In a desert land, water calls for a party: Get your tickets now for Cairo's Wafaa Al-Nil Festival, which celebrates the annual flooding of the Nile which irrigates fields and ushers in the season of akhet, or flood.

The ancient Egyptians used to celebrate the flooding by sacrificing young girls to assure a rich harvest. Nowadays, relics may be dumped in the water in Coptic ceremonies, but no person will have to go in if she doesn't want to.

And nowadays the flood coincides with the Cairo International Song Festival, for which composers and arrangers come from all over weekend to display their "wares" and compete for cash prizes.

Related Stories:
· Movie Set Travel: Jumper [Jaunted]
· Egypt Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ahmed Abbas]

Alcohol may be on the brink of extinction at Egyptian hotels, if the worst fears of tourism officials there come true: After the Saudi owner of the Grand Hyatt Cairo banned the sale of alcohol at the hotel, destroying millions of dollars of the stuff in the process, officials now worry that other properties may soon follow, the BBC reports.

It's unknown why the owner had staff pour bottle upon bottle of wine and liquor down drains, though some suspect it may have something to do with Egypt's enormous Muslim population, which is barred from consuming alcohol, even in cooking, according to the Koran. Supporters say foreign visitors "should respect the local custom," while critics

Last time we visited Egypt it was sans laptop, but we're intrigued to know how the WiFi situation is doing there now. According to the website of the Nile Hilton in Cairo, their hotel "boasts wireless internet access throughout" and they plug it a second time when describing the rooms by enticing guests with the opportunity to "keep in touch with wireless internet access".

Think of this week's pick, "Jumper", is like a "Quantum Leap" for this generation--and for the big screen. Hayden Christensen plays a young man, David Rice, who has a genetic anomaly and can be transported anywhere, anytime and be stuck doing anything. Rachel Bilson is along for the ride.

Rice soon discovers that this gift has been around for centuries, and that he's involved in a war between "jumpers" and those who have sworn to kill him.

This one was shot all over the place because that's what you get with being constantly transported. We've chosen to focus on a cool spot: Cairo, Egypt.

Where To Stay: Mena House Oberoi Once a hunting lodge for Khedive Isma'il, the Egyptian ruler, Mena House is the place to stay in Cairo. If you can splurge on a suite, this is the spot to do it; the larger of the 523 rooms feature period furniture and insane views of the Pyramids themselves. Don't miss the stunning gardens and four on-site restaurants. The only drawback? It's about 45 minutes from downtown so plan to stick around for the evening.

Where To Eat (and Be Seen): La Bodega The hot spot in town, La Bodega ain't your corner deli. It's the hipster hangout with elegant high-ceilinged rooms and homemade specialties from the kitchen including gazpacho and glazed duck. If you can't swing dinner, at least spend some time at the bar.

What to See: Pyramids at Giza About 45 minutes by bus from Cairo, you do not miss the pyramids, one of the seven wonders of the world. Revel in their sheer size and age, but be careful with the locals, hawking everything--aggressively--from cold drinks to souvenirs to tours.

Related Stories:
· Pizza Hut Delivers to the Sphinx [Jaunted]
· Movie Set Travel coverage [Jaunted]

We are suckers for a room with a killer view.  We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.

Think historic Cairo, think Roda Island in the middle of the Nile River and you've got the perfect location for a hotel:

No matter how often we warn people that flying with crocodiles, chameleons or basically any animal is not really the best thing to do, there are always people out there who just won't take our advice.

Over the weekend, a young Saudi guy leaving Cairo was caught with snakes and crocs in his hand luggage, claiming he didn't know that transporting live reptiles was illegal. (Surely he'd wondered why normal people don't do it?) Along with a cobra that nearly slithered away, officers found no less than 250 baby crocodiles. That's a lotta reptile. We repeat again: leave your crocs in the river at home.

