I am still in Japan, been here for going on 8 weeks, and the last few days have started to feel a bit bored. I bought a plane ticket this afternoon to fly to Cairo on 11/29 and will travel around Egypt for 4 weeks. This will give my wife more time with her family since she will be staying in Japan. Works out well.

I have never been to Egypt before but it is someplace I have always wanted to go. As usual, I have no plan or itinerary for when I get there. Has anyone been there and can give me any photo tips, etc.? How about photographing people?

I am leaving in only 3 days so not much time to prepare. I hope I can find a Lonely Planet book here in Matsuyama -- pretty sure I could in Tokyo. If not I can probably find one in Cairo, but I would like to have one before I leave.

I am hoping to get some interesting photos!

Sounds like a good trip destination for December, Henry.

The heat won't be a hinderance at this time of the year and the light probably will be good for catching fine details.

If I remember correctly Winston and David Kilpatrick/Shirley Kilpatrick have been there more recently than some of us. They may be able to give more clues on how to set your itinerary and people's photo destinations.

I remember Winston sending in some people and street shots from New Cairo distirict a couple of months ago.

Yildiz

Wowzer, you have the travel bug Henry, besides temples, pyramids and ruins, the thing that is really Egyptian-ish (too me) is the Nile and those traditional sailing boats, with some reeds (that they used to make 'paprus' paper from 5000 years ago) in the background or foreground...of course you might not find such a scene nowdays in Egypt.
Have fun, and watch out for the maniac bus and taxi drivers...
Greg

If y ou are going to El Cairo, youmust wath the french movie "OSS 117 le Caire, nid d'espions" -ask Bossel about it...
Enjoy your trip

Happy travelling!



Uuhhmmmm - I had to check in Wikipedia Must be a funny movie and worthwhile watching? - ask Pako about it

It IS a funny movie.
With Jean Dujardin: same guy as "Brice de Nice" -Como on, Nice is your 'hood"! isn't it, Bossel?

Nice is just across the bay, can see it from the terrasse Not living there but visiting often during the weekend.

Your itinerary is easy. Cairo=pyramids+city. North to Alexandria. You can head west from south of Cairo into the desert regions near the coast for desert wildlife and relatively unspoiled area (according to Jason Smalley, a wildlife photographer who did this three or four years ago and sent me pix). You can head east/south east from Cairo for the Suez Canal and the Red Sea diving resorts.

But the most obvious thing to do with four weeks in Egypt if you are into roughing it a bit is to do what our daughter Ailsa did and do the road trip up the Nile from Cairo to Aswan, swapping east and west banks occasionally to catch particular sites and cities, maybe stopping a few days in Luxor (low cost excellent balloon trips); then board a felucca for a small sailboat trip (avoiding the huge floating b&b's doing Nile cruises) back downstream.

Even if you just flew between four locations - Cairo, Hurghada, Luxor, Aswan - it would fill four weeks comfortably.

David

Great.
Soon we'll have Egypt pictures too. Go, Henry, Go.

Actually, all this week I was thinking about going on a trip somewhere from Japan. I wanted a place that I had never been to before, was easy and quick to get a visa (or don't need one), that was not too expensive to travel around in (unfortunately, not Europe right now), that I could get a plane ticket that wasn't outrageously expensive, and that was not too cold in December. I considered Turkey, Egypt, Nepal, and Laos. I went to Laos in 1998, but I have been wanting to go back. It is the cheapest to go to. For 20 years I have been thinking about going to Nepal. Unfortunately, it seems like December is starting to get pretty cold there so that would mean buying some winter clothes and that makes it tougher to carry everything in my fairly small backpack -- along with all my camera gear. Turkey is also starting to get cold and I read it is fairly expensive these days. Egypt has been on my list of places to go for a very long time. Now is the time, I guess. I have been wanting to go to India too for a long time, but getting a visa is a hassle and takes lots of time (10 days to 2 weeks) -- especially for a foreigner in Japan. I can get the Egypt visa at the Cairo airport when I arrive.

