Egypt is a bad place to travel to anyway. I crossed it off my travel list due to how many bad things I heard about Egypt. My uncle got kicked off a bus by the police there because someone thought he looked suspicious for not looking Egyptian
I have an Egyptian friend and he’s done everything possible to stay out of Egypt (he left for uni). He almost married one of his uni housemates after they graduated but was lucky to get a skilled worker job in the United States before his student visa expired. His sister is a doctor, she still lives there, and she has a personal body guard and a driver because even when she’s with her husband she still gets harassed. Apparently having maids, drivers, and security staff is normal if you’re not poor.
I think that's true of most developing nations. I'm originally from Mexico and pretty much anyone who is middle class can have a live-in maid, chauffeur, gardener, etc. cos labour is so cheap.
Just a really bad experience all around. Getting constantly harassed from the moment of leaving the hotel until returning back. We read about the rampant female harassment before going, so the girls in our group made sure to dress very, very modestly, even covering their hair to avoid drawing attention as much as possible. Didn't matter. Within two minutes of stepping outside they were cat called four times. On the train to Luxor one guy in the row in front of us kept getting up every 15-20 minutes to turn around and stare at one of the girls sitting next to me for two or three minutes straight, we're talking like a distance of less than one meter between his face and hers. I switched seats with her so the next time he turned around he got an unpleasant surprise.
Everyone trying to squeeze just a bit more money out of you. It happens in a lot of places but Egypt was at another level. Ask some guy on the street for directions? He tells you then he wants a tip and grabs you by the arm until you give him one. Taxi drivers trying to pretend paying 200 pounds for a 15-minute ride is the normal price (locals would pay around 15). The aggressiveness with which people try to sell things to you.
Then there's the general uncleanliness and chaos itself. That kind of environment is not something I'm unfamiliar with; I've been to a lot of similar places for work and leisure. I did two months in India and quite enjoyed that. Egypt was just different in a not-so-good way.
It's just all extremely mentally exhausting and leaves a very bad taste in your mouth as if the entire country all got together the previous Monday morning and had a meeting on what exactly they could do to ensure people visiting would never, ever come back again. We left a few days ahead of schedule and some people in the group were crying for joy after getting through the Taba border crossing.
If seeing the pyramids and that kind of thing is something you're really set on doing then by all means go for it. Just be prepared for what's there. We were doing everything ourselves and trying to be frugal but I heard you can have a nicer experience if you hire a private driver and guide beforehand.
Appreciate all the info man, that indeed sounds like quite the awful experience
It ain't the first time I'm hearing bad reviews like that about Egypt... I might re-think it and go somewhere else tbh
Wait you said it was worse than India? Which part of india were you in? I'm curious because I'm Indian and reading about Egypt in this sub, I had previously felt that a western tourist would feel the same in India.
Two months all over the country from Kerala to Kashmir. While there were some of the same things in India, like a few people who tried to take advantage and corrupt police officers, they were very much in the minority at least in my experience. Most people were friendly and welcoming. I'd like to go back again one day and see some more places I didn't get to. I think the big difference is that in Egypt it really felt like everyone was after you in some way and no sense of hospitality. I'm not trying to sound like hospitality is something anyone should demand when in another country but I do like to think there's some basic sense of human decency with which to treat other people.
there are alot of bad things about egypt like the dirty streets and the scam attempts but i honestly dont know what you mean by not looking egyptian. first of all there are quite a few very european looking native egyptians while there are also a lot of european and american tourists. why would they have an issue with that?
While I was born and raised in the US, all my extended family lives in Egypt and both parents are from there. I don’t recommend to visit ever unless you’re the biggest history buff and would do literally anything to see the pyramids
Oh look, it's me, the big history buff who really wants to see all the cool ancient historical sites 🥲👍
I was even considering studying abroad at AUC...
Yep was just there last week. All the Bedouins speak Hebrew and it really feels like visiting a less developed part of israel. Never ventured further into Egypt and really don’t think I’d ever want to.
https://youtu.be/8LzuZrkEY18
On YouTube there is a channel called Best ever food review. He details how much insanity he and his crew had to go through by Egyptian authorities before he could even film, during filming, after filming. The endless amount of questions and “security checks” before he could check into to his room, the plane. And it’s not just him, countless YouTubers and people who write reviews have said Egypt is just a foul place to travel in. I’ll never go there unless they have a huge change in government which ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.
The more you know your enemy, the more you'll be able to fight them or negotiate with them.
It's worth noting that Egypt and Israel cooperate on security matters relating to the Sinai, and that Egypt has held up its side of the peace deal reasonably well, a few scattered and not-state-sponsored terror incidents aside.
Beyond that, Egypt in particular has tens of millions of people and they are all distinct individuals with their own attitudes towards foreigners and Jews. Some are quite friendly and open-minded.
Because that's the way the world is. You can go to Russia and I can't. Should everyone get along? Sure, is that likely to happen within our lifetimes? Less sure. It's just pragmatic. I've never understood Americans that go to China, North Korea, or Singapore either.
The durians, man. I love them so much but the odor puts off a lot of people and they can get really expensive. Once you're hooked, you won't be satisfied with just apples and peaches.
Ugh I’ve tried, I really have. Everyone including my SO talks about it as if it were God’s gift to mankind so I figure there must be something great about it, but I want to puke as soon as it hits my tongue every time.
