Egypt
- Thread starter Chris
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I was there ~2 years ago, if you're going to do it book a travel company to take you around. It's the one place I've been to where I really didn't feel safe walking around with my wife, and I've been all over the world. We did a Viking cruise up the Nile with 4 days in Cairo, for the Cairo portions one of our guides carried a submachine gun under his sportcoat. Cairo itself is an absolute shithole, one of the dirtiest cities I've ever been in.
It's a shame, because the temples themselves are incredible. I went to both Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, both were very impressive. I'd skip the pyramids, they're honestly a bit underwhelming in person.
It's a shame, because the temples themselves are incredible. I went to both Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, both were very impressive. I'd skip the pyramids, they're honestly a bit underwhelming in person.
If you get a chance take a guided Bedouin tour out into the white desert to camp. Abu Simbel is also pretty awesome. Cairo is definitely a shithole and would not feel safe there especially now.
Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Your girlfriend is an idiot for wanting to go to a country that is 1 gunshot away from civil war. If shes wanting to go to the red sea and see desert(lol) at least go to like jordan or israel.
CaughtCross
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Egypt is not as bad as it looks on TV. Half Egyptian myself and have family over there. 95% of the country is fine right now(aside from being a shitty 3rd world country). A Nile cruise is the best way to see most the sites as a lot of the ancient stuff is spread out in different areas of the country, but its all near the Nile.
Chris
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No we don't paticularily want to see the desert, it's a necessity of getting from the sea at Hurghada to Luxor and see the ruins.
Er isn't Israel in a perpetual civil war and apartheid? At least the state isn't going to murder me in Egypt.
You......may want to do some more research before going abroad. Invest some real time in it, seriously.
While all of the Israel/Palestine stuff is a discussion for another thread, Israel has been under the same government/regime/system since 1948. It is the model of stability in that part of the world. Egypt is currently under a junta and on their regime 3rd in 5 years or something. It's a sad situation, but you honestly have it backwards. There is literally no threat to your life in Israel. If some random Hamas rocket lands on your head, well, you basically hit the lottery of suck. Probably about as likely as getting hit by lightning.
CaughtCross
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Egypt is not that bad, the "3rd regime in 5 years" is just going back to how it was before the revolution. Which really isnt a bad thing, the other alternative is an islamic fundmentalist state with shari law. As a tourist your fine in Egypt. Tourism is a huge part of the economy there. Sometimes terroist attacks on tourist sites happen but it has always been that way since before arab spring. And its a once ever 10 years kinda thing. What you see on the news is basically one part of Cario.
Chris
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Had one too many dead journalists shot dead "by accident" on the news to belive this.
I looked into Egypt and it seems like Sinai (3 dead tourists this year) and Cario are the dangerous place? If anyone can tell me how Luxor is dangerous I'll not go through
Frenzied Wombat
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Jesus the ignorance.. Dude unless you're Palestinian and wearing a bomb vest, you're safer in Tel-Aviv than in most American cities. Intel and other big companies don't station huge R&D facilities in Israel because it's in a "state of perpetual civil war". When I was there walking around shopping, if it wasn't for the Hebrew lettering on signs I could have mistaken it for any American/Canadian/Western European street. You have probably a 1000X times greater chance of getting randomly beaten/killed in Egypt then you will Israel.
McCheese
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Recently I was talking to an Egyptian woman who is studying abroad here in the U.S.A at the moment. We were talking about Egyptian culture and I expressed my interest in visiting the country and seeing the sites, and she vehemently told me not to go to Egypt in its current state.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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I lived there as a kid in the early 90s. It used to be relatively safe, heh. I'd avoid it now though. There's so many other cool places to visit that aren't on the edge of civil war.
This is crazy. If you go to Egypt and don't see the pyramids you're out of your mind.
Oh forgot one thing. Watch your girlfriend's ass in Luxor. A group of boys around 10 years old came up to us while walking down one of the main streets and one of them smacked my wife's ass. I laughed, she did not, lol.
Chris
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Well we survived. The tourist sites in Luxor were not very busy, but amazing. Sunbathing on Red Sea was great and went horseriding in the desert.
The westernised/english speaking egyptians who showed us around were great but the regular locals just stared at us and if they or non english speakers working around the tourists had any contact with us they were very rude and wanted tips for EVERYTHING, we ended up paying UK prices for too many things when you consider what a shithole the country is. Valley of the Kings was not as good as it could have been with pressure for tips from the guys looking after each tomb, we would have bought all our gifts there but didn't buy a single thing since they pressured you so much.
For some reason Hurghada is full of mainly Germans with Russians and some English?
The westernised/english speaking egyptians who showed us around were great but the regular locals just stared at us and if they or non english speakers working around the tourists had any contact with us they were very rude and wanted tips for EVERYTHING, we ended up paying UK prices for too many things when you consider what a shithole the country is. Valley of the Kings was not as good as it could have been with pressure for tips from the guys looking after each tomb, we would have bought all our gifts there but didn't buy a single thing since they pressured you so much.
For some reason Hurghada is full of mainly Germans with Russians and some English?