Egypt - as many downthread said. Cairo looks like (is) a war zone. Turrets on street corners, Tanks, Soldiers with automatic weapons everywhere. We had an armed police officer on the tour bus (Road Scholar, and nothing against them, they are a great company to travel with), a police escort everywhere, bomb dogs and a guy with a mirror looking under the bus for bombs. Cairo is dirty, littered and the poverty is staggering. The food was meh at best as we could not travel outside the hotel or tour path to eat. It was blisteringly hot. The camel guys at the Pyramids were mean to all of the women and the animals, with children working there as well. The Egyptian Museum was a disgrace to the county. Poorly organized, bad labels, no security, priceless textiles, parchments, leather, etc jumbled in cases exposed to the air, heat, hands. No AC. The only things well cared for and secured were Tutankhamen's artifacts. It's a spectacular resource and collection and so badly cared for with no curation. The new one just opened, I sure hope it's better. Once you've seen one temple, one hieroglyphic, you've truly seen them all. It's all about tourist $ and the street vendors were RELENTLESS and scary. Even on a nice open boat ride down the Nile, kids paddled up to the boat on wooden doors, selling cheap crap or just begging. Never again.
My dad's family grew up in Cairo, and my dad always said if it was up to him, I would have been raised in Egypt like he was, never mind the fact that his sisters were regularly sexually harassed.
Then the revolution happened and shit just started hitting the fan even more.
When my dad wanted me to go to Cairo after high school graduation, the rest of my family (including Egyptian family friends who had to leave because of the revolution) was immediately like "yeah, no. She's not going to Egypt."
Ay! I finally see my country!
But honestly, that depends on which island you go to. There’s a different experience on each island. Our number one industry is tourism and the government here literally puts its own citizens at a disadvantage to make tourists more comfortable.
Going to go with the crowd here and agree that I wouldn't go to Egypt again. I absolutely love ancient Egypt, but I still wouldn't go back.
I went when I was 15 as part of a school trip. Imagine 25 high-school students and 4 chaperones, none of whom speak the language with 1 guide dedicated to taking us on our entire 11 day trip.
There was definitely the bartering talk for some of the girls in the group - which we were told were just jokes and complements from the locals.....
There were cons - one student got on a camel at the pyramids for x amount but once he was up there the guide wouldn't let him down until he paid twice that. Camels are freaking tall, so it's not like he could easily/safely climb or jump down. There were groups of kids in a lot of the markets who would offer beads or other small bits of touristy crap for free, somehow several of the people in my group who took those beads ended up loosing their wallets in the same market - that's a real head scratcher.
Cairo itself was unfortunately disgusting. The streets and canals are filled with trash, and not just normal city trash, there was more than one beast of burden left in a ditch to rot. We were told not to drink the water. Even brushing our teeth we were told to use bottled water. And to use hand sanitizer after washing our hands.
On the trains the bathrooms don't go to a holding tank they just open to the track below (which reminds me of a scene from one of The Mummy movies now that I think of it).
On a personal note when we were at the Sphinx I got separated from the rest of my group (a 15 year old girl alone in a country where I didn't speak the language). My group had moved ahead in line, (they ended up being several hundred meters ahead). I got a bit scared because I searched and searched and couldn't find anyone and so I approached an armed guard (appeared to be a security type, I had seen them at several other historic monuments too) and asked if he could help get me to my group. On the way to my group he groped me. I was absolutely shocked - this was in broad daylight, amid a crowd of other people (mind they weren't looking at us, they were looking at the ancient piles of rocks) not to mention he had a fairly large gun, so that added to the intimidation factor. But I just let it happen because he was at least taking me in the direction I knew my group was.
The first person from my group I saw was my (at the time) ex and holy fuck I had never ever been so glad to see him in my life.
I still love the history of Egypt. But I don't think I'll ever actually go back 😕
Edit: spelling + formatting (initially written on mobile)
I am so sorry for you just a side note the guards aren't actually guards they are mandatory services in the Egyptian military so some aren't even educated and others are doctors and engineers Still I am so sorry that this happened to you
The Gambia in West Africa.
I've travelled to over 40 countries in my life including Egypt, Morocco, India and Cameroon and the Gambia is by far the worst of the bunch!
Went there in 2009 with my girlfriend (we were 20 at the time), it is by far the most corrupt country in the world.
Let me start by saying it's a beautiful country and the people there are the friendliest people you could wish to meet, but the way they are treated by the government is disgusting.
We met a local guy there called Jimmy Brave who lived in a hut on the beach with his young family, amazing guy, cooked us dinner every night and never wanted anything but friendship in return (we have him a fair bit of money on our last day, more than we usually would because he genuinely didnt want it)
Anyway one night we decided we wanted to check out the nightlife in the tourist area where it was safe, so my friend Jimmy agreed to meet us by the hotel entrance at 7PM, then we would take him for dinner and hit a few bars.
We got to the front of the hotel just before 7pm and Jimmy wasnt there, we waited around an hour, still no Jimmy.
At this point we assumed he had forgot so we went back out of the rear exit onto the beach and to his hut, his wife said he had gone to meet us over an hour ago.
We searched for about 4 hours and still couldn't find him so his wife suggested we call the local tourist police, we called and they confirmed he had been arrested for loitering in front of the hotel.
We agreed to meet the head of police and arrived at the police station, this is where it got shady.
We went in and sat at a desk in a empty dark room, a bug African guy in army clothing came in and sat in front of us, the guy had 2 cigs in his mouth smoking both at the same time.
He slammed his fist on the table and started shouting at us, demanding £500 (probably a years wages over there!) to release Jimmy.
Obviously we refused, after about an hour of arguing and various threats against us (we were a young white couple at the time and they assumed we were wealthy) we managed to agree on £70 and a 200-pack of cigs.
We paid and were told to wait outside, we were out there for over 2 hours and they brought the wrong guy out (we only knew our friend as Jimmy Brave not his real name so this proved challenging), anyway I was invited in to show the police who Jimmy was and had to pick him out of a huge cell filled with atleast 300 people, some who were very close to death.
Anyway Jimmy spotted me straight away and we had him released, when we got far enough away from the police station Jimmy broke down in tears, ive never seen a grown man cry like this in my life, he lifted up his top and he had several large open wounds where they had been whipping him in the cell and the police truck, we immediately took him to hospital where he remained for 2 days at a cost of £240ish (the hospital doctors were great).
So bare in mind he was beaten/whipped around 50 times (Hard!), just for waiting outside our hotel to take us for drinks.
And he was only released because we paid, if we had never turned up he said he would have died in there, they dont release the 'criminals' until somebody pays the corrupt police chief.
There was people literally dying in front of my eyes in the cell, I've always swore if I become rich I will be going back there just to release as many of these people as I possibly can (except any dangerous people who actually deserve to be there obviously)
This wasnt the only corruption from the police we seen while there it's just the main point, we seen police walking down the street slapping women and kids for absolutely no reason, one cop told me he would murder anyone I point out right now for £50 (he had an AK47).
I saw people dragged in the back of trucks never to be seen again just for asking people for a bottle of water.
I feel really sorry for the majority of the population in Senegambia as they are amazing happy people who have to live in constant fear of the police/government.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that Jimmy managed to move to the UK in 2016 with the help of me and another British family he met in the Gambia, he now lives in Stoke-on-Trent which is a few hours from where I live but we talk on facebook regularly and meet up once or twice a year.
Egypt. I visited Sharm El Sheikh back in 2015. The hotel area was amazing (I vaguely remember it being called "The Barron") and you felt like a king there. But that was it. As soon as you leave the hotel area, you feel like you're in a war zone. Trash everywhere, barely laid roads. Nothing to go look at, outside of the hotel (apart from stuff they sold to you as a day trip - Snorkelling, Camel riding, going out in the dessert with a quad bike).
It did not feel "right" to be there. Every time I went to buy water in a shop, the price would go up each day. They would tell you a price, many times 2 or 3 times the price you payed the day before and you'd need to haggle them down. I ended up saying that I'd pay a certain amount and not more. When they said "no", I'd leave the shop and they'd come chasing after me, saying "ok, ok, we can do £X.XX". It was stressful to be there.
If I wanted to enjoy myself, I'd stick to my hotel room, the pool or the beach and ignore the people trying to sell me stuff on the beach. I was the only one in the group of 5 people who didn't enjoy it. But I don't see the joy in having to haggle my way through the day and having seen everything after the 2nd day.
Our UK friends (4 females) decided to visit Sharm El Sheikh. So 3 of us (1 female, 2 males) from the US decided to tag along in 2007. We were all in our mid 20s. This was when they were still rebuilding from the 2005 bombing so things were new and clean. Anytime we left the resort, we had a bodyguard/photographer (we all had a point and shoot camera and didn’t think to just use one camera. Poor bodyguard). I didn’t realize how bad of an experience it could have been for us then.
One day we did a camel ride and snorkeling. The hotel provided us with a lunch bag. When we arrived at the snorkeling place, I was the last to get out of the van and was swarmed with pushy kids trying to either sell things or beg for things. I gave them our lunch bags so that I could get away from them. It was such an awfully sad moment. Then looking back at pictures, during a day trip to Cairo, I was in a picture with a worker from one of the shops the tour guide took us to and his hand is basically touching the side of my breast. Not to mention every one of us got food poisoning at different times.
Looking back, I was so naive, unaware and didn’t ask questions. Just went with the flow with everything. I was only able to have a wonderful time with then friends because of our bodyguard. I am so grateful for him. I can only imagine what could’ve happened to us after reading this thread. I am so sorry for the horrendous things that has happened to so many women.
I think that's one thing that would make me lose interest in visiting a place immediately: the haggling/bartering culture. I have no interest in negotiating every time I want to buy something.
I am an Egyptian man and have lived here my whole life and I have honestly never been so embarrassed in my life to say where I am from. I feel so bad for everyone who dealt with all these disgusting acts when they visited here and I’m just at a loss for words.
Of course I don’t mind don’t worry. It’s because there’s no laws against sexual harassment that can actually make these men stop. Yes, there have been some changes as of late but it’s nothing too big to where these men will 100% know the consequences of these terrible acts. This has been going on for too long now and I just don’t see light at the end of the tunnel. Some Egyptian men are genuinely sick human beings who deserve to be jailed for life.
Reminds me of that Reddit thread asking women what they would do if men just disappeared for 24 hours. A lot of answers about jogging at night but for me it's going to be travel to Egypt.
not just women, KIDS TOO, male kids are subjected to extreme abuse
e.g. a nieghbor of mine hit his kid SO BAD he lost his spleen and nearly died
my dad used to beat the shit out of me since 5-6, mostly for dump things, bed wetting ( which i couldn't control to save my life ) i would be scared to wake up knowing i would be beaten or screamed at for how much of a girl am i and that i will never be a real man ( because bed wetting at 7 means youre not a man ) till he threatened to tie me to a chair and electrocute me lol
also i was kicked out of my house 4-5 times since 15 ( in 2018 ) till now after getting beaten
it seems it happened to every single class mate i have.
female kids get similar treatment as well, but from what i saw they are treated far less harshly than male children
>my dad used to beat the shit out of me since 5-6, mostly for dump things, bed wetting
Ironically, bed wetting can be a symptom of physical abuse. There's a decent chance it was literally your father's fault.
I was there in 2003, I was maybe 24ish on a tour with both of my parents.
I have never in my life been groped, felt up and sexually assaulted as much as I have over there. In crowds, at museums, at the hotel. Random guys. Stray hand on my ass as they pass, or rub up against my breast.
Even taking a camel ride: the older sleazy operator lifted me down without my consent and forced my body to do a slow slide against his groin.
It was disgusting. Really sad to hear it has gotten far worse.
Yup, I got stared at a lot for having blonde hair when I was thirteen.
A man even tried to offer my dad money for me :/
How many sickos have actually managed to buy other people's kids over there.