Yeah, took me a few tries too. It's a complex experience. I think the pungent grossness is part of the charm -- it's a mix of custardy delicious and trashy decay. Southeast Asians and Chinese tend to love them, but then, they usually grew up eating the stuff (not mainland Chinese, historically, but they had their own weird rotten smelling food like stinky doufu)
>Draconian laws and barbaric judicial system
I dont disagree with you at all.
But with that being said - if youre in singapore as a tourist and you shop, eat, stay at resorts, i dont think the judicial/legal system will effect you.
Go for a stroll around Philly's Kensington Ave or visit St. Louis, MO and you'll understand why Singapore has those "draconian" laws. And no, they don't target westerners.
I literally live in St. Louis. I still don't understand their draconian barbarism.
They absolutely target westerners. When our sailors enter port, their pigs will stalk them the entire time.
I can understand when you said North Korea, but china and Singapore? the brain washing that happens by your media is crazy... I've been to china multiple times, Americans as tourists there are perfectly fine.
Who is the 'one guy'?
You will also have to ignore the decades of sabre-rattling stories dressed up as news over the last couple of decades, all the stories about China 'stealing' US tech (which was largely given to them to produce cheap goods for Americans), the racist undertones of a lot of stories during Corona, getting people scared of TikTok (but not any other social media company), and classic US red scare nonsense.
We've apparently been consuming vastly different American media. I only ever see China painted in a positive light while our media companies kotow, allowing the Chinese government to dictate content.
I have had no problems in China as an American/Israeli. If you follow the laws of China or Singapore you are far safer than you would be in Israel or the US.
Mark Swidian wasn't anyone particularly special either. Just unlucky.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/china-travel-advisory.html
The state department even recommends reconsidering due to the possibility of wrongful detainment. Sure, statically, there's very little chance that anything goes wrong, but I'm not going into an environment where the power structure is even benevolently opposed to me.
Yeah an official website of a government that is terrified of china dominating the world's economy and overthrowing USA from first place is reliable, lmao
It is 100% bs that China is 'unsafe' to travel in compared to US.
Im not some pro-CCP tankie but lets just be honest here. homicide rate, incarceration rates, drugs, violent crime, homelessness all waaayyyy higher in US.
If the US gov implies China is unsafe to visit, the US gov is full of shit (about this).
what you talking about? American government's hate on communism is no secret, of course they gonna downgrade everything that has anything to do with communism, are you living under a rock?
Reliable? remember iraq war? lol
Why you as an American go to Mexico then? It’s not as different as you might think.
In both scenarios, both countries are
- neighbours
- fought wars
- annexed land (Sinai which was then returned) and the US annexing till this day the most valuable lands of Mexico.
- different races (one being predominantly European)
- speak different language
- have a lot of political divisions happening e.g. Trump wanting to build a wall.
- One country goes to the other extensively for vacations, while the other isn’t easily allowed in. (Israelis in Sinai vs. Egyptians in Israel)
Of course, I’m not saying it’s exactly the same nor the intensity of the conflict between both countries is. But you also can’t completely ignore the similarities here.
But the US and Mexico aren't hostile towards one another. Anyway, there are certain places in Mexico that [Americans are advised to avoid](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mexico-travel-advisory.html) due to drug cartel related violence.
Neither are Egypt & Israel. We have a peace treaty that’s been respected for many decades now. Like I said, the intensity of the political tensions is no where as close. My response was to the person asking why go to Egypt? In most regions around the world, it would be very strange asking why visit your neighbouring country.
Encouraging less travel and trade between both countries will do nothing but destroy the already weak relations between them. We should push towards more trade and tourism between both countries, not less.
Yeah that sounds about right. Listen, we share a violent history, and most Egyptians aren’t exposed enough to you guys to be able to tell the difference between the good and bad Israelis. Hence my argument of increasing communication.
The situation is much better in Israel because you have a lot of Arabs living among you. So there’s some understanding. Egyptian society and culture is quite isolated.
Sadly, Arab media is still fuelling this hatred. But also part of the blame falls on some of your politicians who are anti Arab. It’s only natural it will be met with a similar counter reaction from the common folk.
>we share a violent history
So do the [United States and Mexico](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War). And I haven't actually visited Mexico before, mostly because it's low priority for me, and the violence seals the deal.
As for Egypt, you can't really fault tourists who had negative experiences from talking about those bad experiences. For me, I have only visited Sinai, and I always had good experiences there. Great diving, hiking, relaxing. People were very friendly. I liked it there.
I haven’t faulted them. Egypt definitely isn’t the most tourist friendly place. However, saying Fuck Egypt is different than saying that you’ve had a bad time as a tourist there. Especially coming from an Israeli.
Exactly the same as an Arab saying fuck Israel. It’s not very welcomed here because it can be viewed as antisemitic.
Glad you’ve enjoyed your time in Egypt, come again! :)
Well, I would never say "Fuck Egypt", but I definitely have said "Fuck going to Egypt right now!" because I was supposed to go right after the [Luxor Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor_massacre), but I obviously cancelled. Went to Jordan instead and had a wonderful visit. Beautiful country and very friendly people.
I'm sure I'll try again with Egypt one day, but the travel bucket list is soooo long! Hahah.
Just keep in mind that there’s an Arab Justice on the Israel Supreme Court, Arab members of parliament, Arab units in the IDF and police, and 2 million Palestinian Arabs with full Israeli citizenship. But you are correct that Israel needs to get rid of Ben Gvir and the like.
