Traveling to the Middle East

[Rulle_Kebab]

Cairo is okay for seeing a few of the old areas of town, the Egyptian Museum (which unfortunately is adjacent to Tahrir Square) and the Pyramids (not just Giza), but the air quality, while not thw worst, is still pretty awful. It is also an extremely busy, large and overpopulated city.

The small tourist town of Dahab on the Red Sea is really chill and relaxing though, we found a great restaurant next to our (cheap and slightly rundown but had an excellent, friendly and very helpful manager) hotel-thing, and the nearby Blue Lagoon (iirc) is great for snorkeling.

Luxor was really cool too, the roof of the Morris hotel has an amazing view of the Nile and temples that I'll never forget (and wonderful pool).

Aswan was okay but mostly just because we could see Abu Simbel, load up on gifts and hookahs to take home, and take a felucca down the Nile.

I don't recall seeing many nightclubs or places offering alcoholic beverages in Luxor or Aswan though, in fact I only knew of ONE beer store in Luxor. Also don't stay at Happy Land, the name is deceiving and the management is full of their past good reviews.

Spot on with Dahab. I'm in Dahab every time I go to Egypt(2-3 times a year) and very affordable. The Blue Lagoon is The Blue Hole and yes very nice for snorkeling and diving. But there are many good diving sites in Dahab and its convenient since it is just gearing up and walking out into the water, no need for boats really.

The southern towns are nice and quiet when you are used to Cairo and ther are some nice things to see ofcourse.

Regarding Beer stores, there is more or less a monopoly there. A shop called Drinkies(in the whole of Egypt) thats sells alcoholic beverages. They deliver at some 5 dollar minimum fee and carry both local and foreign brands altho I wont recommend the Local spirits as you never know whats exactly in them. The local beer is nice, mostly Lagers. Best one in my opinion is called Meister Max and is a strong 8% pilsner. All the beers and the monopoly is owned by Heineken.

The egyptian museum is a must if you are into the pharonic stuff for sure and <i would risk going there even tho it is on Tahrir square. The main battle is in the other end of the square(it is pretty big)

For old antiquities there is a big bazaar/market Khan El Khalili, altho a must on the common turist tours and busy(when there is not an ongoing revolution) with turists and big busses, has some nice antique shops if you delve a little deeper inside. There is some really nice architecture in there as well, straight out of 1001 nights.
If you want genuine antiquities you should ahve some good contacts with the government/army/police or even Zahi Hawass himself(whom is widely susppected/known to sell them by the public, hehehe) but will get you a decent amount of time in jail if caught

The old cairo witht he first mosque and the coptic area right next to it is nice to see as well. There is the mausuleum or graveyard part of the city as well which has some magnificent buildings and some very old mosque worth a look. For a dollar or two all mosques and churches are open for you.

Seems you had a nice trip round the country maniacal!

 

[Maniacal]

Spot on with Dahab. I'm in Dahab every time I go to Egypt(2-3 times a year) and very affordable. The Blue Lagoon is The Blue Hole and yes very nice for snorkeling and diving. But there are many good diving sites in Dahab and its convenient since it is just gearing up and walking out into the water, no need for boats really.

Ah yeah Blue Hole is right. There were a number of plastic bags floating in from the tide but overall the reef seemed in good shape but they also yell at anyone who tries to walk on it. Sadly the reef in front of Dahab itself isn't in very good shape.

The food was excellent though, and the service was great at the restaurant we ate most of our meals at (so much so we barely ate elsewhere). Nice large multi-course dinners, good fish, and a nice hookah/shisha to finish it all off while relaxing on cushions watching the sun set and the feral cats mewing for scraps.

Regarding Beer stores, there is more or less a monopoly there. A shop called Drinkies(in the whole of Egypt) thats sells alcoholic beverages. They deliver at some 5 dollar minimum fee and carry both local and foreign brands altho I wont recommend the Local spirits as you never know whats exactly in them. The local beer is nice, mostly Lagers. Best one in my opinion is called Meister Max and is a strong 8% pilsner. All the beers and the monopoly is owned by Heineken.

