# EGYPT (information) stay: 07/Sep/2006 ..20/Sep/2006 ## General View --------- The police are better level in Africa. But some may kid and annoy you. Egyptian drivers don't turn on the headlight in the night. Or turn on only the dark lights. Their driving is dangerous. The Taxi drivers charge unreasonable fare. They cannot understand English. Their numeral is 'Arabic-Indic.' I recommend you to learn the numerals in advance. I got EGYPT visa at the border (in the ferry) / $15 (single 1? month) TOP ## Economy --------- $1=LE5.7 ATM for VISA are many. petrol; (80)0.9 (90)1.3 /L, Internet; 2/h Things are cheap. Especially Internet is very cheap! Accommodations in Aswan are cheap. TOP ## Food --------- To find alcohol is a little difficult, Egyptian pizza is much volume, TOP ## Accommodations --------- They have parking area as long as there's no note. But the security is your own responsibility. ### in Aswan The price average is lower than other cities. This town is good for your long stay. MARWA (centre of the town, along a narrow alley between 'Sharia as-Souq' and 'Sharia Abtal at-Tahrir') D6, S10, W12 / no air-conditioner, shared toilet & hot shower D8, S16, W16 / air-conditioner, shared toilet & hot shower (?) Japanese info-notebook This is popular among Japanese tourists. Maybe the cheapest one in this town. No parking area. Motorcycle can park on the alley. ADAMS HOME (along the Nile / going north from the town, crossing the big bridge which is out of the town, going south back along the Nile, there's a big sign.) C5, room10 / shared toilet & cold shower, fan, floor is earth, no bed but carpet parking; 5?, restaurant The room is not bad. The place is out of the town. There are no shops around the accommodation. ### in Luxor Rezeiky Camp (centre of the town, some signs on the high wall) C15, S50, W70, T90 / self-contained, restaurant & bar, Internet, pool Air-conditioner; +10, breakfast; +5, Internet (ADSL); 12/h, beer (STELLA); 9.5 surrounded by the high wall. The security is good. It is also good that you can buy beer here. ### in Safaga HOTEL CLEOPATRA (when you came here from Luxor, at the end of the road and turn left at the big roundabout and along the main street you can find this on your right hand) room? / duty (rat was there), water was stop when I visited, bar beer; 6..12 ### in Cairo (capital) CLARIDGE (along 'Talaat Harb,' near the intersection 'Talaat Harb' and '26th of July') S40 / breakfast, fan, plug, shared toilet & hot shower W70 / breakfast, fan, plug, self- contained You can park your motorcycle at the ground floor of the building where the security is. The room price seemed to be different from each customer. SAFARY (5th floor, along 'Tawfikeya St.,' near the intersection 'Talaat Harb' and '26th of July') D10?, S?, W? / kitchen, Japanese info notebook This building has many cheap hotels at the each floor. And some have a discount rate for a long-stay. Most of them are popular among Japanese tourists. The elevator has been broken. You can park your motorcycle at the ground floor of the building. Hotel New Minerva (upstairs, along the mall, near 'CLARIDGE') S50 / breakfast Internet; 5/h, no parking area, 'Hotel Minerva' went bankrupt. This is a new hotel at the same place. Sun Hotel (along 'Talaat Harb,' near 'Midan Tahrir') S60 www.sunhotelcairo.com ? / sunhotel@hotmail.com / 00202-5797977, 0121856122 There is an elevator, but the last two floors are only stairs. It is a toll parking street in front of the building. Victoria Hotel (centre of the town) S; $31 No parking area. Flamenco ('Gezira' area, 02 El Gezira El Wosta St., Zamalek') S; $100 www.flamencohotels.com / +2-02-735-08-15 The big neon sign of 'Marriott Hotel' is a mark of Gezira area. There is a toll parking near the hotel. TOP ## Town --------- ### in Aswan Hotels are cheap. I couldn't find beer here. When you order beer at a restaurant, they'll serve a beer taste drink. I recommend you to enjoy Egyptian