Giza buying blow

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Giza buying blow

As all good visitors to Egypt, I too kept my appointment with the Sphinx and her precious Pyramids, after nearly being conned into hiring a taxi outside Cairo railway station. Those traveling on their own will be happy to know that there are many options to reach the village of Nazlet el Saman, the doorstep of the Pyramids — namely the micro-bus, big bus and taxis with proper meters. When I finally made it to the Pyramids after haggling with the camel-owner over tea for ten minutes, the desert had been taken over by tourists. My camel, a handsome fellow with pyramids carved into his behind, prone to farting when goaded to speed up, sensed my unease and decided to give me a hard time. So I rocked my way over the sands worried I would drop my bones before I made it to the greatest wonder of the world. Rami, my handler cum guide, explained that the camel responded strictly to Arabic Yalla Yalla and sharp kicks, which was cruel. It was a big moment to see the Pharonic pyramids so close. There is not much to see inside the Pyramids, the mummies now rest at Cairo Museum but once there the enormity of the situation strikes. The dark passageways can be a bit claustrophobic, but not enough to kill you after all you are standing inside a man-made mountain built centuries ago, even before the abbreviation A. D was conceived! As I stared at the walls, my thoughts went back to the poor, agonized workers who erected the monument. At this point, I gave up trying to photograph the pyramids and concentrated on breathing. It was cold, the December chill adding its share and the milling crowd did their best to appear without the protective overcoats in the pictures! To be fair, I did too, not wanting to ruin my million-dollar-picture in an oversized jacket. I vowed to return the following noon to see her in all glory for I was staying the night in Giza. My camel handler was surprised to see me return so soon, seeing his chances of receiving baksheesh vanish! The baksheesh however was open to negotiation depending on how fruitful your visit was and how well behaved your camel. I could overlook the camel-farts and unpredictable fog for sure. But Rami need not have worried; for he had been particularly helpful. He was a shrewd one, I thought, slipping the stone into my pocket. He truly deserved an extra pound. I found the store without any difficulty. The grinning proprietor pressed tea on me and explained the methods of making Pharonic writing paper. You cut out a piece of papyrus stalk, remove the outer green, then slice the naked stalk into paper thin strips, soak them in water for days to remove the sugar content, press it with a rolling pin, stick strips one over other, keep them compressed for few days and voila, your papyrus is ready to use! Ingenious, I thought, and eco-friendly. He offered me another cup of tea and this time I felt I had earned it. However, a word of caution: Pharonic writing paper is also made out of plantain stem and the only way to tell the difference is to crumple the paper and see if it breaks. Real papyrus does not. Even government-run museums are inclined to be deceitful and can slip you a plantain-stem-made paper, while smiling at you and wishing you years of luck. Those of you are traveling for the first time to Egypt on your own remember that tourism means money and most touts hanging around the train or bus stations can do with the extra pound and will go to any lengths to take it from you, even going so far as to give you the wrong info. Comment This field is required. Please enter a valid email address. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Giza Pyramids As all good visitors to Egypt, I too kept my appointment with the Sphinx and her precious Pyramids, after nearly being conned into hiring a taxi outside Cairo railway station. Heiroglyphics that will make up your name on a cartouche When I finally made it to the Pyramids after haggling with the camel-owner over tea for ten minutes, the desert had been taken over by tourists. Faith can build mountains. Scene of Old Cairo near the City of the Dead At this point, I gave up trying to photograph the pyramids and concentrated on breathing. Traffic jam outside the Giza Pyramids The grinning proprietor pressed tea on me and explained the methods of making Pharonic writing paper. My papyrus cracked. Fortunately, the tea was good. How to get there Those of you are traveling for the first time to Egypt on your own remember that tourism means money and most touts hanging around the train or bus stations can do with the extra pound and will go to any lengths to take it from you, even going so far as to give you the wrong info. By train If you are on an overnight train from Luxor, get off at Giza station, even if you have a ticket to Cairo. If you are in Cairo, take the metro to Giza. Alternatively you can take a micro bus to the Nazlet el Saman village. Hire a horse or a camel to take you to the Pyramids. It is far cheaper and allows you to cover more ground in the desert. Women try not to get too friendly with local men; your friendliness could be mistaken for other things. Remember there are two rates in Egypt. The local rate and tourist rate usually several times higher than local rates. Be prepared to bargain shamelessly. As all the pyramids and temples have different entrance fees, get yourself a full package from the vendor. You can have a small, medium or big ride, depending on the time and money at disposal. All of them usually include the major sites. The entire pyramid complex has been fenced off and there is now a modern place to purchase tickets to visit the pyramids. Some things have not changed. Tourists continue to throng to the Pyramids, Egyptian tour guides still sell them stories of Pharoahs and hawkers continue to hassle tourists but for a first time visitor all this adds to the mystic charm of Egypt. It is advisable to book yourself on a proper tour. You might pay a little more, but it saves you a lot of hassle. Learning a few words of Arabic helps. It cuts the frost very quickly when trying to negotiate! Carry toilet paper and be prepared for lack of toilets at major tourist sites. Always fix a price before you start. There are many tourist police around. Run at first sign of trouble. Hence the running shoes! Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Why It Still Sucks To Get High in the Arab World’s Biggest City

