stanj
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
|
stanj wrote:
Alexandria Citadel
artsupreme wrote:
Have you ever experienced any issues flying in there with your camera gear? This guy travels with a team and a ton of gear but start at the 16:25 mark
Really not quite sure what he's talking about. May depend on when he was there (I was there for Xmas), and what he's doing (you will never see a mic or even a GoPro in my hand). However, I showed up with a GuraGear 22L bag full of gear for both me and my daughter, and always had an R5 either in my hand or on an R-strap (same for the daughter) and a small day pack on my back with at least two lenses. Never had a problem, not flying into Cairo, not on the 5 or so domestic flights, not flying from Cairo to Amman. My (very large) ziplock bag full of prescription drugs got my bag detained in Amman but that was sorted out within an hour. I learned very quickly to conceal the GPS tagger in Jordan (the Canon hot shoe thing, and anything else GPS). Apparently it's sensitive, and they don't know yet that your phone has GPS, too. My Jordanian neighbor tells me that I am being watched in Jordan 10x more than in Egypt, I just don't know it  As an aside, flying Royal Jordanian from CAI to AMM is a 90 minute flight, but they not only serve food, they serve _choice_ of food. Haven't had that happen to me since... ever.
The camera rules in Egypt seemed to be pretty clear: you want to enter this museum, pyramid, tomb with an SLR? That will be 300 Egyptian pounds, i.e. $20. Seems completely fair and you can decide. Phones always allowed. The only places where things got iffy was when I was asked (by the local fixer) to hide my SLR at the launch of the hot air balloons, because it was on a military installation, and when going through a military checkpoint on a quad right by the pyramids. In general, pointing the camera at the military is a bad idea, but I think that goes for just about any country.
There are some common sense rules: showing to a middle eastern country wearing a skirt or leggings is like wearing an Obama shirt in WV - certainly possible and legal, probably not the smartest move. This falls into the "common sense" domain, sounds like a self-inflicted wound to me. Of course your average Egyptian will take photos of a good looking girl in a skirt, if for no other reasons than they haven't seen that many of them over the last two years. To me it's exactly the same as me taking a photo of the donkey pulling a cart. Seems fair.
The real "problem" was that Egypt is fundamentally filthy and a scam. I have been to dozens of countries and I've never been so constantly accosted to buy this and ride that. People are simply in your face all the time and after a week you just want to punch them so they leave you alone. When I'm traveling in a foreign country where I want to learn something specific about the history and/or don't speak the language I always hire a local guide / fixer for the family, whether it's Nicaragua, Colombia, or Cambodia - they help with that, but Egypt sure was something else. Outside of Cairo was the same thing. You then cross to Jordan and it's like you went from Albania to Switzerland. The air quality is something to behold in Cairo, reminded me of what people say about Delhi. On a quad some 500m from the pyramid and you can't see it.
We did have one of these security guys attached to us in Alexandria and he never bothered us. When driving from Cairo to Luxor we got a police escort for a while - I asked if it was because we pose a threat to "them," or because "they" pose a threat to us, and got no answer. Just a fun story. I never felt unsafe, but I constantly felt bothered by the "common people on the street". I felt more at home in Vietnam or Guatemala than in Egypt. There are a few photos that I missed taking and now I'm kicking myself for it, but I'm sure not coming back for them.
|