I am busy now since I am leaving in just 2 more days, but later maybe I can find that movie on DVD somewhere. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks for the great suggestions! I doubt if I will be renting any autos, so will be using public transportation or from time to time there may be the occasional taxi to get to places. I suppose things are similar to when I was in Morocco a couple of years ago. I'll find out soon.

How did you find it photographing people? I had read it was difficult in Morocco, but when I got there didn't find it particularly difficult. Of course, I try to consider the feelings of the people and try not to be obnoxious. Would you say photographing people in Egypt is similar to in Morocco or is it quite different? I have heard various things.

It depends on the people. Example, some guys sitting around having end-of-day Ramadan meal in the street - like a party - almost beckoned the camera over (it was too dark and I was on a camel at the time... they don't keep still and SSS can only do so much...). Fishermen, musicians, street vendors, no problem. It helps to hire a local, get into a calish or on a camel or a donkey, then you can shoot away as you wish - anyone who doesn't want to be photographed will curse the guide, not you. Women are generally shy of the camera, but only if you target them as subjects - a woman herding animals, for example, would not be especially surprised if you aimed the camera. The culture has been westernised enough, there have been great Egyptian genre photographers, they are not superstitious, they are generally not fanatical about any religion (and many are Coptic Christians anyway - or secular).

We found Egyptians to be friendly, generally honest, not much different from dealing with Greek, Maltese, Scots or any other nationality!

One exception only - a bazaar spice trader did the classic note-swap on us. You hand him two 500 notes, he turns his back on you to look at the money and get the change, and turns back with a 500 and 50 saying no you need more... switched the 500 for a 50. Now they don't give 50s (or whatever) in exchange in Britain, only big denominations, and I knew with certainty we did not have ANY small denomination notes. I took the trader's photograph - hand in air, he almost assaulted me - and talked to the local police.

It was all relatively small money and the red and yellow saffron we bought would have cost ten times as much in Britain. Still using it!

It does help to have small change (not biros or candy) for children or those who want paying for photos. They have all the biros and candy they need, but not much money.

It's easy to assume that some offers of hospitality are false - that you may be expected to pay. One guide invited us to his family home and served us mint tea. He was most certainly not looking for money (beyond the customary tip later on) but was very proud indeed of the house they had built, or the furnishings and decor, and he simply wanted to show it off. Our appreciation and half an hour of conversation in English was all he expected.

As a teenager, I had a similar experience in Tunisia - two young kids took me back to their farm and handed me over to their grandmother, who showed me everything they owned and gave me slices of orange and the inevitable mint tea. They thought my Beatle (more Rolling Stones) haircut was hilarious, the old lady said I should have it cut, and it needed oiling - so I went back with Arab pomade sticking my hair down!

I never know how to deal with the friendly and generous attitude of people abroad. I was taught the traditional English public school attitude - that all foreigners were dishonest or dangerous. Fortunately I got kicked out t 15 before the British ruling class propaganda had any permanent effect. I realise that most people are like me. For the record, we found small town USA to be equally hospitable and honest when doing a road trip from Colorado Springs to Phoenix via Trinity, Gallup, Taos, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Sedona. Next year we do Vegas to Phoenix via Sedona, I think; I am not looking forward to Vegas, I hate gambling and the whole venal materialistic scene but Shirley says we have to see it.

We do like a good beer - and Egypt has excellent beer. That's one thing they learned from the west and made sure they kept!

David

I was in Egypt last February. I posted one image of a fellow transporting pita bread on a bicycle in this thread.

I haven't posted any others because I assumed everyone was sick of them. The place has been photographed to death.

Hi Winston,

You are always welcome to send more. The interesting part is, every photographer makes a difference to a scene that almost every other has covered already but somehow the difference in the outcomes are unique, lens-wise, colour-wise, angles and post-production-wise.

I and many others would be delighted to see more of your Egypt photos .... Really!


Yildiz