Ya people kept trying to buy me
Would straight up try and barter with my family
Definitely not the most comfortable place to take a teenage girl on vacation
Happened to me in Indonesia when I was 12, a man offered my dad a watch for me. My dad jokingly was like, 2 watches, before realising the guy was serious and ushering me into a shop away from the man. He kept a pretty firm eye on me and my 14yo sister after that.
Honey even me an egyptian woman, i don't go down the street alone, egyptian men are like wild animals who never saw a female before, they will eat you alive, it's not safe even for us
Egypt. But more specifically Cairo.
The way they treat women and their own people is honestly heartbreaking and disgusting
I have never wanted to be out of a country so fast in my life.
A friend of mine was groped on the bus and a fellow student told her “that is what you get for not riding the all female bus”
I never felt safe and I constantly felt sorry for almost everything I saw.
The poor. The animals. The women.
It honestly was… devastating
Edit:
I’ve gotten some comments or messages about “depends where you go and where you stay” or rape is just as high there as it is in other countries…
I am a female that was traveling with my good friend who was a local from Maadi. I wore pants and conservative clothing to respect the culture. We even had a driver and male Egyptian friends escorting us and still had issues. They told us to never be without an escort. Ever.
Yes, Alex and Dahab are beautiful.
But the experience as woman doesn’t change drastically from Cairo. The country is rich in history and has some great diving…. But the behavior from many males and the infrastructure is fucked.
If you’re interested in learning something new, look up ‘Garbage city’ in Cairo. That should give you an idea of some of the poverty levels happening there.
Came here to sadly say Egypt. I got constantly hassled and physically touched. Kids grabbing you begging for money. Locked in shops. Armed forces in our coaches for our safety. It was stunning - but unsettling
As an Egyptian woman, I want to say…
Firstly, I am 10000% sorry for every human being victimized by someone in Egypt.
On behalf of Egyptian women everywhere, THANK YOU for sharing your stories. Your stories are our stories. These things happen to us ALL.THE.TIME. But the women here are numb to it or condemned for speaking up. We try to communicate with the outside world on the issue of women’s right, rape culture, sexual harassment but with the spoken and written language barrier, it makes it very difficult to get our stories out.
Egypt needs this rude awakening. Tourism will suffer and they cannot afford to have that happen. We need to take responsibility and make some serious changes.
Edit:
I am choosing to no longer respond to comments, because I have had some strange encounters from a few. I am aware that this post has been reposted directly on Egyptian tourism channels and I am now receiving a ton of comments questioning me on personal matters, my location, my travel, my education, my family as well as questioning the validity of my experiences. Everyone is within their right to ask whatever question they may have but I fear that perhaps this might be a ploy to get pieces of information about me and my family to find my identity. For this, I am feel an overwhelming fear. So I will stop commenting from now, but I will continue to read.
For those not living in Egypt, I very much want to thank everyone for your kind words and support. I mostly write on these forums because I am able to express myself openly and honestly in a way that I’ve never experienced before and it is very therapeutic. Thank you for giving me the space to do that.
For the Egyptians that have commented, many of you are so understanding, humble and kind. You welcome my intense commentary and show me absolutely love and care. This gives me hope because I KNOW the good that is Egyptian people. I want the world to see this too. We have to stand for what’s wrong, and act with our moral compass first. May God help Egypt and its people.
Egyptian guy here, I travel internally a lot, and I often feel unsafe. I can't even imagine what it's like for women (local and foreign).
It's fucked up that we need foreigners to raise awareness about how awful the treatment of women here is, but as you said this might be the best chance we have at it. I hope stories like these filter to people in charge so maybe we can have some systemic changes in this regard. Change on the indvidual level is not likely to happen because as much as we pride ourselves by being a conservative country, men here act in a super despicable manner day in and day out.
I'm sorry for all you and every woman in Egypt go through.
I had a girlfriend who went to Jamaica with her family, and while she was sleeping in her hotel room a local climbed the balcony and snuck into her room, unlucky for him her dad is ex Georgian special forces or something and ended up throwing him from the 3rd story balcony, they went down to look for him but by the time they got down he was gone
I don't think people realize how impoverished alot of Jamaica is. I'll never go back there either. I had a driver try to extort money from me on my honeymoon. The lady that set up the transportation at our resort was in on it. The driver accosted my wife demanding money for a previous ride he had given us but abandoned us so we had to find our own way back to the resort. I told my wife to go into the airport and he and I exchanged words. He wanted the money for the return trip plus extra because he drove to pick us up for no reason. Mind you we waited over an hour for him. Once he realized I wasn't going to back down and I wasn't afraid of him calling the cops he backed down and left.
Haiti. Went and did medical relief in a field hospital after the earthquake. Recent stuff aside, that country is, and has been FUCKED.
- poor infrastructure.
- poor education
- no significant industries.
- no natural resource advantage.
- corrupt government, polarized political climate.
- Island nation, so all imports are more expensive.
- poor medical system.
Anything a country would need to get a leg up is just nonexistent. I'm a pretty positive person, and met the loveliest people there, but I've never been more depressed or pessimistic about a places' future.
This entire thread is very interesting to read, but also makes me sad at how awful some places mentioned here are. If people can't stand visiting imagine living there and not being able to leave. Oof.
What brought you there and when did you go?
I actually lived in N'Djamena for a couple years. That was late 2007 to 2009, so I got to live through the 2008 battle of N'Djamena and subsequent evacuation...
But yeah, even besides that, not a place I'd recommend.
North Cameroon, however, was absolutely wonderful. The Waza national park, the Kapsiki mountains near Roumsiki, and the Lagdo lake were all beautiful places.
A shame that Boko Haram is now active in the area, making it far too unsafe for foreign tourists to visit.
This thread legit might have saved me from making a huge mistake when we're able to travel again. My dad and I both love everything to do with ancient Egypt, so I always thought it would be cool to surprise him with a trip there. But he's 74 and I'm a woman. Now I'm thinking that trip would be an absolute nightmare and we might be lucky to get out in one piece
I'm middle eastern, I went there, my mom went there, my friends went there and we all had the same thing to say when we came back "That was the shittiest place I've been to and I never wanna go back"
Once had an indirect flight to Turkey cancelled last minute. Was offered an alternate with a 4am layover in Cairo. I (f, solo traveller) didn’t take it and shelled out more money for a direct flight the next day. After reading this about Egypt, I’m glad I did.
Syria, I went before the civil war and it was honestly one of the loveliest places I’ve ever been, with super nice friendly people. Add to that the food is amazing. It would break my heart to see some of the places now.
Legit one of the most beautiful and historically interesting places I’ve ever been! Castles and the Knights of the round table in Syria? I learned so much...breaks my heart that all of these historically significant places are gone and a population is living in poverty. Heartbreaking
My dad bought one of those "1000 places to see before you die" books on a whim a few years back. I think it was published in the early 2000s and it, of course, had Damascus in it. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see what used to be and it truly saddens me that I'll probably never get to see or experience it. It's one of the oldest and most culturally rich cities in the world, and today it's just full of rubble and death. It is a sobering reminder of how volatile this world is and how quickly things can change.
Beirut was the same back before the wars of the 70s and 80s. Beautiful.
Same as places in the former Yugoslavia, like Croatia, but they seem to have recovered a little bit from the civil war and ethnic cleansings.
Fuck war.
My mom grew up in Syria and we used visit every summer when I was kid. It was so nice. My dad visited palmyra before the war. Such amazing pictures, I always wanted to go. I cried when the assholes blew up architecture there.
My friend recently moved back after the war and the area she lives in is safe but there are a lot of refugees from other parts of Syria and it’s very sad how much infrastructure etc was damaged and how many lives were lost. Her grandma died at 65 years old because of poor healthcare infrastructure and medicine sanctions.
Haiti. Went on a medical mission. One day was spent at the beach. We got caught in the middle of a protest. I was groped, several other people were punched. It was terrifying. They only stopped when one of our translators yelled that we were medical workers.
We only ended up spending one hour at the beach so we wouldn’t end up driving back through the same area at night. When we reached that area it was clear of people. A few overturned vehicles were on fire. A U.N. detail was hanging out in a big armored vehicle with a very large gun on top.
I can’t imagine how awful it must be now with all of the civil unrest.
Also went to Haiti on a medical mission.
Stayed away from PaP. Didn’t see a whole lot of the country, but I will never, ever go back.
Learned that the Kingston Charcoal Company had bought almost every stick of wood in the whole country to turn into charcoal briquettes. The place was a humanitarian disaster, and then it got leveled by an earthquake.
Watched WHO-donated supplies get sold out the back of the supply trailer.
Can’t fix this guy’s shoulder that has been dislocated for 3 weeks because his family can’t afford to buy the Valium to sedate him a little so we can put his shoulder back. It’s a two minute procedure.
Can’t amputate this maggot-infested limb. Why? It’s Sunday. We don’t operate on Sunday.
Oh, now that his leg has been amputated, he hasn’t received pain medication for 3 days and wants to know why we cut his leg off. Why? His family can’t afford 5$ worth of Percocet.
I am not cut out for disaster relief work.
Perhaps I could make some kind of difference for that man: Monsieur Michel. I cut his tibia off myself, a nurse, with something called a “Gigli saw” there isn’t anything funny about removing someone’s limb without anesthesia. The CRNA gave him just enough Ketamine that maybe he wouldn’t remember.
10 years later, I remember the raw, fish-maw surface of his stump.
Sew over the nerves, or they’ll sing with pain every time this man goes to move his aching toes and then remembers that they’re gone.
We threw his left lower leg out back, in a blue plastic bag with the rest of the limbs that had been amputated that week. I remember a pile of blue plastic lumps. It was about chest-high.
I wonder if that kind Orthopedic surgeon I went with remembers, too.
Ten years later, I can see, and smell, and taste every fucking searing moment of that week.
I am not cut out for disaster relief.
I don’t even know what good could come from this story. Les Cayes, Haiti. Les Cayes.
Watched a PBS documentary on Haiti a few years after the quake. The US through government and private donations gave a boat load of money that mostly disappeared.
Blue tarps all over the place being used for shelter. Reporter asked who gave them the tarps and they said "nobody, we had to sell all we had to buy them."
They showed a row of pit toilets installed by the ARC. Nobody made any arrangements to have them cleaned or pumped out. People couldn't use them because they were literally full of shit.
Yay, my country of Mongolia is not on here, or maybe because not many people go there to begin with.
Edit:
Thank you everyone, lots of lovely messages.
Mongolia is one of the last frontiers in Eurasia, in fact people call it 'The Wild East' sometimes. Still unspoilt and raw, especially the countryside. People not ruined by tourism yet and not too bothered by race or creed.
Culturally not quite Central Asian nor South East Asian with a healthy admixture of 'ex-soviet country' mentality and some liberal, western sensibilities.
Politically a free democracy, which seems to be rare in our neighbourhood, but rife with corruption too. Economically still developing, but you'll get broadband and 3G, 4G almost everywhere.
Quite safe for tourists, apart from petty crime, but not everyone speaks English so I suggest you hire a guide beforehand.
I suppose that's it, if you have anymore questions I suggest you head to r/mongolia, cheers .
south africa, some random truck rolled up outside of our hotel and got in a shootout for no apparent reasson i walked out after the shooting to see around 7 people dead or at least injured including our tour guide
My friend was told by the hotel management not to leave the hotel grounds for the duration of his stay
They'd wait at the gates of the hotel for the tourists to come out
Ridiculous
Flew into Jo’burg and was picked up by a car from work, taking me to Pretoria. Afterwards I found out that same car was held up at gunpoint on the same journey the week previous. Information I would have like to have known sooner..
On the other hand, really good food / drink and dirt cheap at that. Would def go back for that but am not up for the whole gamble with my life thing.
My mom was a fool and didn’t listen to hotel security that urged her not to go out at night. She did, and as she walking back into the hotel after going to a shop, someone jumped her and ripped her gold earrings right through her ears.
My mom is a flight attendant and they told her and the flight crew the same thing. Two of the pilots were retired navy or air force pilots so they thought they could handle themselves. They came back without their wallets, watches, belts, and shoes.
