My first time in Egpyt, already started with losing my luggage at the airport, and not getting any compensation from Air France, just the opposite of the nice treatment we got from British Airways when we lost our luggage while travelling to Tbilisi.
This was yet another MICS3 workshop, organized outside of Cairo, in a Hilton golf resort, probably closer to the pyramids than to the city centre. The workshop lived up to the reputation of workshops in this region: populism all around, an irritation toward us, by many at least, great food, many issues in survey implementation. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable, and the start of many things to learn.
It was my first time over at the pyramids, of course, where we went with CC and RR from Macro. It was great to be at the pyramids, yet frustrating. I could not get the local tourist hunters to believe that I was not an Arab and had absolutely no idea what they were talking about in Arabic, because of my looks of course. I ended up having strong exchanges with a few of them, and not only because of the whiole Arabic thing, but also because of the heat, the dust, the obvious rip-offs, and a complete disrespect of personal space. The pyramids were brilliant of course, and I even managed to get into one and climb a bit inside to reach one of the tombs. It proved to be a bit too difficult. And I actually thought while it was great to see these monsters at last, I would not come here again. What needed to be seen was seen.
The Nile was great, and had become (at least the part in Cairo) a commercial river. We went on one of those restaurant boats, with belly dancing, the revolving dancers, and very poor quality food, for a very high price. We did enjoy it somehow, as it was a great way to strike a chord with the participants.
This was yet another MICS3 workshop, organized outside of Cairo, in a Hilton golf resort, probably closer to the pyramids than to the city centre. The workshop lived up to the reputation of workshops in this region: populism all around, an irritation toward us, by many at least, great food, many issues in survey implementation. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable, and the start of many things to learn.
It was my first time over at the pyramids, of course, where we went with CC and RR from Macro. It was great to be at the pyramids, yet frustrating. I could not get the local tourist hunters to believe that I was not an Arab and had absolutely no idea what they were talking about in Arabic, because of my looks of course. I ended up having strong exchanges with a few of them, and not only because of the whiole Arabic thing, but also because of the heat, the dust, the obvious rip-offs, and a complete disrespect of personal space. The pyramids were brilliant of course, and I even managed to get into one and climb a bit inside to reach one of the tombs. It proved to be a bit too difficult. And I actually thought while it was great to see these monsters at last, I would not come here again. What needed to be seen was seen.
The Nile was great, and had become (at least the part in Cairo) a commercial river. We went on one of those restaurant boats, with belly dancing, the revolving dancers, and very poor quality food, for a very high price. We did enjoy it somehow, as it was a great way to strike a chord with the participants.