Those of you who have been following my Twitter when I was travelling would know that I often update it with my observations of the quirky way Egyptians live.
For those who have missed it, these are the best ones and I’ve put them here again. This time with pictures.
There is a lot of sand in Egypt.
From the airplane, the country looks like one freaking huge sand box. These huge expanse of North African desert is lifeless yet beautiful.
The currency in Egypt is the Egyptian Pound. 1 Egyptian Pound equals 100 Egyptian Piastres. Mmm… piastres. 😉
1 Egyptian pound is about 60 cents Malaysian.
You gotta have plenty of these as baksheesh (tips), else you can’t get service anywhere in the country. They carry your bags, you pay them tips. They open the door for you, you pay them tips. Even when they pose for photos for you, you gotta pay them tips.
The quality of Egyptian banknotes is pretty bad. They feel like cloth more than the plastic kind we’re used to. My mom said they look like “kiam chai”.
In Egypt, their payphones are also called “Ringo”
They must really like Cheesie over there.
Because of my size, the Egyptians have given me a nickname. They call me “Rambo”.
Egyptians have a wicked sense of humour. I was wearing this tight adidas sleeveless top during one of my visits to a historical site and while I was walking back, I caught the attention of the tourist trap merchants. The whole stretch of them were yelling out to me “Bruce Lee! Bruce Lee!” Then one of them shouted “HEY RAMBO!” and everyone cracked up laughing.
Our local tour guide eventually got wind of it and for the rest of the trip, my nickname was “Rambo”.
I played arm wrestling with an Egyptian merchant. I lost. The bugger cheated!
After witnessing all the commotion that me (aka Rambo) had caused at the markets, one of the local guys challenged me to an impromptu game of arm wrestling.
You don’t see our two countries sizing up in many of the sport events. But for once, this is Egypt Vs Malaysia.
Early on I was dominating. With 300 loud Egyptian guys firmly behind their boy, and only 2 of my mates cheering me on, sad to say, I lost. 😛
Not to say I’m a sore loser, but he did lift his whole elbow up halfway through the match.
When I said the way Kuching people park their cars is bad, I obviously hadn’t seen the way Egyptians park.
This is one quirk I find most interesting.
Kuching people are expert when it comes to parking their cars. It doesn’t matter if it is a pedestrian walk, a yellow line or a No Parking sign, as long as there’s space to fit in a car you WILL find a Kuching car on it. Heck, if they could, Kuching people might even park their cars on trees.
But you know what? After seeing the way Egyptian park their cars, I am left speechless.
They just park sooooo close to each other. How the hell is ANY of those cars gonna get out without getting scratched?! Now THAT’S a mystery greater than the Pyramids of Giza.
I mean, I’ve heard of the term “bumper to bumper”. But this is ridiculous.
Of all the cars you see in Egypt, 99.9% has scratches on them. You have a better chance at winning 4D than you have finding a perfectly undamaged car in Egypt. For that reason, you’re almost never gonna see a brand new car in the country.
Seriously, who teaches these people how to park their cars? Mr Bean?
You know this black rapper Xzibit? He’s the one who hosts MTV’s “Pimp My Ride”.
Someone told me he’s now doing commentary for a porno video over there in the US. I think that one is called “Ride My Pimp”.