We have always driven, but for those who don't have personal vehicles or don't want to drive the 6-8 hour stretch:
Friends say that its better to take the big bus as compared to the minibuses as they are much more comfortable. Seven hours in a minibus is not fun, especially as it can get crowded and you could be tightly cramped with the other passengers. The big bus is comfortable and only about five or ten pounds more than the minibus so it's well worth it.
Dario says : "Camps and hotels in Dahab arrange private microbuses from Cairo and back. I have just been there last weekend and got Bishbishi Camp microbus which came and picked me up from Dokki where I live; these microbuses pass from Taba and take just 7h. You can call the camp or any other hotel to arrange your trip, and you are not supposed to be a client of the camp to use this service by the way. Bishbishi phone numbers should be 069 3640727 - 010 5488708."
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Vet Recommendation
I go to a vet in 6th of October for my cat. Its a set of 3 doctors who take it in turns to (wo)man the clinic. Dr Rania is the female doc and she performs all the surgeries.
I'm very happy with them. I got this cat when she was a little older - 3 years old. She has done dental surgery on my cat as well as her spaying. She's very clean and neat with minimal invasion.
You can always call ahead and get an appointment.
Its called "Vets in Practice". The number is 3837 8336 at the 6th October City branch and 2516 4428 at the Maadi branch.
While the clinic is in 6th October City, I live in Mohandaseen. I still feel its worth the travel time because I'm really comfortable with these doctors.
They have a facility for boarding cats. They are comfortable cages and they are let out for an hour or so daily. I don't mind this when my cat needs medical attention - because they are very conscientious about it. But if its for a longer period of boarding - when I'm traveling, I prefer to leave her with a friend so she has full freedom to walk around.
I'm very happy with them. I got this cat when she was a little older - 3 years old. She has done dental surgery on my cat as well as her spaying. She's very clean and neat with minimal invasion.
You can always call ahead and get an appointment.
Its called "Vets in Practice". The number is 3837 8336 at the 6th October City branch and 2516 4428 at the Maadi branch.
While the clinic is in 6th October City, I live in Mohandaseen. I still feel its worth the travel time because I'm really comfortable with these doctors.
They have a facility for boarding cats. They are comfortable cages and they are let out for an hour or so daily. I don't mind this when my cat needs medical attention - because they are very conscientious about it. But if its for a longer period of boarding - when I'm traveling, I prefer to leave her with a friend so she has full freedom to walk around.
Basic primer for Indians coming to Egypt
A lot of indians who come to Egypt or plan to travel here : their first question is where do I buy Indian supplies?
I get a lot of my supplies from India or Dubai since my husband and me travel reasonably frequently.
I get a lot of my supplies from India or Dubai since my husband and me travel reasonably frequently.
The besan that is available in Cairo is not exactly the same that we get in India, but its manageable.
There's a guy called Nijamuddin in Khan el khalili who sells besan etc. His number is +20122639355 He also stocks some Indian masalas etc. He speaks hindi, so its easy to communicate with him. He will deliver home if its a large order. Otherwise he is on the el muizz street on the el Hussein mosque side.
We have an association for Indian women in Cairo that meets every month called Annapoorna. If u attend the meetings, then u can meet a lot of women who can help with a lot of information. Some of them have been here for over 20 years.
I also run a yahoogroup for Indians called desisinEgypt@yahoogroups.com
Its so that Indians can help each other out with information.
You can join by sending a blank mail to desisinEgypt-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Once you are a member, you can post any questions u have on the group.
Recommendation : Domty Mozarella Cheese
Couple of days ago at Carre Four, i found Domty Mozzarella cheese in the freezer section.
Its a long tube like a thick sausage. Blue colour labeling.
Used it on a lasagna when I had bought it. Its good quality stuff, made in Egypt and at Egyptian rates. Waaaaay better than the Panda shredded Mozzarella that came in packets.
Domty cheese melted in 5 minutes flat. The previous Panda shredded mozarella wouldnt melt even after half an hour in my saucepan or oven. It would just sit there in semi solid gooey globs. this Domty mozarella gave me such a smooth even finish.
Its a long tube like a thick sausage. Blue colour labeling.
Used it on a lasagna when I had bought it. Its good quality stuff, made in Egypt and at Egyptian rates. Waaaaay better than the Panda shredded Mozzarella that came in packets.
Domty cheese melted in 5 minutes flat. The previous Panda shredded mozarella wouldnt melt even after half an hour in my saucepan or oven. It would just sit there in semi solid gooey globs. this Domty mozarella gave me such a smooth even finish.
Rough idea on tipping
What we have mostly heard is that the service charge does not go to the service staff.
If you go on any kind of guided trip in Egypt, you will keep hearing the phrase "In Egypt, tipping is a way of life"
10% at restaurants is standard.
