Travel to Egypt

The Sphinx The Giza Pyramids Plateau is just 10 Kms from Cairo. The Sphinx is open 8.30am-4.30pm daily and the office can be contacted at +2023838823. The Sphinx was carved out of limestone and is was named so by the Greeks - it has the body of a lion and a head of a woman - one of Egypt’s most fantastic monuments. Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) Cairo, Egypt The Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) is open 8.30am-4.30pm daily and the office can be contacted at +2023838823. It is the oldest and largest of the pyramids on the Giza Plateau. It contains and estimated 2.3 million blocks averaging 2.5 tons. You cannot climb the pyramid anymore, but you can go inside it and look around at the King’s and Queen’s chambers. The Pyramid Sound and Light Show Open these hours: Winter: 6.30 pm, 7.30pm, 8.30 pm daily; summer: 8.30pm, 9.30pm, 10.30pm daily and the office can be contacted at +2023857320. This is an awesome light show of the Sphinx and Pyramids and three times a night there is a story that goes alo

Counting and Numbers 1 wahid, 2 etnein, 3 talata, 4 arba, 5 khumsa, 6 setta, 7 sabba, 8 tamania, 9 tessa, 10 ashra, 11 hidasher, 12 etnasher, 13 talatasher, 14 arbatasher, 15 khamastasher, 16 settasher, 17 sabatasher, 18 tamantasher, 19 tessatasher, 20 eshreen, 21 wahid wa eshreen, 27 sabba wa eshreen, 30 talateen, 40 arbaeen, 50 khumseen, 100 meyya, 125 meyya wa khumsa wa eshreen   Your Basic Greetings and common questions! Hello and welcome - ahlan wa sahlan, answer - ahlan bik! – hello back! Good morning - sabah el kheir Good evening - misae el kheir How are you? - Izzayak/izzayik? I am fine thanks to God – Ana kwaiss/a el hamdulilah See you again, God Willing - a shoufak tani, inshalla Where you from? - enta/enti minein? I am from... - ana min..., what is your name? - ismak/ismik eh? My name is... - ismi..., Goodbye – maasalema Traveler's manners… Yes - aiwa, No - la, Maybe – yimkin, It is possible – mumkin, It is not possible mish mumkin Thanks - shukran, You're welcome

Makan Cultural Centre - Downtown At 1 Saad Zaghool, has live Shows, traditional Sudanese and authentic Zaar nights +20227920878. Cheap, around 20le with great traditional artists. Ferries - Nile Maxim Ferry, Pharonic Princess, Golden Nile, Grand Hyatt Marquis - all have bellydance or folkloric shows and great food! Worth it for a fun night out and shows are not too late! Hotels - Ramses Hilton folk show, Marriot Empress nightclub, Sheraton (Dina sometimes dances there), Parisianna, Grand Marquise Boat, Flamenco Hotel, City Stars Hotels Heliopolis and most summer time schedules in Cairo’s main hotels feature dance shows. The Nubian Village in the Le Meridien has a great show featuring Liza and the orchestra plus a Nubian show afterwards. The food is excellent and plentiful, very affordable. Theatres/Music - Balloon theatre often has folkloric shows, El Ghomhoreyya Theatre, the Sawi Cultural Wheel in Zamalek, Al Azhar Park (an Aga Khan Foundation project for public events and concerts

Jewellery, Cotton clothes, shoes, kaftans - Ramses shopping annexe, Yamama centre Zamalek, Zamalek shops on Mirashli and Gezira el Wosta, Talat Harb square, Tahrir square Downtown, NEW City Stars Heliopolis, Arcadia Market, Dandy Mall Maadi. Egyptian cotton towels, sheets, bathrobes - Omar Efendi store in Mohandisseen, Nefretiti herbs sells beautiful soaps, Egyptian oils and cotton bathrobes and towels from unbleached organic cotton. 26 Gezira el Wosta st, Zamalek. Cottons from Khan el Khalili’s nontourist quarters – Attaba shopping area. Or traditional downtown shops sell cotton and Ramadan tent fabric. Amazing contemporary fabrics   beautiful Islamic and Sufi designs on cotton available in Zamalek, Ahmed Heshmat st (no. 31). Lamps, mother of pearl jewellery boxes, books, trinkets - Khan el Khalili, Talat Harb Squre and Tahrir Square, most hotel galleries. Khan el Khalili bazaar City Stars! Tribal and Berber style jewellery - Nomad, Hilton and Zamalek, African souk at Khan el Kh

Shopping in Egypt is great! You can buy cotton clothes, shoes, costumes, Bedouin rugs, trinkets, Islamic lamps, leather goods, handbags, music cds, henna, spices, apple tobacco, perfume bottles, perfume oils, Arabic music, DVDs, shishas, fabrics, weavings, ramadan tent fabric and so much more! Khan el Khalili is the best place for trinket shopping, but there are fixed price shops around too. Tipping is a way of life in Egypt. It is polite to give 1LE to toilet attendants in hotels, shops and road houses. Porters usually get 10le ($2) for carrying bags to the room. Guides and drivers are also tipped as their wages are low, the easiest way to do this in a group is for each person to give 5le ($1). A small tip goes a long way in Egypt and the people are grateful. It is customary to give a tip of 10% of the bill at a restaurant. It is a good idea to try and keep small change in your wallet at all times for tips. Bargaining is easy! Practice your Arabic, smile, have a joke with the shop o

