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Trip to Egypt during Xmas

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MichelleL

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Joined: Nov 03, 2009
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Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 01:49 PM
Post subject: Trip to Egypt during Xmas

Anybody interested to go to Egypt during Xmas Y2009?
I can take holiday from 24th Dec. to 3rd Jan. (Legal holiday + annual leaving) , considering a backpacking tour to Egypt.
My friends or colleagues neither have interest nor match time.
Now trying to recruiting some friends here for trip.

I am a Chinese girl, therefore, prefer female company, better with some backpacking experience.

alixiw

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Joined: June 19, 2009
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Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 03:48 PM

Backpacking in the sand dunes?

MichelleL

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Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 04:19 PM

No...go sighseeing...
Cairo-Aswan-Luxor. If time allowed, Red Sea or Alexandria will also be included.
Tour plan is not ready yet. I need to recruit somebody with me first...

trousers

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Joined: Apr 28, 2009
Posts: 581
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Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 10:26 PM

Ah, the Chinese way of travelling. It must be on a 'tour' and it must be with other people, even if they are complete strangers. Funny.

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fWerrF

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Posted: Nov 04, 2009 - 05:40 AM

went there in '07.
place is a crap hole, even wif best accommodations and such.
be very careful when taking taxi alone if you are a girl.
do one of the river cruise ship if u got couple extra days, its pretty nice, all inclusive.
pyramid itself is overrated.

paulinshanghai

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Joined: Nov 13, 2008
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Posted: Nov 04, 2009 - 07:59 AM

With fWerrF. Its a real disappointment. Travelling around is tough, spending all your time getting harrassed (especially if you are a foreign girl).

Nile cruise was ok though.

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spandex

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Posted: Nov 04, 2009 - 08:15 AM

Exactly ...... whaddaya wanna go THERE for? Spend you money on time on a more worthy destination.

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evawinexpress

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Joined: Dec 30, 2008
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Posted: Nov 07, 2009 - 11:07 AM

that sounds great!
but I 've no time!
If you back from Egypet , show us your nice pic.

alixiw

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Posted: Nov 07, 2009 - 01:59 PM

trousers wrote:

Ah, the Chinese way of travelling. It must be on a 'tour' and it must be with other people, even if they are complete strangers. Funny.

my thoughts exactly.

Nickpao

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Joined: Aug 18, 2009
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Posted: Nov 13, 2009 - 06:25 PM

Went on a tour to Egypt, Jordan, and Dubai at the begging of this year, imo i don't think it is a good idea to go Egypt back-packing.... there are guards there armed machine guns, and i think they are placed there for a purpose beside collecting entrance fee....

Andreas
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Joined: Feb 27, 2004
Posts: 9140
Location: s/v Waratah

Posted: Nov 13, 2009 - 06:32 PM

fWerrF wrote:

Place has gone down the drain. I was in Egypt as a tourist back in the late 1970's, just after the Jom Kippur war. Place was still nice then. You could still climb up the Cheops pyramid on one side. There were touts, but by far not as bad as now (was there for business a few years ago). The Nile cruise is great, and the Egyptian Museum is fantastic.
Luxor and Aswan is worth going, and at least in December you survive the heat.
Cairo itself is a congested and rather dirty big city. Not much going on apart from the earlier mentioned.

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ariannef

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Posted: Nov 13, 2009 - 06:47 PM

I backpacked through Egypt for a month back in 2003. I stayed half the time with family in Alexandria, Cairo and Agami (gated beach resort) and the other half backpacking alone (against the wishes of my family there but they chalked it up to crazy independent Canadian behavior Wink

). Trains are nice though there is a huge difference between first class (seats) that are quoted in Egyptian pounds and Sleepers that are quoted in USD. Egypt has no middle class so expect to either pay over 120USD/night in an international hotel or 3-4$/night in a local place, there is no middle ground. I stayed in the less expensive places - make sure there is AC or you'll roast and bring your own TP - toilets are western style in hotels but no paper offered. Most rooms are doubles with 2 single beds (I found this practical as I pushed 1 bed against the door since the manager actually proposed to me and I was a little afraid of a room invasion...), if you travel with a man I'm not sure you'll be able to get one room for 2 unless you are married.

Expect to be stared at... a lot... especially as a woman... especially unaccompanied by a man... especially as an Asian, but Egypt is very non violent.. they'll just stare... and stare... and stare...

However I must say that if you stick to the tourist destinations - basically the straight line that goes through Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor, Aswan it's really safe - Egypt protects its tourists since it's its livelihood. The only place you cannot visit except through an organised tour is Abu Simbel since it is only 50km off of the Sudanese border - expect a military convoy to accompany the tour bus.

