Ultimate Contradictions

Last Saturday I went to Alexandria with a friend of mine, she is a photographer and she wanted to shoot pictures of the typical Alex public beaches. I guess the idea was to catch the Egyptian Holiday makers beach fashion. What people wear going to the beach, even while swimming is remarkable. Allot of women are veiled with full make up.

I found this picture on an Egyptian Blog unfortunately I can not remember which one but they tackled the same issue of how veiled women swim fully dressed in Egypt. The above picture I think is taken in a pool somewhere in Sinai. You can see 2 veiled women and a topless tourist :) Welcome to Egypt the country of “Ultimate Contradictions”.

The Blog mentioned that since they published this picture the number of hits soared.

Actually On Stanley Beach we found 3 Moroccan ladies in bikini, we asked them to pause with the fully dressed male & females for a nice contrast pictures but they were camera shy and turned us down.

Definitely the picture above is much better than what we achieved in Alex :) Chapeau!!!

God save the KING

GOD save the KING

This country is full of Hypocrites

President Mohmaed Hossny Mubarak the Prince of the Faithful

(Amir Al Mo2menin) in Egypt.

The Embassy is in the Building

I watched the new Adel Imam movie “Al Sifara Fee Al Imara” (The Embassy is in the Building). Like the recent Imam movies this film shows Adel Imam as the irresistible womanizer. The film is about an Egyptian Petroleum Engineer who lives in Dubai, gets fired because he was caught sleeping with his manager’s wife, returns to Egypt to find that the Israeli Embassy is in the same building where he lives.

The movie will make you smile maybe laugh but the story is a little bit blunt.

What really shocked me is that I read an article by Yomna Kamel who mentioned that in fact there are 14 law suits filed against the Israeli Embassy in Cairo by its neighbors who want the diplomatic office to move out from their 18 storey building.
Neighbors complained about the annoyances they bear from the embassy's heavy security. A man complained that his child was not accepted at a school because the bus couldn’t stop in front of the building to pick up the child (A little bit far fetched, I think??!!).

The building residents complained that their human rights are being violated because relatives and friends can not easy visit because of the security measures, and that they can’t properly use the building's facilities, including the lift (Shit if I live on the 18th floor and can’t use the lift I would die).

A similar article was published by Al Ahram Al Arabi. The Israeli embassy, however, denied receiving any note from the Egyptian court about the lawsuits. Who should we believe??!!! I guess Adel Imam :)

The Gods of Hypocrisy

"I can imagine the sea without water but I can not see Egypt without Mubarak" an Egyptian citizen interviewed by BBC Arabic.

The banner below was seen in Sayeda Zeinab: “The Fetus in the womb of his mother is saying yes to Mubarak and yes to Serour”.

Egypt's New President?

This is the Voting Card for the first Presidential Elections in Egypt. For the last 7000 years we never had a Presedential Election, Yahoooo!!! We finally made it :)

Who will you Vote for?

NO COMMENT

Pope Shenouda announced his complete support to Mubarak and said that he is against having a Coptic candidates for president, and that the president of Egypt must be a Muslim, like the majority of Egyptians??!!!!!

NO COMMENT

The Middle Finger is for the People :(

This cartoon represents the Candidates for the September 2005 Presidential Elections. The National Democratic Party is the hand, The candidates are the fingers, and the Middle Finger for the PEOPLE :(

Ouchhh!!!! It hurts!!!!!

Egyptians should wear the Fez

Ahmad Al-Sabbahy, candidate of Al-Omma (The Nation) incomprehensible Party, stated during a TV interview that Egyptians should wear the Fez. Actually one of the one of the 8 objectives that the Al-Omma party has is that Egyptians wear a National Dress that includes a head dress.

In the meantime Ahmad Al-Sabbahy stated: "If I win the elections - Allah forbids - I plan to yield the position back to President Mubarak". He also said "I do not see myself as a rival to Mubarak". Mr. Al-Sabbahy added: "Mubarak is more suitable to lead Egypt... I consider his winning in the elections to be a personal victory of mine".