Giza buying blow

Ancient Egyptians were among the first to experience the narcotic bliss of opium. But, despite strict crackdowns on getting high in Egypt, a unique underground drug scene is thriving in Cairo. Here there is a taste for black market opioids and tranquillisers, hash and bango the local name for weed , a new breed of synthetic drugs, and the same locally-harvested opium that has been around for thousands of years. Like President Sadat! Back then, every household in Egypt had some hash. It was practically legal then. Fearful of society being corrupted from within by drug addiction, civil servants are now subjected to random drug tests , penalties for being caught with drugs are increasingly harsh. There are currently 11 people on death row for drug offences. Large quantities of cannabis for distribution can earn you a life sentence, which translates to 25 years in prison. Anything over ten kilos also makes you ineligible for a presidential pardon, as does any amount of heroin. In , a British woman was handed three years in prison after trying to take tramadol pills to the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. In April, Egypt and Liverpool football star Mo Salah starred in a government anti-drugs campaign appealing for young people to avoid drugs and warning Nile fishermen of the perils of addiction. Egypt fought the original war on drugs. Later, in the s, the Egyptian delegation to the League of Nations requested that the herb be put on the list of most dangerous narcotics. The Egyptian authorities still take a dim view of unsanctioned states of consciousness. Tramadol, a synthetic opioid pill, is a heavily controlled drug in Egypt and is most commonly bought illegally. And for sex, of course, because you can go longer. But tramadol can also make you feel sick as any other \[opioid\] drug. In Cairo, tramadol is taken by manual workers to stay awake during long shifts. A study of blue-collar workers working in the mid Nile delta region around Cairo found that nine in ten builders, half of bus drivers and a quarter of textile workers regularly took tramadol. They told researchers they took the opioid as a way of lifting their mood or relieving pain relief during heavy or long work shifts. Out of random patients screened for illicit drugs before they underwent surgery at a hospital in Cairo, 14 percent tested positive, with more than one in ten having cannabis and one in 20 having tramadol in their system. After being reclassified as a controlled substance in Egypt in , tramadol was pushed underground and cheap pills from factories in China and India flooded the black market in the aftermath of the revolution in , smuggled through seaports such as Alexandria. By , authorities were finding five times the number of tablets they did five years previously. Chaos in neighbouring Libya , meanwhile, opened another smuggling route from the west for tramadol, as well as Moroccan hash and to a lesser degree, cocaine. The latter is sometimes moved onwards to Israel , where Israeli troops have spotted smugglers tossing bricks of the white stuff over the border fence. And in , the government updated its drug laws to include the synthetic cannabinoids Strox and Voodoo. Despite heavy penalties for those convicted of drug offences, police in Cairo have been known to take bribes. So most people here prefer hash from Morocco. There are a few varieties of hash: in Cairo, the locally-produced stuff is considered low quality and mixed with additives, so many prefer the pricier Moroccan imports. While opium poppies were cultivated on the banks of the River Nile in BC, since the s they have been grown by Bedouin nomads on the Sinai Peninsula. Both the police and military have taken part in counternarcotics operations in the Sinai. In a series of operations last year, troops claimed to destroy bango plantations and 1, poppy fields. Follow Niko on Twitter. By Emily Green. By Max Daly. By Nabihah Parkar. By Mihir Melwani. Share: X Facebook Share Copied to clipboard. Videos by VICE. Read Next.

Giza buying blow