is an omen of what social collapse and government breakdown looks like.

I’ve been to
many countries, but unlike any of these places, there were no traffic rules properly
enforced in Cairo. Some streets are absolute wrecks of apocalyptic chaos. Honking
everywhere, shattering your ears. Swerving cars with cracked windows. Smog pouring
out exhaust pipes. I saw a woman pulling a donkey and cart on a congested highway
surrounded by cars. Many cars break down on roads.

The pyramids were overrated and very difficult to appreciate due to the madness around
them. This included all sorts of merchants or vehicle operators screaming at you or
fighting each other. They are also fringed by what is essentially the slum construction
site of Giza with donkey faeces and piles of litter everywhere. Many buildings look like
they are crumbling and I heard they appear like this on purpose because painting them
technically means they are complete and thus available for taxation. So the population
has seemingly agreed to not paint their buildings.

Much of Cairo is falling apart. The old city really is about to roll into a coffin. The sheer
scale of people flowing down the small streets was extraordinary. At some points it was
almost impossible to move without pushing through crowds. The dining options were
not great either. Some places stunk of raw meat or looked unbelievably unsanitary. I saw
a man sitting in a cafe looking nonplussed as he seemed to be covered in exhaust smog
with his ears being obliterated by honking.

Your instincts are screaming at you everywhere. The pictures online are nothing like
experiencing it in reality. The best place is your hotel, away from the chaos. I’ve seen
inside perhaps an average home and it seemed well organised and clean, but the outside
world is unmitigated lunacy.
The tourist industry is also probably the most aggressive in the world. Many of those
working within it actively scam tourists as a major aspect of business dealings. This is
ingrained in almost every aspect of it from tour guides to hotels. You cannot trust the
prices they quote and they also demand tips quite hawkishly. Cafe owners will mislead
you and taxi or tour drivers will take you to so-called museums which are gift shops
where owners sit you down to try and sell you stuff. Even in Luxor, ticket sellers
demanded tips.

The tourist industry is also very dystopic and along Egypt’s east coast, it is basically an
infinite line of resorts for many miles. All of them are heavily guarded by the military and
police because one incident against a tourist bankrupts the industry for months or over a
year. The military is necessary here, but seeing machine guns and road blocks
everywhere puts you on high alert, being afraid that some crazy person is going to burst
into the resort and rampage around or it could be one of the guards. Of course, this
doesn’t happen and terrible events are very rare, but the thought remains.
Finally the sun. It is so powerful and without sunglasses you will be squinting
everywhere. The sun is very intense. This can’t be helped geographically, but with all the
traffic congestion it makes the country exceptionally broiling.

I hope the country can fix itself. There are good people who I encountered, but they are
very far away from the tourist industry.