Simon Willison's Weblog: egypt

What would be the best plan to spend a 4-6 day trip to Egypt?

2010-11-07T14:40:00+00:00

My answer to What would be the best plan to spend a 4-6 day trip to Egypt? on Quora

You'd have to go fast, but I would suggest arriving in Cairo, staying one night there, seeing the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum, then an overnight train from Cairo to Aswan, a day there, a two day cruise down to Luxor (you can book yourself on to a boat that's going in that direction in Aswan and save some money, especially since the down stream cruises are shorter), then two days in Luxor to see Karnak, the Valley of the Kings etc, then home. There's a ton to see in Luxor so you could do the same route but take the train from Aswan to Luxor instead of the cruise - or skip Aswan, which would be a shame because it's the nicest out of those three places in my opinion. If you go to Aswan, don't miss Philae temple!

Tags: travel, quora, egypt

Egypt: What is the best restaurant for fish in Dahab?

2010-11-07T10:47:00+00:00

My answer to Egypt: What is the best restaurant for fish in Dahab? on Quora

We've tried Al Capone and Ali Baba (both excellent, Ali Baba had slightly more exciting bread), also Friends (not quite as good) and Funny Mummy (good, but not quite up to Ali Baba's standards - great decor though).

Tags: quora, restaurants, egypt

Nile Cruises: Does the "Oberoi Shehrayar" actually exist?

2010-10-06T11:51:00+00:00

My answer to Nile Cruises: Does the "Oberoi Shehrayar" actually exist? on Ask MetaFilter

Yeah, that's the site he showed us I think. I'm leaning towards "bog standard Nile Cruiser adopts confusing name to try and get ahead of the rest" as the explanation at the moment. There are 270 cruisers on the Nile, after all.

Then at 11:54:

Another data point: http://www.luxurynilecruisers.com/tariff.htm is one of the top hits on Google for that ship... but the price list hasn't been updated since 2007. Most of the reviews I've found are from years ago as well, I don't think I've found one dated 2010 or 2009 yet.

Then at 11:56:

And another thing... most of the photos on this website (which he showed us) actually 404 if you click on them: http://www.safariegypt.com/egypt_nile_cruise/oberoiShehrayar/photos/Photo_01_OberoiSherayar.htm

Then at 14:44:

Update: we've seen the boat now, so it definitely exists! As far as we can tell it's an ex-Oberoi boat, now operated by a different company (Miser travel). It looks like they've taken the "Oberoi" part of the name off the boat now (there are some faded areas on the side of the ship that look like they might have once held those letters) and don't seem to be marketing it as anything other than the M/S Shehrayar.

We've gone ahead with the booking.

Tags: ask-metafilter, travel, egypt, nilecruises, cruises, nile, resolved