# It's getting worse in Sharm even Horus is worried



## Horus

OK people I am staying put however I am starting to worry because the atomosphere in Sharm is starting to get a bit scary. In the last few days I have seen 3 fights break out, exchange of fists only and even one of the locals who I was walking with told me to keep safe and that these people are probably crazy and to stay away.

Certain but not all products in metro are looking a bit on the low side and the guys are doing a good job at spreading it around to keep some sort of feel good feeling going but people don't look happy they look worried. One guy is shutting shop because there are no tourists and he is going to Cairo. Nabq Bay is getting more and more deserted by the day. I won't go into the military presence here as there are some guys stationed outside metro who look no older than 18 struggling to hold the gun so I am wondering if it will break out as the workers are leaving and if there is no money people will riot and there are a few thiefs around and people who will blatantly lie to you and try to trick you to buy things even when you are adamant you are a resident they don't care but its hard times.

There is no local respect for the police they call them names and everyone sits around smoking hashish in the shops to make the time pass 

One thing I have to admire though is the certain spirit that people here have in Egypt in that they always seem happy even when they are not

I am staying in and made it quite clear to my new Egyptian "friends" that NOBODY comes back to mine and that I felt uncomfortable and I would not be going out and I needed some time before I got used to a man walking next to me rather than a woman and that I did not appreciate being touched or phoned 10 times, I also added in I have very large new locks on my windows and doors and a personal alarm. I think I got some form of respect for it rather than offence as I ended it friendly.


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## samui13

This is all news to me, I have friends who run a business in sharm and they announced today that sharm is normal, petrol and food back in stock etc etc.

They live and work in nabq.


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## Horus

I can assure you this in summary

1. Nabq Bay has hardly any tourists, the 3 main sports bars are quiet but everyone is trying to keep happy

2. There is food about, pita bread but no bread in metro have not seen any for 2 days. If your not picky what you eat you can find it

I have had a few people just come out and say to me "look don't you know what's happening see the TV" and I am like yes they are still fighting and they are saying it's more than just that.

I was scared when I saw the fight nothing major I don't know what these guys are saying and it makes me edgy


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## samui13

I did hear there are no tourists at the moment but read today that deliveries were happening, banks were open and things are getting back to normal.

The metro having no bread is nothing new - after spending around ten weeks in Nabq separately, they never have any bloody bread!! lol


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## Horus

samui13 said:


> I did hear there are no tourists at the moment but read today that deliveries were happening, banks were open and things are getting back to normal.
> 
> The metro having no bread is nothing new - after spending around ten weeks in Nabq separately, they never have any bloody bread!! lol


Yes banks were open and a few cash points operational, Western Union however in Naama Bay is not accepting payments

Deliveries have been happening every day 

Locals are worried but happy and want to keep it business as usual but it seems tense -


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## wales1970

Hi horus,have they finished the hard rock in nabq yet..?.


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## MaidenScotland

samui13 said:


> I did hear there are no tourists at the moment but read today that deliveries were happening, banks were open and things are getting back to normal.
> 
> The metro having no bread is nothing new - after spending around ten weeks in Nabq separately, they never have any bloody bread!! lol




So what is it?
Is it all normal as you said in a previous reply or are there no tourists?


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## samui13

wales1970 said:


> Hi horus,have they finished the hard rock in nabq yet..?.


YOU GOTTA BE JOKING - COMING SOON - IN 2013!!! THEY ARE MAKING A BIT OF PROGRESS - IT HAS WALLS NOW!

Still think it will be a very long time.


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## samui13

Well he said sharm is slowly getting back to normal as in banks are open, business as usual and food and petrol back in supply. He did say it was very very quiet though and hotels are closing but the food/bank situation is getting back to normal.

Shame its so quiet as Nabq was just getting established and most of the businesses will struggle to survive the shark attacks and now this. 

Its the locals i feel sorry for, without work they will have nothing :O(

I think what my friend was trying to get across is that there is no reason for people not to visit Sharm (most people were concerned of lack of food/water etc rather than trouble in sharm so he wanted people to know that from that side of things, people can travel and still enjoy their holiday as food etc is normal now - sorry I was not very clear - with the low visitors I did not mean normal from that point of view!


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## MaidenScotland

There may come a day when the masses decided that they will go and singing Why are we waiting outside Mubaraks place in Sharm...