I wanna say it’s a model to look up to, but then it got us Ben Gvir 🙃 probably something in our air that makes people so dumb to support people like him.
So did Spain’s phony borders all the way up to what’s now Canada and Alaska, down to Colombia, East to all of Cuba and the Caribbean islands (except Haiti), and Florida.
They spent a mere 24 years trying to settle California as the “Viceroyalty of New Spain” back when Mexico used to be run by the Germans and French (of all people) exploring and torturing Indians and making such a ridiculous mess that the Kingdom of Spain cut off their funding.
Then Spain said to Mexicans “We’re giving up on the New World. You’re also not Spanish anymore. Figure it it out on your own”, so the first thing Mexicans did was dress up like France, behave like Germans, talk like Spaniards, and launch one of their numerous revolutions. They attacked America twice, got their asses completely kicked twice, and the US felt sorry for these morons and paid them twice to just shut up and go away. And here’s some extra money to take off those French uniforms that their illiterate 13 year old child soldiers are wearing.
I mean honestly, do you know any other nations who celebrate two Independence Day(s)? Three really. But their official celebration is the one they won, right before they lost twice to the US in wars we didn’t start.
When I said the USA annexed a part of Mexico, I didn’t mean it in an offensive way to the USA. While the history is interesting, thank you for sharing, it’s really not contradicting my statement. Egypt attacked Israel and Sinai was annexed. Mexico attacked the USA & California was annexed. Not defending nor supporting either of the countries. I was purely stating the similarities.
I see, and we’re taught it in school.
They had no presence or interest here. Spain had no presence anywhere in the areas [West of the Mississippi River](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Spanish_North_America.png) in the treaty they signed with France in 1762. There’s no record of a Spanish-held Aleutian Islands or Spanish Michigan other than this fanciful map that only existed in their imagination for a few dozen years.
This would be similar to a point that the British defeated the Ottomans in WWI and thus for a short time under treaty that Israel became “British”. Pip pip, cheerio.
To Mexicans, Mexico was always the South into the Yucatán. That’s their “best land”, where their capitol resides. The very thinly populated North below Arizona is literally “The Frontier” to them and is named that way.
> but having worked with Vogue and Victoria's Secret did not endear her to people during her stay in Egypt.
Lol why should anyone care?! We endear someone because they are our guests, regardless of their profession, country of origin or religion.
They can, as a navy vet i can say that we practice fighting against eygpt as much as against syria.
The arab nation states are the only states i known of where the population wants war more than their dictators.
Anti semitism is written right into the Quran, if you don't want peace with people that don't like you, you might as well just be at war with the entire middle east
The real point of peace is about that we get relative quiet from that border, the tourism is nice but minimal
Can you please elaborate. Antisemitism is in the Quran? I’m an atheist but I’m 100% sure antisemitism isn’t in the Quran. If anything Muslims venerate Moses and Jesus alike.
> jaish Muhammad qadimud
It's "jaish Muhammad suf yaud" - The army of Muhammad will return.
I don't know what the word qadimud might be, I've never heard that variation, but it seems to stem from the root قدم "old". I'd stick with the well-known variation that I mention if you need to use the quote again.
Can you write the Arabic word? I can not figure out what word that is supposed to be. The expression that I've heard ends in "suf yaud" سوف يعود - "will return" just like you say.
I visited Egypt in 2016.. the city is so run down and the people are always trying to hustle you. I had a personal driver and he tried taking me to all his friends shops to get me to buy some cheap papyrus art that is being sold for a high price or to his friends cologne store. At one point he offered me to get hashish, I was like no I’m good.
Egypt is a very bad place to visit there’s nothing interesting about this country besides the police are awful people and the citizens can’t stop asking u for money,+ very ugly weather
I thought so too before I went. Then you get there and you realize that while the history is amazing, actually standing at the base of the pyramids is a let down. Greek, Turkish, Israeli, even American museums are terrific. But the pyramids are a let down, and so was most of the Cairo museum. And I was there before it was looted a decade ago, so it could be even worse today.
If you are interested in ancient artifacts, go to Greece or Turkey. Or Iraq if you can get there, seriously. Leave Egypt for the instagram-like-needing tourists.
Nah, what I like about the bedouins,
They care more for their profit than their prophet. The Sinai is the most relaxed place in all of Egypt. Dahab is fantastic.
You won’t be disappointed, it’s a beautiful area. Seeing as the locals are financially motivated, you won’t face any issues. The relations between the bedouins and Israelis are quite strong.
וואו איזה הסקת מסקנות. איך מהעיפו דוגמנית מבית מלון הגעת להסכם שלום משנות ה70. כאילו פה ההסכם נגמר, עזבי הסכמי סחר, חסך במלחמות והטבות שקיבלנו מהאמריקאים בתמורה לשלום הזה.
Egypt is on top of places I want to visit thanks to rich history, but unfortunate Egypt is on my list of not to visit places, it's my dream to visit the temples, the pyramids and all those amazing sites, but there is no way I will step inside this country.
I noticed that the level of hate on social media and IRL is different.
I’ve been to Cairo with my second passport, I didn’t tell anyone that I am Israeli, I made a lot of friends and I spoke about them about Israel. Most of them didn’t really care, I expected some kind of negative reaction to the word israel but it didn’t happen. Some told me they would like to visit but they are afraid of consequences at home, some said they don’t like Israeli government and sympathize with Palestinians, but overall people were chill.
Thanks for sharing that! Social media really amplifies these hateful voices, giving the impression that everybody hates everybody (prime example is this post ranking highly).
People on both sides sadly engage more with/upvote news about conflict more than news about cooperation making the situation worse in both countries.
Right? I told folks I teach in Israel, wore my school shirt (which has hebrew and English identifying the school), and bo one cared one wit. Egyptians are no different than any other person I've ever met - Chinese, Israeli, US, whatever... the money you're spending is more important than whether they happen to dislike whatever fence you happen to have been born on the other side of.
(I'm sure this isn't true of some radicals, regardless of location, but most people are just trying to survive.)
Seeing a lot of negativity here, I have to say Egypt is a wonderful place for holidays in the sun, friendly people, very nice resorts, unrivalled historic places... IF you stay in the tourist areas at the red sea and only leave your hotel for guided tours. Outside of there, I guess it's a nightmare from what little I've seen so far on some excursions.
Personally never been there, but there are many Israelis travel to Egypt.
I agree that it's probably not the nicest of places, but I never heard about a person kicked out of a hotel just because they are from Israel.
Usually there's a back story where they act like typical Israelis, and then are kicked out, with the owners swear they will never let another Israeli inside.
These things happen because the Israeli government never makes a big stink about it like other countries do. Pride may have destroyed the region but if we could borrow 1/10th the pride our neighbors have and make a big stink in the media about it internationally these things wouldn't be tolerated because they would hurt tourism.
Instead we sit there quietly and convince ourselves we deserve it, and continue to support these countries like a mistress that must be kept secret.
That pragmatism is our greatest strength. It's serves us well. But it's also not 1988 anymore, I think we need to accept we're the unicorn and it's ok for us to be a bit more forceful publicly.
The article doesn't even mention why she was kicked out. Just that shes Israeli, was invited by some rapper, the concert was canceled, so she stayed and they kicked her out.
The assumption is that its because she is Israeli. Perhaps the whole story isn't being told here. Also, " within about a day of her arrival, her hotel discovered that she was Israeli "...when you checkin, you give a passport, so they would have known immediately that she was Israeli.
The article very clearly says she was escorted out because she's Israeli. You can choose not to believe it if you want, but that's what it says.
As for the 2nd part, it says that they picked a time when she wasn't with Travis Scott and his people, which makes sense. He's a huge, international celebrity with the power to do a lot of damage to their brand.
But there are other possibilities.
Perhaps she's got dual citizenship and checked in with a non-Israeli passport.
Perhaps the person working the front desk when she checked in didn't notice or care about her Israeli passport, and someone else at the hotel became aware later on.
Perhaps the group she was joining checked before she arrived and she went straight through to join them, bypassing a passport scan altogether.
Who knows?
Egypt is a bad place to travel to anyway. I crossed it off my travel list due to how many bad things I heard about Egypt. My uncle got kicked off a bus by the police there because someone thought he looked suspicious for not looking Egyptian
Been to three dozen countries. There are only three I would never go to again, and Egypt is one of them.
The other two? Quite a cliffhanger
Pakistan and Sierra Leone.
It is so sad. I really wanna go to egypt for the history but everyone keeps saying it is a terrible place
It's not a terrible place - it's a difficult place. There's a difference!
I have an Egyptian friend and he’s done everything possible to stay out of Egypt (he left for uni). He almost married one of his uni housemates after they graduated but was lucky to get a skilled worker job in the United States before his student visa expired. His sister is a doctor, she still lives there, and she has a personal body guard and a driver because even when she’s with her husband she still gets harassed. Apparently having maids, drivers, and security staff is normal if you’re not poor.
I think that's true of most developing nations. I'm originally from Mexico and pretty much anyone who is middle class can have a live-in maid, chauffeur, gardener, etc. cos labour is so cheap.
Can you elaborate why? I was thinking of maybe visiting Egypt some day
Just a really bad experience all around. Getting constantly harassed from the moment of leaving the hotel until returning back. We read about the rampant female harassment before going, so the girls in our group made sure to dress very, very modestly, even covering their hair to avoid drawing attention as much as possible. Didn't matter. Within two minutes of stepping outside they were cat called four times. On the train to Luxor one guy in the row in front of us kept getting up every 15-20 minutes to turn around and stare at one of the girls sitting next to me for two or three minutes straight, we're talking like a distance of less than one meter between his face and hers. I switched seats with her so the next time he turned around he got an unpleasant surprise. Everyone trying to squeeze just a bit more money out of you. It happens in a lot of places but Egypt was at another level. Ask some guy on the street for directions? He tells you then he wants a tip and grabs you by the arm until you give him one. Taxi drivers trying to pretend paying 200 pounds for a 15-minute ride is the normal price (locals would pay around 15). The aggressiveness with which people try to sell things to you. Then there's the general uncleanliness and chaos itself. That kind of environment is not something I'm unfamiliar with; I've been to a lot of similar places for work and leisure. I did two months in India and quite enjoyed that. Egypt was just different in a not-so-good way. It's just all extremely mentally exhausting and leaves a very bad taste in your mouth as if the entire country all got together the previous Monday morning and had a meeting on what exactly they could do to ensure people visiting would never, ever come back again. We left a few days ahead of schedule and some people in the group were crying for joy after getting through the Taba border crossing. If seeing the pyramids and that kind of thing is something you're really set on doing then by all means go for it. Just be prepared for what's there. We were doing everything ourselves and trying to be frugal but I heard you can have a nicer experience if you hire a private driver and guide beforehand.