Jet Lag Busters Arriving early in the morning? Try not to nap, but have a restful day. Arriving in the evening? Rest the first night and try to get to bed by 11pm – not much earlier or later! On a flight that gets inat an awful hour? Straight to bed even if its for a few ours. Wake up at 7am the next day to get set for Cairo time. Peppermint tea, peppermint oil, ginger tea and sunlight are all jetlag busters, so bring some favorite tea bags and relax by the pool! Yoga stretches also help with jetlag. Wear the right shoes! At the Pyramids and Giza and Sakkara, wear closed sports shoes as you will be walking over sand and pebbles. The Bazzar streets are sandy too, so wear good walking shoes. Save the high heels for nightclubs and dinner rendezvous, or buy new in Egypt! At the hotel, or for suburban visits and excursions, sandals are fine. Keep fresh wipes with you Arabic food is often eaten by hand - bread, dips, etc. It's a good idea to carry antiseptic wipes with you and wipe you

Taxi travel From the airport you can get a government taxi for aprox 80 le. At the end of the trip you can give the driver 10-20le tips. When you are using taxis in Cairo, note that taxis pulling up to and waiting for passengers right in front of the hotel are usually more expensive so go to the street outside the hotel to catch a black and white cab. Name your destination. You can fix a price, but if so be prepared to haggle a bit. Or you can jump in and when alighting, simply give the cab money as though you were a local! It is aprox 5 le for a trip in the same suburb, 10le for 2 suburbs, 15 le for 3 suburbs, 20le for a trip of 30 min to 30-40 le an hour respectively. Good Inexpensive Communications - Did you know that your laptop can be very a handy thing in Egypt?

Ahlan wa Sahlan! Welcome to Egypt! Most bellydance enthusiasts want to come to Egypt at some stage – whether it be for the amazing costumes and trinkets,the dance and music or for the ambiance of the country and its people. Egypt has always experienced popularity as a tourist destination for its pyramids and temples, historical monuments and culture; but now with festivals, safe travel and a fresh dance scene, Oriental dance tourism has exploded! For first time visitors or seasoned travelers, there are some helpful tips for a great holiday to Egypt. What to pack Pack light as Egypt has warm to mild weather: 2 pairs trousers/jeans, 3 t-shirts, 2 long sleeved shirts, knee to calf length skirt for ladies or knee length shorts for men, cardigan or lightweight jacket, scarf or pashmina style wrap plus one or two sets of dressy clothes for special events. One good pair of sports shoes, pair of sandals, one pair of dressy shoes, flip-flops for the pool, bathers, sunhat, sunglasses, journa

TRAVELLERS to countries that have low standards of sanitation and hygiene risk getting infectious diseases from contaminated food and drink. Each year about 30 million international passengers develop traveller’s diarrhoea. Prevention is better than cure. The advice that follows is designed to minimise the chance of picking up a serious disease while travelling overseas. What diseases can be caught from food and drink? Diseases that can be contracted from eating and drinking contaminated food and drink include traveller’s diarrhoea, hepatitis A, cholera, typhoid, amoebiasis and giardiasis. Worm infestations such as hookworm and schistosomiasis can also occur. What is traveler's diarrhoea? It is a bowel infection acquired while travelling whereby an organism (bug) causes inflammation of the bowel. It has many colourful labels, such as Bali belly, Gippy tummy, Aztec two-step, Delhi belly, Rangoon trots, Hong Kong dog, Turkey trots, Montezuma’s revenge and tourist trots. It occurs

The following information must be viewed as a guide only. It is not intended, nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Specific recommendations on vaccinations, antimalarial medications & targeted travel health advice are always provided on an individual basis taking into account: • The personal health of the traveller including past medical & vaccination history; • intended activities; • Precise itinerary; • Style of travel; • Type of accommodation; • Time of year; • Altitude; & • Length of stay. As well, some vaccines eg rabies & tuberculosis are very much influenced by local disease risk. Specific face-to-face advice is particularly important when recommending antimalarial medications & those for presumptive treatment eg for travelers diarrhoea. We strongly recommend travelers seek an appointment with a doctor trained in travel health prior to departure. Travellers should undergo individual risk assessments whether they are short term

The Giza Pyramids, built to endure an eternity, have done just that. The monumental tombs are relics of Egypt's Old Kingdom era and were constructed some 4,500 years ago. Egypt's pharaohs expected to become gods in the afterlife. To prepare for the next world they erected temples to the gods and massive pyramid tombs for themselves—filled with all the things each ruler would need to guide and sustain himself in the next world. Pharaoh Khufu began the first Giza pyramid project, circa 2550 B.C. His Great Pyramid is the largest in Giza and towers some 481 feet (147 meters) above the plateau. Its estimated 2.3 million stone blocks each weigh an average of 2.5 to 15 tons. Khufu's son, Pharaoh Khafre, built the second pyramid at Giza, circa 2520 B.C. His necropolis also included the Sphinx, a mysterious limestone monument with the body of a lion and a pharaoh's head. The Sphinx may stand sentinel for the pharaoh's entire tomb complex. The third of the Giza Pyramids i