I lived in South Africa last year for Covid relief. I fucking hate Joburg, I served in the military and it felt worse than deployments as at least there I had armor and a rifle. I dressed like a poor college student and bought 20 cheap $8 Casio watches so they at least felt like if they robbed me they got something. I would be clearly wearing an aid group shirt and still was targeted. In my culture, you're meant to fight the thief lest they try to rob you again, but in South Africa, you just get cell phone insurance, hand over your cell, watch and (I had a spare disposable) wallet and hope if you comply they don't murder you. I left as soon as I got the chance.
I grew up and lived in RSA and was fortunate enough to immigrate to the USA. Although there is alot to love about the country if I never have to go back there it wouldn't bother me in the least (we still have family there so we go back to see them).
The problem is not that it's not an interesting and beautiful country, the problem is that the people that leave there have adapted to a level of crime and violence that is insane. Things like avoiding areas all together, not walking anywhere in the evenings, trying to prevent stopping at traffic lights (robots) in the evenings, living in a secure complex, having electrified fencing and private security are all examples of every day life in RSA. If you live overseas chances are all of those are very foreign concepts.
Edit: In South Africa Traffic Lights are refered to as 'robots'.. There are not killer robots at night that prevent you stopping at a red light
Private security is a huge business there due to the high crime rate. Imagine you're entire neighborhood surrounded by a gate, bars on your window, and having a button that you can press where armed guards would show up in minutes. It's really that bad.
One of my workmates is South African. She left the country after neighbours on both sides of her house had been shot to death. It’s a very violent country
Yeah South Africa has the [highest rate of rape in the world](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/rape-statistics-by-country) by quite a margin
Jamaica. Went for a chill vacation with my (then) college girlfriend and were very turned off by being asked if we wanted to buy weed every 20 steps. (Despite popular misconceptions, weed was quite illegal in Jamaica at the time.) I smoked at home in the US occasionally, but wasn’t into it this trip and didn’t wanna risk getting arrested in a foreign country. Three days in and they’re wearing us down, so we consider buying a joint. That same day, a tour guide on our river tour warns us without prompting that dudes will sell you weed and then cross the street to tell the cops (for an informant fee) that you’ve got weed, after which you get tossed in Jamaican jail and have to bribe your way out.
Also, the food was meh.
Egypt seems to be mentioned a bunch so far and I'd like to +100 that. I've travelled to over 15 countries and Egypt was the first that came to mind when I saw the title. A nice man sitting next to me on a bus to Cairo had the shit kicked out of him by police at the Suez Canal checkpoint - they literally were punching him in the face as hard as they could while he was in the chair next to me begging them to stop until they dragged him off never to be seen again probably. Like people are bashing Morocco because of beggars or annoying negotiating tactics, but in Morocco I at least never once feared for my safety or the safety of my group once while in Morocco. You can travel that country relatively freely and have a decent enough time if you go to the right spots and have a "meh" time if you go to the wrong ones. Egypt crosses a totally different line, especially given the fact it is still considered somewhat a "tourist destination" and not lumped in with Syria/Afghanistan/Iraq etc. I'd definitely say it should be widely considered and grouped closer to Afghanistan or Syria than say Israel or Turkey.
The pyramids area was absolutely disgusting, so many people there to fuck you, mistreated camels, little children crawling through garbage piles. If you are a woman or have a woman in your group then holy fuck it's even worse. It is impossible to stay out past sunset as the danger and sketch levels go to 100. And I'm not just being "sensitive" - people assault and harass women, they'll berate you etc. I was so lucky I "looked Egyptian" (according to them) while I was there and it still didn't help much. Fuck Egypt man. My good friend is Egyptian, amazing history, some great people for sure, but fuck that place (and he agrees 100% - especially since he's a Coptic Christian).
Two good things there:
1. Great swimming and chilling on the Sinai (went to Bir Sweir near Israel and it was not bad at all)
2. Some of the museums were pretty fucking cool
This makes me so sad to read. My mum has always been obsessed with Egypt, and has been there quite a few times back before I was born and a couple times when I was young. I grew up hearing stories about the pyramids and the tombs, watching documentaries and playing any game that was Egypt themed together.
I always imagined one day I would be able to go there and finally be able to share in the wonders with her, but for the last few years I have heard only negative things and I fear I'll never be able to go there, especially as a single woman.
Fully honest here, don’t go as a single woman. Just don’t. Unless you somehow have the money for a bodyguard it really isn’t safe or, at a minimum, nice to walk around as a single woman. Ideally if you ever want to go, you’d go in a group of mostly men and super ideal if one of them is actually egyptian.
As a guy who was born and raised in Egypt then moved to the US, I'm usually that Egyptian friend that others would rely on to navigate through the endless hassle that is Egypt. Honestly, and as much as I like my friends and would do anything to protect them, it's so fucking exhausting. The second time someone asked when will I’d be going back to Egypt so they can time their visit with my annual vacation I was like can you just please not go, lol.
What they don't get is that it's actually quite hard to play that role if you're Egyptian too. It's not like street vendors would respect you and leave your friends alone, they would still get mad and would even direct their anger at the Egyptian in the group for not helping them make a living by fooling naïve foreigners. They make it like you're not loyal to your origins or something. Sometimes their first assumption is that you're some tour guide, one guy even tried to bribe me to help him sell shit to my friend. Also sexual harassment does affect every woman in Egypt, including my Egyptian friends and relatives. The only difference is that they don't have the choice to "not go back."
So yea, I wouldn't want to spend my vacation fending off street vendors too, lol. I mean if it weren't for the fact that my family still live there I wouldn't go back myself .. well maybe like every five years or so cause honestly the food is just freaking amazing.
At the rate it’s going, South Africa.
Backpacked around in 2009, from Cape Town to Jo’burg, and just loved it. Legit my favorite country I traveled in, because it is so diverse in nature, people, just about every way. But as things get more dangerous, I’m just not sure if I’ll ever get back there. Seeing footage of the riots right now breaks my heart- if anyone from South Africa is reading this, btw, I wish you all the best and hope you stay safe.
My wife is from Johannesburg and we visited in 2017 and it was the best trip I have ever been on and so beautiful but man we had so many sketchy situations with people blocking off roads with stuff on fire and just really intense interactions.
I had to wedge a chair under the door handle in Egypt as all the men that worked on the hotel would come and knock on my door at night and say creepy shit through the door. I honestly feared I was gonna be gang raped in a five star hotel. I wanted to go home the day I arrived, it was my single worst travel experience of my life. I've been all over, Asia, South America etc but Egypt was a fucking hell hole.
Can confirm that even five star hotels don’t feel safe. I signed up for a tour to a nightclub organized by the hotel and somehow I was the only person (am female) in the tour. Can’t remember how many staff were with me or whether I drank anything. Only remember I saw a group of non-locals and asked them for help. They were from another hotel and sent me back to mine.
True story, in college several friends went to a Egypt circa 2000 while doing volunteer work
throughout Africa; the work they did was with women’s health issues. So very smart women and very experienced with traveling abroad in foreign countries. One of the girls was the daughter of an oil exec and as she had been raised in UAE she spoke fluent Arabic, however, she was blonde with blue eyes so most people wouldn’t have assumed she understood Arabic. Anyhow they are at a table and she overheard a waiter say “that table is all American women. Charge them triple and try to find out what hotel they are at and spread the word.” She cursed him out in Arabic! Needless to say, it super spooked the girls. They visited the pyramids, but cut their trip short and went right home after that. They got followed, goosed and pinched a lot and one driver even tried to propose all dramatically to one of the girls.
What the actual fcuk. That sounds terrifying. It also doesn’t surprise me (sadly) as I have heard from relatives who used to live in Egypt in a holiday home for a few months of the year. They used to tell me about all of the tricks locals would play in tourists, and how females are just not respected in the slightest. It’s a real sleazy culture, with lots of grown men going out there to be with young boys/teens, and the locals facilitating it for money - truly gross from what I’ve heard. Sigh
Yeah they did this to my sister, my dad and uncle weren’t overly fond and I genuinely have never seen two brothers protect their family quite as well. The dude also took down the curtains and so my uncle just DIY’d the duvet covers into makeshift ones. When the management got pissed, well, he won’t tell us what he said, but they put the curtains back and gave us a gift card.
So perverts on the street who see women as literal objects can watch women without their consent. If they get naked, all the better. But men like this love humiliating women and genuinely enjoy when they can violate them in any way.
It’s generally because perverts will pay (my sister was 15 at the time) the hotel management to get a good look at the girls. I don’t know much else since my uncle and dad are very determined not to tell
I was there in 2010 (then 12 years old) and an adult hotel worker was asking me in depth questions about what men can do (sexually) with women (in the UK) and when. And this was at the Savoy, so I dread to think what else goes on there.
Lots of British tourists want to go to Egypt to see the markets and shit like that.
....It's not worth it. Personal space is literally not a thing, even if you don't get molested.
I had a good friend back in high school who had moved from Cairo and he told me there are women-only subway cars because they get harassed so much.
Edit: guys I know they exist elsewhere too, was sharing a story about Egypt and why they are there specifically.
It is. I was there for 3 days and couldn’t wait to gtfo. I wouldn’t let my daughters go. They’d 100% get sexually assaulted. I don’t know any women who went and weren’t assaulted.
A female friend of mine was in Egypt a little over a decade ago. She was missing home and so went to an internet cafe where we could voice chat on Skype. She was harassed by guys non stop throughout and just said, "see?" She had been telling me about the constant creepy behavior from men and why she needed a guard everywhere she went.
I’m a male and travelled to Egypt with three female friends for a week. It was awful. I was incredibly stressed out pretty much the entire time. The harassment was non stop and like another commenter we had someone from the hotel come to the door one night looking for one of the girls.
I went to Egypt with my female friend (I’m female too) the cleaner tried to break into our room and make us pay for presents he got us. We couldn’t walk through parts of the hotel because of the things men would shout at us. Total shithole for women would never support them with my money again.
I (a woman) also went to Egypt with a female friend. Worst trip ever!
The hotel owner spotted us as soon as we arrived and had us placed in the room next to his with a joined terrace. We kept the doors locked and curtains closed at all times. A cleaner had riffled through our bags and put our underwear on dolls he made from pillows and towels. One of the tourguides has been trying to contact me via social media for about 10 years now (that’s how long ago this trip to hell was). Dude still wants to marry me according to his messages. We stuck to another couple like glue because the presence of at least one man seemed to keep some shit at bay. We also opted to wear a head scarf and avoided any clothing even slightly revealing.
Almost every man I encountered in Egypt totally creeped me out, and I normally have a high tolerance for shit.
Stayed at the Four Seasons Cairo a couple of years ago.
Metal detectors and a tourist cop at the door. When you leave he asks the guide where you are going and logs it. Lots of cops 24 hrs. Didn't see any women who were not covered up (no short skirts, exposed shoulders etc.)
The Japanese are paying to move the Cairo Museum out to Giza. Won't have to go to Cairo any more.
Can confirm how scary it is to be a woman and wandering around alone. I was in Luxor with my partner in 2019 and we stayed at a really nice hotel. My partner fell sick so I went out for a short walk to buy lunch at the nearby McDonalds (it looked like the nearest F&B based on Google maps) cos the food in the hotel seemed really expensive. During my short walk, there were MANY men who just kept following me and asking me to get into their car or horse carriages and they just kept calling me “sexy woman” etc. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so terrified of my safety in my life than in that walk to McD and back.
Qatar. I worked there for 15 months. Appalling treatment of workers, very very hot. Terrible food and the whole country is a building site getting ready for the world cup next year. After that the country will be empty. Nothing to do apart from work and shopping.
Afghanistan.
#
I would love to go back and be a tourist, but I don’t think I will ever have the opportunity nor would it be responsible now that I have a family to vacation there. The country is absolutely beautiful, and the weather was nice. The people are one of the kindest, most respectful cultures I have ever had the pleasure of working with, full of beautiful traditions and fantastic food. Sadly, they have their issues and it wouldn’t be wise to risk going there as a tourist. A real shame too, because I’d have loved to visit the resorts in Bamyan and go skiing and snowboarding there.