Pizza here. petrol (1L); (90)1.3 (80)0.9 #### Information; At the railway station and so on. #### ATM; Some ATM doesn't accept CitiBank card. #### Internet; There are many. Japanese typing is also available. #### border office (ferry port); You must walk the platform several? hundred meter from the office to the gate and the taxi rank. There are many people who try to help you and expect a tip. The street exchanger is also in them. There's a railway station, but the train seldom arrive, I think. The transport is only taxi. Many taxi drivers tout for you. Their offer fare is LE 50 to the centre of the town (It's just 17 km. Normally LE5..10 is enough) ### in Luxor You can find beer and Internet at 'Rezeiky Camp' (refer to 'accommodation') beer (STELLA); 9.5, Internet; 12/h, motor oil (1L); (Mobile1)52 (Mobil XHP)22 ### in Cairo (capital) There are many one-way roads (refer to 'Road'). There are some alcohol shops and bars near the intersection 'Talaat Harb' and '26th of July' petrol (1L); (92)1.4, bus; (centre - Air Terminal)2, subway; 1..3 #### Information; Tourist Police West side of 'Azbekiiya' park and 'Opera' park, along 'Adli St.' When I visited, the office was under rebuilt. They are kind and can speak English. #### Parking; Most hotels don't have parking areas. You can find toll parking in the city. GARAGE CONTINENTAL (along 'Adli St.,' opposite of 'EGYPT AIR,' near Information, cheap hotel area) 5..10/day?, under the building (toll parking) (Gezira, near 'Hotel Flamenco') 10/day, under the building The big neon sign of 'Marriott Hotel' is a mark of Gezira area. (toll parking) (Gezira, near 'HOTEL OM KOLTHOOM') 10/day ? The big neon sign of 'Marriott Hotel' is a mark of Gezira area. (toll parking) (near 'Midan Tahrir,' along 'Talaat Harb'?, big sign) 20/h, only for cars, very expensive! #### Taxi fare; Taxi drivers charge a tourist-price. The taxi fare within a city is LE 3, Max LE 5. The Tourist Police (Information) also said LE 5 is enough! But the taxi charge LE 10..20 for tourists. The best idea is to prepare for just LE 3..5 in advance. When you get off the taxi, you pay the money. The taxi driver often gets angry but you should ignore and leave the taxi. When the driver follows you, you should say 'Let's go to the police!' That's enough. The driver will give up. When you ask the taxi driver whether LE 5 is OK or not, they never accept the price. So you never ask the fare before getting on. #### Sphinx and the Pyramids; There is a student discount but they check the card carefully. You can drive your vehicle inside and take photos with your vehicle. The sunshine is very strong when I visited. So be careful of the exposure. The way to Sphinx is one-way street. If you drive to Sphinx first, you cannot go back to watch the Pyramids. Be careful of the closing time also. At the exit near Sphinx, there is a KFC. You can eat chicken watching Sphinx. This KFC doesn't have the image of Colonel Sanders (In the world, some area's KFC has the image at the each shop. At least in Japan there is the image of him at the each shop) admission; (adult)40 (student)20? #### Alcohol; You can find alcohol shops and bar around the intersection, 'Talaat Harb' and '26th of July' (cheap hotel area) Especially along '26th of July,' there are some bars. (beer + salad); 6 TOP ## Government Establishments (visa) --------- ### in Cairo (capital) ISRAEL Embassy (near the Nile bridge of 'Sharia Tahir' street ?) You have to pass through several body checks. LIBYA Embassy (near '26th of July' street and HOTEL 'Flamingo', west of HOTEL 'Marriott') ? / The security cannot understand English. #### customs; (near the Air Port) You can replace (switch) your carnet from old one to a new one here. If you submit both carnets which are continuous date, they'll stamp on the new carnet, too. TOP ## Border --------- #### Waji Halfa-Aswan (entry from SUDAN); (Refer to SUDAN information, too) You may be passive for all charges at this border. Please compare with the below-mentioned 'entry charge at Taba border.' (EGYPT side) I could get the visa at the border (in the ferry). $15. registration for your motorcycle; All the cost was LE 761.5 (traffic police; 71.5, customs; 522, insurance; 65, copy; 3, taxi fare; 100) Unfortunately it's impossible without the taxi driver's help. Because there's no transport but the taxi there. By walk is impossible because the offices are apart from each other. And in the traffic office there's no English sign and no one can speak English. But the taxi drivers at the port can speak English and act for the all procedure. You must finish discussing the charge in advance. Be careful of the insurance charge. He asks you to give him the charge. But he kept it all the time in his pocket at the office. After the all procedure, he requires a few hundred LE for his help (taxi fare). It is a best policy to grasp the driver's hand and to take a conciliatory measure, if you are a woman. I started the procedure at 830 in the morning and could finish about 1500 in the afternoon. The offices are close on Friday. If the ferry couldn't arrive on Thursday morning, the all procedure should be done on Saturday. (flow chart of the motorcycle registration at Aswan) (The brown coloured number is the charge at that place) (port) You have to leave your motorcycle at the port office until finish. (522 / If you don't have the money, you can pay later. You can ask the taxi driver to visit a bank or ATM) ! ! (by taxi) ! ! traffic police A 10.5 submitting copies of; cover of carnet, EGYPT stamp of carnet, photo page of passport, EGYPT visa of passport (copy; 3) 30.5, 11 ! ! (by taxi, with a traffic officer) ! ! port customs 522/ checking the frame number and engine number by the traffic officer When you arrived at the port by ferry without LE, you can pay LE 522 on this time. ! ! (by taxi, with a traffic officer) ! ! traffic police B just waiting / The traffic officer took some procedures there. ! ! (by taxi, with a traffic officer) ! ! traffic police A just waiting / The traffic officer took some procedures there. ! ! (by taxi) ! ! (insurance office) insurance; 50, weekend charge; 15 The taxi driver required 50 for the insurance before the office. But the money was all the time in his pocket in the insurance office. The taxi driver required 15 for calling the insurance office worker and asking to open. It was weekend and the office was close (on Friday and Saturday, it is close). ! ! (by taxi) ! ! traffic police A 30 / permission card, number plate Your permission card is often checked while you drive in EGYPT. ! ! (by taxi) ! ! port customs putting the number plate on your motorcycle One is for rear and another is for front About the front, most motorcycle put it on the side of the headlight or spoke. ! ! (by your vehicle, the taxi leads you to the centre of the town) ! ! centre of the town finish! (person) 100 / transportation and vicarious execution commission for the taxi driver First, the driver accepted? 50 for all.But when the everything was finished, he required 350 per person. Finally he accepted the discounted price, 100. entry charge at Taba border (In case you enter from ISRAEL at Eilat - Taba border) The price list is perfectly specified by this border. customs fee (only gulf area); 105 customs fee (all EGYPT); (..1600cc)205, (1600..2000cc)505, (2000cc..)1005 /car traffic tax; (only gulf area)30.5, (all EGYPT)36 /car border tax; (foreigner)71/person Please compare with the charge at Aswan border. There's a possibility the border tax is different from each other. You should check the border charge exactly in advance. #### Taba - Eilat (leaving for ISRAEL); (EGYPT side) immigration; 2, customs; 10 (They may tell a lie) overstay; 13.4 +customs fee/day It may take a few hours.　