Of captivating sights and ugly tourists

Best behaviour: You may not need to walk like an Egyptian when visiting the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, like the writer and her friends here, but it is wise to respect the heritage site. — Photo provided

CAPTIVATING Egypt! That is how I would sum up my trip to the land of the ancient kings, queens, gods and their temples. Travel guide Lonely Planet says Egypt welcomes you with its mighty Nile and magnificent monuments, the beguiling desert and lush delta, and with its long past and welcoming, story-loving people.

That’s about right. Egypt is also one big museum with its national treasures and many more still waiting to be discovered and excavated.

A recent trip to the North African country I took with several schoolmates left us in awe. During the nine-day trip we were often amazed by the breathtaking views, something we had only ever seen on screens and in books before. We saw Egypt by air (hot air balloon ride in Luxor), land (a drive to see the magnificent Abu Simbel Temple and monumental Aswan Dam) and water (cruising along the Nile from Luxor to Aswan).

On arrival in Cairo, our tour guide, Reda, bundled all of us into a van to see the Great Pyramid of Giza. During the drive, Reda shared a story that went viral several years ago, about the indecent act of two foreign tourists at the top of the pyramid. Let’s not get into the details, but the regret was obvious on Reda’s face as he recounted the incident.

A little later, while still enjoying Egypt, we heard about the six Malaysians who broke rules while visiting the Taj Mahal in India when they held up the Jalur Gemilang in the compound of one of the great wonders of the world. They were let off without any penalty after submitting a written apology.

There are always dos and don’ts everywhere you go, even if it’s only visiting someone’s house. What more if it is a visit to a revered tomb or temple.

In today’s world where everything goes viral quickly, we must be mindful of our surroundings. One would expect any foreigner visiting another country to show some respect for the people and local culture.

Visiting another country, seeing the world, enriches our lives and broadens our horizon. But during these travels, we must observe local customs or face the consequences if our actions go against local laws.

Several years ago, a Malaysian businessman with millions of followers on social media related how he was asked to leave a restaurant in Switzerland for bringing his own food: “We went to a restaurant with our own food because it is so hard to find halal food here. We thought of eating there, and probably ordered drinks so that we could eat there. But we were thrown out.

“So we ate by the roadside,” he wrote in a post on his social media account – but instead of getting sympathy, Malaysians were quick to criticise him.

Some people told him off, saying money can’t buy class. One commented that it’s not a good image for Malaysians and his behaviour could be interpreted wrongly by the locals.

Malaysians who behave badly when they are travelling overseas ought to be reprimanded because they bring shame to Malaysia and are insensitive towards the locals.

Malaysians too have every right to be annoyed by delinquent visitors. It seems to me that, somehow, most of the misbehaving tourists caught on camera come from Singapore, probably because they make up the highest number of tourists in Malaysia, and many travel by car, which seems to be factor.

There have been numerous videos on social media of ugly Singaporeans in Malaysia. The percentage may be small and may not be a good reflection of the more than 12 million Singaporeans that visited last year, but there are enough to anger many Malaysians.

There was the Singaporean who was fined RM5,500 by the magistrates court last month after pleading guilty to breaking a car windshield with a golf club in a road rage incident in Johor. There have also been numerous videos of Singapore-registered cars filling their tanks with the government subsidised RON95 petrol when in Malaysia, and a recent one in which a man, presumably Malaysian, recorded a Singaporean couple doing just that and ticked them off. The couple claimed they didn’t know the ruling.

“Not only do they look down on Malaysia and Malaysians, some take advantage of the benefits of subsidies like petrol, and buying controlled items such as sugar, flour, etc,” said a friend who lives down south.

The joke goes that when Singaporeans come to Malaysia, they will start tweeting like a bird as they keep saying “Cheap, cheap, cheap”, with their purchases in their hands. Of course, Malaysians used to do the same in some countries when the ringgit was much stronger.

Sure Malaysia is not perfect in many ways, there are many flaws and inefficiencies, but we are still up there in terms of being a favourite tourist destination.

On that note, my classmates and I have been travelling every year, except during the Covid-19 years, and for this trip to Egypt we could feel the pinch with the ringgit’s depreciation against the US dollar. All right girls, perhaps it is time to do more travelling within Malaysia or we pack our bags for destinations where the ringgit is still strong.