‘Egyptians are horrendous.’ – this was told to me, in varying adjectives, by more than a few people.

a guy in Laos who rode his bike from London being the first,

the girls in the hotel when I first checked into Cairo being the latest.

and a good 5-6 in between.

I didn’t want to believe it,

who does?

but then, after a few days here, think I have it figured out.

[we consider ourselves so wise, don't we, us traveled? how annoying.]

70% of Egyptians are nice.

30% are not.

of those 30%, 28% work in the tourism sector.

and 90% of them are horrendous.

you will most likely only meet 15% outside of this genre.

meaning that, yes – the majority of Egyptians are horrendous.

I mean – bad.

on more than one occasion I’ve had to stop walking so that the man chasing me did,

grab his arm in a nice, but forceful way,

look him in the eye and say

‘I said no – go away’.

on more than one occasion.

I only had to do that once in a few months traveling around India.

and if you’re a girl, forgetabout traveling here solo.

as I’ve heard 5 stories already that would scare you as they did me.

so, somehow, find a way to get off that regular Cairo-Aswan-Luxor-Cairo trek.

find someone in the 70% to show you an Egypt[ian] most won’t see.

’cause they’re incredibly warm people, nice people, kind people…

just not the ones who benefit from your ‘baksheesh’.