Hey you apes, I'm back from Egypt and Isreal

Been OCONUS for 2 weeks and had a great time. Met some great people, ate some awesome food, saw some major historic sites.

 

Yeah, got a ton of photos, met Mike Beltran of UFC fame, saw The Med, the Red, and the Dead Seas. Went to the Wailing Wall, the Lebannon border, the Great Pyramids, the Catacombs, the Old City of Jerusalem, Jaffa, Massada, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Alexandria, Aswan, Haifa, Harghada. So much seen and enjoyed, but it's good to be back home.

 

Seen a lot of those places back in the 80s,,, lot of history over there . Wish I would have had more time to see and learn more of what I did see . Welcome home .

 

I’m going to Egypt in May. Any security concerns while you were there?
@Modus Operandi

 

Nope ,, Beruit tour ,, ‘83-‘’84,, stopped in Israel leaving the “ Root” for 2 days. Got 1 day of liberty and a couple of us rented a car and saw a lot of Israel and it’s country side. Bunch of beer drinking went on that day. Took a ton of pictures that day as well.

 

Security: watch for pickpockets, be polite, and remember that NOTHING is free. They expect you to pay for everything (even if they offer to show you where a 'great spot to take a picture at' to taking pictures with you. And they are very persistent in Egypt with selling crap. Otherwise just be alert and maintain situational awareness. I did see a street fight that got pretty large (20 people) with one guy pulling out a, I kid you not, meat cleaver. The crowd broke it up and many people apologised to us for the delay.

Isreal, was totally different. Where as Egypt was filthy and traffic was chaos, Isreal was tidy and orderly. And people weren't pushy. Even when the Gaza strip opened up on Jerusalem, the Israeli's were polite and apologised for the inconvenience.
In Egypt, you can haggle for 99% of everything on sale. Isreal, not hardly. But you will have a good time.

 

Looks like a pretty slick trip Modus,Any more picts?

 

And just remember that tourist have been visiting those sites for the last 5000-6000 years...I read somewhere that there is graffito on the pyramids in ancient Greek and Latin. The Pyramids at Giza must have been an awesome sight thousands of years ago when they were new... clad in white marble and capped with gold!

 

Yeah, one or two pics, lol. And there is graffiti on lots of places and the Temple Phillae had graffiti carved into the walls and columns soone dating back to 1859 (that date sticks out in my mind). And as of 2020, people will no longer be allowed to drive to the pyramids or be allowed to touch them. You will take an electric train from the New Egyptian Museum in Cairo to the sites.

 

@Modus Operandi did you have to play any passport games? I've read where many Arab countries have issues admitting you if you have an Israeli visa stamped in your passport.

 

Isreal works around that, they give you a stamp on a seperate piece of paper for both entry and exit. The entry is good for 1 year. They will ask you as you are at passport entry if you are going to other Arab countries. Just say yes and that is all it takes.