. It can be quite disorienting to have the darkness set in so early if you are not used to it.

Food & drink:

Do not drink water from anywhere; stick to bottled water. Do not eat raw food. Be careful where you eat salads or drink fresh juice & as a rule, eat food that’s piping hot. We just did all of this & came back after 3 weeks, with no signs of the ‘mummy tummy’.

When you buy any food / munchies from bakeries, stores or supermarkets, beware of how much you are being charged. I don’t know if anyone else has faced this problem. As tourists, we don’t mind paying slightly marked-up prices but, we were asked ridiculous sums like 35 LE for a pack of Pringles / a can of cola or 20 LE for a candy bar (locals pay just 2 to 4 LE for things like this). As a result, every time we wanted to munch on something, we had to go to a restaurant which had a printed menu. This is not even at temples & other sites but within the city itself. This is when it was useful to read the actual price printed in Arabic. We faced this problem in Aswan, Luxor and to a lesser extent, in Dahab. At Cairo & Bahariya, we got everything for the printed price.

To combat this, we would request our guide to buy something for us. Else, you could also ask your hotel staff to get you something & then tip them. Another way to beat this ridiculous pricing is to buy snacks or essentials at pharmacies (some pharmacies stock limited snacks) as opposed to supermarkets. Most of the pharmacies sold us things at actual cost.

When going to sites, avoid buying anything there unless you absolutely have to…prices are expensive there. Carry some food & water. But, on a long day of site hopping, it becomes impractical to lug so many things around. On such days, it is wiser to buy & eat at sites.

As of December 2008, food was most expensive at Luxor & Dahab (approx. 50 LE per person per meal). Aswan, Bahariya & Cairo were the cheapest (approx. 25 LE per person per meal). Cairo has the most variety: from cheap food (5 LE per person per meal !) to the most expensive options. Prices are at sit-down restaurants & without alcohol.

Vegetarians in Egypt:

Being vegetarian in Egypt is a slight disadvantage, for very long trips such as ours. After a few weeks, the lack of vegetarian options gets to you. One option is to self cater. The other, which we adopted, is to taste every vegetarian option in the book & rotate what you order, so that you don’t tire of anything. We did not eat at any up-market restaurants. Here’s what’s available for vegetarians at all local restaurants:

Salads, fresh fruit, fresh juice, karkadeh (hibiscus flower juice).

Soup: Difficult for staunch vegetarians; all soups contain chicken stock / meat stock, including tomato soup. The only meat-free option is lentil soup.

Main course: Aish (Bread) or rice, eaten with Tagen (claypot) vegetables or Fuul (faava beans in gravy). Other options are Spaghetti with tomato sauce or macaroni & cheese, Pizza Margherita, potatoes in gravy & French fries. Moussaka & Ratatouille too are available, although rarely.

Dips: Tahini (sesame seed paste), Hummus (chick-pea paste) & Babaghanoush (Eggplant paste)

Mezze: There are vegetables / vine leaves stuffed with rice and a lot of eggplant based options.

Dessert: most have eggs so it’s difficult to have dessert if you don’t eat eggs.

If you eat eggs, you can add omelets & crepes to your list of food options. Cairo affords more options than other towns – Falafel & my favourite, the Kushari.

Shopping:

Shopping in Egypt presents a mind-boggling range of choices. In Southern Egypt, you get Nubian handicrafts & gifts. In eastern & western Egypt, you can get Bedouin handicrafts. Of the 3 souqs that we went to (Aswan, Luxor & Cairo); we rate Aswan the best. Though, Cairo’s Khan-Al-Khalili is the largest. We found the quality of products much better at Aswan. Even the shops by the sea, at Assalah in Dahab; had interesting buys.

If you are looking for specialties like Nubian or Bedouin work, it is best to pick them up at the local souqs rather than at Khan-Al-Khalili. Not only is the best variety available in the local souqs, the prices too are considerably cheaper than Cairo.

If you plan to visit factories - perfume, alabaster, papyrus, carpets etc, remember not to be forced into buying anything. Visiting these factories can be good as they explain how these products are made, but, there is a lot of hard-sell. If you are uncomfortable about it, make sure you let your guide know that you do not want to go….it is quite okay to do so. If you do visit them, but are not tempted to buy anything; you can just leave behind a tip for the factory / the person who showed you the demonstration, as a gesture of appreciation.

In the souqs, bargain hard. It can be particularly distressing for people not used to bargaining. Make your offer, of what you feel is a fair price. Remember to start well below your final price, as you eventually have to step up your offer. If it is not viable for the shopkeeper, he will refuse. Walk away, or say that you’ll think about his final offer & come back later…..most times, this does the trick & they call after you. If the shopkeeper had genuinely quoted his lowest price, he will not call you back….then, you can decide later if you want to go back or not. Do not feel guilty about haggling but remember: bargain politely & with a smile…..this allows for no hard feelings. Nobody will ever sell you anything below cost price, for a loss (contrary to what they may tell you while selling it). We got most of our purchases for almost 1/4^th the quoted price. Another trick we used is to ask our hotel staff for ball-park prices of some items like hats, t-shirts, carpets, keychains, jewellery etc. This way, we had an idea before-hand, and bargained accordingly.

Toilets:

Many toilets are of the squat type. Western WCs too are increasingly common, especially in larger towns & in cities. Do not expect very clean toilets. Keep lots of toilet paper handy, maybe even disinfectant wipes for wiping toilet seats. If you know the trick to using a squat toilet, it is more hygienic as you will not be sharing a seat with thousands of others. Carry some liquid / paper soap too, as it is non-existent in these toilets.

In many toilets, it is expected that you pay a small charge – 50 piastres to 1 LE should suffice. Some toilet attendants dole out a small wad of toilet paper when you go in but, you can never be sure. All toilets will have water; either a tap or a squirter, for washing.

While travelling or going from site to site, make use of all toilet breaks. In remote locations, it may be a while before you come across the next toilet.

A small request - we found a lot of toilets choked; not because of lack of flushing but because tourists try to flush down toilet paper, as they are probably used to elsewhere. It does not work here; Egyptian plumbing lines are not designed to take the load of enormous quantities of toilet paper being flushed down. All toilets have a waste bin; please dispose the paper in it. There are signs to this effect put up in a lot of places, but, many people pay no heed to it. Let us do our bit to keep the toilets clean & working, for other people.

Miscellaneous:

Carry small locks to use on your suitcases / backpacks. That way, you can leave valuables / cash behind in your hotel room, without worrying. Many hotels will also have a safe box in the room or at the reception…make use of them & leave behind passports, jewellery & money. Crowded areas like souqs could have pick-pockets & it is not advisable to carry everything on you.

Carry a photo-copy of your passport with you, at all times. Nobody ever asks you for it, it is just in case of emergencies. While travelling in convoys & climbing Mt.Sinai, we were asked by our guide to carry our original passports, so check before you leave your hotel.

To beat the heat, leave you hotel early in the morning, as early as 6 am. A lot of sites open early & are less crowded at that time. In the afternoons, relax on a felucca (the Nile is quite cool), go for a swim in your hotel pool, hang out in a café or get into one of the numerous museums. A lot of the museums are also open (Aswan & Luxor) till almost 10 pm so you can save them for then, after the other sites close for the day.


Read this for my Egypt itinerary and more information.