How to get your Etisalat or Mobinil mobile phone topped up from abroad

One of the issues we have had to contend with over the past couple of weeks is (a) shortage of cash (ATMs completely empty in many parts of the city) and (b) shortage of mobile phone topup scratch cards which were simply unavailable for a while and which are now being sold at a high mark up - 10LE vodafone costs 13.5LE and 10LE etisalat costs 13LE. I don't know about Mobinil since I don't use that network.

Anyway, in case there are any problems getting hold of cash and/or mobile top-up scratch cards, I thought I would let you know how you can get a friend or relative to top up your Etisalat (and apparently Mobinil) phone from abroad if necessary (cash or scratchcard shortage). (Doesn't work for vodafone).

The person abroad can do it on www.prepaidunion.com and can get you 100LE for about 18 euros which is about £15 or $25. Once the credit is paid for, it should appear more or less instantaneously. Be sure to follow through ALL the screens. This is quite a high mark up but when cash is in short supply, the ability to not have to use cash is a huge bonus.

We have found the only way to do it is to get a Wall-e card and use that to pay. The site claims you can pay with credit card but haven't been able to make that work from either the UK or Egypt. Maybe different from the US? There are other methods listed on the site but I guess you have to have those things set up already.

Wallie cards can apparently be bought in shops such as WH Smiths or Clinton Cards though friends in the UK had difficulty - I think this is related to the ID requirements being so tortuous. The UK site for wallie cards is www.wallie.co.uk

They can be bought on line on a couple of on-line gaming sites, but they require evidence of ID and phone calls so again, can be difficult if you don't want to start emailing copies of passports or ID cards around the place!

Anyway, two of those on-line gaming sites are: www.offgamers.com and www.pcgamesupply.com

I had no joy buying from either of those from Egypt. The companies are both complete jobs worths - even if you are paying with verified PayPal, 3D security on credit cards, and even though I have spoken with my cc company in the UK and they are aware of the situation. Both companies wanted scans and emails of all sorts of things - passport, utility bills, credit cards - not good in a crisis. My friend buying from the UK just had to accept a phone call.

For some reason they refused to phone me on a UK mobile which I have with me or an Egyptian landline. One person here apparently had no problem but maybe he was able and willing to send scans of his passport and credit card to random strangers! Of course, with our internets blocked for 5 days we wouldn't have been able to do that anyway.

Might be worth you passing this on to friends/relatives out of the country.

PS - also worth noting that in Egypt you can transfer money from mobile to mobile (on the same network) so if you send topups to your friends in Egypt, they might be transferring it on to others - if you think they're using a lot ask if that's what they are doing.

Added 2nd October 2011:  apparently you can top up Egyptian Vodafone from abroad using this company: http://www.ezetop.com/countries/africa/egypt/vodafone/

PLEASE NOTE I HAVE NOT TRIED IT PERSONALLY!

Situation in Egypt

Please note that I am not discussing the political situation, others do that far better than me, just practicalities.

I am using my Facebook Page as the place for ongoing updates relevant to expats here.

OldbagofCairo Facebook page

Not sure if you can read it if you are not on Facebook.

Just for the record, I am still here on the outskirts of Cairo and have not experienced any personal danger.  Many stories are doing the rounds, and it's hard to know what is true and what is not.

The situation is also very different in different areas.

At present, myself and the foreigners I know are keeping our heads down for another week, sticking to our immediate localities or if we need to travel, going about with an Egyptian companion.

Feedback I am receiving is that it is ok generally, but foreigners should avoid the Tahrir/DownTown areas and also village areas (around Cairo). Friends in Sharm and El Gouna report that it is ok there.  I only have a couple of reports from Alex, but assume similar to Cairo.

Animals are suffering a great deal in this situation and my friend One Fleeting Glimpse has done a blog article about it here:

Emergency Appeal for Funds

and this is a newspaper article on the effects on the horses (and their families) near the Pyramids:
Al Masry Al Youm - Animals at the Pyramids

Egypt Race for the Cure 23rd October 2010

This event organized by the Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt was held on 23rd October 2010.

Yours truly, along with thousands of others, was a participant. It was a brilliant time, so glad we went! The atmosphere was fantastic.

5 of us met at Meridian Hotel and walked up to the Pyramids. When we got into the pyramids area, we were herded into buses and transported to the start line which was behind the pyramids in the area where you get to see the publicity shots of pyramids standing majestically isolated in a desert as opposed to plonk in the middle of a busy area of the city.

Some 'typically Egyptian' bits - they were waiting for the road between the pyramids and the start up on the plateau to clear of traffic - didn't seem to dawn on anyone that you actually have to stop all the coaches from coming along the road!

Thousands of people stretching from well behind me right round to the finish line.

