The world has many problems, the Middle East has many problems and the root to understanding problems is to understand their context. Take for example the problem of species extinction. You must first understand the issue of human hunger for the resources in a given habitat; or the problem of global warming. You must first …

The Red Sea scuba diving industry will experience a shakeout in 2009 as the ISO standards come online on March 31, forcing the less professional operators to the surface. The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of International Standards and is a network of the national standards institutes of …

Two of Maadi’s best and brightest British teachers are preparing to travel for a year from Cairo to Cape Town to assist 10 international schools in 10 countries to set up 10 community projects, which, for sheer inspiration, is 10 out of 10. Nadine Bogan and Elizabeth Uprichard from the Maadi British International School have …

Before I pulled into the Hyper One parking lot in Sheikh Zayed on Friday afternoon, I was probably thinking I had seen most things in Cairo. The city of 1,000 minarets held few surprises to me now. Surprise, surprise; as I opened my car door, I heard the high pitched scream of finely tuned racing …

THE HAGUE: I was struck down with gastroenteritis last week, not that surprising in Egypt you may think, except I wasn’t scoffing down fuul and tameya in Embaba, but contemporary delights in sanitized Europe. Europe may be considered low risk for diarrhea, but the dreadful bug, strikes travelers anytime, anywhere. It is estimated that about …

I have been wrong before in this column over the years and I may well be wrong this time, but I feel that Cairo has become a more aggressive place. Do you? Money, money, money. I hear this all the time, for every little thing. Then there are those that speed and weave through traffic, …

I’ve always had a nose for a party, and on Jan. 29, St. John’s Church in Maadi is transforming into a caravansary for Egyptian and foreign artists, staging an exhibition that I feel is going to be extraordinary. As with the four Ps in marketing, a good party has Carrigan’s four ‘Ss’: Spirit, spontaneity, sass …

From the anecdotal evidence that I have gleaned over the years, I have concluded that foreigners arrive in Egypt, see the sites whilst enjoying the country’s plethora of luxury resort hotels and then get knocked-up. Pregnancy seems to be on many an itinerary. Maybe it is the time of life, or people are having the …

Welcome Back, my friend and part-time taxi driver, Wael, exclaimed as he shook my hand in Terminal 2 at Cairo Airport, 0800 hours on Friday. “It’s good to be home, I said fingers crossed, as the Australian tourist group I had been chatting up on the Singapore Airbus pushed past, beaming with expectations. I had …

I have been hanging out with a business journalist over the weekend who specializes in the Middle East. An indication of the exciting life I lead, right? Based in the Gulf, he is visiting Egypt researching the economy for his financial newspaper and he is predicting that the world economic slowdown will shortly touchdown in …

The Cairo Rugby Club is in the middle of arguably its most successful season, since its foundation in 1979 and the gospel is making significant inroads into the normally football obsessed Egypt. There has been time for reflection recently at the Cairo Rugby Club house in Maadi, as members paid tribute recently to the memory …

Al Ahram Beverages, makers of Cape Bay Chardonnay, are committing to a long term mission to educate Egypt about the beauty and complexity of wine. To get the job done, they have brought in a “wine man. There are some big jobs to be done in Egypt, and David Molyneux-Berry may have one of the …

We are not only on the verge of a new leader of the free world, which should be known at breakfast on Wednesday morning, but we are on the verge of the cold weather too. By my calculations it is just a little early yet to reach for the woollies, I think we have at …

Amongst the turmoil of the global economic meltdown, there must be a safe bet to hedge your investments for the future. Many people run to gold, but I am betting on water. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. The English poet was ahead of his time. Ninety-seven percent …

The desert is boring. No shops or ahwas, no cinema; a monotonous sameness that is the polar opposite to the pleasures and excitement of Cairo. Why go out there? Don’t you know it is populated by wolves, drug dealers and bandits? City folk tell these tales, like the ancient mariners who recalled giant squid, sea …

After a year in the planning it is finally here. Researched by dedicated drinkers, the “Baladi Bar Flyer puts the 50 Downtown watering holes on the map and includes a key to which bars are female friendly, serve shisha or have belly dancing. A couple of Downtown bars have been my favorites for years: El-Horreya, …

I failed to bribe my way into the Giza Pyramids on Sunday morning to see the start of the 2008 Pharaoh’s Rally. Instead I had to sit outside the back gate on the Bahariya road and direct participants towards the desert. I had even come out the day before to do a reccy; press the …

Since 1897, Stella has been the Egyptian beer and the brand is almost a euphemism for the laid back national character. The iconic star on every bottle is familiar to generations up and down the Nile valley, across the delta, in the high Sinai Mountains and along the coastal shore. “Stella is the taste of …

A desert fox was seen trotting around the JW Marriott golf course on Saturday, as American and European amateur golfers teed off in a shot-gun start, on the second day of the Cairo Ryder Cup. Staged in concert with the Ryder Cup, played in Kentucky, USA, over the weekend, the Cairo version of golf’s ultimate …

Since moving to Sixth of October, I’ve entered that macabre world that resembles a cheap video arcade lined with racing car games where you swerve in and out of the traffic and end up in a fire ball. There really are some idiots on Cairo’s roads. Now that I am driving, I cannot believe the …

At this time of year, I always look forward to a cool change. But going back over my climatic records from 2007, I notice that it didn’t get cooler until Nov. 11, when the temperature dropped from the low 30s to 26 degrees. I am really looking forward to my Singapore Airlines flight to Brisbane, …

Ramadan Kareem is what foreigners need to learn to say today and during the rest of Ramadan, allowing the greeting to roll off the tongue morning, noon and night, especially for the next week. The first 7-10 days of Ramadan is very much family time and if you are new to Cairo, use the evenings …

Last Thursday was my fourth day of my new suburban life in the El Rabwa compound in Sixth of October city, and I locked my front door keys inside the house. Welcome to the neighborhood, I thought, as the door slammed and my brain snapped a mental image of my wallet, phone and keys, sitting …

TAUNTON, Somerset: The storm clouds have gathered this past week, and not only over Somerset’s county cricket ground, but the Caucasus, the global economy and the Olympics are getting an almost daily drenching. Once upon a time it was said; ‘to understand cricket, was to understand life.’ Meaning, the aristocratic game encompassed all the virtues …

DEVON, England: The Chinese authorities may have had restaurants remove dog from menus in Beijing, but when it is London’s turn to host the games in 2012, it will be game meat on the menu that fuels the athletes. Though an urban society, the English have a deep affection for the countryside and taste for …

On a train, wiling away the hours in a café or on a park bench, a newspaper completes the experience; it relaxes and edifies. They are cheap, portable entertainment and our choice of broadsheet or tabloid defines us. A travel guide to pubs in Ireland named “Fitzgerald’s advices that when arriving in a new town, …

LE REVAND, France: In one’s chalet you discover the perfect recipe for hot chocolate as the lighting cracks across the mountain tops. A culinary holiday, afternoons spent seasoning Thai green chicken curry and baking bread, is not a bad way to unwind over the summer. Baking the bread, I admit, hasn’t been a success, as …

LE REVARD: I have been in my mountain chalet for two weeks now, where I have a panoramic view of the snow capped Alps and Mt. Blanc. At 1,500 meters, the mornings are crisp and the air is brand new; the locals tell me it is manufactured here overnight. At the top of my road …

AIX LES BAINS: How very French; sitting in a side walk café discussing philosophy, on a sunny weekday morning over coffee with an Egyptian expatriate. Emad Hassan, formerly of Alexandria, has lived in France for 13 years. Married and with two children, France is now his home, though like most expatriates he has developed an …