For a private car and driver hired for the day 20-50LE
For a guide 30-50Le per day (if hired through a company and not being paid directly)
On a group tour in a bus 5/10 Le per person for a whole day trip to the bus driver.
1-2 LE for someone who carries your bags a short distance.
Some people do expect higher tips if you look very obviously foreign, but these rates are pretty standard.
If you go on any kind of guided trip in Egypt, you will keep hearing the phrase "In Egypt, tipping is a way of life"
10% at restaurants is standard.
For a private car and driver hired for the day 20-50LE
For a guide 30-50Le per day (if hired through a company and not being paid directly)
On a group tour in a bus 5/10 Le per person for a whole day trip to the bus driver.
1-2 LE for someone who carries your bags a short distance.
Some people do expect higher tips if you look very obviously foreign, but these rates are pretty standard.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Update
The husband has been sick with some kinda stomach bug that has been troubling him for the alst 11 days.
did a whole range of tests on him and they all came back normal.
Seems like he is suffering a major bout of gastritis. From what i understand there are these major infections going around in Bangalore and in Canada. Haven't heard anyone else in Cairo who has had this currently though.
The only solution seems to be an extremely light diet of fresh fruits, raw vegetable and fresh fruit juices.
Hope he gets back to normal soon. With his strict diet, I also seem to be losing weight, which is a good thing :)
did a whole range of tests on him and they all came back normal.
Seems like he is suffering a major bout of gastritis. From what i understand there are these major infections going around in Bangalore and in Canada. Haven't heard anyone else in Cairo who has had this currently though.
The only solution seems to be an extremely light diet of fresh fruits, raw vegetable and fresh fruit juices.
Hope he gets back to normal soon. With his strict diet, I also seem to be losing weight, which is a good thing :)
Saturday, April 05, 2008
India Outsources Outsourcing
From Business Today Egypt
April 2008
India Outsources Outsourcing
With worldwide technology spending expected to approach $2 trillion in the next few years, India’s IT titans are building nests outside their borders and Egypt is a prime destination
By Ali El Bahnasawy
For companies who want to outsource back-office operations, India has developed into the market model. But in a world where high-tech spending by both governments and the private sector exceeded $1.7 trillion (LE 9.35 trillion) in 2007, and the size of the global IT outsourcing industry reached $70 billion (LE 385 billion) with a growth of 30% in 2006, even a huge nation like India, which dominates international IT outsourcing with a 2/3 share of the industry, is facing a talent crunch. The solution? Outsource outsourcing.
India-based companies that were once notorious for seducing call centers and IT departments away from the West are now re-exporting their services outside India. Even with India’s massive population, the demand for IT services exceeds the supply of qualified labor in the country’s human resources market. Fueled by local successes, Indian IT companies are now buying companies in America, Europe and Asia to support their extended operations and cater to more than half of the globe’s high-tech needs.
Egypt has been ranked the thirteenth most attractive destination to set up an offshore service, according to a study by A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm. The study, which looked at 50 countries, was based on the evaluation of three main factors: financial structure, availability of skilled workers and overall business environment. As a result of reforms to Egypt’s business climate — such as lowering the cost of employment, the increased availability of attractive business properties like Smart Village and flexible income tax regulations — in addition to burgeoning language and computer skills on the part of the Egyptian population, Egypt is becoming a prime destination for India’s IT giants, who are coming to boost the industry as well as take advantage of Egypt’s underutilized workforce.
Read the Entire Article on Business Today Egypt
April 2008
India Outsources Outsourcing
With worldwide technology spending expected to approach $2 trillion in the next few years, India’s IT titans are building nests outside their borders and Egypt is a prime destination
By Ali El Bahnasawy
For companies who want to outsource back-office operations, India has developed into the market model. But in a world where high-tech spending by both governments and the private sector exceeded $1.7 trillion (LE 9.35 trillion) in 2007, and the size of the global IT outsourcing industry reached $70 billion (LE 385 billion) with a growth of 30% in 2006, even a huge nation like India, which dominates international IT outsourcing with a 2/3 share of the industry, is facing a talent crunch. The solution? Outsource outsourcing.
India-based companies that were once notorious for seducing call centers and IT departments away from the West are now re-exporting their services outside India. Even with India’s massive population, the demand for IT services exceeds the supply of qualified labor in the country’s human resources market. Fueled by local successes, Indian IT companies are now buying companies in America, Europe and Asia to support their extended operations and cater to more than half of the globe’s high-tech needs.