Also, the route fell apart a bit near the end - it wasn't clear which way to go! But kudos to the organisers overall, we all had our t-shirts (white for most, pink for survivors, blue for workers), and at the end, you handed over your food voucher and got handed a bag containing water, 'juice', a small bag of chipsies and a small individual pizza.

The tourists on the coaches seemed a little bemused but a lot of them started waving and smiling when they clicked what was going on.

There were thousands of Egyptian women there, and we were also very pleasantly surprised at the number of Egyptian men who turned out to run the event - no reason why we should be given that Egyptian men have wives, mothers, sisters all subject to breast cancer (and of course men can get it too - I did see one guy in a 'survivors' pink t shirt.

Anyway, we did our mile in about 30 minutes walking like most of the rest of the people. One of our group did in fact run and it took her about 10 minutes being buffetted by crowds and buses!

It was a great day out and was good for me because I was ill and confined to barracks for nearly 2 months.  This was my first decent bit of exercise since August!

Coming to live in Cairo for a year - Summary

Having just made this huge post on another place in answer to someone's questions, I have copied it over here!

The original question related to some of the practicalities of actually being here for a year including the cost of living. Please note I have excluded accommodation discussions because my situation is a little different. The best advice is usually to get here and then look, not try to fix up from abroad.

What visa can I get?

The only visa you can get yourself in your own right - without being married to an Egyptian or without having a job with work permit - is 'touristic'. If you come into the country and get the usual 30 day effort at the Airport, then before 30 days is up, make your way to one of the places you can get a touristic visa - there may be one nearer where you end up living than Mogamma. You can ask for a one year visa but don't be surprised if they offer you a 3 month or 6 month instead.

What if I want to be able to leave Egypt and come back?

If you plan on leaving the country and coming back you MUST get a reentry visa before leaving Egypt otherwise your residency visa is cancelled when you leave. As far as I know, the only place you can get a reentry visa is Mogamma.

Can I get a work visa?

There is no such thing as a work visa. To work legally you need to get a job from an employer who offers a work permit. Or get married to an Egyptian, get the 5 year permanent residency, then have him go to Mogamma with you and sign papers saying that he assumes full responsibility for your work.

The position of 'freelancers' who are not confined to one employer is vague to say the least.

While many people are working here illegally, that choice is between you and your Maker! Just imagine if they had the equivalent of the Daily Mail here [Wink]

What about tax (in Egypt)

If you have a job with a work permit, then the employer should be paying your taxes. As we all know, there are companies which deduct the tax from your pay but don't in fact hand it over to the authorities.

What do I do about healthcare?

Healthcare - again, some companies will include it as part of a package, otherwise you're on your own. Having said that, paying private here is probably cheaper than getting health insurance if you are relatively fit. My view is, keep at least one of your UK credit cards with a big balance clear (well use it once a year so they don't close it!) just in case. A friend's husband had quadruple heart bypass and it cost something like 130000LE I seem to recall, just to give you some idea of an upper cap.

I did look into private health insurance and it would have cost about £40 per month when I looked (holiday insurance won't do btw!) - about 20% of my typical monthly expenditure. Total health care costs for me todate 'paying as I go' (including seeing cardiologist, neurologist, ECG, electrocardiogram, blood tests) in over 2 years = £35.

A trustworthy Egyptian friend has access to an account with some money set aside in it in case I ever get in a situation where medical care needs to be paid for quickly and when I am not in a position to be able to get to the ATM myself. I carry the friend's contact details on me just in case. (I think it's best if the emergency contact is an Arabic speaker!)

UK Tax

The UK has a double-taxation treaty with Egypt so if you are working here, money earned here is not subject to tax in the UK and vice versa (caveat - I am not a financial adviser, this is not advice and legislation may change at any time). (This isn't, say, the case for Canadians who have to pay tax on world wide income even if it is taxed in the other country!!!!!) Depending on your financial position back in the UK (eg are you going to be receiving rental income, savings income?) - you may still have to complete an annual tax return and there is a nice fat fine for not doing so. Call the Inland Revenue begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting and ask to register as 'non resident for tax purposes'. They are very helpful!

UK National Insurance

You have to pay 30 full years (under current legislation and if you are under, say, 50) to get full pension. You can make voluntary contributions if you want to keep up your record and if there's no danger of you going back - but you have up to 6 years after the relevant year to make voluntary contributions.

It's worth getting a statement from them as to how many years your record is - I was amazed to find I had 29 years in and so it's not worth me paying voluntary until much nearer the retirement age unless the rules change! (Apparently all the time I was at Uni, contributions were made for me by the State!)