But the border seemed to be 24 hours open. ATM and bank (F.X.) are there. The duty-free shop are three They accept only US$ cash, no credit card. But the shop in the immigration could accept LE payment ($1=LE6). immigration stamp; They said they could stamp on a paper in stead of your passport. This is very important. Even if you could avoid the ISRAEL stamp in your passport, other countries can know whether you stayed in ISRAEL or not, by checking the EGYPT departure stamp. (ISRAEL side) No money is charged. But the car-insurance is required. You can buy it there, NIS477.60/month for motorcycle. You don't need AIT/FIA carnet. For Japanese tourist, one month stay is free. There are duty-free shops and a forex bureau. $1(cash)=$1(T/C)=NIL4.1872 (no commission) ATM is not there. You need to exchange here when you buy the car-insurance. The inspection is severe. You have to unpack all luggage. You may need much time to pass (if unlucky, several hours). Even if they are satisfactory, they may say, "There is a problem" and watch your reaction. TOP ## Road --------- All paved. Foreigners are prohibited to go some sections. But some sections are OK if you drive with the convoy. Aswan (port - railway station at the centre of the town) 17 km Safaga[0 km]--(Red Sea)--Cairo[about 420 km]: strong wind. Your mileage will go down. There is a toll near Cairo. motorcycle; 5 Cairo city There are many one-way streets. Even though you have GPS, it's difficult to arrive at your destination. The taxies are driving dangerous. In the night, cars never switch on headlights or just on dark lights. I recommend you to arrive this town in the early time and look for your accommodation. #### convoy; Foreigners must join the convoy in the following section because of the terrorism. The convoy runs more than 100 km/h. I recommend you to join the morning convoy. I joined 1400-departure convoy from Luxor to Hurghada in September. The tyre became too hot to touch. Finally I had the patch on the tyre tube peeled. I couldn't have enough time to repair because of convoy. The police found a pick-up and brought my motorcycle. They don't say 'convoy.' So they cannot understand when you say 'convoy.' Excuse me, I'm not sure what they say about the convoy. Aswan[0 km]--(S.A.)[about 150 km]--Luxor[about 212 km]: Aswan terminal; (departure) 800, 1400 (departure point) 'Corniche el-Nil' road (along the Nile river), near Coca-Cola factory, you can find many police on the road. from Luxor to Aswan (departure) 700, 1100, 1500 Luxor[0 km]--(S.A.)[149 km]--Hurghada(Safaga)[226 km]: Luxor terminal; (departure) 800, 1400, 1800 (departure point) going north along the Nile, 1.2 km after Luxor Temple turn right. It is just a street and no sign but police are there at the street. They say the convoy heads for Hurghada, but it is dispersed in Safaga, that is 60 km before Hurghada. Safaga is a small town. After the breakup, each car heads for Hurghada by themselves. from Hurghada (Safaga) to Luxor (departure) 700, 900, 1800 (departure point) At Safaga, there is a convoy terminal. It's near the ramp of the highway to Hurghada. Luxor--Mallawi--Cairo There's no convoy. Foreigners are prohibited to go. TOP ## GPS (download)--------- Read Me First! (for GARMIN 'Map Source' file) aswan-cairo.gdb Aswan - Cairo cairo-jerusalem.gdb Cairo - Jerusalem (ISRAEL) (GPS eXchange format file) You need to rename the file! aswan-cairo.rtf Aswan - Cairo cairo-jerusalem.rtf Cairo - Jerusalem (ISRAEL) (Plain Text, only the main waypoints) Aswan - Cairo (html) Cairo - Jerusalem (ISRAEL) (html) #### route & track; Aswan - Luxor - Cairo Mediterranean (Cairo - Damiette - Ismailia, north of EGYPT) Sinai peninsula Eilat (ISRAEL) - Jerusalem (ISRAEL) ************************************************************ (End) (English Home) http://www.seagulljapan.info/index2.html / (Japanese Home) http://www.seagulljapan.info/index.html All Rights Reserved: (c) seagull (seagulljapan@gmail.com) Copying is free as far as my copyright is specified. That's welcome to leave the copy at accommodations.