Among My Souvenirs - Cairo Egypt - Grateful Dead / Watch Where You Point That Camera! / Going to the Middle East Alone & Coming Back Alive

            Tomb painting "Bringing the mummies into the tomb". Picture post card purchased at Lennert & Landrock Book Shop in Downtown Cairo. Downtown was a maze of unnamed alleys leading to deeper levels of back alleys. During the heat of the day it was nearly empty but came to life from sundown to well after midnight. It was completely safe, however I never carried a camera there to avoid getting arrested for accidently taking a picture that included an obscure government office in a drab buildng. 

In 1982-3 the  then recently installed Mubarek government was a bit paranoid about security. I was often followed by police (very obviously, and possibly for my own protection) and detained a few times for pointing the camera in the "wrong direction". None of this was a real problem or unexpected -- the weekend before going to Egypt for the first time I drove roundtrip from LA to the Grand Canyon with an Egyptian and was thoroughly briefed on the situation. On arrival in Egypt the place immediately seemed very familiar and less intimidating than LA, New York, or Chicago.

The most critical "cultural information" for an independent traveler to the Middle East is not in any tourist guide - someone on an escorted tour is unlikely to encounter the situations. I took a university class basically about "Going to the Middle East Alone and Coming Back Alive" - a literally "hands on" acclimation program. The theme was "be less you" - customs differ greatly and "being yourself" away from home can be dangerous. On seeing my "typical American" response to being grabbed at the first class the instructor said "You do that in the Middle East you will be killed". At the third class he said "If you really don't like it, don't go." By the final exam I had "chilled out" -- being pushed into a fist fight between an Iranian and an Iraqi (while their countries were at war) was routine. As a final reminder, the Iraqi punched me when I said "Persian Gulf" - he said "It's Arab Gulf. I wanted the punch to hurt so you remember to never say Persian Gulf again." After 30 years I remember.

In at least six months in the Mid East I was only seriously assaulted twice - first in Egypt (I deserved the attack) and then in Jerusalem (by an Arab policeman as a provocation). I followed instructions and showed no response at all - when they saw they were not getting the expected response (a pretext to kill me) - they stopped and went away. I got up, dusted myself off, and continued what I was doing as if nothing happened. Same thing when  I was grabbed by seven Palestinians (one around the neck, one on each wrist, one on each elbow, one under each arm) outside the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Rather than giving them an excuse to kill me, I did absolutely nothing - they soon got bored and left. Several people I know went to the Middle East alone without cultural training and were severley beaten or worse for typical reflexive American behavoir.

Taken in: مصر / القاهرة / Ad Duqqi / Al-abidin (show map)

Taken on: August 13, 2014

Tags:

souvenir

recuerdo

picture

post

card

dead

mummy

tomb

Mubarek

paranoid

security

Lennert

Landrock

book

shop

downtown

Cairo

alley

maze

Grateful

Egyptian

Grand

Canyon

Colorado

River

Arizona

Mid

Middle

East

coming

back

alive

assault

attack

pretext

provocation

university

class

Iraq

iran

War

fist

fight

punch

Arab

policeman

Palestinian

Dome

Rock

Jerusalem

cultral

training

typical

reflexive

American

behavoir

be less you « less

Sets appears in: • Egypt 1982 / 1983 / 1987 - Been There, Done That (and glad of it) • Among My Souvenirs

Stats: 3,508 views

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: