Vanished Persian army found in Egyptian desert?

When we were in Siwa, we heard the tales of the Persian army that was headed to Siwa over two and a half thousand years ago, in search of the temple of Amun, that was cursed and were killed by a sandstorm in the middle of the desert. No one knew if they lost their way or what had actually happenned to them.

Now Italian Researchers claim to have found the remains of the army.

Read the whole story here on msnbc

El Koshary Today

Egypt's answer to The Onion.

Its in English, so its great fun for people who want to enjoy the Egyptians sense of humor, but don't follow Arabic.

Take a look at El Koshary Today Egypt's Most Reliable News Source. LOL

BBC Video Report on Black Cloud in Cairo

A very informative and balanced? report about the black Cloud Hanging over Cairo right now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8324024.stm

That itchy feeling in your throat right now is more likely due to the pollution in the air right now than Swine flu. Take care of your health, the best you can, given the situation.

Book Review: The Poison Tree - Planted and Grown in Egypt

A friend sent me the link to this yesterday. The book is legally donwloadable for free from Marwa Rakha's own website. While currently available in English, she promises that the Arabic translation too will soon be online.

The book is written in a semi disjointed "part blog-part diary-part letter" fashion and someone who is used to a structured flow when reading, may start out feeling a bit disconcerted. But if you persevere you can gain some insights into Egytian culture, sexuality, morality and society. The unifying theme of the book revolves around gender stereotypes, dating and marriage and how men and women are held to different standards in society. While this may be true across the world, it is more pronounced in Egypt.

I often wondered how so many Egyptian friends and acquaintances kept ending up divorced within barely a year or two of marriage, sometimes with new born kids who were not even a year old. Some have ended up remarrying men who had been unfaithful to them during their first attempt at marriage. This being a very sensitive and private matter, I have never felt comfortable enough to actually ask them the question directly. But Marwa's book has shed some light on at least some of the reasons, which seem to lie in Social Conditioning.

There were parts that I skipped over, but there were also parts that are really insightful.

This book is worth reading if you are interested in human behavior or are visiting Egypt and would like to know a little more about people you will encounter.

But, I would highly recommend the book to any non-Egyptian girl/woman/lady planning to get herself an Egyptian boyfriend or Egyptian husband. Most Egyptian men think and operate differently from "Western" men and its important for a female to know what she is getting herself into before she gets in too deep.

While the book may also be guilty of stereotyping men and women, there are a lot of grains of truth behind the characterisations.

The book could be classified as chick-lit, but there is a lot you can begin to understand about Egyptian society and how it operates through the eyes of a Single Independent Woman

If you would prefer to read the book as a paperback or on kindle, they are both available via Amazon.

Also published on desicritics.org

Time Out visits Luxor

Time out is a magazine that I do enjoy picking up in every country that I visit.

Was pleasantly suprised to see Luxor featured in Time Out Dubai.

Here's the Article.

Cairo's unique Ramadan traditions

Interesting article from Gulf News on the unique traditions of Ramadan practiced in Egypt.

I must admit, I have only seen the fanoos in Egypt during Ramadan, not in any other part of the world, so I did know about that. But I've never heard about the Yameesh, which nut is this?

Edited on 13 Sep, to add:
Thanks everyone for the clarifications of Yameesh being any combination of nuts and dry fruits. I guess the reported got it wrong about the Yameesh being unique to Egypt.

So that means, its only the Ramadan Fanoos that is unique to Egypt, or is there anything else that you know of?

Time to change again, in Egypt

Just in time for Ramadan :)

CLOCKS GO BACK ONE HOUR AT 12.00AM FRIDAY MORNING! (11:59:59PM THURSDAY)*

Home made Cotton mattresses

Was having an interesting discussion with some friends the other day about mattresses and I remembered how, Back home, our mattresses used to be home made, believe it or not. The cotton from our cotton trees (in India cotton grows on trees, not bushes/shrubs) was harvested, we kids would sit to seperate the seeds from the fluff. It used to be great fun and then when we had enuff we made our own pillows by stuffing them with pure cotton into saris and bedsheets recycled as pillow cases.

The help would clean larger quantities of cotton which was then tightly packed to make mattresses. Professional guys came around to stitch the mattresses up and also to refresh them every year or so, when they would open out the mattress, refluff up the cotton and "air it" and then add more cotton to make it nice and firm again.

These cotton mattresses were ideal for the hot humid weather we have back home on the Indian coast. Come to think of it, I dont think spring matresses came to India until the late 70's or so.

It seems this still happens in the rural areas of Egypt and happens in parts of the city too.

I did one day come down to our ground floor in Mohandaseen, to find the whole lobby covered in a snowy substance. Thats right, there were a couple of guys refluffing cotton. I have taken a picture of it, but cant find it right now, will upload when I check my other system.

I was told that the person who makes mattresses in Egypt is called a munaggid .

You can buy fresh cotton, at the Khan. The guy is pretty easy to find. With your back to Bab Zuweila start walking towards the main street of the khan. You will see this beautiful sabeel on your right, the cotton guy is right opposite. I have a picture of him too.

I need to get our photos organised into one hard disk so they are easier to find. Will upload the pictures when I find them.

Pickpocketing scheme

I'd heard about this a couple of months ago and it seems to have re-surfaced.

This information is to help you protect yourself.

The scheme operates like this:
The innocent passerby is stopped by an decent looking well-dressed man, who will point to a spot on the victims pant and motion that there is a stain. When the conman pretends to clean the stain for you, he actually creates the stain, by spitting or by something on his handkerchied. Then as he pretends to clean the stain for you, he pockets the victims wallet and disappears, before the victim even realises it is gone.

Normally these people operate in pairs or groups. If you see someone gesturing that you have a stain, just walk away like you don't understand anything they say. They may be armed, so better to avoid direct confrontation.

This modus operandi has been reported by multiple people around the Shooting Club area, so please be aware of your surroundings when you are out. A little bit of common sense, awareness and confident demeanour, should keep you relativey safe.

Take care.

Fruits & Vegetables being Irrigated with Sewage Water?

Or so reports Al Masry

Thousands of farmland acres producing essential crops comprising Egyptians food basket are irrigated with untreated sewage water. Shocking as it is for consumers, small farmers deal with it in a relaxed way claiming it is their only option taking into consideration the high cost of using good-for-irrigation water.

Watch the video interview on Al Masry

So whether you believe it or not, it makes sense to start rinsing your vegetables in a mild solution of Potassium Permanganate to get most of the icky stuff out. (this cost effective treatment was recommended by a friend who works on water purification installations in houses and offices in India)