Egypt has been ranked the thirteenth most attractive destination to set up an offshore service, according to a study by A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm. The study, which looked at 50 countries, was based on the evaluation of three main factors: financial structure, availability of skilled workers and overall business environment. As a result of reforms to Egypt’s business climate — such as lowering the cost of employment, the increased availability of attractive business properties like Smart Village and flexible income tax regulations — in addition to burgeoning language and computer skills on the part of the Egyptian population, Egypt is becoming a prime destination for India’s IT giants, who are coming to boost the industry as well as take advantage of Egypt’s underutilized workforce.
Read the Entire Article on Business Today Egypt
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Homeopathy in Cairo
I was looking for a Homeopathy dispensary and got varied answers from my friends.
1. I heard about this place recently and saw that they do homeopathic medicine. http://www.jamilina.com/ It's in Medinet Nasr, which I know its a bit far from you, but you could try calling them and they might know of somewhere nearer.
2. There is Dr. Magda El-Mahgary, based in Maadi, who does make homeopathic remedies.
From her you can buy homeopathic remedies, and she also has a list of all natural medicines available from Egyptian pharmacies.
3. The official homeopathy website for Egypt is http://www.h2rc2.com/
Mind that strictly speaking, homeopathy is illegal in Egypt as it is not yet accepted officially as a branch of medicine. But the local homeopathy society is in the making and alive and kicking in practice. They more or less regularly offer introductory and advanced courses
Kims Note: The actual practitioners are listed here http://www.h2rc2.com/pages/Qualifiedhomeopaths.html and here http://www.h2rc2.com/ESSH/page9/page9.html
4. This information may be out-of-date
Dr. Magda prepares the remedies herself and sells them together with all kinds of macrobiotic food in her own shop in Heliopolis.
One remedy costs 25 LE. She also offer one day classes for 300 LE/person about homoepathic treatment.
Her shop is called Medina an-nawara and is located in 30 Shibin street, off Iman Ali between Salah eh Din and Ismailaya Square.
The shop is open on Tuesdays from 11.30am until 3pm. Or you can call her secretary Miss Reda on 6441479
1. I heard about this place recently and saw that they do homeopathic medicine. http://www.jamilina.com/ It's in Medinet Nasr, which I know its a bit far from you, but you could try calling them and they might know of somewhere nearer.
2. There is Dr. Magda El-Mahgary, based in Maadi, who does make homeopathic remedies.
From her you can buy homeopathic remedies, and she also has a list of all natural medicines available from Egyptian pharmacies.
3. The official homeopathy website for Egypt is http://www.h2rc2.com/
Mind that strictly speaking, homeopathy is illegal in Egypt as it is not yet accepted officially as a branch of medicine. But the local homeopathy society is in the making and alive and kicking in practice. They more or less regularly offer introductory and advanced courses
Kims Note: The actual practitioners are listed here http://www.h2rc2.com/pages/Qualifiedhomeopaths.html and here http://www.h2rc2.com/ESSH/page9/page9.html
4. This information may be out-of-date
Dr. Magda prepares the remedies herself and sells them together with all kinds of macrobiotic food in her own shop in Heliopolis.
One remedy costs 25 LE. She also offer one day classes for 300 LE/person about homoepathic treatment.
Her shop is called Medina an-nawara and is located in 30 Shibin street, off Iman Ali between Salah eh Din and Ismailaya Square.
The shop is open on Tuesdays from 11.30am until 3pm. Or you can call her secretary Miss Reda on 6441479
Shuttle to AUC's New Campus
Pursuant to my article on AUC's New Campus here is the link to AUC's shuttle service schedule to the new campus.
http://www1.aucegypt.edu/NCD/onthemove/schedule.htm
http://www1.aucegypt.edu/NCD/onthemove/schedule.htm
How to dial a number for Egypt
The Country code for Egypt is +20 (or 0020) if you are dialing from outside Egypt. Affix this before the rest of the Number.
How to dial the rest of the Number?
Jack puts it very well when he says:
There are 2 things to remember/realize
1. your mobile number is prefixed with a 2 digit "city code" or "area code" plus a "0" that indicates a "long distance" number
The ones I know of are 010, 012 and 016
If you are from the US, think of this as your area code.
If you are from elsewhere in the world, think of it as your city code.
Coming to dialing a landline number in Cairo from your mobile phone :
No matter what your mobile phone number is, if you are calling a land line, you need to tell it what city you are calling to.
So, the "city" code for Cairo is "2".
You need to dial ZERO first, to indicate a "long distance" or outside your "city", then the city code.
So to dial a landline in Cairo you dial
02
If you wanted to call a number in Alex, which has a city code of "3"
you would dial:
03
2. The 2nd thing to remember is that recently (6 months ago?) the government added a new number to the FRONT of land lines in the Cairo area.
Phones in some parts of the city , a 2 was added. In some parts, a 3.