Son of a Gay

A few days ago a friend of mine told me that Noaman Gomaa, the candidate for Al-Wafd Party, was giving a speech in the city of Port Said for his presidential election campaign. The Gomaa supporters went on and on shouting slogans which did not allow him to start his speech. So Mr. Gomaa asked the supporters to stop chanting so he could give his speech. No one paid attention to Mr. Gomaa and the shouting continued. One of the supporters got really excited and was taking the lead. Frustrated Mr. Gomaa avoided the table microphones (but he totally forgot that he was carrying a small microphone attached to his clothes) and he asked one of his aids "None one knows how to shut up this son of gay??" (Ma7adesh 3aref yesket Ibn El Khawal dah?). All the audience heard the comment and the auditorium went dead silent. Someone also added that the rude comment was heard on TV channels.

Ayman Nour is Falling Down!!!

A friend of mine told me that he was watching a Presidential Election speech by Ayman Nour the Al-Ghad party candidate, when suddenly he disappeared from the TV screen. The platform Ayman Nour was standing on collapsed during his speech in the city of Mahalla. This would have been definitely fun to watch. Al-Arabiya TV says Nor accused the NDP of being responsible for this accident :)

Dinka Water

Would you take a sip of water from the pond above? I don’t think so. During the dry season this is the drinking water of the Dinka Tribe in South Sudan. The Dinka are inhabiting the swamplands of the Bahr El Ghazal region, They number around 2 million people, constituting about 5% of the population of the entire Sudan, and the largest Ethnic tribe in Southern Sudan. The Dinka whole existence focuses on their rivers and pasture, in the spirits they believe inhabit the grassland, and in their cattle.


In the picture above some Dinka children standing in the dry river Lol, hoping to get some water for their survival. The drinking water conditions in many African countries are so bad that http://www.concern.net/ has a proposal for various water projects across Africa.

Air disasters timeline

Two nights ago I heard about the crash of the Cyprian plane near Athens, this morning as I was getting ready to go to work I was watching TV, they were saying that on the same month 20 years ago in August 1985 a Japanese jumbo jet crashed in a mountain killing 520 passengers on board in the worst single-aircraft aviation in history, only four people survived.

As a frequent flyer, knowing that I flew at least 57 flights on KLM alone in 2004 I started to worry. A few minutes ago I received the BBC article below so I decided to share it with all of view. Roosh a dear friend of mine is cared of flying so I just want to tell her don't worry girl it is very safe to fly :)

BBC News looks at some of the world's recent air disasters.

2005

16 August: A Colombian plane operated by West Caribbean Airways crashes in a remote region of Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board. The airliner, heading from Panama to Martinique, was packed with residents of the Caribbean island.


14 August: A Helios Airways flight from Cyprus to Prague with 121 people on board crashes north of the Greek capital Athens, apparently after a drop in cabin pressure.


16 July: An Equatair plane crashes soon after take-off from Equatorial Guinea's island capital, Malabo, west of the mainland, killing all 60 people on board.

3 February: The wreckage of Kam Air Boeing 737 flight is located in high mountains near the Afghan capital Kabul, two days after the plane vanished from radar screens in heavy snowstorms. All 104 people on board are feared dead.


2004

21 November: A passenger plane crashes into a frozen lake near the city of Baotou in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China, killing all 53 on board and two on the ground, officials say.

24 August: Chechen suicide bombers destroy two Russian airliners carrying a total of 90 passengers and crew on domestic flights out of Moscow.

3 January: An Egyptian charter plane belonging to Flash Airlines crashes into the Red Sea, killing all 141 people on board. Most of the passengers are thought to be French tourists.

2003

25 December: A Boeing 727 crashes soon after take-off from the West African state of Benin, killing at least 135 people en route to Lebanon.

8 July: A Boeing 737 crashes in Sudan shortly after take-off, killing 115 people on board. Only one passenger, a small child, survived.

26 May: A Ukrainian Yak-42 crashes near the Black Sea resort of Trabzon in north-west Turkey, killing all 74 people on board - most of them Spanish peacekeepers returning home from Afghanistan.

8 May: More than 120 people are feared dead in DR Congo after the rear ramp of an old Soviet plane, an Ilyushin 76 cargo plane, apparently falls off, sucking them out.

6 March: An Algerian Boeing 737 crashes after taking off from the remote Tamanrasset airport, leaving up to 102 people dead.

19 February: An Iranian military transport aircraft carrying 276 people crashes in the south of the country, killing all on board.