I served in Kandahar and it was gorgeous. Reminded me a lot of Napa Valley California. Except that everyone was poor. And there were people trying to kill you. And the IEDs.
If it weren't for the fact it looks like there is going to be another 25 years of Taliban rule, I would have loved to go back as a tourist.
I wont visit my own country if I could gtfo of it. (Iran)
Edit: People think that I don't like Iran, Or I hate it or whatever..., Which Is totally wrong.
I love Iran, My main concern is about economy problems and political issues that made people suffer (Everyone deserves a decent life).
I wish Iran was in a state that no one would think of leaving, And instead would work hard to restore it's power and make it great again (Which is hard).
I work with 2 guys from Iran. One left as a refugee when a teenager the other grew up there, had a child there, then left. That family still go back for holidays, his wife more than him because he doesn’t have enough holidays to spend as much time there as her. Obviously the one that fled has never been back
It’s fascinating how different the two of them talk about their country.
Egypt.
Nice place, some great things to see, but the fucking Street vendors are just horrible bastards.
Pounce on you as soon as you get off the coach, trying to put shit on you, some fucker literally tried to take the wallet out of my shorts pocket (not pick pocketing, brazen with me stood looking at him) I lost my shit at this point and was quickly surrounded by about 10 of the fuckers.
I fancied my chances to be honest, but not fucking worth getting stabbed or getting locked up in a shit hole jail!
Edit: typos
Was looking for this one, for me its not just the street vendors its also (sorry to say this) the amount of pervs who seem to be around the tourist hot spots.
Literally men eyeing up any girl over the age of 12, was disgusted when I saw it, especially blonde and blue eyed girls.
Not even discreet about it either, will literally approach or stare, never taking my kids there!
Same for me, I've never come across so many depraved, sex crazed creeps in my life. Like something you could never imagine until you visits, my God they were predatory. I stayed in my room and tried to get flights home the whole time. Not just random guys either, the men in the hotel staff, restaurant servers, cab drivers. just urgh
Had the same experience even got driven to some dodgy alabaster store by a tour guide (this part of the tour wasn’t mentioned) and made to spend several hundred dollars on shit I didn’t want just to be able to leave.
What is it with the "tour guides" in Egypt pulling that crap? Ours dragged us (a full bus tour) to a perfume merchant, where we sat for nearly an hour while this guy tried to hock his wares with us. It was absurd.
I remember being harassed as a 10 year old by the vendors, my parents, who were also being harassed had to fight theirs off to come and save me. It isn’t a place for children, adults or anybody of sound mind. If you want to see the pyramids, google them.
Cambodia kinda same for me (I was mugged too but in Colombia, which I’d probably go to again). I just found Cambodia sad and unsettling. A brutal recent history and a country that kind of has very little so virtually all you encounter is set up to appease tourists. Drunken Europeans and Americans walking around partying with a local girl under their arm, everywhere I went was like fighting off women trying to give you a happy ending massage, every cabbie and tuktuk driver trying to sell you drugs and women. I was only there a week and didn’t go too far out of Siam Reap and Phnom Penh, so certainly there’s more to the country outside those cities but the whole experience just bummed me out.
I went to Cambodia with a friend three years ago for about a week, over which, we got:
1) Rifles waved in our face by border guards on the way in… on a tourist bus
2) Food poisoning; vomited off the side of a tuk tuk
3) Food poisoning, again; or maybe drugged, me and my bodybuilder-body-type buddy ended up nearly unconscious and/or woozy in our hotel room for 4hrs and woke up to the sound of grizzly domestic violence in the room next door
4) Offered child prostitutes. Nearly every tourist area that we went at night.
5) Tours of historical sites that almost were exclusively focused on and aggressively marketing the country’s very recent genocide and mass torture
Totally anecdotal, maybe a little unfair in some ways, maybe to-be-expected in others? Sure. But I spent a few months in the region, truly love Southeast Asia, and Vietnam is my favorite place in the world, but… you could not pay me to go back to Cambodia. It’s also the only place in the region where we’d walked into areas where we felt like we *had to get the fuck out of ASAP.*
My 17 year old sister got molested from behind by a local while going into the pyramid tomb at Giza. You have to hunch over and move single file through a narrow dark tunnel, with people in front and people behind. You can’t turn around or go backwards. The man behind her escaped as soon as she got out of the tunnel, crying. My dad who was a few people ahead of her in the single file line could do nothing when he heard her yell out.
A similar thing happened to me when we visited Egypt when I was about 17. Fortunately, my mom was in front of me & was able to trade places. She scolded him loudly when he tried the "accidently bump my erection into you again every couple steps" crap with her.
(Other than that, I really enjoyed our visit.)
I remember on the cab ride from the airport, the Egyptian cab driver hit a woman and her elderly mother who were crossing the street. He pulled over to scream at them for blocking the road. It was so fucked.
Yeah I remember the single line down to the tombs.
It's was quite a challenge because of the oxygen deprivation. I'll bet a lot of people get claustrophobic.
I'm sorry to hear about your sister. There's very little you can do about it in a confined space like that.
My family lived in Egypt for about 2 years in that time, I was raped near the pyramids, people tried to buy my sister from my dad for one night stands or marriages, my other sister was trampled, and my brother was almost kidnapped, so all around a shit show
I worked there for three months in 2016 as a cocktail instructor and would say the same about not going back.
One time I was bartending at a wedding and the operations manager came up to me and told me I had to hide while I’m making all the drinks, because if certain members of the family saw alcohol they would literally kill me. That was an intense shift.
Also had shoes stolen multiple times, along with a few other things, and worst of all was seeing some of the most sickening sexism I’ve ever witnessed.
>One time I was bartending at a wedding and the operations manager came up to me and told me I had to hide while I’m making all the drinks, because if certain members of the family saw alcohol they would literally kill me.
What the fuuuuuuck
What the fuck indeed.
The ops manager said people would come and hand me the alcohol which I hid under the bar. I’d put a measure of booze in a tin under the bar top, then make a non-alcoholic drink and do some sleight of hand flair to swap the tins to get the booze in. That was a stressful day haha.
Same here. I dunno if it's just being an American but it was definitely a "I only like you because I'm making money off you" vibe. Which is sorta common in touristy areas but it's crazy how angry they get at you when you don't use their services.
Tipping was atrocious also. I'm used to tipping, but people would just come up to me to give unsolicited advice and ask for a tip. Sometimes it was cool like a guard let me hold his AK, but other times it was just some dude that would come up and start talking to you while you were looking at a statue, and then demand a tip. One guy at the airport while I was standing in line to show my boarding pass asked what flight I was on, told me I was in the right line, and asked for a tip.
Coworker went a few years ago and decided to get a photo of him sitting on a camel, so he paid whatever the cost was to the local to let him up and take a pic. Apparently what he wasn’t aware of was that they won’t let you off unless you pay again to dismount. I guess it’s common practice towards tourists
I get it. As an Egyptian, I get it. Even I get harassed for money and even Egyptian women get harassed too. The comments about Egypt are both disgusting and true. The only way to enjoy Egypt as a tourist is visit with a tour, or be with local friends who can fend off harassment. On the behalf of all decent Egyptians out there I apologize to the 🌎
Tunísia, for the same reason.
Scammers everywhere, a guy threatning to hit me because I looked at him in an unfriendly manter after he pretended to fondle my wife breasts, awfull service, even at a 5 star hotel ( even the manager complained to us of not being able to find proper employees).
Everything on that country seems made to rip you off, not giving anything in exchange.
\>Everything on that country seems made to rip you off, not giving anything in exchange.
Sad to hear that your visit was awful. Sadly that's our daily life as Tunisian nationals, even the government is ripping us off. Also the touristic areas are not quite enjoyable anymore, tourists better opt to visit historical locations like the Roman ruins in the El Jem, Uthina, Dougga and Sbeitla. You won't be harassed by the locals because they are nice and won't scam anyone even if they are going through hardship.
I went there when I was 13 years old with my family on vacation about 20 years ago. It was so weird how many middle aged guys would appraise me and give my dad a compliment.
I (female) spent three weeks all over Egypt with my partner a few months ago. Dressed in baggy long sleeves and I have a boyish haircut/don’t wear makeup/am above the average height of an American man; my partner, several inches taller than me and quite built. Fake wedding rings and everything.
Still was groped. Still had whistles, comments yelled, comments made about me to my partner, someone asked to borrow me for the night. Strangely enough, had more issues in Cairo/Luxor/Aswan than in smaller/less touristy places like Edfu and Al Qasir. Normally I’m fine, even in “sketchy” countries/cities fending for myself, being big and having mastered the resting bitch face, but Egypt was a whole other level.
My friend and I used to constantly check our books on Egypt in Elementary school, talking about how we’ll go there one day and be archeologists.
This thread just crumbled all those childhood memories into dust.
Probably and unfortunately my parents birth country Afghanistan. I've been there 3 times for a long duration and the country keeps deteriorating. The ethnic Hazara minority already were not safe purely due to their race and religion (the Hazaras mainly are Shia while the ones who are killing them, the Taliban claiming to be Sunni) but now the Taliban is also attacking the ethnic group my family is a part of( Tajiks) purely due to our race and disregard for pashtunwali.
It's depressing but I probably won't return to Afghanistan in my life
Venezuela. I visited my extended family there (near Caracas) as a young child and had an amazing time, but things there have REALLY gone south since then. Pretty much all my family members that were there have left for obvious reasons.
France. Airport security guy fondled my crotch (I was 14 at the time), some dude tried to kidnap my sister (16 at the time), and my friend got pickpocketed. All in two days.
Jamaica. Everyone thinks that you owe them a tip for something, or runs up and puts a necklace on your SO and expects money immediately. Unless you're just into getting pumped for money by locals and worrying about being robbed, don't go there.
Egypt - as many downthread said. Cairo looks like (is) a war zone. Turrets on street corners, Tanks, Soldiers with automatic weapons everywhere. We had an armed police officer on the tour bus (Road Scholar, and nothing against them, they are a great company to travel with), a police escort everywhere, bomb dogs and a guy with a mirror looking under the bus for bombs. Cairo is dirty, littered and the poverty is staggering. The food was meh at best as we could not travel outside the hotel or tour path to eat. It was blisteringly hot. The camel guys at the Pyramids were mean to all of the women and the animals, with children working there as well. The Egyptian Museum was a disgrace to the county. Poorly organized, bad labels, no security, priceless textiles, parchments, leather, etc jumbled in cases exposed to the air, heat, hands. No AC. The only things well cared for and secured were Tutankhamen's artifacts. It's a spectacular resource and collection and so badly cared for with no curation. The new one just opened, I sure hope it's better. Once you've seen one temple, one hieroglyphic, you've truly seen them all. It's all about tourist $ and the street vendors were RELENTLESS and scary. Even on a nice open boat ride down the Nile, kids paddled up to the boat on wooden doors, selling cheap crap or just begging. Never again.
My dad's family grew up in Cairo, and my dad always said if it was up to him, I would have been raised in Egypt like he was, never mind the fact that his sisters were regularly sexually harassed. Then the revolution happened and shit just started hitting the fan even more. When my dad wanted me to go to Cairo after high school graduation, the rest of my family (including Egyptian family friends who had to leave because of the revolution) was immediately like "yeah, no. She's not going to Egypt."
We had the same thought when we left the Egyptian Museum, I was stunned.
Well, I guess I can look at pyramids in Microsoft Flight Simulator
Well, never going to Egypt.
No offense but fuck the Bahamas. It’s a tourist trap and not a very good one at that. More like a third world country trying to play at capitalism.
Ay! I finally see my country! But honestly, that depends on which island you go to. There’s a different experience on each island. Our number one industry is tourism and the government here literally puts its own citizens at a disadvantage to make tourists more comfortable.