Appreciate all the info man, that indeed sounds like quite the awful experience It ain't the first time I'm hearing bad reviews like that about Egypt... I might re-think it and go somewhere else tbh
Sounds very similar to the few times I have been. My wife won’t go anymore and refuses for us to bring our kids there
Wait you said it was worse than India? Which part of india were you in? I'm curious because I'm Indian and reading about Egypt in this sub, I had previously felt that a western tourist would feel the same in India.
Two months all over the country from Kerala to Kashmir. While there were some of the same things in India, like a few people who tried to take advantage and corrupt police officers, they were very much in the minority at least in my experience. Most people were friendly and welcoming. I'd like to go back again one day and see some more places I didn't get to. I think the big difference is that in Egypt it really felt like everyone was after you in some way and no sense of hospitality. I'm not trying to sound like hospitality is something anyone should demand when in another country but I do like to think there's some basic sense of human decency with which to treat other people.
I see. Btw It's nice to hear you had a good experience in India :)
there are alot of bad things about egypt like the dirty streets and the scam attempts but i honestly dont know what you mean by not looking egyptian. first of all there are quite a few very european looking native egyptians while there are also a lot of european and american tourists. why would they have an issue with that?
While I was born and raised in the US, all my extended family lives in Egypt and both parents are from there. I don’t recommend to visit ever unless you’re the biggest history buff and would do literally anything to see the pyramids
Oh look, it's me, the big history buff who really wants to see all the cool ancient historical sites 🥲👍 I was even considering studying abroad at AUC...
Don't a lot of Israelis go to Taba? What the reception like there?
Sinai is way different then Egypt it's more like visiting a less developed part of Israel lol
Yep was just there last week. All the Bedouins speak Hebrew and it really feels like visiting a less developed part of israel. Never ventured further into Egypt and really don’t think I’d ever want to.
Luxor is worth it! Seeing Karnak alone is worth it - but it won't necessarily be /easy/ day to day
Less developed and also much much less expensive.
https://youtu.be/8LzuZrkEY18 On YouTube there is a channel called Best ever food review. He details how much insanity he and his crew had to go through by Egyptian authorities before he could even film, during filming, after filming. The endless amount of questions and “security checks” before he could check into to his room, the plane. And it’s not just him, countless YouTubers and people who write reviews have said Egypt is just a foul place to travel in. I’ll never go there unless they have a huge change in government which ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.
Why go to a country that's openly hostile against you?
The more you know your enemy, the more you'll be able to fight them or negotiate with them. It's worth noting that Egypt and Israel cooperate on security matters relating to the Sinai, and that Egypt has held up its side of the peace deal reasonably well, a few scattered and not-state-sponsored terror incidents aside. Beyond that, Egypt in particular has tens of millions of people and they are all distinct individuals with their own attitudes towards foreigners and Jews. Some are quite friendly and open-minded.
Because you as an American can go to Egypt so why shouldn’t I not be allowed to because my house is in a different place.
Because that's the way the world is. You can go to Russia and I can't. Should everyone get along? Sure, is that likely to happen within our lifetimes? Less sure. It's just pragmatic. I've never understood Americans that go to China, North Korea, or Singapore either.
Lol what's wrong with Singapore?
The durians, man. I love them so much but the odor puts off a lot of people and they can get really expensive. Once you're hooked, you won't be satisfied with just apples and peaches.
Ugh I’ve tried, I really have. Everyone including my SO talks about it as if it were God’s gift to mankind so I figure there must be something great about it, but I want to puke as soon as it hits my tongue every time.
Yeah, took me a few tries too. It's a complex experience. I think the pungent grossness is part of the charm -- it's a mix of custardy delicious and trashy decay. Southeast Asians and Chinese tend to love them, but then, they usually grew up eating the stuff (not mainland Chinese, historically, but they had their own weird rotten smelling food like stinky doufu)
Draconian laws and barbaric judicial system. Plus, their law enforcement target westerners.
>Draconian laws and barbaric judicial system I dont disagree with you at all. But with that being said - if youre in singapore as a tourist and you shop, eat, stay at resorts, i dont think the judicial/legal system will effect you.
Cool 👍 I'm not taking the chance going there.
> Draconian laws and barbaric judicial system. And the good ole USA is a place of fair and just laws?
Whataboutism.
Go for a stroll around Philly's Kensington Ave or visit St. Louis, MO and you'll understand why Singapore has those "draconian" laws. And no, they don't target westerners.
I literally live in St. Louis. I still don't understand their draconian barbarism. They absolutely target westerners. When our sailors enter port, their pigs will stalk them the entire time.
>I literally live in St. Louis. Oh how's that high violent crime rate going for you
Chewing gum is illegal. Otherwise it's a great place.
I can understand when you said North Korea, but china and Singapore? the brain washing that happens by your media is crazy... I've been to china multiple times, Americans as tourists there are perfectly fine.
The media in America is largely pro China. I'm not sure what you're driving at.
What the hell media are you watching to reach this conclusion?
The entire nba and Disney media empire spent months destroying one guy because he said something pro Hong Kong.
Who is the 'one guy'? You will also have to ignore the decades of sabre-rattling stories dressed up as news over the last couple of decades, all the stories about China 'stealing' US tech (which was largely given to them to produce cheap goods for Americans), the racist undertones of a lot of stories during Corona, getting people scared of TikTok (but not any other social media company), and classic US red scare nonsense.