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## samui13

I know there is every possibility and it is very likely. However, until Sharm is announced unsafe by the foreign office, I will try to continue to support sharm and holiday there. Of course if it was advised not to travel I would not tell anyone it was safe but for now, I will take my chances. I know it may only be a matter of time. I just hope he goes before too much more damage is done. My fear was actually that a lot of the sharm workers would be for mubarak as they all have jobs and employment (or did have before the protests) and that they would start getting on the offensive. Time will tell. I am only reporting from what I heard today and did mention it was heard from someone else (rather than be reporting it myself) - sorry I will keep to my own experience in future and on that note, I have nothing to report


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## JonnyW

From what I've heard bookings are actually looking good in the next few weeks for Sharm and have heard tourism should pick up soon. February is always a bit quiet but unless things get a lot worse on the political front it should get busier with half term and then easter on the horizon.
Just what I've heard but it has come from a mixture of tour operators, hotels and local businesses.
Fingers crossed things will get back to normal soon.


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## MaidenScotland

JonnyW said:


> From what I've heard bookings are actually looking good in the next few weeks for Sharm and have heard tourism should pick up soon. February is always a bit quiet but unless things get a lot worse on the political front it should get busier with half term and then easter on the horizon.
> Just what I've heard but it has come from a mixture of tour operators, hotels and local businesses.
> Fingers crossed things will get back to normal soon.




Lets hope so for the sake of Egypts economy, however if you look at flights out to the Canaries and Spain just now you will see that they have suddenly had a huge boost in the number of flights that will be flying in with tourists.. much more than previous years and I am guessing that is to take tourists there instead of Egypt.


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## samui13

Fingers crossed Jonny. I have only heard negative reports regarding Sharm up until now and my husband needs to travel out there before mid March but we were holding off waiting to see how things panned out but today after hearing things are slowly getting back on track, ive booked my husband a flight for a couple of weeks time to go out there for a week. If people can still go and slowly get confidence restored that will only be a good thing - obviously things could change overnight as they did in Cairo and hopefully the foreign office would act quickly if they needed to. Just think it would be a shame for people to be cancelling because lack of food etc if things are getting better and supplies are now getting through.

Just hope things can start getting back to normal in Cairo soon - our developer did advise that they were going to back to work yesterday after having eight days out of the office for safety reasons.

Lou


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## JonnyW

Remember most people coming in the next month actually booked 6 mnths ago or more but obviously the last minute bookings might be suffering. Its actually the people who are thinking of booking now for the summer that might have a bigger effect on a lack of tourists but lets hope that the exhange rate will help them decide to come especially if it gets to 11 or 12 to the pound!
If you look on trip adviser there are still alot of people thinking of comming so lets hope for all of egypts sake that things improve.


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## MaidenScotland

samui13 said:


> Fingers crossed Jonny. I have only heard negative reports regarding Sharm up until now and my husband needs to travel out there before mid March but we were holding off waiting to see how things panned out but today after hearing things are slowly getting back on track, ive booked my husband a flight for a couple of weeks time to go out there for a week. If people can still go and slowly get confidence restored that will only be a good thing - obviously things could change overnight as they did in Cairo and hopefully the foreign office would act quickly if they needed to. Just think it would be a shame for people to be cancelling because lack of food etc if things are getting better and supplies are now getting through.
> 
> Just hope things can start getting back to normal in Cairo soon - our developer did advise that they were going to back to work yesterday after having eight days out of the office for safety reasons.
> 
> Lou




DO NOT RELY ON THE EMBASSY for help.
Is your developer in Sharm? I am wonder why he would have needed 8 days off for safety reasons when there has been no trouble down there.


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## samui13

Yep, I have insisted my mum and dad still continue with their red sea plans in July - I said you love the country, its safe in the south at the moment so book and support Egypt when it needs you the most. They are in agreement.

We will be travelling there in July, September and December and Stew will go in March - we will be looking forward to it. 

Oh those were the days eh 12 to the £


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## samui13

Sorry 12 to the £ was said tongue in cheek, I mean no offense and of course, I would rather Egypt was stable than be getting 12LE to my £. Just got excited cause our £ has been worth ****** all for so long!


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## samui13

My developer lives in Cairo and got caught up in the problems. He ended up protecting his neighbourhood with his children and friends :O(

The head office is in Cairo - he did tell me he hopes to send workers back to Sharm soon as lots of them are stuck in different locations at the present time.


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## JonnyW

MaidenScotland said:


> DO NOT RELY ON THE EMBASSY for help.
> Is your developer in Sharm? I am wonder why he would have needed 8 days off for safety reasons when there has been no trouble down there.


Most workers left sharm as they were not able to get paid due to the banks being closed and also wanted to be with their families in these trouble times, But many are now planning to come back in the next few days or so now the banks have reopened.
However this is egypt and you can never be sure what might happen bukra!!!


