+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | _______ | 'I know' is just 'I Believe' with | | ,--'.:::::.`-._ | delusions of grandeur | | /..:::::::::::..\ | | | /..:::::::::_;::::| | | | || `---'----' _|:::| | | | || `;:::| | | | |' ==== ==== |-::| | | | |-( @ )-( @ )--|O):| | | | | ` | ` |/::' | | | . v |:/ jeremy@ | | | | ___, || malcolm | | | \ -- _/| .id.au | | | \_____.-'__/-.__ | | | _| _/|::.\.::-._ | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [*] news [ ] about [ ] writing [ ] journal [ ] images [ ] guests | | +--- last 5 | | |->> archive | | `--- search | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Sharm el Sheikh" :: [2009-11-18 01:40AM] | | | | I am in Egypt, specifically in the South Sinai resort town of Sharm el | | Sheikh, for the fourth Internet Governance Forum. I'm blogging about the | | IGF itself elsewhere, but a few words here on my impressions of Egypt - or | | what little I can gather about it from Sharm. For Sharm el Sheikh isn't | | really Egypt, it's Disneyland. | | | | Moorish (here called "oriental") architecture abounds, but inside every | | ornate ediface lies a luxury resort, casino or mall. Apparently, only | | about 40 years ago Sharm was a fishing village with a population of 100. | | Perhaps they're still here. In any case, they're now lost in the crowd of | | hospitality workers, who are in turn overrun by hordes of sunburnt, mostly | | Russian, tourists. | | | | The hotel where I'm staying is no exception to this - it's the kind of | | place you stay if your idea of a holiday is to spend the entire time safe | | within the resort, without risking exposure to the dirty, alien, confusing | | local culture. Its 10 hectare grounds include a swimming pool around | | every corner (some with waterslides), bars and restaurants (for most | | guests, all meals and drinks are included), a nightclub, and a daily | | "animation" (which just means activity) programme all conducted within the | | safety of the resort's boundaries. | | | | I did - I think - catch a glimpse of the real Egypt in the back alleys of | | the "old market" in downtown Sharm. After clearing the first few blocks of | | tacky souvenir shops (all of them called "Cleopatra" this, or "King Tut" | | that, or "Nefertiti" something else), you'll start noticing shops without | | touts hovering outside, and in which the signage is in Arabic, not Russian | | or English. A picture of one of these, selling fresh-baked flat bread, is | | found here. | | | | Some of that bread may have made its way to the IGF's gala dinner, where | | it was eaten with condiments such as hummus, tabouleh, fatoush (lime | | seasoned vegetables with olive oil) and tahineh (lime seasoned sesame | | garlic dip), and accompanied spinach fatayer (fried spinach and sumac herb | | filled pastry) and fried kebbeh (cracked wheat dumpling with lamb | | filling), before the main course of grilled seafood was served, followed | | by oriental pastries. | | | | reply (1 comments) | | << Back | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Links: portal / wedding / calendar / honours / phd / iq / igfwatch / random | | page generated in 0.073 seconds sadlittlewebjournal 2.9.3 | | content (c) its respective creator(s) web administration | | valid html 4.01 transitional foaf / rss feed | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+