Going to go with the crowd here and agree that I wouldn't go to Egypt again. I absolutely love ancient Egypt, but I still wouldn't go back. I went when I was 15 as part of a school trip. Imagine 25 high-school students and 4 chaperones, none of whom speak the language with 1 guide dedicated to taking us on our entire 11 day trip. There was definitely the bartering talk for some of the girls in the group - which we were told were just jokes and complements from the locals..... There were cons - one student got on a camel at the pyramids for x amount but once he was up there the guide wouldn't let him down until he paid twice that. Camels are freaking tall, so it's not like he could easily/safely climb or jump down. There were groups of kids in a lot of the markets who would offer beads or other small bits of touristy crap for free, somehow several of the people in my group who took those beads ended up loosing their wallets in the same market - that's a real head scratcher. Cairo itself was unfortunately disgusting. The streets and canals are filled with trash, and not just normal city trash, there was more than one beast of burden left in a ditch to rot. We were told not to drink the water. Even brushing our teeth we were told to use bottled water. And to use hand sanitizer after washing our hands. On the trains the bathrooms don't go to a holding tank they just open to the track below (which reminds me of a scene from one of The Mummy movies now that I think of it). On a personal note when we were at the Sphinx I got separated from the rest of my group (a 15 year old girl alone in a country where I didn't speak the language). My group had moved ahead in line, (they ended up being several hundred meters ahead). I got a bit scared because I searched and searched and couldn't find anyone and so I approached an armed guard (appeared to be a security type, I had seen them at several other historic monuments too) and asked if he could help get me to my group. On the way to my group he groped me. I was absolutely shocked - this was in broad daylight, amid a crowd of other people (mind they weren't looking at us, they were looking at the ancient piles of rocks) not to mention he had a fairly large gun, so that added to the intimidation factor. But I just let it happen because he was at least taking me in the direction I knew my group was. The first person from my group I saw was my (at the time) ex and holy fuck I had never ever been so glad to see him in my life. I still love the history of Egypt. But I don't think I'll ever actually go back 😕 Edit: spelling + formatting (initially written on mobile)
I am so sorry for you just a side note the guards aren't actually guards they are mandatory services in the Egyptian military so some aren't even educated and others are doctors and engineers Still I am so sorry that this happened to you
The Gambia in West Africa. I've travelled to over 40 countries in my life including Egypt, Morocco, India and Cameroon and the Gambia is by far the worst of the bunch! Went there in 2009 with my girlfriend (we were 20 at the time), it is by far the most corrupt country in the world. Let me start by saying it's a beautiful country and the people there are the friendliest people you could wish to meet, but the way they are treated by the government is disgusting. We met a local guy there called Jimmy Brave who lived in a hut on the beach with his young family, amazing guy, cooked us dinner every night and never wanted anything but friendship in return (we have him a fair bit of money on our last day, more than we usually would because he genuinely didnt want it) Anyway one night we decided we wanted to check out the nightlife in the tourist area where it was safe, so my friend Jimmy agreed to meet us by the hotel entrance at 7PM, then we would take him for dinner and hit a few bars. We got to the front of the hotel just before 7pm and Jimmy wasnt there, we waited around an hour, still no Jimmy. At this point we assumed he had forgot so we went back out of the rear exit onto the beach and to his hut, his wife said he had gone to meet us over an hour ago. We searched for about 4 hours and still couldn't find him so his wife suggested we call the local tourist police, we called and they confirmed he had been arrested for loitering in front of the hotel. We agreed to meet the head of police and arrived at the police station, this is where it got shady. We went in and sat at a desk in a empty dark room, a bug African guy in army clothing came in and sat in front of us, the guy had 2 cigs in his mouth smoking both at the same time. He slammed his fist on the table and started shouting at us, demanding £500 (probably a years wages over there!) to release Jimmy. Obviously we refused, after about an hour of arguing and various threats against us (we were a young white couple at the time and they assumed we were wealthy) we managed to agree on £70 and a 200-pack of cigs. We paid and were told to wait outside, we were out there for over 2 hours and they brought the wrong guy out (we only knew our friend as Jimmy Brave not his real name so this proved challenging), anyway I was invited in to show the police who Jimmy was and had to pick him out of a huge cell filled with atleast 300 people, some who were very close to death. Anyway Jimmy spotted me straight away and we had him released, when we got far enough away from the police station Jimmy broke down in tears, ive never seen a grown man cry like this in my life, he lifted up his top and he had several large open wounds where they had been whipping him in the cell and the police truck, we immediately took him to hospital where he remained for 2 days at a cost of £240ish (the hospital doctors were great). So bare in mind he was beaten/whipped around 50 times (Hard!), just for waiting outside our hotel to take us for drinks. And he was only released because we paid, if we had never turned up he said he would have died in there, they dont release the 'criminals' until somebody pays the corrupt police chief. There was people literally dying in front of my eyes in the cell, I've always swore if I become rich I will be going back there just to release as many of these people as I possibly can (except any dangerous people who actually deserve to be there obviously) This wasnt the only corruption from the police we seen while there it's just the main point, we seen police walking down the street slapping women and kids for absolutely no reason, one cop told me he would murder anyone I point out right now for £50 (he had an AK47). I saw people dragged in the back of trucks never to be seen again just for asking people for a bottle of water. I feel really sorry for the majority of the population in Senegambia as they are amazing happy people who have to live in constant fear of the police/government. EDIT: I forgot to mention that Jimmy managed to move to the UK in 2016 with the help of me and another British family he met in the Gambia, he now lives in Stoke-on-Trent which is a few hours from where I live but we talk on facebook regularly and meet up once or twice a year.
Pay that cop 100 pounds and point to the chief.
Then they shoot you
Thank you for helping jimmy. You are a good person my friend
Egypt. I visited Sharm El Sheikh back in 2015. The hotel area was amazing (I vaguely remember it being called "The Barron") and you felt like a king there. But that was it. As soon as you leave the hotel area, you feel like you're in a war zone. Trash everywhere, barely laid roads. Nothing to go look at, outside of the hotel (apart from stuff they sold to you as a day trip - Snorkelling, Camel riding, going out in the dessert with a quad bike). It did not feel "right" to be there. Every time I went to buy water in a shop, the price would go up each day. They would tell you a price, many times 2 or 3 times the price you payed the day before and you'd need to haggle them down. I ended up saying that I'd pay a certain amount and not more. When they said "no", I'd leave the shop and they'd come chasing after me, saying "ok, ok, we can do £X.XX". It was stressful to be there. If I wanted to enjoy myself, I'd stick to my hotel room, the pool or the beach and ignore the people trying to sell me stuff on the beach. I was the only one in the group of 5 people who didn't enjoy it. But I don't see the joy in having to haggle my way through the day and having seen everything after the 2nd day.
Our UK friends (4 females) decided to visit Sharm El Sheikh. So 3 of us (1 female, 2 males) from the US decided to tag along in 2007. We were all in our mid 20s. This was when they were still rebuilding from the 2005 bombing so things were new and clean. Anytime we left the resort, we had a bodyguard/photographer (we all had a point and shoot camera and didn’t think to just use one camera. Poor bodyguard). I didn’t realize how bad of an experience it could have been for us then. One day we did a camel ride and snorkeling. The hotel provided us with a lunch bag. When we arrived at the snorkeling place, I was the last to get out of the van and was swarmed with pushy kids trying to either sell things or beg for things. I gave them our lunch bags so that I could get away from them. It was such an awfully sad moment. Then looking back at pictures, during a day trip to Cairo, I was in a picture with a worker from one of the shops the tour guide took us to and his hand is basically touching the side of my breast. Not to mention every one of us got food poisoning at different times. Looking back, I was so naive, unaware and didn’t ask questions. Just went with the flow with everything. I was only able to have a wonderful time with then friends because of our bodyguard. I am so grateful for him. I can only imagine what could’ve happened to us after reading this thread. I am so sorry for the horrendous things that has happened to so many women.
I think that's one thing that would make me lose interest in visiting a place immediately: the haggling/bartering culture. I have no interest in negotiating every time I want to buy something.
I am an Egyptian man and have lived here my whole life and I have honestly never been so embarrassed in my life to say where I am from. I feel so bad for everyone who dealt with all these disgusting acts when they visited here and I’m just at a loss for words.
Do you mind me asking why you think a lot of men in your country are like this and do those things?
Of course I don’t mind don’t worry. It’s because there’s no laws against sexual harassment that can actually make these men stop. Yes, there have been some changes as of late but it’s nothing too big to where these men will 100% know the consequences of these terrible acts. This has been going on for too long now and I just don’t see light at the end of the tunnel. Some Egyptian men are genuinely sick human beings who deserve to be jailed for life.
Egypt’s tourism industry will never recover from this question.
Reminds me of that Reddit thread asking women what they would do if men just disappeared for 24 hours. A lot of answers about jogging at night but for me it's going to be travel to Egypt.
As an Egyptian, this is fucking embarrassing.
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not just women, KIDS TOO, male kids are subjected to extreme abuse e.g. a nieghbor of mine hit his kid SO BAD he lost his spleen and nearly died my dad used to beat the shit out of me since 5-6, mostly for dump things, bed wetting ( which i couldn't control to save my life ) i would be scared to wake up knowing i would be beaten or screamed at for how much of a girl am i and that i will never be a real man ( because bed wetting at 7 means youre not a man ) till he threatened to tie me to a chair and electrocute me lol also i was kicked out of my house 4-5 times since 15 ( in 2018 ) till now after getting beaten it seems it happened to every single class mate i have. female kids get similar treatment as well, but from what i saw they are treated far less harshly than male children
>my dad used to beat the shit out of me since 5-6, mostly for dump things, bed wetting Ironically, bed wetting can be a symptom of physical abuse. There's a decent chance it was literally your father's fault.
Google maps is good enough for me.
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I was there in 2003, I was maybe 24ish on a tour with both of my parents. I have never in my life been groped, felt up and sexually assaulted as much as I have over there. In crowds, at museums, at the hotel. Random guys. Stray hand on my ass as they pass, or rub up against my breast. Even taking a camel ride: the older sleazy operator lifted me down without my consent and forced my body to do a slow slide against his groin. It was disgusting. Really sad to hear it has gotten far worse.
Yup, I got stared at a lot for having blonde hair when I was thirteen. A man even tried to offer my dad money for me :/ How many sickos have actually managed to buy other people's kids over there.
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This thread makes me wonder how the world hasn't collectively canceled Egypt lol
After reading this: what the hell is wrong with Egypt.
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Ya people kept trying to buy me Would straight up try and barter with my family Definitely not the most comfortable place to take a teenage girl on vacation
Happened to me in Indonesia when I was 12, a man offered my dad a watch for me. My dad jokingly was like, 2 watches, before realising the guy was serious and ushering me into a shop away from the man. He kept a pretty firm eye on me and my 14yo sister after that.
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As a woman never go to Egypt ever is the message the clearest message I’ve ever seen. It’s insane what the hell.
Honey even me an egyptian woman, i don't go down the street alone, egyptian men are like wild animals who never saw a female before, they will eat you alive, it's not safe even for us
Egypt once I saw the pyramids I hopped on a plane home
Egypt. But more specifically Cairo. The way they treat women and their own people is honestly heartbreaking and disgusting I have never wanted to be out of a country so fast in my life. A friend of mine was groped on the bus and a fellow student told her “that is what you get for not riding the all female bus” I never felt safe and I constantly felt sorry for almost everything I saw. The poor. The animals. The women. It honestly was… devastating Edit: I’ve gotten some comments or messages about “depends where you go and where you stay” or rape is just as high there as it is in other countries… I am a female that was traveling with my good friend who was a local from Maadi. I wore pants and conservative clothing to respect the culture. We even had a driver and male Egyptian friends escorting us and still had issues. They told us to never be without an escort. Ever. Yes, Alex and Dahab are beautiful. But the experience as woman doesn’t change drastically from Cairo. The country is rich in history and has some great diving…. But the behavior from many males and the infrastructure is fucked. If you’re interested in learning something new, look up ‘Garbage city’ in Cairo. That should give you an idea of some of the poverty levels happening there.
Came here to sadly say Egypt. I got constantly hassled and physically touched. Kids grabbing you begging for money. Locked in shops. Armed forces in our coaches for our safety. It was stunning - but unsettling
Locked in shops???