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## samui13

JonnyW said:


> Most workers left sharm as they were not able to get paid due to the banks being closed and also wanted to be with their families in these trouble times, But many are now planning to come back in the next few days or so now the banks have reopened.
> However this is egypt and you can never be sure what might happen bukra!!!



Well fingers crossed they all make it back safe in one piece and that people still travel and they still get paid


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## aykalam

JonnyW said:


> From what I've heard bookings are actually looking good in the next few weeks for Sharm and have heard tourism should pick up soon. February is always a bit quiet but unless things get a lot worse on the political front it should get busier with half term and then easter on the horizon.
> Just what I've heard but it has come from a mixture of tour operators, hotels and local businesses.
> Fingers crossed things will get back to normal soon.


That's not what the newspapers are carrying today, thousands are being laid off as we speak, leaving many families without any income, take a look:

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/hundreds-hotel-employees-lose-their-jobs-sinai

I do hope that those of us who are still in the country will do the right thing and "go local", for the sake of all small businesses who rely on the tourists


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## Sam

*Truth*

Seems to be a bit of confusion about what's going on over here.

Sharm is as safe now as it has ever been. Food is coming back to the shelves, banks are open BUT tourists seem to have been scared away and that IS affecting some businesses. Many hotels have closed indefinitely and Hard Rock (Naama Bay) may well also be closing soon for a month (although decisions seem to change daily). Although, a very well connected source (as in related to the new VP) has said with confidence that within a few months Egypt is going to get so much better it will be on par with Europe and America. I have no idea how or why, but he says it will confidence and he seems to know something he's not giving away. So we'll see.

Since Hard Rock Nabq was mentioned, the story goes... it was (almost) built to the point the internal layout was done, then head office from America came and disapproved and they had to start over again. Then the crisis hit (as in 2 years ago!!) and opening got postponed. Eventually work started again, then there was a dispute with the electricity company in Nabq and the design had to be redone again to accommodate a generator. Then the American head office people had to come and approve again. The last new was that the soft opening and training would be April, but think that may get pushed back again now due to low business. So, it remains "Coming Soon".

The military have been protecting the Sharm borders, not sure if they are still there. The police were stationed at HSBC Nabq to protect the ATM machine since so many others around the country were looted, was nothing to do with Metro. Didn't notice if they were still there when we drove past earlier.

Moral of the story, nothing to worry about here for tourists. Only worry is for us lot working here and the lack of tourists.


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## samui13

Thanks Sam, you have seconded everything I have heard elsewhere and I kind of got concerned when I read the heading. The last thing we need to happen is for people to scare monger and put even more people off visiting (not saying you were scare mongering horus, as you are actually there, I am not) but headlines can send out the wrong message if people dont pop in and read the thread.

I think my message was misread because I said everything was normal apart from a lack of visitors and didnt mean to cause offense, I just wanted to reiterate that I heard it was safe and hopefully avoid further people reading, panicking and cancelling trips. Due to "its getting worse in sharm headlines".

Glad things are safe and really hope for all your sakes out there that things start getting back to normal. Just reading on trip advisor that quite a few people are still planning their holidays to Sharm so that is one good thing. The more the word is spread that sharm is "safe" just "quiet" the better. Obviously situations can change in a flash but for the moment lets hope people get back out there. I think once Mubarak goes, travel companies from other countries will start sending people back out there, but while he is still in power, I fear they will be too scared. Thank god the Foreign Office are still allowing us Brits to visit sharm and hurgharda at the moment - perhaps its because they dont care about us (but then that suits me as I want to holiday in sharm (with insurance!):clap2:

Hopefully now is the lowest point and the VP is wise in knowledge with his words 

Lou


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## Horus

Update: Metro is FULLY stocked today with full range of fresh fruit and veg Nabq looks more empty general peaceful calm atomosphere here, Military still by the ATM machines and they are pumping out cash

I got myself loads of fresh fruit and loads of toilet paper


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## DeadGuy

Sam said:


> Seems to be a bit of confusion about what's going on over here.
> 
> Sharm is as safe now as it has ever been. Food is coming back to the shelves, banks are open BUT tourists seem to have been scared away and that IS affecting some businesses. Many hotels have closed indefinitely and Hard Rock (Naama Bay) may well also be closing soon for a month (although decisions seem to change daily). Although, a very well connected source *(as in related to the new VP)* has said with confidence that within a few months Egypt is going to get so much better it will be on par with Europe and America. I have no idea how or why, but he says it will confidence and he seems to know something he's not giving away. So we'll see.
> 
> Since Hard Rock Nabq was mentioned, the story goes... it was (almost) built to the point the internal layout was done, then head office from America came and disapproved and they had to start over again. Then the crisis hit (as in 2 years ago!!) and opening got postponed. Eventually work started again, then there was a dispute with the electricity company in Nabq and the design had to be redone again to accommodate a generator. Then the American head office people had to come and approve again. The last new was that the soft opening and training would be April, but think that may get pushed back again now due to low business. So, it remains "Coming Soon".
> 
> The military have been protecting the Sharm borders, not sure if they are still there. The police were stationed at HSBC Nabq to protect the ATM machine since so many others around the country were looted, was nothing to do with Metro. Didn't notice if they were still there when we drove past earlier.
> 
> Moral of the story, nothing to worry about here for tourists. Only worry is for us lot working here and the lack of tourists.


I wonder if that guy was talking about good news for him considering the fact that he's related to the new puppet, or as in good news for everyone? Cause if it's the first case, then it does not necessarily mean good news for everyone......


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## Horus

I think things will slowly get better here but there will always be a great divide between the rich and the poor and there will always be a level of corruption, communism ended in the Soviet Union but you can't exactly say conditions have gotten better

Tourists will return but will be cautious


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## Sunset

Sam said:


> eem to change daily). Although, a very well connected source (as in related to the new VP) has said with confidence that *within a few months Egypt is going to get so much better it will be on par with Europe and America.* I have no idea how or why, but he says it will confidence and he seems to know something he's not giving away. So we'll see.


 
Everyone in government is going to tell people what they want to hear. Isn't that how all governments work???

In what way will Egypt be on par with Europe and America? I love Egypt and have a large extended family in Cairo and have travelled there many times over the past 21 years. There will be some changes over the next few months, but not enough to put Egypt on par with Europe and America. It is going to take a very long time for Egypt to be on par in many, many ways with Europe and America.


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## lostsheep

Sunset said:


> In what way will Egypt be on par with Europe and America? I love Egypt and have a large extended family in Cairo and have travelled there many times over the past 21 years. There will be some changes over the next few months, but not enough to put Egypt on par with Europe and America. It is going to take a very long time for Egypt to be on par in many, many ways with Europe and America.


America is completely broke. The government is out of control. Has been for years.
An incredibly corrupt country. A movement albeit probably small is in the works
from some States to secede from well basically the Federal Government and go
back to being a Republic. Remember the U.S. is a Republic not a Democracy. 

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't most of Europe broke and politically corrupt as
well? 

Not really sure Egypt trying to be on par with being the next America or Europe is a worthy goal.

I do understand the context of the conversation and would still choose America or Europe any day over Egypt in terms of freedoms etc., but things are starting to fall apart in those countries. At least the U.S.

Egypt is a big country with an incredible history. Only my opinion but it
needs to carve it's own identity to carry it on in the future. Hopefully it
will over time proceed in a positive direction.


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## Horus

Well I think the difference between Egypt and Europe esp the UK is the Egyptian government takes from the rich and the poor to give to itself and dare people speak out about it..in the UK the government takes from the rich and stings the middle class to give to the poor, illegal immigrants and third world countries and keeps a few back handers for itelf. At least Egypt has a strong sense of family and community in the sign of adversity. UK & Europe are a place where political correctness has gone crazy, courts are tied up with long lengthy trials of serious criminals who get away easy, you have people who will break into your nan's house and steal things and people have little say in how the country is run it's just shovelled down your throut take it or leave it attitude. I don't know if that's democracy or not. One thing I have to credit the Egyptians with they are NOT lazy and miserable like quite a few people are in the UK and they waste nothing..


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## aykalam

lostsheep said:


> America is completely broke. The government is out of control. Has been for years.
> An incredibly corrupt country. A movement albeit probably small is in the works
> from some States to secede from well basically the Federal Government and go
> back to being a Republic. Remember the U.S. is a Republic not a Democracy.
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't most of Europe broke and politically corrupt as
> well?
> 
> Not really sure Egypt trying to be on par with being the next America or Europe is a worthy goal.
> 
> I do understand the context of the conversation and would still choose America or Europe any day over Egypt in terms of freedoms etc., but things are starting to fall apart in those countries. At least the U.S.
> 
> Egypt is a big country with an incredible history. Only my opinion but it
> needs to carve it's own identity to carry it on in the future. Hopefully it
> will over time proceed in a positive direction.


Democracy does not guarantee a corruption-free government but a true democracy guarantees accountability. At present, Egypt has none of the above. 

I do agree with you about the need for the country to follow its own path, but international pressure can help move things along enormously. And Egyptians are going to need all the help they can get, as this process is only getting started. Anyone hoping for a quick fix has another thing coming.


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