My 2 cents - Egypt is spectacular and magical and well worth a 2-week vacation but I would never, ever, want to live there Smile

frreddie

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Posted: Nov 13, 2009 - 07:58 PM

Quote:

Expect to be stared at... a lot... especially as a woman... especially unaccompanied by a man... especially as an Asian, but Egypt is very non violent.. they'll just stare... and stare... and stare...

Not that much difference from China then.

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ariannef

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 01:34 AM

Lol, not quite the same thing Smile

Here's it's curiosity... there it felt a lot more like judgment and disapproval - quite disconcerting actually :-S

fWerrF

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 11:47 AM

ariannef wrote:

... but Egypt is very non violent.. they'll just stare... and stare... and stare...

Encountered 2 incidents during my trip there.

1) One of the girl in our group, Asian, took a taxi by herself, from somewhere back to hotel at night. Driver took her onto highway, she knew it was not right, confronted driver, driver ignored her and kept driving, she started flipping out, cuz out of the window it was looking quite scary, deserted dark highway with no other cars. She took out her cell and tried to call us, driver reached out from front and struggled with her. She tried to open the door and jump, driver stopped the car and tried to grab her, she got out in time and started running, driver drove off. She called us on her cell, hotel sent a car with security and retrieved her. She was shaken up but unharmed.

2) Another girl, caucasian, was shopping, trying out some belly dancing outfit at a store, she saw flash light and knew someone took picture of her, the shop denied any wrong doing.

Overall, if you want to visit Egypt, which is worth seeing I guess, for a hassle free safe trip, I would not backpack it.

ariannef

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 12:21 PM

I can't comment about the taxi since I'd only taken one or two in Cairo and the rest of the time was driven around or simply walked (Luxor and Aswan are ridiculously small and you can walk from the train station to wherever). However, not taking a taxi alone at night (or going out alone at night for that matter) is a given for me wherever I am travelling, be it France, England, Egypt or Thailand - you're putting yourself in a vulnerable position in a strange environment.

So yeah, for backpacking, especially if you are 1 or 2 women, stick to the daylight hours and save the partying for back home - anyways, a lot of the nightclubs are in the big hotels or they're private members only, this is a predominantly Muslim country. Shisha, or narguile, bars are widespread and you can enjoy a pipe and tea at any time of day Smile

For the picture... all I can say is that China is the only place where I've had a car screech to a stop, a bunch of dudes tumble out holding their cells phones, taking pictures of me and then quickly getting back in the car and driving off... no harm no foul put pretty unnerving. (I get the regular, relatively discreet picture takers on a daily basis but those last guys took the cake).

One last piece of advice - learn your numbers before going there, despite how it sounds, Arabic numbers are not the norm. Also, if you have a student card bring it, there are steep discounts offered. Train stations are easy to navigate and they have a foreigner booth where the guy speaks English, buy your tickets at least 24h before travelling and book your hotel in the 2nd town from the 1st that way they pick you up from the station (always a free service and usually they'll just be walking you to the hotel... it's not a car pickup).

Have fun!

fWerrF

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 01:20 PM

ariannef wrote:

Are you for real??? LOL that's hilarious.
Are you Asian?

ariannef

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 04:25 PM

Do I look Asian? Really? Very Happy

That would definitely be a first for me! I've been told Scandinavian/Northern or Russian/Eastern European, both way out in left field compared to my actual heritage but, to answer precisely: nope, not Asian Wink

fWerrF

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 04:52 PM

ariannef wrote:

Do I look Asian? Really? Very Happy

well from the avatar i would have guessed french canadian Razz

though when you said in egypt expect to be started alot, especially for women, more so for women alone, more so for asian women alone... i thought you were speaking about yourself.

you kinda look like gwen stefani Razz

ariannef

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 05:09 PM

I was extrapolating based on previous experience Wink

As for FrCan, I doubt you got that from the avatar but it's pretty clear from my last few posts rooting for the home team where I'm from Wink

I... must... stop... procrastinating... on ShExpat...!

fWerrF

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 05:36 PM

ariannef wrote:

... As for FrCan, I doubt you got that from the avatar but it's pretty clear from my last few posts rooting for the home team where I'm from Wink

actually i did not know you before this thread, don't recall you saying your origin but maybe i missed it.

i used to go to montreal (live in new york) 3-4 times a year, very fond of the city and french canadian girls, have a friend look alot like your avatar, thus that was my guess. well ok that was my 2nd guess and you said no to northern european. Razz

OZDave

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Posted: Nov 14, 2009 - 06:08 PM

We loved our trip to egypt.

Especially aswan.

I loved the pyramids, karnac (sp?), and the siwa oasis.

A really amazing place, and one of the best holidays ever.