Cyprus-Forum.com

[Wingnut]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7514567.stm

Believe me, I never saw aanything like it. These guys were all over the place, you could not leave your wife and kids alone because before you know it there would be five guys surrounding them trying to touch them up. We were with Turkish Cypriot friends from the UK, and my friend's wife was seen as fair game as well despite being a muslim. In the end she put on a pair of jeans and a headscarf whenever she left the room to avoid all the pervs.

You want a great holiday, go to the Krabi area of Thailand or to the Phillipines. Perfect places, perfect people.

Egypt is a dump and better left alone

[Gasman]

Even sites like Trip Advisor state that Cairo is worse than anywhere else for this adherence to strictly conservative clothing and even advise not to wear much make-up. There's not much you can do about being blonde and blue eyed and attracting attention unless you are prepared to wear a full body job!

I read recently that 95% of women in Cairo wear the hijab (hair and shoulder covered) or burka (full body covered except the eyes... some have the eyes covered as well). Egypt is a strongly conversative Islamic country. Some guidebooks say that in Egypt western women are basically viewed as being on the same level as prostitutes.

My daughter commented that it seemed rather odd, given all the above, that there were belly dancers performing at most night time venues and boat trips and cruises.

The one we saw on our Nile Trip had the livid red weepy scars from a very recent boob job clearly showing under her tasselled bra top - oh yuk!

I did enjoy the whirling dervishes performing. Struggling to think of anything else I enjoyed about it! The Sphinx and pyramids were a great disappointment, turning out to be directly opposite the scruffy Cairo KFC and closed to the public after about 4pm so they could charge entrance to the tacky 'Omar Sharif Pyramid Light Show' in the evenings. My daughter's eternal memory of it is of the guide that took us around Cairo yelling at her 'Jenny!! Get BACK ON THE BUS!!' every time she stepped more than two paces away from him lol!

We escaped from him eventually, declining the 'light show' he was mortified! Shouting 'how will you get back to the hotel?' I assured him we would be OK and would get a taxi back there and stay inside the nice hotel and have a nice meal and a few drinks.

However, he INSISTED on coming in the taxi with us - he was a young Egyptian with a degree in archeology (that he never stopped talking about) and seemed to be more aware and nervy than we were ourselves about 'western women' being around and about Cairo on their own.

We made a good decision. Had a good meal in the nice hotel on the banks of the Nile, had a bottle of bubbly sent up to the room later and VOWED never to return to Cairo but to send any of our enemies there if they asked where they should go for a holiday!

[Gasman]

The Sphinx and Pyramids are just metres away on the right in this photograph. You can just see some of the sign outside with the sphinx on it.




The litter in the streets stopped us feeling too homesick for Cyprus!

[Gasman]

Here's the other side of the coin. Such a contrast between the rich and the poor. This is a tiny part of a huge mall - the one with more security on the entrance than we saw at the airport. And almost as many security staff walking about inside as there were 'customers'.

[EricSeans]

Yes the Police presence is startling. In the centre of Cairo there are sentry hut things on the four corners of every crossroads. They have city police, traffic police, tourist police.

And the security on the entrance to the hotel and the super swish shopping mall was higher than that at the airport! Send your bag in through the metal detector first and every time you stepped in or out you had to go through it all again.

I didn't see a single female resident who was not covered from head to foot - but I noticed in the 'posher' bits that they would be wearing really expensive designer dresses over the top of long sleeved, high necked t-shirts and leggings and their veils were clipped with brooches studded with diamonds and other precious gems with the latest state of the art mobiles tucked into one side!

One of the UN workers from Cyprus here that I was with on our trip was not allowed inside one of the mosques to have a look because her trousers did not come right down to the ground.

We were well advised to cover up completely - told that, as tourists, no one can insist on dress code but if you didn't have shoulders and legs covered you would attract a lot of unwelcome attention, some would even see it as an insult etc. We wore jeans, trainers and high necked long sleeve tops everywhere but inside our hotel. Even then the amount of (unwanted) attention every time we stepped outside the hotel was a pain. The police would start moving towards the blokes but it didn't stop them approaching to start with.

We did not feel relaxed anywhere outside the hotel, or away from the small group we were with (6 of us).

I've travelled a lot of the globe and a lot of it on my own, but never felt as uncomfortable as I did in Cairo last year with my daughter. She NEVER wants to go there again.

Sounds similar to what you'd expect in Morocco when you step off the boat in Tangier and get surrounded by hustlers if you attempt to walk about on your own. Don't think I'd do it these days...

