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THE THING ABOUT PALESTINE

By | August 30, 2014 | Pax Islamica, Politics | Comments Off on THE THING ABOUT PALESTINE

By Mahmoud Taji

There are times in one’s life when the official rhetoric no longer satisfies your quest for truth. The overwhelming feeling that you are being duped, tricked, and lied to becomes too insistent to register as merely your day to day paranoia.

As a study of this phenomenon lets take a closer look at the recent “Clashes” between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The word “clashes” in and of itself is misleading. It would give you the impression that these are two armies of equal or near-equal strength deciding to go head to head in a ‘fair’ fight that eventually one of which will emerge as the victor.

Except the Palestinians we are talking about have been under siege in their little 25 mile strip of land by the Israeli government with no Aid, no port, no airport and no permission to go to and from the other part of Palestine, the West Bank. Read more…

ON THE ROAD TO EL QUSEIR II

By | March 20, 2014 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure, Travel Chronicles | Comments Off on ON THE ROAD TO EL QUSEIR II

By El-Qamar
Photography by El-Qamar

In November, my cycling mate and I once again cycled to El Quseir. The trip was quiet, the tail wind helped us once more and we arrived at our goal, again, within just about four hours riding. You can read about our first trip right here.

A shower and a bit of relaxation were in order; the camp a very simple one.

I can’t imagine how divers can endure staying here for prolonged periods of time; the facilities are actually rather basic. The accommodation is made up of simple reed huts covered with palm leafs, and the washrooms are shared, but they do have running water. There also seemed to be a power cut when we were there!. There are huts on the beach as well, and I imagine they must be very romantic for couples in love, spending the night in one of them going to sleep to to the sound of the see… as long as mosquitoes can be kept at bay! The location itself is impressive, and the view of the mountains, the desert and the sea are gorgeous. Read more…

ON THE ROAD TO EL QUSEIR I

By | March 1, 2014 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure, Travel Chronicles | 2 Comments

By El-Qamar
Photography by El-Qamar

Cycling in Egypt has not really kicked in as a recreational activity, even with the rise in some professional cycling shops, it is still something in its infancy. Attempting in the wild and chaotic streets of Cairo and Giza is certainly a challenge best left to the boldest of the bold. But the further you get away from the centre it actually becomes better. Taking it to the next level and doing endurance and long distance cycling is certainly another story, and in on and by itself can be an exhilarating experience.

Recently I was lucky enough and got in touch with a Liechtensteinerin traveller, cyclist, and blogger, who spreads her time between Egypt and Liechtenstein, she will be sharing some of her earlier adventures in Egypt ever then next few guest posts, and hopefully some of her more recent ones when she gets the chance. You can find her bio and links to her German and English blogs right after the post.

Enjoy. Read more…

101 PLACES TO TAKE YOUR FAMILY IN EGYPT: 26–30

By | April 24, 2013 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure | Comments Off on 101 PLACES TO TAKE YOUR FAMILY IN EGYPT: 26–30

By Islam El Shazly and Sue Ryan

This latest edition of 101 Places to Take your Family in Egypt has been a long time in the making. Halfway through working on the content our site was attacked by a massive BotNet that targeted websites running on WordPress, we were one of the unlucky ones, and the site was defaced. Alhamdulillah, the damage was repairable and we managed to get the site back online within a few days, but we were working behind the scenes to secure the website against any further future attacks, and insha’Allah we will do our best to prevent that insha’Allah.

Thank you for your patience… Read more…

SIWA: THE FIELD OF TREES

By | March 17, 2013 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure | 1 Comment

By Susan Ryan

Siwa Oasis is the most westerly of Egypt’s oasis, about 725 km from Cairo, with Libya  just 50 km away. It is worth the trek even if your children usually ask “are we there yet?” after an hour of travelling. Reaching Siwa takes between eight and 10 hours by bus or car from Cairo, but if you break the journey up with stops in Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh you will better appreciate the variety of landscapes you pass through. If you have four days or more for your Siwa trip, it is ideal to have a day in one of those coastal cities before your immersion in desert for the last four hours of travel. Read more…

101 PLACES TO TAKE YOUR FAMILY IN EGYPT: 21–25

By | February 27, 2013 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure | Comments Off on 101 PLACES TO TAKE YOUR FAMILY IN EGYPT: 21–25

By Islam El Shazly and Susan Ryan,

You would be hard pressed to find a tourist in Egypt who hasn’t been to the Pyramids or to Sharm El-Sheikh, but finding the odd tourist who is willing to get off the beaten path and separate from the crowds to discover where the road would take them or what they will find, that’s a totally different matter. Read more…

WEDNESDAY NOSTALGIA: LANTERN SLIDES WEEK XVIII

By | February 20, 2013 | Egypt, Heritage + Conservation, Wednesday Nostalgia | Comments Off on WEDNESDAY NOSTALGIA: LANTERN SLIDES WEEK XVIII

By Islam El Shazly

This week we mark the finale of this series of Wednesday Nostalgia, hopefully we accomplished what we set out to do, which is reconnect the people in Egypt with their past and their heritage. Something that was lost to us for far too long, but now since the thick veil of 60 years of tyranny has been lifted, we are free to dig and find that which has been lost, and relish in the memory of our predecessors and build on it. Read more…

WEDNESDAY NOSTALGIA: LANTERN SLIDES WEEK XVII

By | February 7, 2013 | Egypt, Heritage + Conservation, Wednesday Nostalgia | Comments Off on WEDNESDAY NOSTALGIA: LANTERN SLIDES WEEK XVII

By Islam El Shazly

Tradespeople, craftsmen, artisans, farmers, and people who are handy with their hands and with a tool are all but extinct in Egypt. Same as people who have pride in the work they do, they too are all but extinct. Over the generations, less and less youth became interested in the trades, or in learning a craft, they were misguided into thinking that anything other than being an employee in a company is beneath them. And the ones who end up working in a trade, end up just doing a job, they want it over and done with, so we get sloppy work and shoddy workmanship. Even the clothes they wear are usually unkempt and dirty. Read more…

101 PLACES TO TAKE YOUR FAMILY IN EGYPT: 16–20

By | January 30, 2013 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure | Comments Off on 101 PLACES TO TAKE YOUR FAMILY IN EGYPT: 16–20

By Islam El Shazly and Susan Ryan

Most tourists have a very limited time when vacationing, there’s the time wasted in the travelling itself, and the fact that most people barely get two or three weeks vacation at the most from their work. So they don’t have much of a choice when coming to Egypt, they’re usually stuck with the same uncreative itinerary as most everyone else, and that can lead to an unsatisfactory experience. Or so they are led to believe. Read more…

WEDNESDAY NOSTALGIA: LANTERN SLIDES WEEK XVI

By | January 23, 2013 | Egypt, Heritage + Conservation, Wednesday Nostalgia | Comments Off on WEDNESDAY NOSTALGIA: LANTERN SLIDES WEEK XVI

By Islam El Shazly

Less than 48 hours from now (Wednesday, January 23, 2013) Egypt will mark two years since the Jan25 2011 revolution, and looking at the state of affairs in Egypt it seems that it hasn’t really proceeded any further after the euphoria of the 18 days that toppled Mubarak and his horrid NDP and State Security forces (Amn Dawla).

Then again it all depends on one’s point of view and whether one is a glass-half-full-person or a glass-half-empty-person. Read more…