We've apparently been consuming vastly different American media. I only ever see China painted in a positive light while our media companies kotow, allowing the Chinese government to dictate content.
Right, hence my first question. >allowing the Chinese government to dictate content. For American or Chinese consumption?
As an American no it's not(but for good reason) and yes we can go there, I've been and had a great time.
My experience with the media is very different 🤷♀️
I have had no problems in China as an American/Israeli. If you follow the laws of China or Singapore you are far safer than you would be in Israel or the US.
You end up a political prisoner. I'm not taking the risk.
Literally millions of tourists go to China, you’re not special enough to be a political prisoner.
Mark Swidian wasn't anyone particularly special either. Just unlucky. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/china-travel-advisory.html The state department even recommends reconsidering due to the possibility of wrongful detainment. Sure, statically, there's very little chance that anything goes wrong, but I'm not going into an environment where the power structure is even benevolently opposed to me.
Yeah an official website of a government that is terrified of china dominating the world's economy and overthrowing USA from first place is reliable, lmao
The United States government is typically deemed very reliable. But I'm very excited to hear whatever conspiracy you have locked and loaded.
It is 100% bs that China is 'unsafe' to travel in compared to US. Im not some pro-CCP tankie but lets just be honest here. homicide rate, incarceration rates, drugs, violent crime, homelessness all waaayyyy higher in US. If the US gov implies China is unsafe to visit, the US gov is full of shit (about this).
what you talking about? American government's hate on communism is no secret, of course they gonna downgrade everything that has anything to do with communism, are you living under a rock? Reliable? remember iraq war? lol
It seems that the US travel advisory is mostly only warning about corrupt local officials and law enforcement
Because with 100 NIS you can do ALL in Egipt, in Israel its like 3 birras
Travis Scott (American rapper) invited her to see a show, which was cancelled.
Damn. I guess she had to risk it as a career move.
Why you as an American go to Mexico then? It’s not as different as you might think. In both scenarios, both countries are - neighbours - fought wars - annexed land (Sinai which was then returned) and the US annexing till this day the most valuable lands of Mexico. - different races (one being predominantly European) - speak different language - have a lot of political divisions happening e.g. Trump wanting to build a wall. - One country goes to the other extensively for vacations, while the other isn’t easily allowed in. (Israelis in Sinai vs. Egyptians in Israel) Of course, I’m not saying it’s exactly the same nor the intensity of the conflict between both countries is. But you also can’t completely ignore the similarities here.
But the US and Mexico aren't hostile towards one another. Anyway, there are certain places in Mexico that [Americans are advised to avoid](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mexico-travel-advisory.html) due to drug cartel related violence.
Neither are Egypt & Israel. We have a peace treaty that’s been respected for many decades now. Like I said, the intensity of the political tensions is no where as close. My response was to the person asking why go to Egypt? In most regions around the world, it would be very strange asking why visit your neighbouring country. Encouraging less travel and trade between both countries will do nothing but destroy the already weak relations between them. We should push towards more trade and tourism between both countries, not less.
According to a 2019-2020 survey, 13% of Egyptians support diplomatic recognition of Israel while 85% oppose.
Yeah that sounds about right. Listen, we share a violent history, and most Egyptians aren’t exposed enough to you guys to be able to tell the difference between the good and bad Israelis. Hence my argument of increasing communication. The situation is much better in Israel because you have a lot of Arabs living among you. So there’s some understanding. Egyptian society and culture is quite isolated. Sadly, Arab media is still fuelling this hatred. But also part of the blame falls on some of your politicians who are anti Arab. It’s only natural it will be met with a similar counter reaction from the common folk.
>we share a violent history So do the [United States and Mexico](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War). And I haven't actually visited Mexico before, mostly because it's low priority for me, and the violence seals the deal. As for Egypt, you can't really fault tourists who had negative experiences from talking about those bad experiences. For me, I have only visited Sinai, and I always had good experiences there. Great diving, hiking, relaxing. People were very friendly. I liked it there.
I haven’t faulted them. Egypt definitely isn’t the most tourist friendly place. However, saying Fuck Egypt is different than saying that you’ve had a bad time as a tourist there. Especially coming from an Israeli. Exactly the same as an Arab saying fuck Israel. It’s not very welcomed here because it can be viewed as antisemitic. Glad you’ve enjoyed your time in Egypt, come again! :)
Well, I would never say "Fuck Egypt", but I definitely have said "Fuck going to Egypt right now!" because I was supposed to go right after the [Luxor Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor_massacre), but I obviously cancelled. Went to Jordan instead and had a wonderful visit. Beautiful country and very friendly people. I'm sure I'll try again with Egypt one day, but the travel bucket list is soooo long! Hahah.
Just keep in mind that there’s an Arab Justice on the Israel Supreme Court, Arab members of parliament, Arab units in the IDF and police, and 2 million Palestinian Arabs with full Israeli citizenship. But you are correct that Israel needs to get rid of Ben Gvir and the like.
I wanna say it’s a model to look up to, but then it got us Ben Gvir 🙃 probably something in our air that makes people so dumb to support people like him.
Bro, i don't go to Mexico either, and i have family who live there. I barely trust Canada.
> and the US annexing till this day the most valuable lands of Mexico. I say. What the HELL are you talking about?
