Hawkers and hassle, Cairo

Loads of tips on this but my experience is you cant let your gaurd down for a second.

We went independant and if your streetsmart no problem.

I let my guard down for a second went we were off the beaten path. A hawker shoved goods in my hand and opened goods and put them on me and demanded payment. I said no and he got annoyed and aggressive.

If hawkers wont take no for a answer ask if them if we should take this over to the tourist police. They will back away, be assured of that.

Its annoying but its the way of things as you are viewed as a walking wallet. Take it with humour and patience and dont let it ruin your holiday or let it put it off. If hawkers really annoy you and you will let it ruin your holiday im sorry to say Egypt probably wont be the place for you.

When you are walking through Cairo you alsmost inevitably come across people who want you to show the way, show you something special, etc. etc. You will end up in a place you don't want to be. It might be a shop or, like here, an old mosque. The guy in the picture wanted NO money from us, he said. He wanted just to talk English and learn a bit from us. Well there are people in Cairo who want that, but this young man just wanted a big baksheesh!

Unique Suggestions: Be firm and say NO, Thank you! (LA, shukran!), don't make eyecontact and walk on as if he isn't there.

Fun Alternatives: There is no alternative to a tourist trap like this.

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Once at the Pyramid, hang on to your ticket and dont listen to anyone asking you to come over to the secret passage or explaining that they neee your ticket as they are a guide etc etc... these guys will take you away and rob you. Just ignore all the people trying to help, they are trying to get money from you for nothing. Just relax, be pleasant and say no thank you to every body and enjoy the magnificent sight in front of you.

When catching the overnight train from Cairo to Aswan from the Giza train station there are loads of men wandering around the station who pretend that they work for the rail company as porters and will pick your bags up and attempt to load them on the to the train in return for a tip. Most of these men have nothing to do with the rail co' at all and will often hold onto your luggage before you get on the train until you cough up a suitable amount of 'Baksheesh'. If anyone tries to pick up your bag whilst waiting-take it back from them and let them know in no uncertain terms that you don't need them to load them on for you. If you have a backpack wear it on your back so that these opportunists can't just walk past and pick them up.

First of all - i didnt enjoyed Egypt so much i expected.

Second - when we went to the Giza pyramids, we hired an english spoking driver - he brought us to his preferate papyrus&perfumes shops, but at least he gave us the right advices for the pyramids area.

Third - the advices:
- never let your ticket out of your hand - if asked about it, just show it without letting it
- never stop to a vendor: "No, thanks" and the local "La, shukran" makes wonders; dont bother trying some fancy languages, the locals knows almost everyone of them.
- dont be fooled by anyone - i am from Romania; every time i said this, i get: "Oh, Hagi, the best soccer player" line. I promised myself that the first one that will say "Dorinel Munteanu" (another romanian soccer player) will get a tip from me - it never happened :p
- dont go on a camel, a horse, dont follow anyone, dont let anyone photo you, dont photo anyone - me & my friend escaped with only one tip, but we only stayed for 1 hour at Giza.

Fun Alternatives: A real alternative for Giza are Sakkara and Dashur - these are the things I liked the most in the Cairo area. Both Sakkara and Dashur are around 30 kilometers outside Cairo, they have more spectacular&even older pyramids then Giza and it is way much quiter - in fact, on Dashur we were almost all alone with the desert (and the guards). Above than, Dashur has a pyramid only a little bit smaller then Giza biggest (with a visitable interior as well) and also here there are the Bent Pyramid and the spectacular almost destroyed Black Pyramid. It worth the trip till there.

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me and my friend had the innocent idea of going to the zoo to see its fauna. We could never imagine that herds of teenaged children are following people (girls) harassing and trying to sell...I believe that were sexual harrasments but I cannot say for sure.

They go near you and offer something they call "shakes" and ask for money. I f anyone is able to translate that into an obvious sentence please advise people here that are planning trips to Cairo and have the idea of visiting the zoo...

Unique Suggestions: Don't look at them, ignore them and keep walking and taking pics of the animals as I did.

Fun Alternatives: Alternative is to watch all animals in Egypt like cats which are abundant, dogs, donkeys, snakes, lizards, birds, camels, horses...

Egyptian people can smell a tourist as soon as you get off the plane. Expect to see hawkers and beggers the minute you leave the airport and be prepared for the possibility of being fleeced by one. Especially at the popular tourist destinations such as the pyramids, Egyptian museum and even when just walking along the street.

Try to resist entering a perfume shop unless you really want perfume as it will be very hard to get away. Even if you do get away the seller will lay in wait for you until you appear again.

Unique Suggestions: Be very thick skinned and insistant in saying no.

Fun Alternatives: If you can dye your hair before you leave to a dark colour and consider wearing a headscarf to help you look more like a local.

The minute you step out from your transport the hawkers are waiting there for you. I know they want to make a living but I found it a real shame to be constantly harassed and to some extent it did ruin what should have been one of the greatest experiences of my life, as the pyramids are a sight I have always wanted to see. The hassle combined with the lack of time that we had there made for quite a rushed, stressed experience. One in particular that stands out is a tout selling a head dress that is apparently free, even though we said no, he took it out of the bag and placed it on my husband's head, saying it was a gift, then when we said thank you and began to walk off with it, he demanded money, so we gave it back, with quite some effort! Even when taking photos they would come up to me hassling me. It's just something you have to be prepared for unfortunately, but try not to let it ruin your experience.

Unique Suggestions: The only thing we kept on doing was saying no thank you and walking off.