(And btw even if you have got 30 years in - if you continue to work, you continue to have to pay NI so keep your eyes on the legislation in case the 30 years changes again and decide whether it's worth you paying voluntary).

Opening a Bank Account in Egypt

You can open one easily with a tourist visa + passport + credit card or similar from the UK. Unless or until you get a job, open a savings account. There are some very nice juicy interest rates here and most transactions are still done in cash.

You can open in more than one currency so, say, you could move sterling over here into a sterling account and just have it sit there and change it up when you need it or when exchange rates are good.

Your choice whether to go for a European-name bank (eg HSBC or Barclays or Credit Agricole or BNP Paribas or whatever) or an Egyptian bank eg Arab African or United Bank or whatever. Note that there are many banks with slightly different names!

How much does it cost to live here?

Not including accommodation costs: my monthly Opex - living expenses are about 2000LE averaged over the year: (including electricity (100), broadband (150), phone (25), gardener (130), 300LE for catfood, transport - mainly buses, microbuses and metro - I use taxis rarely - food, cleaning materials,toiletries, going out about once a week, mobile top ups etc).

You will find that I am probably at the lower end for an expat.

My vices are drinking gallons of milk (costs me around 200LE per month [Eek!] ) and my inability to go to Hyper1 without spending 40LE in Cilantros on iced white chocolate drinks. Hence I avoid going to Hyper more than once every 6 weeks. It is physically impossible for me to go in Cilantros and just have a coffee for 10). My name is OBC and I am a milkoholic.

The other thing you may want to factor in is a gym or similar. I joined a club way back when I first started coming here - before I moved here - offering a quick prayer - because the cost now would be way out of my reach. I haven't included the 'write down' of that in my monthly expenditures because it came out of 'capital'. (Sorry - too many years of corporate budget models!)

Full gory details of my 2008 costs are here: Gory Details

Finding somewhere to live

Here's a useful link for flats (apartments) and sharing. Obviously, keep your wits about you and don't do anything here you wouldn't do in your home country.

Expatriates.Com - Cairo Housing Classifieds

CAVEAT - ALL THE ABOVE IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OPINIONS. I AM NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISER TAX ACCOUNTANT IMMIGRATION OFFICER LAWYER OR ACTING IN ANY OFFICIAL CAPACITY. SEEK QUALIFIED ADVICE IF ANY OF THE ABOVE AFFECTS YOU IN ANY WAY.

Cairo Metro - a few updates

I haven't posted for a while as I was away for a month and then since I got back, have been busy working on a project (which I hope to reveal soon!)

Anyway, yesterday I was out and about on the metro and thought I should highlight a few changes which have happened over the past 3-4 months for those of you who may not have used the metro for a while.

Women's Cars (carriages)

First thing to remind everyone is that for around 2 years now, the women's cars have been the two in the middle of the train, not the front one.  Some guide books and internet sites which have not been amended give the outdated information.  Also, as a reminder, women can travel in ANY car.  Men are not supposed to ever go in the ladies' car labelled in red, but can use the ladies' car labelled in green in the evenings.  Sometimes men accidentally get on them, and upon realising their error, look all embarrassed until they can get off and move down to the mixed cars.  I have witnessed police 'raids' a couple of times where they turf all the men out of the red-labelled ladies' car.

Since I returned from my trip, signs have been appearing on platforms showing the position of the ladies' cars more prominently.  Some stations have had them before, but written in Arabic and not obvious. Recently, quite a few stations have now got clear blue signs saying 'Ladies' on them - this is not indicating the location of toilets, but where you should stand for the Ladies' cars.

Getting on and off

Generally speaking, getting on and off the train is a bit of a scrum, especially in rush hour or at the most popular stations (Mubarak and Sadat - the two interchange stations).  However, for the past 3-4 months, posters have been going up in metro stations indicating that you should get ON to the train using the middle two sets of doors on each carriage and OFF the train using the end two sets of doors on each carriage.

So far, carriages on the Shubra/Giza line have been labelled accordingly with very clear signs, both inside and outside the carriages indicating whether you should be using that door to get on and off.  I first noticed these about 3 months ago, and I was amazed to note that where the carriages are labelled accordingly most people actual FOLLOW this!  Of course, occasionally if the carriage is very busy and there is no time to push down to the exit doors, people will still get off in the middle, and also if you are rushing for the train on at the ends. But, all in all, people are making an effort.  So far, all the labelling appears to be on the Shubra/Giza line only.  I haven't yet seen any El Marg/Helwan trains labelled up (though the posters are at stations for both lines so this will clearly be brought in eventually).

Travelling in the heat

Most of the trains I have travelled on - both lines - are air conditioned (or blowing cool air into the carriages through vents).  However, one day last week I was on an old Helwan metro and was amused to discover a very Egyptian solution to a problem which has baffled London Underground engineers for years - how to cool the carriages in hot weather ....

