Teddyboy wrote:If Upper Egypt was only geared up for the higher value holidaymakers, I and many others would never have been able to come here and fall in love with the place or the people.
This loves is a high-prized one for people with certain habitude - if you can stay cool and resist strange behavior of the inhabitants, you're lucky. If you did born with such as temperament, you're also lucky but if not, may you need to get bad experiences for being able to wear the iron-coat of neglecting. The problem is - you're a newbie, planning your first trip. If you have friends they visited Egypt once in their life, you collect them and ask about their experiences.
One survived bad things during his visit will suggest to avoid any trip to arabic lands.
An other one will tell you - it's amazing, the people are offen and friendly, just take your luggage and fly away. But you didn't have personal experiences. The safe, well-care athmosphere of the most organized groups (i can form the opinion only about the companies working in my country and also running trips to Egypt) - will save you from the cultural and social shock

You can see dust and necessity only if you're sitting in the air-con bus and the vehicle is crossing poor areas. Your tour guide will tell you to avoid to walk alone in the Harlem-like districts of Cairo, to buy gold in the shops running by the goverment, dress yourself ordinarily, etc, etc... So, i'm wondering a little bit, i thought the most of mass tourism in Egypt is coming as members of organized groups - these visitors oftenn see only the shiny side of the land, may also theycan take a look also behind the curtain bu this is not typical.
After getting beloved, they plan to return alone because they're thinking it's much more cheaper as the organized tour was. There is a mistake, the relative-felt-safety what a group could give them, flown away and they stay there, often without speaking any arabic, trained by guidebooks or the internet. And they're wondering about if a bird is just breaking out of the egg, immediately try to fly and finally he will falling directly to the cat's mouth. This is a kind of human behavior - not egyptian - if you see somebody totally helpless or lost - in case A you try to help, in case B you try to be the cat and close your mouth
Visiting socalled 'exotic' lands were always the privilege of people with higher social status. Except soldiers, scientists, crazy artists, average people could get to these destinations only by working on a ship

May the inhabitants of the destination countries made paralels between coming from 'faraway' - where a 'better life' exists. But if you're looking deeply into your mind - you never thought about change your land just for a short time? Here, in Eastern-Europe a lot of people are dreaming about living in Germany, England, the scandinavian countries, etc. But after getting there - usually for working - and recognizing, life ismuch more expensiver as their thought before. If you have a currency calculator in your brain wich is never out of business, equal you have (only for example) - 2000 Euros income in a month, what means a dream salary in any eastern country but not a wondering amount on the West - if you have the usual western-prized cost of all-day living. Only few people was enough clever or lucky to find their 'golden treasure' in their dreamlands. Most of dreamers were coming home with psychical and physical burnout and the money they could spent during their employment time, easily flown away...
:-) If Columbus' destination would be Egypt, Cortés and Pizzaro wouldn't be so lucky with their glass pearls...
Egyptians are also dreaming about taking a look a little bit forward as their country-borders. Getting a plane ticket and having the papers is often an unbreakable barrier for them. The only experience the average egyptian can have about other lands and its citizens - to meet visitors.
Human behavior and attitudes are not contorrolable by rules. Rules are the lines they show us our barriers and a lot of people using these line to calculate how high or far he should jump to cross over the barrier. The Behavior of a nation couldn't change - only by hard or terroristic tools, wars, etc. If you try to educate or make rules now, the result will come more and more (and much more) generation later. The question is - it's worth to try to change or not...
May in the future, when a foreigner, suffering from any trouble, hassle, etc. can defend his right official and the case will be officially penalized - rules coul be useful against such as behavior. But i'm not going too far from the EastBlock. Here in our country, if you will be the victim of a robbery in certain districts and you're going to the police office, they say.
- You're not alone, this is the x.nd case just in this hour'. We have nothing to do...
I can believe, in Egypt, if a victim of a hassle or sexual harrassment try to search for his/her right, the most common reaction is an

smile...
TB, what you means under 'ordinary foreigners?'
Ps - audietur et altera pars - i know few people here in my country, totally crazy for egypt. A kind of foreign visitor, wh's a 'nobody' (excusi' moi') in their country, are playing Baron Csekonits if they're far away from their homeland. I frequently see this also in our capital and it makes me sad and angry. I can believe what egyptians also can feel in such as situation. Joking if your a.s is smiling out of the hole on your underwear but you' stay in the middle of the Heroes' Square with a camera in your neck, a map in your hand, loudly shouting by any foreign language... Enjoy to be far away from your country, drop off your dress and shjow your real face, if you have enough money, everything is permitted.
God's ZOO is very big - but its barriers are low.
Exceptions are the only things or people they make returning or visiting valuable. We, people often makes clichés' - unfortunately most of the clichés are well-based. If you found diamants in the sand, get them and be happy about... If being beloved with something - here with Egypt - is worth to pay any prize, you will come against any bad experience. May because your diamant is waiting for you. A situation, what's humilaiting or awkward for one, may didn't hurts an other one. Everything is the question of the level of your tolerance and the thickness of your iron-coat

If you cannot' be familiar with the behavior of most of egyptians - don't think about a visit - try to change your destination to the Antarktis
Before i also thought i will be able to pay any prize for a job in Egypt or to wake up daily close to my beloved Ramesseum. But if they really 'did ask about the prize' - i recognized there is nothing more for me, except few real firends

My last note - till i was sitting on my a.s at home, i never was been satisfied with my life. Visted Egypt recently, to see also its dusty and poor side, getting a lot of very big slaps into my face - but also finding real companions - i learned to respect what i really have. I learned the lesson to be happy without having any 'valuable' things - i have what i can bring everywhere i go - under my skin, in my mind and in my hands (many thanks for Ramesses for being able to reproduce everything what i want - i graphite)... At least, bad and good experiences were worth to get this feeling.