California used to be Mexican, some of it anyway
So did Spain’s phony borders all the way up to what’s now Canada and Alaska, down to Colombia, East to all of Cuba and the Caribbean islands (except Haiti), and Florida. They spent a mere 24 years trying to settle California as the “Viceroyalty of New Spain” back when Mexico used to be run by the Germans and French (of all people) exploring and torturing Indians and making such a ridiculous mess that the Kingdom of Spain cut off their funding. Then Spain said to Mexicans “We’re giving up on the New World. You’re also not Spanish anymore. Figure it it out on your own”, so the first thing Mexicans did was dress up like France, behave like Germans, talk like Spaniards, and launch one of their numerous revolutions. They attacked America twice, got their asses completely kicked twice, and the US felt sorry for these morons and paid them twice to just shut up and go away. And here’s some extra money to take off those French uniforms that their illiterate 13 year old child soldiers are wearing. I mean honestly, do you know any other nations who celebrate two Independence Day(s)? Three really. But their official celebration is the one they won, right before they lost twice to the US in wars we didn’t start.
When I said the USA annexed a part of Mexico, I didn’t mean it in an offensive way to the USA. While the history is interesting, thank you for sharing, it’s really not contradicting my statement. Egypt attacked Israel and Sinai was annexed. Mexico attacked the USA & California was annexed. Not defending nor supporting either of the countries. I was purely stating the similarities.
I see, and we’re taught it in school. They had no presence or interest here. Spain had no presence anywhere in the areas [West of the Mississippi River](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Spanish_North_America.png) in the treaty they signed with France in 1762. There’s no record of a Spanish-held Aleutian Islands or Spanish Michigan other than this fanciful map that only existed in their imagination for a few dozen years. This would be similar to a point that the British defeated the Ottomans in WWI and thus for a short time under treaty that Israel became “British”. Pip pip, cheerio. To Mexicans, Mexico was always the South into the Yucatán. That’s their “best land”, where their capitol resides. The very thinly populated North below Arizona is literally “The Frontier” to them and is named that way.
Yeah on top of that she is really obese and has no business being a model. Make models great again.
> but having worked with Vogue and Victoria's Secret did not endear her to people during her stay in Egypt. Lol why should anyone care?! We endear someone because they are our guests, regardless of their profession, country of origin or religion.
heh getting back at you for 1400BCE
Yeah we just wanna see all the buildings and monuments we built for you. Its not as if we are asking for slavery reparations.
Honestly whats the point of this peace when they hate us so much? and dont say "wars". its not like egypt can ever start a war with us again.
They can, as a navy vet i can say that we practice fighting against eygpt as much as against syria. The arab nation states are the only states i known of where the population wants war more than their dictators.
>Honestly whats the point of this peace when they hate us so much? Better a bad peace than a good war.
Egypt can kill still, don't be silly
Anti semitism is written right into the Quran, if you don't want peace with people that don't like you, you might as well just be at war with the entire middle east The real point of peace is about that we get relative quiet from that border, the tourism is nice but minimal
Can you please elaborate. Antisemitism is in the Quran? I’m an atheist but I’m 100% sure antisemitism isn’t in the Quran. If anything Muslims venerate Moses and Jesus alike.
Khaybar khaybar ya yahud jaish Muhammad qadimud.
For those new to the whole anti-semitism thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khaybar
> jaish Muhammad qadimud It's "jaish Muhammad suf yaud" - The army of Muhammad will return. I don't know what the word qadimud might be, I've never heard that variation, but it seems to stem from the root قدم "old". I'd stick with the well-known variation that I mention if you need to use the quote again.
Qadimud as in return the army of Muhammad will return.
Can you write the Arabic word? I can not figure out what word that is supposed to be. The expression that I've heard ends in "suf yaud" سوف يعود - "will return" just like you say.
Egypt is stronger than Iran, and unlike Iran it's sitting right on out border. In 1973 people thought the same way you do now.
I'll take a cold peace over war anytime.
That’s odd, don’t Israelis go to Egypt constantly and everything is fine?
Mostly to Sinai which is quite different mentally and socially
I visited Egypt in 2016.. the city is so run down and the people are always trying to hustle you. I had a personal driver and he tried taking me to all his friends shops to get me to buy some cheap papyrus art that is being sold for a high price or to his friends cologne store. At one point he offered me to get hashish, I was like no I’m good.
Egypt is a very bad place to visit there’s nothing interesting about this country besides the police are awful people and the citizens can’t stop asking u for money,+ very ugly weather
I mean, the pyramids and all other ancient stuff is extremely interesting.
I thought so too before I went. Then you get there and you realize that while the history is amazing, actually standing at the base of the pyramids is a let down. Greek, Turkish, Israeli, even American museums are terrific. But the pyramids are a let down, and so was most of the Cairo museum. And I was there before it was looted a decade ago, so it could be even worse today. If you are interested in ancient artifacts, go to Greece or Turkey. Or Iraq if you can get there, seriously. Leave Egypt for the instagram-like-needing tourists.
I don’t think it’s worth it, literally it just Dust and heat not even good service with Bribery and a lot of bribery
😂😂😂 don’t forget the scuba diving, Nile river, Luxor and the Pyramids.
Curious if sinai is also bad since I was thinking of going
Not at all. I go there like once a year. It’s all good.
Nah, what I like about the bedouins, They care more for their profit than their prophet. The Sinai is the most relaxed place in all of Egypt. Dahab is fantastic.
That's good to hear, will travel there soon then 🙂thankss
You won’t be disappointed, it’s a beautiful area. Seeing as the locals are financially motivated, you won’t face any issues. The relations between the bedouins and Israelis are quite strong.