8 January: A Turkish Airlines plane with 76 passengers and crew on board crashes while coming in to land at Diyarbakir.


2002

23 December: An Antonov 140 commuter plane carrying aerospace experts crashes in central Iran, killing all 46 people aboard. The collision of two aircraft over Germany in 2002 was blamed on air traffic control. The delegation had been due to review an Iranian version of the same plane built under licence.

27 July: A fighter jet crashes into a crowd of spectators in the west Ukrainian town of Lviv, killing 77 people, in what is the world's worst air show disaster.

1 July: Seventy-one people, many of them children, die when a Russian Tupolev 154 aircraft on a school trip to Spain collides with a Boeing 757 transport plane over southern Germany.

25 May: A Boeing 747 belonging to Taiwan's national carrier - China Airlines - crashes into the sea near the Taiwanese island of Penghu, with 225 passengers and crew on board.

7 May: China Northern Airlines plane carrying 112 people crashes into the sea near Dalian in north-east China.

7 May: On the same day, an EgyptAir Boeing 735 crash lands near Tunis with 55 passengers and up to 10 crew on board. Most people survive.

4 May: A BAC1-11-500 plane operated by EAS Airlines crashes in the Nigerian city of Kano, killing 148 people - half of them on the ground.

15 April: Air China flight 129 crashes on its approach to Pusan, South Korea, with over 160 passengers and crew on board.

12 February: A Tupolev 154 operated by Iran Air crashes in mountains in the west of Iran, killing all 117 on board.

29 January: A Boeing 727 from the Ecuadorean TAME airline crashes in mountains in Colombia, killing 92 people.

2001

12 November: An American Airlines A-300 bound for the Dominican Republic crashes after takeoff in a residential area of the borough of Queens, New York, killing all 260 people on board and at least five people on the ground.

8 October: A Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) airliner collides with a small plane in heavy fog on the runway at Milan's Linate airport, killing 118 people.

4 October: A Russian Sibir Airlines Tupolev 154 en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk in Siberia explodes in mid-air and crashes into the Black Sea, killing 78 passengers and crew.

11 September: Two passenger planes hijacked by Islamic militants are rammed into the World Trade Center in New York. A third is flown into the Pentagon and a fourth crashes south east of Pittsburgh. In total more than 3,000 people are killed.

3 July: A Russian Tupolev 154, en route from Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains to the Russian port of Vladivostok, crashes near the Siberian city of Irkutsk, killing 133 passengers and 10 crew.

2000

30 October: A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 bound for Los Angeles crashes after take-off from Taipei airport in Taiwan, killing 78 of the 179 people on board.

23 August: A Gulf Air Airbus crashes into the sea as it comes in to land in Bahrain, killing all 143 people on board.

25 July: Air France Concorde en route for New York crashes into a hotel outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing 113 people, including four on the ground.

17 July: Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 crashes into houses attempting to land at Patna, India, killing 51 people on board and four on the ground.

19 April: Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 from Manila to Davao crashes on approach to landing, killing all 131 people on board.

31 January: Alaska Airlines MD-83 from Mexico to San Francisco plunges into ocean off southern California, killing all 88 people on board.

30 January: Kenya Airways A-310 crashes into Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, en route for Lagos, Nigeria. All but 10 of the 179 people on board die.

1999

31 October: EgyptAir Boeing 767 crashes into Atlantic Ocean after taking off from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on flight to Cairo, Egypt, killing all 217 on board.

24 February: China Southwest Airlines plane crashes in a field in China's coastal Zhejiang province after a mid-air explosion. All 61 people on board the Russian-built TU-154 flying from Chongqing to the south-eastern city of Wenzhou are killed.

1998

11 December: Thai Airways International A-310 crashes on a domestic flight during its third attempt to land at Surat Thani, Thailand, killing 101 people.

2 September: Swissair MD-11 from New York to Geneva crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Canada killing all 229 people on board.

16 February: Airbus A-300 owned by Taiwan's China Airlines crashes near Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek airport while trying to land in fog and rain after a flight from Bali, Indonesia. All 196 on board and seven people on ground are killed.

2 February: Cebu Pacific Air DC-9 crashes into mountain in southern Philippines, killing all 104 people aboard.

Presidential Elections in Pictures

Will the Egyptians vote YEs or No? Pictures from the current Political scene in Egypt.

The YES Vote (in Pictures)

The No Vote (in Pictures)

Zen Sarcasm

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow... neither, do not walk beside me...Just, pretty much leave me the hell alone.