Quite right Eric, that was our experience back in the late '70s when visited Morocco. Think spent a few weeks there one Summer and yes that was often our experience, but we were young and we coped and joked about it.
Say think we visited Morocco, memories are a bit hazy for the usual reasons.

Got very hazy for me in a carpet shop after a couple of puffs too many. Do they expect you to buy when you're off yer face?

[EricSeans]

Alkor said:

Is this common all over Egypt, even in the holiday resorts?

I have a relative who visited Sharm el Sheikh a couple of years ago and, apart from being hustled by taxi drivers/guides, no - what they told me of their experience was totally different to what I experienced in Cairo.

I was warned before I went so I knew what to expect. I was still shocked/surprised.

But it did give me the best laugh I had last year - to meet beggars who 'don't take coins' lol! 2 euro coins not welcome - minimum 5 euro note spend with the beggars there!

The people carrier we were in moved slowly because of the AWFUL traffic - the beggars ran alongside putting their arms in the open windows.

(Mind you everything they were selling was a lot cheaper than in the shops!)

Lots of hotels there do not serve alcohol at all now. And those that do charge a bomb for it.

I was supposed to be going to Egypt by Hercules as a reservist but couldn't make the flight because of civvy job. Ended up going Air France next to the French ambassador to Cairo and arrived half-cut thanks to free champers. Better than a C-130! Of course no driver waiting for me so wandered around alone with big green military bergan on my back like a walking target. Local check-in guys introduced me to their Coptic Christian workmate and promised he'd look after me. Eventually a bloke in a people carrier offered to take me to the nearest military base for $6.

Got a bit worried as we headed deeper and deeper into the desert but ended up at some Egyptian army base where my J&B blunder nearly caused probs. Soon a US army jeep arrived but I got a "Sorry, sir, I was expecting an American." Two hours later, just as the young lads with AK47s where taking an interest in my rucksac, an RAF corporal arrived and took me to a transit camp where I crashed under canvas at the same base my old man had been at in WW2. Then it was two weeks of sweaty hell in Mubarak Military City borrowing stuff from the Yanks cos none of ours worked followed by R&R doing the tours in Alexandria and Cairo - staying at the Sheraton instead of a tent - then home. And that was my introduction to Egypt!

[boomerang]

EU voices concern over Egyptian blogger's death

Egyptian youths demonstrate in the heart of Cairo against the killing of alleged torture victim Khaled … Mon Jun 28, 6:09 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – The European Union on Monday expressed concern over the death of a 28-year-old man allegedly killed at the hands of Egyptian police, and called for an impartial inquiry into the matter.

"The EU Heads of Mission express their concern about the circumstances of the death of Khaled Said in Alexandria on 6 June," European ambassadors based in Cairo said in a joint statement.

According to witnesses, Said was killed when plainclothes policemen dragged him out of an Internet cafe and beat him to death on a busy Alexandria street.

Egypt's interior ministry said he had died from asphyxiation after swallowing a bag of narcotics when approached by officers.

Rights groups have rejected the official account, and Said has since become a symbol for rights activists against police brutality, for which Egypt has been criticised at home and abroad.

Following demands from Said's relatives and rights groups, Egypt's public prosecutor had ordered a second autopsy, after which he confirmed earlier police claims that Said had died after swallowing the drugs.

The European ambassadors said "they take note of the results of the second autopsy as well as of the conflicting accounts of witnesses and statements of the family of Mr Said and of human rights organisations which differ with the conclusions of the second autopsy."

"In view of these discrepancies, EU Heads of Mission welcome the declared readiness of the Egyptian authorities to conduct a judicial inquiry into this death and look forward to the inquiry being conducted impartially, transparently and swiftly in a way that will credibly resolve the discrepancies," they said.

"EU Heads of Mission are confident that the Egyptian authorities will investigate allegations of abuse by police effectively and prosecute offenders," they said.

Disturbing images of Said's battered and bruised face have appeared on social networking websites, sparking public outcry and condemnation from local and international rights groups.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100628/wl_mideast_afp/egyptpolicerightsinternet

what an asshole...

[Gasman]

Eric your experience makes mine sound quite pleasant! I've got some great photos of the impoverished beggars around the pyramids - their kids all togged out in designer clothing from head to foot!

My daughter goes NUTS at me giving them all money. But I say to her that the REAL crooks are the ones selling a small bottle of water in the cafes for 7 euros! The small bottles of oils for about 60 quid and the 'genuine' papyrus stuff.