Related Stories:
· Reptiles Found in Saudi's Luggage [BBC]
· Travelin' With Crocs [Jaunted]
· Croatian Misunderstands Chameleons [Jaunted]
· Man Pulls Off Ultimate Feat: Sneaks Monkey onto Plane [Jaunted]

[Photo: Sapphiren]

Dreaming at your desk about quitting for a round-the-world jaunt? Travel writer and comic book artist Marie Javins went around the world in 2001 without a single plane trip, relying instead on unmetered taxis, bike tours and the occasional walking stick. Her website for the trip, Marie's World Tour, contains some of the greatest travel-related dependent clauses ever, like "Ever since I had walked away from the Ethiopian truck accident..." from her November 29 entry. And it's worth noting her route, which included two nights in Almaty, Kazakhstan -- way before Borat was born. Marie's a trendsetter.

After a series of fantastic jaunts including a trip to Antarctica, Marie has settled down for the moment in Cairo (after all that, you can't just move to Podunk!), where her blog No Hurry in North Africa describes running into New Yorkers abroad and trying to plan her next adventure. Until she goes off and does it, you can relive her world tour online; its Africa leg is available in book form.

[Photo: Marie Javins]

Related Stories:
· No Hurry in North Africa [Official Site]
· Marie's World Tour [Official Site]

This image of Manila comes from a Forbes special on the most densely populated, congested cities on earth. With a total population of 10 million in the metropolitan area, Manila may not be the largest city on earth, but its city center squeezes a staggering 41,000 people into each square kilometer. In comparison, Mumbai, which has become virtually synonymous with urban density, has just under 30,000 people per km squared by Forbes’ reckoning, and doesn’t make the list of the most congested cities. They are, in descending order: Cairo, Lagos, Macau, Seoul, Dhaka, Buenos Aires, Jakarta, Kaohsiung and Santo Domingo. Attempt driving in any of them at your own risk.

The duo behind BigTripProductions’ videos aren’t kidding with the “Big Trip” part. Otherwise known as Kevin Allgood and Valerie Marshall, they’re currently on a one-year, round-the-world journey that they’re filming and blogging along the way. They took off on September 5th and warmed up with a trip to London and Amsterdam, before traveling through Turkey and Egypt. While they have a rough plan of where they’re headed, Kevin and Valerie are making up a large part of their route as they go. Their website, BigTripBlog is continually updated with posts from the road and clips of their most recent expeditions, and has all the backstory on their trip planning and previous stops. Kevin is the techie of the two, and has done a excellent job of fleshing out the site with pictures, route maps, embedded videos, and, my favorite, blog posts paired with binaural audio recordings made on location, for an even greater sense of place. Of course, you can always watch their videos right here on Travelistic, too.



Kevin and Valerie have left Egypt and are currently in Nepal heading for a two-week trek in the Annapurna region, where, despite all their gear, blogging on-the-go is, er, a little more challenging, so updates may be thin on the ground until they return to Kathmandu. Stay tuned for new posts and videos.

Previously:
– User Spotlights
– Around the World
– “Word of the day: Flashpacking”

First there are the difficulties of creating art in a Muslim nation that is, as Sean Rocha notes in his T+L article on Cairo's art scene, how to best learn to draw the human form when nude models are prohibited (the answer: stretchy shirts and mirrors). Then within the nascent modern art scene you have the regular internecine squabbles between old media and new media with the former accusing the later of aping the West, a substantial charge in Egypt. Notwithstanding the internal disagreements, Cairo's art scene is burgeoning. The epicenter of the new media front is the Townhouse gallery in a rundown quarter while older fine artists tend to show at galleries like Mashrabia and hang out at cafes like Cairo Atelier. But Cairo is a big place and presumably big enough for the two camps. The same, however, might not be said for the crowded walls of the newly opened Museum of Egyptian Modern Art.

Visions of Cairo [T+L]
The Townhouse Gallery
Mashrabia Gallery
The Museum of Egyptian Modern Art
Cairo Atelier
2 Karim el-Dawla St.; 20-2/574-6730

[Photo: T+L]

Previously: Cairo's Heavy Metal Scene, Pic of the Day: Cairo, Sangria/Absolute, Kairotic Art, Sphinx Pix