Yeah there were quite a few knock offs there, Gordoons Gin (wasn't gin), Fineland Vodka (wasn't vodka) and something a friend of mine assumed was rum (we have no idea what it was). I only remember (Egyptian) Stella and Sakara, but I also didn't drink beer and stuck with a brand of 10% coolers the name of which I forget.

The egyptian museum is a must if you are into the pharonic stuff for sure and <i would risk going there even tho it is on Tahrir square. The main battle is in the other end of the square(it is pretty big)

If you can get to it safely I highly recommend it too, also bring water. Always bring water.

For old antiquities there is a big bazaar/market Khan El Khalili, altho a must on the common turist tours and busy(when there is not an ongoing revolution) with turists and big busses, has some nice antique shops if you delve a little deeper inside. There is some really nice architecture in there as well, straight out of 1001 nights.
If you want genuine antiquities you should ahve some good contacts with the government/army/police or even Zahi Hawass himself(whom is widely susppected/known to sell them by the public, hehehe) but will get you a decent amount of time in jail if caught

It is better to stick with replicas, since the better ones are often made in the country (apparently, from what I have been told. Although a lot of the "replicas", nick nacks and "authentic Bedouin silver" are clearly from China). Also stealing the antiquities from the country is wrong.

Seems you had a nice trip round the country maniacal!

For the most part yes, Dahab was amazingly awesome since we had just spent 4 weeks in Jordan as student labourers on an archaeological dig and blasted through Israel/Jerusalem in three nights. We didn't like Cairo, the museum and pyramids were awesome but we couldn't stand the poor air quality and were exhausted from traveling overnight from Dahab and we took the night train down to Luxor (which was pretty awesome except we didn't like the management of the place we stayed at) and then we went to Aswan and Alexandria before flying home.

The historic monuments and ruins, the views of the Nile and Dahab were great. However, the constant haggling for everything, annoying guys selling crap to tourists at the attractions who won't leave you alone and amount of walking around and traveling wore us out and was often frustrating. Still totally worth it.

 

[SouthernKing]

Hola CFCers,

As it turns out, I am traveling to Saudi Arabia this January for business. I used to fly British Airways to Bahrain and then cross the causeway into Saudi Arabia, since all of our business was along the east coast of the country. However, I haven't flown there since the unrest in Bahrain started, and our center has advised us to completely avoid that country. Thus, we will be flying into Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Given budgeting and other constraints, I'm going to be flying on at least one of the Middle Eastern airlines (Royal Jordanian, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, or Etihad). Does anyone in our community know which of these are safe and on-time choices?

From what I have heard from my relatives and people I know using it to fly to and from India, I have heard that Emirates is supposed to be good, but for Saudi Arabia I am not sure, unless you want to fly into Dubai and get something from there.

 

[LordRahl]

[...]
Many people bring their camaras and I think it is safe as long as you are not filming the army & police beating and killing demonstrators.
[...]

I think, I'll pass...

 

[Ramius75]

Cairo is okay for seeing a few of the old areas of town, the Egyptian Museum (which unfortunately is adjacent to Tahrir Square) and the Pyramids (not just Giza), but the air quality, while not thw worst, is still pretty awful. It is also an extremely busy, large and overpopulated city.

The small tourist town of Dahab on the Red Sea is really chill and relaxing though, we found a great restaurant next to our (cheap and slightly rundown but had an excellent, friendly and very helpful manager) hotel-thing, and the nearby Blue Lagoon (iirc) is great for snorkeling.

Luxor was really cool too, the roof of the Morris hotel has an amazing view of the Nile and temples that I'll never forget (and wonderful pool).

Aswan was okay but mostly just because we could see Abu Simbel, load up on gifts and hookahs to take home, and take a felucca down the Nile.

I don't recall seeing many nightclubs or places offering alcoholic beverages in Luxor or Aswan though, in fact I only knew of ONE beer store in Luxor. Also don't stay at Happy Land, the name is deceiving and the management is full of their past good reviews.

Thank you, very informative. really wish i can go to Egypt soon.