So in Zamalek, Mohandaseen, Agouza, Dokki (and I think downtown) a phone number that used to be
735-1234
is now
2735-1234
So, if the number you have for the bus station (or anybody else in Cairo) has only 7 digits, you need to prefix it with either a "2" or a "3"
FURTHERMORE, if you are dialing from a mobile, you need to prefix the city code "02"
So to call the fictional number I mentioned earlier.
735-1234
you need to prefix the new 2
2735-1234
and then the city code.
So the full dialing instructions from an (Egyptian) mobile phone would be
02 2 735-1234
Basel adds :
Egypt International code: from USA or Canada 011 then 0020 from rest of the world 0020 except Bahrain (maybe they have changed it not sure) just one zero i.e., 020
Greater Cairo City (Cairo + Giza + Qalyoubeyyah) code 02 and Alexandria City code is 03 ... etc
Mobiles codes Vodafone 010 and 016, MobiNil 012, and Etisalat 011
It is a coincidence that Egypt international code is +20, i.e., zero at the end so a whole number in Cairo would be +20-2-87654321 by eliminating the zero before the city OR mobile code and adding the international code
0020
03
34567890
=
From abroad: +20-3-34567890 (from mobile or landline)
From Cairo: 03-34567890 (from mobile or landline)
From Alexandria: just the 8 numbers of the person u r calling, i.e., 34567890 (from landline)
From Alexandria: 03-34567890 (from mobile)
To call a mobile number:
From Cairo to Vodafone number: 010 or 016-7654321
From abroad: +20-10-7654321
Exception Exception exception exception exception
for the numbers of the "Smart Network" like 19519 Pizza Plus or 19991 McDonald or 16516 Cairo Yellow Cab (Taxi), you just dial the number no matter where you are in Egypt or what mobile operator you are using, just dial the five digits and you will be connected to the nearest office or branch.
HOWEVER, sometimes when you use your mobiles, and if the service is for Cairo only, you dial 02-19019 from your mobile.
How to dial the rest of the Number?
Jack puts it very well when he says:
There are 2 things to remember/realize
1. your mobile number is prefixed with a 2 digit "city code" or "area code" plus a "0" that indicates a "long distance" number
The ones I know of are 010, 012 and 016
If you are from the US, think of this as your area code.
If you are from elsewhere in the world, think of it as your city code.
Coming to dialing a landline number in Cairo from your mobile phone :
No matter what your mobile phone number is, if you are calling a land line, you need to tell it what city you are calling to.
So, the "city" code for Cairo is "2".
You need to dial ZERO first, to indicate a "long distance" or outside your "city", then the city code.
So to dial a landline in Cairo you dial
02
If you wanted to call a number in Alex, which has a city code of "3"
you would dial:
03
2. The 2nd thing to remember is that recently (6 months ago?) the government added a new number to the FRONT of land lines in the Cairo area.
Phones in some parts of the city , a 2 was added. In some parts, a 3.
So in Zamalek, Mohandaseen, Agouza, Dokki (and I think downtown) a phone number that used to be
735-1234
is now
2735-1234
So, if the number you have for the bus station (or anybody else in Cairo) has only 7 digits, you need to prefix it with either a "2" or a "3"
FURTHERMORE, if you are dialing from a mobile, you need to prefix the city code "02"
So to call the fictional number I mentioned earlier.
735-1234
you need to prefix the new 2
2735-1234
and then the city code.
So the full dialing instructions from an (Egyptian) mobile phone would be
02 2 735-1234
Basel adds :
Egypt International code: from USA or Canada 011 then 0020 from rest of the world 0020 except Bahrain (maybe they have changed it not sure) just one zero i.e., 020
Greater Cairo City (Cairo + Giza + Qalyoubeyyah) code 02 and Alexandria City code is 03 ... etc
Mobiles codes Vodafone 010 and 016, MobiNil 012, and Etisalat 011
It is a coincidence that Egypt international code is +20, i.e., zero at the end so a whole number in Cairo would be +20-2-87654321 by eliminating the zero before the city OR mobile code and adding the international code
0020
03
34567890
=
From abroad: +20-3-34567890 (from mobile or landline)
From Cairo: 03-34567890 (from mobile or landline)
From Alexandria: just the 8 numbers of the person u r calling, i.e., 34567890 (from landline)
From Alexandria: 03-34567890 (from mobile)
To call a mobile number:
From Cairo to Vodafone number: 010 or 016-7654321
From abroad: +20-10-7654321
Exception Exception exception exception exception
for the numbers of the "Smart Network" like 19519 Pizza Plus or 19991 McDonald or 16516 Cairo Yellow Cab (Taxi), you just dial the number no matter where you are in Egypt or what mobile operator you are using, just dial the five digits and you will be connected to the nearest office or branch.
HOWEVER, sometimes when you use your mobiles, and if the service is for Cairo only, you dial 02-19019 from your mobile.
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