2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.

3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the best time to do it.

4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

5. Always remember that you are unique... Just like everyone else.

6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

11. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

12. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

13. Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.

14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

17. Duct tape is like 'The Force'. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.

19. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.

20. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

21. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

22. Never, ever, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Its a Pigs life :)

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes.
(In my next life, I want to be a pig.)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death!
(Creepy)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories a hour.
(Don't try this at home, maybe at work)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached toits body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
("Honey, I'm home. What the....?!")

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumpingthe length of a football field.(30 minutes..... lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.
(What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day.(I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity)Butterflies taste with their feet.
(Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle per unit weight in the human body is the tongue
(Hmmmmmm......)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer thanleft-handed people.
(If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only land animals that cannot jump.
(That's safer for all other animals, isn't it?)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
(I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains.
(I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed.
(If they switch, they\'ll live a lot longer)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
(What about that pig??)

Real accident in Egypt

Why do accidents like the one below always happen to someone's friend???

I received the below email and I forwarded to a bunch of people then a friend of mine made some remarkable comments. He said: “The next day when she woke up, she found herself in an empty house up in the hills” ???!!! There are no hills in Cairo, unless of course he is talking about Al Mokattam hills, but no one calls them the hills ?! They are know as Al Mokattam, it is so far fetched, that it is too fishy to be true!

To make things worse someone emailed me from Jordan saying that she had received the exact same email that this accident occurred in Jordan.
So obviously some people are really sick, they need treatment and medication. They have nothing to do but to make up silly stories, spread them on the web to make others live uncomfortable and in fear.

> From: Khaled El Seroui
> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:56 AM
>
> Today after office hours, I heard from my friend that there is a new
> way to rape women. It happened to one of our good friends. The girl
> left the office after working hours and saw a little child crying on
> the road. Feeling pity for the child, she went and asks what happened.
> The child said, "I am lost. Can you take me home please?" Then the
> child gave her a slip and told the girl where the address is. And the
> girl, being an average kind person, didn't suspect anything and took
> the child there.
>
> And there when it arrived the "child's home", she pressed the door
> bell, yet she was shocked as it the bell was wired with high voltage,
> and fainted. The next day when she woke up, she found herself in an
> empty house up in the hills, naked. She has never even get to see the
> face of the attacker...That's why nowadays crimes are targeted on kind
> people.
>
> Next time if the same situation occurs, never bring the child to the
> intended place. If the child insists, then bring the child to the
> police station. Lost children are best sent to police stations.

Whale Valley Egypt’s new World Heritage site

Egypt's Wadi al-Hitan, known as Whale Valley was listed as a World Heritage site. Wadi al-Hitan is a remote valley 150 km southwest of Cairo, where hundreds of fossil whale skeletons are being exposed by the wind. They lie trapped in a sandstone formation that represents an ancient sea bed.

The site first discovered during the winter of 1902-03 is known for its amazing fossil remains of now-extinct whales. 397+ skeletons of 5 different primitive whale species, in addition to 70+ sea cows or manatees lie on the sandy desert floor and are in need of protection and interpretation.

Wadi Al-Hitan is the most important site in the world to demonstrate the evolution of the whales from land animals to a marine existence. The fossils show the last whales known to have legs.

According to the IUCN, "It exceeds the values of other comparable sites in terms of the number, concentration and quality of its fossils, and their accessibility and setting in an attractive and protected landscape."

"The number, concentration and quality of such fossils here is unique, as is their accessibility and setting in an attractive and protected landscape," Unesco says.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1186

House in Cairo bloody Expensive

Price: $8 million
Location: El-Mokattam, Cairo, Egypt

Who said the Pyramids were over the top? Forbes listed the most expensive homes in the world, under Africa the only house that is not located in South Africa was this house in Cairo.

This Cairo palace was built in 1997 and encompasses an impressive 31 bedrooms and 34 bathrooms in nearly 82,000 square feet of space. A mix of architectural styles, the house features a tower, Corinthian-columned portico, and countless balconies and terraces. Inside, there are dramatic staircases, soaring ceilings, a lighted swimming pool near the reception area, a tennis court, a 4500 m2 garden, a large car garage and much more.. The residence has views of—what else? —the Pyramids and the Nile.

For more information visit http://www.egyptpalace.com/

The big question is: Who's house is it? I have no clue!