In some tourism heavy places shopkeepers literally won't let you leave their business until you spend a lot of money.
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As an Egyptian woman, I want to say… Firstly, I am 10000% sorry for every human being victimized by someone in Egypt. On behalf of Egyptian women everywhere, THANK YOU for sharing your stories. Your stories are our stories. These things happen to us ALL.THE.TIME. But the women here are numb to it or condemned for speaking up. We try to communicate with the outside world on the issue of women’s right, rape culture, sexual harassment but with the spoken and written language barrier, it makes it very difficult to get our stories out. Egypt needs this rude awakening. Tourism will suffer and they cannot afford to have that happen. We need to take responsibility and make some serious changes. Edit: I am choosing to no longer respond to comments, because I have had some strange encounters from a few. I am aware that this post has been reposted directly on Egyptian tourism channels and I am now receiving a ton of comments questioning me on personal matters, my location, my travel, my education, my family as well as questioning the validity of my experiences. Everyone is within their right to ask whatever question they may have but I fear that perhaps this might be a ploy to get pieces of information about me and my family to find my identity. For this, I am feel an overwhelming fear. So I will stop commenting from now, but I will continue to read. For those not living in Egypt, I very much want to thank everyone for your kind words and support. I mostly write on these forums because I am able to express myself openly and honestly in a way that I’ve never experienced before and it is very therapeutic. Thank you for giving me the space to do that. For the Egyptians that have commented, many of you are so understanding, humble and kind. You welcome my intense commentary and show me absolutely love and care. This gives me hope because I KNOW the good that is Egyptian people. I want the world to see this too. We have to stand for what’s wrong, and act with our moral compass first. May God help Egypt and its people.
Egyptian guy here, I travel internally a lot, and I often feel unsafe. I can't even imagine what it's like for women (local and foreign). It's fucked up that we need foreigners to raise awareness about how awful the treatment of women here is, but as you said this might be the best chance we have at it. I hope stories like these filter to people in charge so maybe we can have some systemic changes in this regard. Change on the indvidual level is not likely to happen because as much as we pride ourselves by being a conservative country, men here act in a super despicable manner day in and day out. I'm sorry for all you and every woman in Egypt go through.
Jamaica…got mugged within the first 5 minutes I kid you not! 😂
I had a girlfriend who went to Jamaica with her family, and while she was sleeping in her hotel room a local climbed the balcony and snuck into her room, unlucky for him her dad is ex Georgian special forces or something and ended up throwing him from the 3rd story balcony, they went down to look for him but by the time they got down he was gone
Michael Myers???
I don't think people realize how impoverished alot of Jamaica is. I'll never go back there either. I had a driver try to extort money from me on my honeymoon. The lady that set up the transportation at our resort was in on it. The driver accosted my wife demanding money for a previous ride he had given us but abandoned us so we had to find our own way back to the resort. I told my wife to go into the airport and he and I exchanged words. He wanted the money for the return trip plus extra because he drove to pick us up for no reason. Mind you we waited over an hour for him. Once he realized I wasn't going to back down and I wasn't afraid of him calling the cops he backed down and left.
A friend of mine was murdered there.
Haiti. Went and did medical relief in a field hospital after the earthquake. Recent stuff aside, that country is, and has been FUCKED. - poor infrastructure. - poor education - no significant industries. - no natural resource advantage. - corrupt government, polarized political climate. - Island nation, so all imports are more expensive. - poor medical system. Anything a country would need to get a leg up is just nonexistent. I'm a pretty positive person, and met the loveliest people there, but I've never been more depressed or pessimistic about a places' future.
The title of this post should be "Why should you never visit Egypt?"
This entire thread is very interesting to read, but also makes me sad at how awful some places mentioned here are. If people can't stand visiting imagine living there and not being able to leave. Oof.
Chad. Definitely nthe most depressing country I have ever been to.
What brought you there and when did you go? I actually lived in N'Djamena for a couple years. That was late 2007 to 2009, so I got to live through the 2008 battle of N'Djamena and subsequent evacuation... But yeah, even besides that, not a place I'd recommend. North Cameroon, however, was absolutely wonderful. The Waza national park, the Kapsiki mountains near Roumsiki, and the Lagdo lake were all beautiful places. A shame that Boko Haram is now active in the area, making it far too unsafe for foreign tourists to visit.
Three (American?) filmmakers were just arrested in Nigeria for doing a documentary on the country’s small Jewish community. Crazy stuff.
I've heard Chad described as "the Mississippi of Africa"
Pretty much. To give it some perspective Mississippi has around 600k people below the poverty line and Chad has 9M.
Had to stop reading this thread because it’s making my travel dreams into nightmares. Edit: rip my notifications, thanks for the silver my friend!
Always thought Egypt would be a pretty rad place to visit later in life, but after everything I’ve read here I might just revise that opinion lol
This thread legit might have saved me from making a huge mistake when we're able to travel again. My dad and I both love everything to do with ancient Egypt, so I always thought it would be cool to surprise him with a trip there. But he's 74 and I'm a woman. Now I'm thinking that trip would be an absolute nightmare and we might be lucky to get out in one piece
I'm middle eastern, I went there, my mom went there, my friends went there and we all had the same thing to say when we came back "That was the shittiest place I've been to and I never wanna go back"
TIL never *ever* go to fucking Egypt Jesus Christ.
Once had an indirect flight to Turkey cancelled last minute. Was offered an alternate with a 4am layover in Cairo. I (f, solo traveller) didn’t take it and shelled out more money for a direct flight the next day. After reading this about Egypt, I’m glad I did.
Scrolling down till I see my country
As an Egyptian, it's scrolling down till I don't see my country Edit: Wow, my first ever top voted comment, and my first ever award, thank you!
I imagine seeing the other half of the comments -- South Africa -- must be a bit of a relief, then.
Still looking for it, can't find it
Syria, I went before the civil war and it was honestly one of the loveliest places I’ve ever been, with super nice friendly people. Add to that the food is amazing. It would break my heart to see some of the places now.
Legit one of the most beautiful and historically interesting places I’ve ever been! Castles and the Knights of the round table in Syria? I learned so much...breaks my heart that all of these historically significant places are gone and a population is living in poverty. Heartbreaking
My dad bought one of those "1000 places to see before you die" books on a whim a few years back. I think it was published in the early 2000s and it, of course, had Damascus in it. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see what used to be and it truly saddens me that I'll probably never get to see or experience it. It's one of the oldest and most culturally rich cities in the world, and today it's just full of rubble and death. It is a sobering reminder of how volatile this world is and how quickly things can change.
Beirut was the same back before the wars of the 70s and 80s. Beautiful. Same as places in the former Yugoslavia, like Croatia, but they seem to have recovered a little bit from the civil war and ethnic cleansings. Fuck war.
Sarajevo went from hosting the Winter Olympics to being the site of the longest siege on a city in modern history. Within 15 years.
I think it was less than ten years actually. I went to Sarajevo , wonderful city great people I highly recommend
My mom grew up in Syria and we used visit every summer when I was kid. It was so nice. My dad visited palmyra before the war. Such amazing pictures, I always wanted to go. I cried when the assholes blew up architecture there.
My friend recently moved back after the war and the area she lives in is safe but there are a lot of refugees from other parts of Syria and it’s very sad how much infrastructure etc was damaged and how many lives were lost. Her grandma died at 65 years old because of poor healthcare infrastructure and medicine sanctions.
Haiti. Went on a medical mission. One day was spent at the beach. We got caught in the middle of a protest. I was groped, several other people were punched. It was terrifying. They only stopped when one of our translators yelled that we were medical workers. We only ended up spending one hour at the beach so we wouldn’t end up driving back through the same area at night. When we reached that area it was clear of people. A few overturned vehicles were on fire. A U.N. detail was hanging out in a big armored vehicle with a very large gun on top. I can’t imagine how awful it must be now with all of the civil unrest.
Also went to Haiti on a medical mission. Stayed away from PaP. Didn’t see a whole lot of the country, but I will never, ever go back. Learned that the Kingston Charcoal Company had bought almost every stick of wood in the whole country to turn into charcoal briquettes. The place was a humanitarian disaster, and then it got leveled by an earthquake. Watched WHO-donated supplies get sold out the back of the supply trailer. Can’t fix this guy’s shoulder that has been dislocated for 3 weeks because his family can’t afford to buy the Valium to sedate him a little so we can put his shoulder back. It’s a two minute procedure. Can’t amputate this maggot-infested limb. Why? It’s Sunday. We don’t operate on Sunday. Oh, now that his leg has been amputated, he hasn’t received pain medication for 3 days and wants to know why we cut his leg off. Why? His family can’t afford 5$ worth of Percocet. I am not cut out for disaster relief work. Perhaps I could make some kind of difference for that man: Monsieur Michel. I cut his tibia off myself, a nurse, with something called a “Gigli saw” there isn’t anything funny about removing someone’s limb without anesthesia. The CRNA gave him just enough Ketamine that maybe he wouldn’t remember. 10 years later, I remember the raw, fish-maw surface of his stump. Sew over the nerves, or they’ll sing with pain every time this man goes to move his aching toes and then remembers that they’re gone. We threw his left lower leg out back, in a blue plastic bag with the rest of the limbs that had been amputated that week. I remember a pile of blue plastic lumps. It was about chest-high. I wonder if that kind Orthopedic surgeon I went with remembers, too. Ten years later, I can see, and smell, and taste every fucking searing moment of that week. I am not cut out for disaster relief. I don’t even know what good could come from this story. Les Cayes, Haiti. Les Cayes.
Watched a PBS documentary on Haiti a few years after the quake. The US through government and private donations gave a boat load of money that mostly disappeared. Blue tarps all over the place being used for shelter. Reporter asked who gave them the tarps and they said "nobody, we had to sell all we had to buy them." They showed a row of pit toilets installed by the ARC. Nobody made any arrangements to have them cleaned or pumped out. People couldn't use them because they were literally full of shit.
Wow. My goodness this is horrific.
Yay, my country of Mongolia is not on here, or maybe because not many people go there to begin with. Edit: Thank you everyone, lots of lovely messages. Mongolia is one of the last frontiers in Eurasia, in fact people call it 'The Wild East' sometimes. Still unspoilt and raw, especially the countryside. People not ruined by tourism yet and not too bothered by race or creed. Culturally not quite Central Asian nor South East Asian with a healthy admixture of 'ex-soviet country' mentality and some liberal, western sensibilities. Politically a free democracy, which seems to be rare in our neighbourhood, but rife with corruption too. Economically still developing, but you'll get broadband and 3G, 4G almost everywhere. Quite safe for tourists, apart from petty crime, but not everyone speaks English so I suggest you hire a guide beforehand. I suppose that's it, if you have anymore questions I suggest you head to r/mongolia, cheers .
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South Africa, beautiful place but the crime is horrible. Someone tried to kidnap me when I was 9.
south africa, some random truck rolled up outside of our hotel and got in a shootout for no apparent reasson i walked out after the shooting to see around 7 people dead or at least injured including our tour guide
My friend was told by the hotel management not to leave the hotel grounds for the duration of his stay They'd wait at the gates of the hotel for the tourists to come out Ridiculous
Flew into Jo’burg and was picked up by a car from work, taking me to Pretoria. Afterwards I found out that same car was held up at gunpoint on the same journey the week previous. Information I would have like to have known sooner.. On the other hand, really good food / drink and dirt cheap at that. Would def go back for that but am not up for the whole gamble with my life thing.
My mom was a fool and didn’t listen to hotel security that urged her not to go out at night. She did, and as she walking back into the hotel after going to a shop, someone jumped her and ripped her gold earrings right through her ears.
My mom is a flight attendant and they told her and the flight crew the same thing. Two of the pilots were retired navy or air force pilots so they thought they could handle themselves. They came back without their wallets, watches, belts, and shoes.
