I got picked up at the hotel at 8:00 am and was driven across Cairo to the Giza plateau. The smog in the city this morning was particularly strong and looked more like fog, but it was smog as I had a hard time breathing. Pollution in Cairo is out of control, with no rain ever, or maybe two times a year at the most, the city is filthy, dusty, and polluted. Garbage is everywhere on the streets, mounds and mounds of garbage in every street, from the poor to the wealthy neighborhoods. Trees and buildings have a thick blanket of dust covering them, once again, due to the lack of rain to wash anything off. It is all very surreal seeing skyscrapers cover in dirty and with mounds of garbage and rubble all around them, add to that the fact that a lot of buildings don't put glass in their windows, it all looks like a bomb went off.
On the way there, the driver pulled over in the middle of a bridge crossing the Nile so that I could take some pictures of the beautiful view. As cars whisked by, we quickly took some pictures. After this, we drove on until I got my first glimpse of the pyramids off in the horizon. As we got closer to the pyramids, the streets became narrower with mounds of garbage everywhere, open drainage along the way, and what seemed like a million people in the streets. I thought he was taking me the wrong way, but after maneuvering his way through some very narrow alleys and garbage piles, we were next to the walls sealing off the pyramid complex from the uncontrolled urban sprawl of Cairo.
The driver took me to a camel stable because I had expressed an interest in riding a camel at the pyramids... I know, I know... such a tourist things to do... but I am a tourist after all! As everywhere else in Egypt, I was quoted and outrageous price. The owner wanted nearly $100 for the entrance fee to the pyramids and the camel ride. I told him "NO" right away. Him and my driver were VERY aggressive and kept insisting and at the same time lowering their price. I felt that the whole thing was very shady since I still hadn't made it to the pyramid complex 
entrance and didn't even know how much the entrance fee was, plus I was sure I could get a camel inside the park for much less than what they wanted. After a lot of pressuring and uncomfortable moments, I finally walked away as my driver clearly showed his discontent at my refusal of this "great" deal. After this, I walked a short 200 m to the gates of the pyramid complex and paid roughly $10 to get in. I was very disappointed to see the disarray on the street and the dilapidated buildings just across the pyramids gate. The place is dirty, full of people peddling camel rides and/or taxi rides, and there is even a Pizza Hut right across the entrance.The whole Pyramids of Giza experience can be a bit stressful once you are inside the gates. You are immediately bombarded by people trying to sell you everything Egyptian related, trying to sell you camel rides, or trying to confuse you into giving them money because you need another ticket or whatnot, its very overwhelming. Even the tourist policemen inside the complex are constantly asking you to come with them to some hidden corner where you might get a better picture, but the reality is that they want to get money off of you. Its too much to handle when it goes on and on everywhere you go, you simply are not given a moment's peace to take it all in and just relax. Egyptians are very, VERY aggressive inside the complex, no matter how much you refuse them, they will chase you down and try to engage you in all sorts of ingenious ways.
After walking around and taking the necessary photos, I still wanted to have a camel ride :-) I was not going to leave this place without my camel ride and pictures to show that I had done it. I approached one of the countless men with a camel and we worked out a price for the experience.
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