Comments on: What NOT to do in Egypt

By: Wildeyes2006

Wildeyes2006 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:41:00 +0000

thank you for your reply , i do respect your point of view even if i don’t agree with it .

By: Wildeyes2006

Wildeyes2006 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:41:00 +0000

thank you for your reply , i do respect your point of view even if i don’t agree with it .

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:18:00 +0000

Thanks for your comment. Bear in mind the article is ever so slightly tongue in cheek, though I still stand by everything I’ve written.

To say taxi drivers won’t understand the word ‘atheist’ is a bit patronizing: many drivers speak perfect English / are highly educated. And, I’m afraid I’ve been asked more times than I can remember what my religion is by a driver. Given that it’s a topic I rarely enjoy discussing with strangers, it’s a lot easier to just pigeon-hole yourself as ‘Christian’ (or whatever) and let it go.

I agree that Luxor is unique, and that it’s good to get the ‘correct’ information, whatever that is. But I believe the value guides add is debatable (I was a tour leader here for two years, so I am speaking from experience) – it really depends on how much information the pax really want, how they like to digest that info, and what the guide is like. There are good guides, and less good guides. And to say that just because a guide who has trained for x years tells you something it is right is, well, wrong. The meaning and significance of the sites is open to interpretation, many guides say completely different things about the same places, and many are regurgitating ‘facts’ they learned at college some years before and are not involved in active research. But like you said, everyone has their own taste. Either way, the bike ride is awesome.And, for what it’s worth, I actually really like molokhiya…

By: Wildeyes2006

Wildeyes2006 — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:59:00 +0000

hi , i am an Egyptian tour guide and i want to tell you if you like apples it doesn’t mean that they are great and if you don’t like pizza it means it sucks coz it depend on your own taste ,same thing for molokhya (the green soup) may be your experience with it wasn’t that good coz there was a bad cook used to prepare it for you , and by the way it’s delicious if you got it from a professional restaurant or someone who can really cook!!! plus it’s full of iron and very useful .
secondly: the taxi driver doesn’t know the meaning of word atheist coz he won’t be that fluent in English and the word atheist is a big one for him to understand, plus we do respect and we are tolerant to western culture coz tourism in Egypt is a big industry and we meet people from all over the world and we do understand that not all the people in the world are Muslim , Christian or Jews we do understand that there is( Buddhist , Hindus and even godless.) and also the taxi driver will never ask the tourist what is your religion !!!!thirdly: when you said don’t hire a tour guide to the west bank , i would say that Egypt is not like any other country specially when it come to Luxor coz it got a huge temples and the west bank got some temples and also the valley of the king and any tourist needs to have a detailed corret information about those site and he will never ever get a correct one without being with a professional tour guide who has studied Egyptology for years even those information written in the books they are not always right …. and if the tourst doesn’t want to buy any thing he has to tell his tour guide ” I DON’T WANT TO BUY ANY THING AND I DON’T WANT TO VISIT ANY SHOP ” coz at the end of the day the tourist will write a report about everything during his tour and is reported to the agency that arranges the tour for him, and by the way it is right that the best place to buy Alabaster from is Luxor . so all what i wanted to say is every ones experience is his own experience , and what is a dream for you might be a nightmare for me and the vice versa … everyone got a different taste and that is the contrast of life.

By: Wildeyes2006

Wildeyes2006 — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:59:00 +0000

By: Sally

Sally — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:01:26 +0000

Thanks for amusing read…
One thing however…I don’t consider shisha pipes as a quality souvenir.
Nor a sandy pyramid paper weight

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:36:57 +0000

JF – to generalise, Buddhism is not well understood over here. If you want to get into a potentially frustrating discussion about belief systems, tell people you are Buddhist. Otherwise, stick with Christian. Depends who’s asking, and how up for debate you are ; )

By: JF

JF — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:51:53 +0000

Awesome tips! Thanks for the article Nick. I Will be in Egypt for the first time in October… I wonder what they think about Buddhists – or should I just say I am Christian?

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:56:25 +0000

He he, you were on the same trip as Lola, I take it! I’m jealous…

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:44:09 +0000

Some things you missed, Nick…….DO bike the Red Sea at sunrise, especially Wadi Gemal National Park, DO bike at Mons Claudianus, a Roman quarry above Safaga, DO the jeep and bike safari to Fustat Port Ghalib and Um Hawitat mines, DO bike Safaga – Al Qusayr and visit Sultan Selim’s Fortress…..

DO bike the West Bank of Luxor and go to al Muhareb Monastery en route to Hotel al Moudira for lunch……DO bike from Esna-Luxor along the Nile……DO bike the Western Desert in Aswan to St, Simeon’s Monastery and ride a camel to the Tombs of the Nobles…..DO bike through beautiful Nubian villages on Aswan’s West Bank…….DO take a boat up to Anakato Nubian B and B up the Nile cataracts for lunch

DO all of these with Egypt Bike and Sail ….. http://www.egyptbikeandsail.com – I did in May and had a fabulous time!