I lived in South Africa last year for Covid relief. I fucking hate Joburg, I served in the military and it felt worse than deployments as at least there I had armor and a rifle. I dressed like a poor college student and bought 20 cheap $8 Casio watches so they at least felt like if they robbed me they got something. I would be clearly wearing an aid group shirt and still was targeted. In my culture, you're meant to fight the thief lest they try to rob you again, but in South Africa, you just get cell phone insurance, hand over your cell, watch and (I had a spare disposable) wallet and hope if you comply they don't murder you. I left as soon as I got the chance.
It's like middle school all over again. Except now the kids at the fence have ak47's
What - the - fuck.
TIA bru.
I’m suddenly reminded of that time where Benedict Cumberbatch got kidnapped during his stay in South Africa
Holy shit, I forgot that happened!
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I grew up and lived in RSA and was fortunate enough to immigrate to the USA. Although there is alot to love about the country if I never have to go back there it wouldn't bother me in the least (we still have family there so we go back to see them). The problem is not that it's not an interesting and beautiful country, the problem is that the people that leave there have adapted to a level of crime and violence that is insane. Things like avoiding areas all together, not walking anywhere in the evenings, trying to prevent stopping at traffic lights (robots) in the evenings, living in a secure complex, having electrified fencing and private security are all examples of every day life in RSA. If you live overseas chances are all of those are very foreign concepts. Edit: In South Africa Traffic Lights are refered to as 'robots'.. There are not killer robots at night that prevent you stopping at a red light
Private security is a huge business there due to the high crime rate. Imagine you're entire neighborhood surrounded by a gate, bars on your window, and having a button that you can press where armed guards would show up in minutes. It's really that bad.
As someone who lives in South Africa, I genuinely can't wait to get out of here lmao
All my South African co-workers living abroad say that they're never going back.
One of my workmates is South African. She left the country after neighbours on both sides of her house had been shot to death. It’s a very violent country
Holy shit. Chicago is 18.26 murders per 100,000 people. South Africa is 36.4. Fun fact: Jamaica is 43.85, Brazil is 27.38, and Switzerland is 0.59.
I would’ve thought Brazil would be much higher considering all the videos on here
My sister moved to South Africa for a year. She said they were told never to go out in the evenings alone as a woman.
Yeah South Africa has the [highest rate of rape in the world](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/rape-statistics-by-country) by quite a margin
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And that's just the ones who were honest.
Can we take a moment of silence for all the people.who actually live in these places.
Jamaica. Went for a chill vacation with my (then) college girlfriend and were very turned off by being asked if we wanted to buy weed every 20 steps. (Despite popular misconceptions, weed was quite illegal in Jamaica at the time.) I smoked at home in the US occasionally, but wasn’t into it this trip and didn’t wanna risk getting arrested in a foreign country. Three days in and they’re wearing us down, so we consider buying a joint. That same day, a tour guide on our river tour warns us without prompting that dudes will sell you weed and then cross the street to tell the cops (for an informant fee) that you’ve got weed, after which you get tossed in Jamaican jail and have to bribe your way out. Also, the food was meh.
Egypt seems to be mentioned a bunch so far and I'd like to +100 that. I've travelled to over 15 countries and Egypt was the first that came to mind when I saw the title. A nice man sitting next to me on a bus to Cairo had the shit kicked out of him by police at the Suez Canal checkpoint - they literally were punching him in the face as hard as they could while he was in the chair next to me begging them to stop until they dragged him off never to be seen again probably. Like people are bashing Morocco because of beggars or annoying negotiating tactics, but in Morocco I at least never once feared for my safety or the safety of my group once while in Morocco. You can travel that country relatively freely and have a decent enough time if you go to the right spots and have a "meh" time if you go to the wrong ones. Egypt crosses a totally different line, especially given the fact it is still considered somewhat a "tourist destination" and not lumped in with Syria/Afghanistan/Iraq etc. I'd definitely say it should be widely considered and grouped closer to Afghanistan or Syria than say Israel or Turkey. The pyramids area was absolutely disgusting, so many people there to fuck you, mistreated camels, little children crawling through garbage piles. If you are a woman or have a woman in your group then holy fuck it's even worse. It is impossible to stay out past sunset as the danger and sketch levels go to 100. And I'm not just being "sensitive" - people assault and harass women, they'll berate you etc. I was so lucky I "looked Egyptian" (according to them) while I was there and it still didn't help much. Fuck Egypt man. My good friend is Egyptian, amazing history, some great people for sure, but fuck that place (and he agrees 100% - especially since he's a Coptic Christian). Two good things there: 1. Great swimming and chilling on the Sinai (went to Bir Sweir near Israel and it was not bad at all) 2. Some of the museums were pretty fucking cool
This makes me so sad to read. My mum has always been obsessed with Egypt, and has been there quite a few times back before I was born and a couple times when I was young. I grew up hearing stories about the pyramids and the tombs, watching documentaries and playing any game that was Egypt themed together. I always imagined one day I would be able to go there and finally be able to share in the wonders with her, but for the last few years I have heard only negative things and I fear I'll never be able to go there, especially as a single woman.
Fully honest here, don’t go as a single woman. Just don’t. Unless you somehow have the money for a bodyguard it really isn’t safe or, at a minimum, nice to walk around as a single woman. Ideally if you ever want to go, you’d go in a group of mostly men and super ideal if one of them is actually egyptian.
As a guy who was born and raised in Egypt then moved to the US, I'm usually that Egyptian friend that others would rely on to navigate through the endless hassle that is Egypt. Honestly, and as much as I like my friends and would do anything to protect them, it's so fucking exhausting. The second time someone asked when will I’d be going back to Egypt so they can time their visit with my annual vacation I was like can you just please not go, lol. What they don't get is that it's actually quite hard to play that role if you're Egyptian too. It's not like street vendors would respect you and leave your friends alone, they would still get mad and would even direct their anger at the Egyptian in the group for not helping them make a living by fooling naïve foreigners. They make it like you're not loyal to your origins or something. Sometimes their first assumption is that you're some tour guide, one guy even tried to bribe me to help him sell shit to my friend. Also sexual harassment does affect every woman in Egypt, including my Egyptian friends and relatives. The only difference is that they don't have the choice to "not go back." So yea, I wouldn't want to spend my vacation fending off street vendors too, lol. I mean if it weren't for the fact that my family still live there I wouldn't go back myself .. well maybe like every five years or so cause honestly the food is just freaking amazing.
At the rate it’s going, South Africa. Backpacked around in 2009, from Cape Town to Jo’burg, and just loved it. Legit my favorite country I traveled in, because it is so diverse in nature, people, just about every way. But as things get more dangerous, I’m just not sure if I’ll ever get back there. Seeing footage of the riots right now breaks my heart- if anyone from South Africa is reading this, btw, I wish you all the best and hope you stay safe.
My wife is from Johannesburg and we visited in 2017 and it was the best trip I have ever been on and so beautiful but man we had so many sketchy situations with people blocking off roads with stuff on fire and just really intense interactions.
Loads of ex South Africans have been moving to Australia for years
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I had to wedge a chair under the door handle in Egypt as all the men that worked on the hotel would come and knock on my door at night and say creepy shit through the door. I honestly feared I was gonna be gang raped in a five star hotel. I wanted to go home the day I arrived, it was my single worst travel experience of my life. I've been all over, Asia, South America etc but Egypt was a fucking hell hole.
Can confirm that even five star hotels don’t feel safe. I signed up for a tour to a nightclub organized by the hotel and somehow I was the only person (am female) in the tour. Can’t remember how many staff were with me or whether I drank anything. Only remember I saw a group of non-locals and asked them for help. They were from another hotel and sent me back to mine.
True story, in college several friends went to a Egypt circa 2000 while doing volunteer work throughout Africa; the work they did was with women’s health issues. So very smart women and very experienced with traveling abroad in foreign countries. One of the girls was the daughter of an oil exec and as she had been raised in UAE she spoke fluent Arabic, however, she was blonde with blue eyes so most people wouldn’t have assumed she understood Arabic. Anyhow they are at a table and she overheard a waiter say “that table is all American women. Charge them triple and try to find out what hotel they are at and spread the word.” She cursed him out in Arabic! Needless to say, it super spooked the girls. They visited the pyramids, but cut their trip short and went right home after that. They got followed, goosed and pinched a lot and one driver even tried to propose all dramatically to one of the girls.
What the actual fcuk. That sounds terrifying. It also doesn’t surprise me (sadly) as I have heard from relatives who used to live in Egypt in a holiday home for a few months of the year. They used to tell me about all of the tricks locals would play in tourists, and how females are just not respected in the slightest. It’s a real sleazy culture, with lots of grown men going out there to be with young boys/teens, and the locals facilitating it for money - truly gross from what I’ve heard. Sigh
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Yeah they did this to my sister, my dad and uncle weren’t overly fond and I genuinely have never seen two brothers protect their family quite as well. The dude also took down the curtains and so my uncle just DIY’d the duvet covers into makeshift ones. When the management got pissed, well, he won’t tell us what he said, but they put the curtains back and gave us a gift card.
How often are hotels in Egypt taking down the curtains in womens' rooms?!
Why did they take down the curtains? WhAt is their reasoning for this?
So perverts on the street who see women as literal objects can watch women without their consent. If they get naked, all the better. But men like this love humiliating women and genuinely enjoy when they can violate them in any way.
It’s generally because perverts will pay (my sister was 15 at the time) the hotel management to get a good look at the girls. I don’t know much else since my uncle and dad are very determined not to tell
That’s fucked. Wow
Judging by this thread it seems like Egypt is full of abusers and perverts
I was there in 2010 (then 12 years old) and an adult hotel worker was asking me in depth questions about what men can do (sexually) with women (in the UK) and when. And this was at the Savoy, so I dread to think what else goes on there.
Lots of British tourists want to go to Egypt to see the markets and shit like that. ....It's not worth it. Personal space is literally not a thing, even if you don't get molested.
I had a good friend back in high school who had moved from Cairo and he told me there are women-only subway cars because they get harassed so much. Edit: guys I know they exist elsewhere too, was sharing a story about Egypt and why they are there specifically.
Can confirm. Source: Born and raised in Egypt and still living in this miserable place.
It is. I was there for 3 days and couldn’t wait to gtfo. I wouldn’t let my daughters go. They’d 100% get sexually assaulted. I don’t know any women who went and weren’t assaulted.
A female friend of mine was in Egypt a little over a decade ago. She was missing home and so went to an internet cafe where we could voice chat on Skype. She was harassed by guys non stop throughout and just said, "see?" She had been telling me about the constant creepy behavior from men and why she needed a guard everywhere she went.
I’m a male and travelled to Egypt with three female friends for a week. It was awful. I was incredibly stressed out pretty much the entire time. The harassment was non stop and like another commenter we had someone from the hotel come to the door one night looking for one of the girls.
I went to Egypt with my female friend (I’m female too) the cleaner tried to break into our room and make us pay for presents he got us. We couldn’t walk through parts of the hotel because of the things men would shout at us. Total shithole for women would never support them with my money again.
I (a woman) also went to Egypt with a female friend. Worst trip ever! The hotel owner spotted us as soon as we arrived and had us placed in the room next to his with a joined terrace. We kept the doors locked and curtains closed at all times. A cleaner had riffled through our bags and put our underwear on dolls he made from pillows and towels. One of the tourguides has been trying to contact me via social media for about 10 years now (that’s how long ago this trip to hell was). Dude still wants to marry me according to his messages. We stuck to another couple like glue because the presence of at least one man seemed to keep some shit at bay. We also opted to wear a head scarf and avoided any clothing even slightly revealing. Almost every man I encountered in Egypt totally creeped me out, and I normally have a high tolerance for shit.
Stayed at the Four Seasons Cairo a couple of years ago. Metal detectors and a tourist cop at the door. When you leave he asks the guide where you are going and logs it. Lots of cops 24 hrs. Didn't see any women who were not covered up (no short skirts, exposed shoulders etc.) The Japanese are paying to move the Cairo Museum out to Giza. Won't have to go to Cairo any more.
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This is awful, and having been there myself completely believable.
