My Friend – a last thought on Egypt

When in Egypt the experience of being haggled by taxi drivers, shop owners and many others on street can become a lot to handle at times. However, sometimes, when you’re lucky you get to experience real Egyptian hospitality and all the bad experiences start to disappear for a while. One of the full tour riders, Michael Paull from Canada, was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of one such experience and shared his story with us.

Hello, my friend

By Michael Paull

This saying is very common in Egypt, perhaps too common. Wherever you go, the people greet you this way. Sometimes it comes of nicely, other times it sounds aggressive. In Luxor  – where we had our first day off – that saying was everywhere and aggressive. At night, one of the other riders, Herman and I wanted to go for dinner, so Mohammed, our horse-drawn carriage-taxi driver, said he would take us to a very nice place. We also used him so we wouldn’t be bothered by everyone else on the streets while getting to the restaurant.

We had a great dinner and when we came out, Mohammed was there to take us back home. The next morning when I left the campsite Mohammed was there so we could walk together. We went to the local market, and after, to his house for a cup of tea and so I could meet his two daughters (age three and five), his wife, his mother and his brother. After, we went to the tourist market. From there he took us to the Luxor temple, then lunch (sugar cane) and then back to the campsite. When I told my story to other TDA riders they all asked how much this had cost me. It didn’t cost anything because Mohammed was my friend.