Yes, that is a fan stuck up there.  There were a number of them located around the carriage supplying a nice cool breeze.

So actually, using the metro in the hot weather is not as bad as it might be.

Cairo Metro

Metro stations can be found above ground by spotting the big red M on a blue background signs.



There are two lines (with a third under construction).  Shubra-Giza and El Marg - Helwan.  There are just two interchange stations at present, Mubarak - which is right under Ramses Main Train Station, and Sadat - which is the station at Tahrir - for Mogamma, Egyptian Museum, the AUC Downtown campus, and a number of other important places.


One thing to notice is that the names of stations given in many of the tourist maps and guides are NOT CORRECT.  Whether this is because stations may have been renamed at some point in the past 6-7 years or what, I don't know.  Also, new stations at the ends appear occasionally, for example, on the El Marg line, there's a new station appeared north of El Marg which isn't on the maps - it's called something like New El Marg.

Station names are all given in English letters as well as in Arabic so don't worry about that!


The stations are surprisingly clean. Trains are frequent and I haven't personally experienced a breakdown, though apparently there was one 2 years ago which made everyone 20 minutes late one day and was the subject of much comment and threats never to travel by metro again! (One 20 minute delay in how many moons?  20 minute delays were the daily norm on the jolly old Victoria LIne back when I were a working lass in London not so long ago!)

Time from El Giza to Sadat is around 15 minutes and El Giza to Mubarak, around 20 minutes. During the day, from El Giza up to Sadat and down to El Maadi is maybe 30-40 minutes.

The fare is 1LE for a single journey anywhere on the network - from one end to the other - crossing lines, or from one station to the next.  If you are going to be doing a lot of travel - eg study or work, then season tickets are available, though I think you have to be making 10 journeys a week for it to work out as worth it.

To buy a ticket, go down into the metro station and you will see ticket booths. You may be lucky and there may be no queue. Otherwise, you will have to push and shove your way to the front and deposit 1LE per ticket under the glass hatch and grab a ticket back again. If you are new to this, I suggest you try to pay the exact fare and not have to wait for change as people will just be pushing over you. Do NOT try and be polite and stand in a queue, otherwise you will be waiting for ever. Not a time to be shy.

To get access to the platforms, you have to push your ticket into a machine - like the ones on London Underground and on Paris Metro (I think - haven't travelled there for many years) - and it pops up on the other side - don't forget to take it and keep it! - and you can push through the turnstile bar.  To get back out of the station, you have to reenter your ticket - and this time the machine will keep it - so make sure you keep hold of your ticket while travelling!

At all the stations I have been to, there are attendants around to help you on the rare occasions tickets get stuck in the system or if the turnstile bar doesn't open for you.  I've seen a few people jumping over the turnstiles, but very few compared to what I used to see all the time in London.

They don't have Oyster cards yet though ;)

I was very surprised when I asked the question on a forum about 3 years ago how few of the foreigners on that forum had ridden the metro, which is quite a pleasure most of the time. One of my friends did get spat at by a hawker on the metro when she didn't buy anything from him (he was walking through the ladies' car) but that is a pretty rare event.

Cairo Metro official link

El Korba Festival 2010

EL KORBA FESTIVAL 2011 - 1ST JULY 2011

http://oldbagofcairo.blogspot.com/2011/06/el-korba-festival-2011.html



THE REST OF THIS POST RELATES TO THE 2010 FESTIVAL

hi
there is 2 things now about the carnival
1. it may be held next friday 14/5/2010 from 10 am to 10 pm
2. that there is no carnival and they replace it with soe sord of music festival its gonne be on 25/5/2010
we r not sure yet we r gonne send u msg 2 confirm if there is gonne be a carnival or not and if they really replace it with that music festival or not
sorry but we all r confused
we r really sorry
thx very much
wait for the next msg and isa there is gonne be a carnival





This is information received:

el korba carnival 2tla3'a el sana dyh 3alashan el daw3y el 2mnya wa plz ay 7ad ya3raf ay 7ad ray7 yome el goma3a wa howa mash moshtriek mma3na
fe el group plz ya2olo and thnx la ta3wnkom ma3na

Translation :

Elkorba carnival has been cancelled for this year due to security measures, please notify anyone you know who isn't in our group and who might be going on Friday and thanks for your cooperation.

Check out the facebook groups for further information:


http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=118580281490037

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=249469448151&ref=ts

Seems it's going to be turned into a music festival on 25th June possibly?

Sorry chaps!
 

Volcano - link to list of updated European Airport Closures

Frequently updated list of European Airport Closures:

Airline industry list

I think they update it every time there's a change in the situation.