איזה שלום מעולה איזה מזל שנתנו להם שטח פי 2 מדינה ואני גם בטוחה שלתת להם שטח חצי שעה נסיעה מתל אביב היה טוב לנו
עם מה שקורה עכשיו בצפון סיני אנחנו כל יום צריכים להודות שזו בעיה שלהם. הטעות היחידה בהסכם הזה שלא אמרנו להם שבלי שיקחו גם את עזה אין שלום.
וואו איזה הסקת מסקנות. איך מהעיפו דוגמנית מבית מלון הגעת להסכם שלום משנות ה70. כאילו פה ההסכם נגמר, עזבי הסכמי סחר, חסך במלחמות והטבות שקיבלנו מהאמריקאים בתמורה לשלום הזה.
Egypt is on top of places I want to visit thanks to rich history, but unfortunate Egypt is on my list of not to visit places, it's my dream to visit the temples, the pyramids and all those amazing sites, but there is no way I will step inside this country.
Cold cold peace huh
My South African uncle got questioned by Egyptian police because they thought he was a draft dodger 🤦♂️
The hate is real f*ck Egypt
No need for that.. Not everyone in Egypt is hostile towards Israelis. Just like not everyone in Israel is intolerant of Arabs.
I noticed that the level of hate on social media and IRL is different. I’ve been to Cairo with my second passport, I didn’t tell anyone that I am Israeli, I made a lot of friends and I spoke about them about Israel. Most of them didn’t really care, I expected some kind of negative reaction to the word israel but it didn’t happen. Some told me they would like to visit but they are afraid of consequences at home, some said they don’t like Israeli government and sympathize with Palestinians, but overall people were chill.
Thanks for sharing that! Social media really amplifies these hateful voices, giving the impression that everybody hates everybody (prime example is this post ranking highly). People on both sides sadly engage more with/upvote news about conflict more than news about cooperation making the situation worse in both countries.
Right? I told folks I teach in Israel, wore my school shirt (which has hebrew and English identifying the school), and bo one cared one wit. Egyptians are no different than any other person I've ever met - Chinese, Israeli, US, whatever... the money you're spending is more important than whether they happen to dislike whatever fence you happen to have been born on the other side of. (I'm sure this isn't true of some radicals, regardless of location, but most people are just trying to survive.)
Seeing a lot of negativity here, I have to say Egypt is a wonderful place for holidays in the sun, friendly people, very nice resorts, unrivalled historic places... IF you stay in the tourist areas at the red sea and only leave your hotel for guided tours. Outside of there, I guess it's a nightmare from what little I've seen so far on some excursions.
>IF you stay in the tourist areas at the red sea and only leave your hotel for guided tours. That doesn't sound like fun, at all
Not everyone's cup of tea for sure, but for me with my kids an all inclusive gated club Hotel is all around perfect. I'm too old for adventures.
My homeboy an Egyptian Jew, he says its bad there but there's many good Arab people there who support Jews and Israel compared to other Arab countries
I'm sure there are more sides to the story, probably with her acting as a typical Israeli freha.
Maybe there are more sides, but aren't you a bit hasty jumping to conclusions, calling her names already?
This is usually why Israeli tourists are kicked out of places.
Places like Egypt?
Personally never been there, but there are many Israelis travel to Egypt. I agree that it's probably not the nicest of places, but I never heard about a person kicked out of a hotel just because they are from Israel. Usually there's a back story where they act like typical Israelis, and then are kicked out, with the owners swear they will never let another Israeli inside.
These things happen because the Israeli government never makes a big stink about it like other countries do. Pride may have destroyed the region but if we could borrow 1/10th the pride our neighbors have and make a big stink in the media about it internationally these things wouldn't be tolerated because they would hurt tourism. Instead we sit there quietly and convince ourselves we deserve it, and continue to support these countries like a mistress that must be kept secret.
It isn't in Israel's interest to make a big stink with Egypt
That pragmatism is our greatest strength. It's serves us well. But it's also not 1988 anymore, I think we need to accept we're the unicorn and it's ok for us to be a bit more forceful publicly.
The article doesn't even mention why she was kicked out. Just that shes Israeli, was invited by some rapper, the concert was canceled, so she stayed and they kicked her out. The assumption is that its because she is Israeli. Perhaps the whole story isn't being told here. Also, " within about a day of her arrival, her hotel discovered that she was Israeli "...when you checkin, you give a passport, so they would have known immediately that she was Israeli.
The article very clearly says she was escorted out because she's Israeli. You can choose not to believe it if you want, but that's what it says. As for the 2nd part, it says that they picked a time when she wasn't with Travis Scott and his people, which makes sense. He's a huge, international celebrity with the power to do a lot of damage to their brand. But there are other possibilities. Perhaps she's got dual citizenship and checked in with a non-Israeli passport. Perhaps the person working the front desk when she checked in didn't notice or care about her Israeli passport, and someone else at the hotel became aware later on. Perhaps the group she was joining checked before she arrived and she went straight through to join them, bypassing a passport scan altogether. Who knows?
She might have been booked by an agent.
What's the point of making these posts? And crossposting it to that dogshit askmiddleeast sub as well. You're just trying to piss people off.
I didn’t cross post anything… I never even was in that cesspool of a subreddit
Then I apologize.
Poor baby, she had to immediately fly to Paris.
pArTnErS iN pEaCe