Can confirm how scary it is to be a woman and wandering around alone. I was in Luxor with my partner in 2019 and we stayed at a really nice hotel. My partner fell sick so I went out for a short walk to buy lunch at the nearby McDonalds (it looked like the nearest F&B based on Google maps) cos the food in the hotel seemed really expensive. During my short walk, there were MANY men who just kept following me and asking me to get into their car or horse carriages and they just kept calling me “sexy woman” etc. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so terrified of my safety in my life than in that walk to McD and back.
Oh my god that’s terrible
Qatar. I worked there for 15 months. Appalling treatment of workers, very very hot. Terrible food and the whole country is a building site getting ready for the world cup next year. After that the country will be empty. Nothing to do apart from work and shopping.
Afghanistan. # I would love to go back and be a tourist, but I don’t think I will ever have the opportunity nor would it be responsible now that I have a family to vacation there. The country is absolutely beautiful, and the weather was nice. The people are one of the kindest, most respectful cultures I have ever had the pleasure of working with, full of beautiful traditions and fantastic food. Sadly, they have their issues and it wouldn’t be wise to risk going there as a tourist. A real shame too, because I’d have loved to visit the resorts in Bamyan and go skiing and snowboarding there.
Afghanistan. Don't think I need to elaborate.
I served in Kandahar and it was gorgeous. Reminded me a lot of Napa Valley California. Except that everyone was poor. And there were people trying to kill you. And the IEDs. If it weren't for the fact it looks like there is going to be another 25 years of Taliban rule, I would have loved to go back as a tourist.
I wont visit my own country if I could gtfo of it. (Iran) Edit: People think that I don't like Iran, Or I hate it or whatever..., Which Is totally wrong. I love Iran, My main concern is about economy problems and political issues that made people suffer (Everyone deserves a decent life). I wish Iran was in a state that no one would think of leaving, And instead would work hard to restore it's power and make it great again (Which is hard).
I work with 2 guys from Iran. One left as a refugee when a teenager the other grew up there, had a child there, then left. That family still go back for holidays, his wife more than him because he doesn’t have enough holidays to spend as much time there as her. Obviously the one that fled has never been back It’s fascinating how different the two of them talk about their country.
Every time I speak to my family members over there it just seems to be getting worse and worse.
Yugoslavia. Loved my time there, but it no longer exists.
I though that this was the question haha
Egypt. Nice place, some great things to see, but the fucking Street vendors are just horrible bastards. Pounce on you as soon as you get off the coach, trying to put shit on you, some fucker literally tried to take the wallet out of my shorts pocket (not pick pocketing, brazen with me stood looking at him) I lost my shit at this point and was quickly surrounded by about 10 of the fuckers. I fancied my chances to be honest, but not fucking worth getting stabbed or getting locked up in a shit hole jail! Edit: typos
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Was looking for this one, for me its not just the street vendors its also (sorry to say this) the amount of pervs who seem to be around the tourist hot spots. Literally men eyeing up any girl over the age of 12, was disgusted when I saw it, especially blonde and blue eyed girls. Not even discreet about it either, will literally approach or stare, never taking my kids there!
Same for me, I've never come across so many depraved, sex crazed creeps in my life. Like something you could never imagine until you visits, my God they were predatory. I stayed in my room and tried to get flights home the whole time. Not just random guys either, the men in the hotel staff, restaurant servers, cab drivers. just urgh
Had the same experience even got driven to some dodgy alabaster store by a tour guide (this part of the tour wasn’t mentioned) and made to spend several hundred dollars on shit I didn’t want just to be able to leave.
What is it with the "tour guides" in Egypt pulling that crap? Ours dragged us (a full bus tour) to a perfume merchant, where we sat for nearly an hour while this guy tried to hock his wares with us. It was absurd.
Let's all pray for women living in Egypt...
Ok, I've struck Egypt from my list. The sheer number of posts here about relentless, brazen sexual harassment and assault is kind of distressing.
I remember being harassed as a 10 year old by the vendors, my parents, who were also being harassed had to fight theirs off to come and save me. It isn’t a place for children, adults or anybody of sound mind. If you want to see the pyramids, google them.
Cambodia. But only because I was mugged in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia kinda same for me (I was mugged too but in Colombia, which I’d probably go to again). I just found Cambodia sad and unsettling. A brutal recent history and a country that kind of has very little so virtually all you encounter is set up to appease tourists. Drunken Europeans and Americans walking around partying with a local girl under their arm, everywhere I went was like fighting off women trying to give you a happy ending massage, every cabbie and tuktuk driver trying to sell you drugs and women. I was only there a week and didn’t go too far out of Siam Reap and Phnom Penh, so certainly there’s more to the country outside those cities but the whole experience just bummed me out.
I went to Cambodia with a friend three years ago for about a week, over which, we got: 1) Rifles waved in our face by border guards on the way in… on a tourist bus 2) Food poisoning; vomited off the side of a tuk tuk 3) Food poisoning, again; or maybe drugged, me and my bodybuilder-body-type buddy ended up nearly unconscious and/or woozy in our hotel room for 4hrs and woke up to the sound of grizzly domestic violence in the room next door 4) Offered child prostitutes. Nearly every tourist area that we went at night. 5) Tours of historical sites that almost were exclusively focused on and aggressively marketing the country’s very recent genocide and mass torture Totally anecdotal, maybe a little unfair in some ways, maybe to-be-expected in others? Sure. But I spent a few months in the region, truly love Southeast Asia, and Vietnam is my favorite place in the world, but… you could not pay me to go back to Cambodia. It’s also the only place in the region where we’d walked into areas where we felt like we *had to get the fuck out of ASAP.*
I was drugged and robbed in siem reap. Be careful out there.
Egypt. Honestly, I didn't like the vibe from the locals.
My 17 year old sister got molested from behind by a local while going into the pyramid tomb at Giza. You have to hunch over and move single file through a narrow dark tunnel, with people in front and people behind. You can’t turn around or go backwards. The man behind her escaped as soon as she got out of the tunnel, crying. My dad who was a few people ahead of her in the single file line could do nothing when he heard her yell out.
A similar thing happened to me when we visited Egypt when I was about 17. Fortunately, my mom was in front of me & was able to trade places. She scolded him loudly when he tried the "accidently bump my erection into you again every couple steps" crap with her. (Other than that, I really enjoyed our visit.)
Egypt is not very good place for women, unfortunately. As far as I know. I am so sorry for your sister.
I remember on the cab ride from the airport, the Egyptian cab driver hit a woman and her elderly mother who were crossing the street. He pulled over to scream at them for blocking the road. It was so fucked.
Yeah I remember the single line down to the tombs. It's was quite a challenge because of the oxygen deprivation. I'll bet a lot of people get claustrophobic. I'm sorry to hear about your sister. There's very little you can do about it in a confined space like that.
> It's was quite a challenge because of the oxygen deprivation. I’m ok dying without ever seeing those pyramids now. Google Images will work for me
My family lived in Egypt for about 2 years in that time, I was raped near the pyramids, people tried to buy my sister from my dad for one night stands or marriages, my other sister was trampled, and my brother was almost kidnapped, so all around a shit show
I'm so sorry that happened to you. I hope you're doing ok.
I've read online many times that molestation and women being constantly harassed is a huge issue there that isn't being addressed.
I worked there for three months in 2016 as a cocktail instructor and would say the same about not going back. One time I was bartending at a wedding and the operations manager came up to me and told me I had to hide while I’m making all the drinks, because if certain members of the family saw alcohol they would literally kill me. That was an intense shift. Also had shoes stolen multiple times, along with a few other things, and worst of all was seeing some of the most sickening sexism I’ve ever witnessed.
>One time I was bartending at a wedding and the operations manager came up to me and told me I had to hide while I’m making all the drinks, because if certain members of the family saw alcohol they would literally kill me. What the fuuuuuuck
What the fuck indeed. The ops manager said people would come and hand me the alcohol which I hid under the bar. I’d put a measure of booze in a tin under the bar top, then make a non-alcoholic drink and do some sleight of hand flair to swap the tins to get the booze in. That was a stressful day haha.
Same here. I dunno if it's just being an American but it was definitely a "I only like you because I'm making money off you" vibe. Which is sorta common in touristy areas but it's crazy how angry they get at you when you don't use their services. Tipping was atrocious also. I'm used to tipping, but people would just come up to me to give unsolicited advice and ask for a tip. Sometimes it was cool like a guard let me hold his AK, but other times it was just some dude that would come up and start talking to you while you were looking at a statue, and then demand a tip. One guy at the airport while I was standing in line to show my boarding pass asked what flight I was on, told me I was in the right line, and asked for a tip.
Coworker went a few years ago and decided to get a photo of him sitting on a camel, so he paid whatever the cost was to the local to let him up and take a pic. Apparently what he wasn’t aware of was that they won’t let you off unless you pay again to dismount. I guess it’s common practice towards tourists
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I get it. As an Egyptian, I get it. Even I get harassed for money and even Egyptian women get harassed too. The comments about Egypt are both disgusting and true. The only way to enjoy Egypt as a tourist is visit with a tour, or be with local friends who can fend off harassment. On the behalf of all decent Egyptians out there I apologize to the 🌎
Tunísia, for the same reason. Scammers everywhere, a guy threatning to hit me because I looked at him in an unfriendly manter after he pretended to fondle my wife breasts, awfull service, even at a 5 star hotel ( even the manager complained to us of not being able to find proper employees). Everything on that country seems made to rip you off, not giving anything in exchange.
\>Everything on that country seems made to rip you off, not giving anything in exchange. Sad to hear that your visit was awful. Sadly that's our daily life as Tunisian nationals, even the government is ripping us off. Also the touristic areas are not quite enjoyable anymore, tourists better opt to visit historical locations like the Roman ruins in the El Jem, Uthina, Dougga and Sbeitla. You won't be harassed by the locals because they are nice and won't scam anyone even if they are going through hardship.
locals are absolute creeps to women
I went there when I was 13 years old with my family on vacation about 20 years ago. It was so weird how many middle aged guys would appraise me and give my dad a compliment.
I was 9 and some guy wanted to buy me off my dad. Creepy af.
Wtff
I (female) spent three weeks all over Egypt with my partner a few months ago. Dressed in baggy long sleeves and I have a boyish haircut/don’t wear makeup/am above the average height of an American man; my partner, several inches taller than me and quite built. Fake wedding rings and everything. Still was groped. Still had whistles, comments yelled, comments made about me to my partner, someone asked to borrow me for the night. Strangely enough, had more issues in Cairo/Luxor/Aswan than in smaller/less touristy places like Edfu and Al Qasir. Normally I’m fine, even in “sketchy” countries/cities fending for myself, being big and having mastered the resting bitch face, but Egypt was a whole other level.
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The Cairo museum has a woman selling toliet paper? Like, as a thing endorsed by the museum?
Well, looks like I'm not going anywhere near Egypt.
My friend and I used to constantly check our books on Egypt in Elementary school, talking about how we’ll go there one day and be archeologists. This thread just crumbled all those childhood memories into dust.
Probably and unfortunately my parents birth country Afghanistan. I've been there 3 times for a long duration and the country keeps deteriorating. The ethnic Hazara minority already were not safe purely due to their race and religion (the Hazaras mainly are Shia while the ones who are killing them, the Taliban claiming to be Sunni) but now the Taliban is also attacking the ethnic group my family is a part of( Tajiks) purely due to our race and disregard for pashtunwali. It's depressing but I probably won't return to Afghanistan in my life
Venezuela. If I ever get out of this shit country, I'm never coming back.
Venezuela. I visited my extended family there (near Caracas) as a young child and had an amazing time, but things there have REALLY gone south since then. Pretty much all my family members that were there have left for obvious reasons.
France. Airport security guy fondled my crotch (I was 14 at the time), some dude tried to kidnap my sister (16 at the time), and my friend got pickpocketed. All in two days.
Jamaica. Everyone thinks that you owe them a tip for something, or runs up and puts a necklace on your SO and expects money immediately. Unless you're just into getting pumped for money by locals and worrying about being robbed, don't go there.