The Dean

Have you peeped through a French woman's bathroom window in Mirdif yet?

nottmbantam

Agreed, went last year for a long weekend, nice place to chill out in. Steeped in history too, if you're into that.

commander

Drink beer in Barasti's. Steeped in history.

Millhouse

I'm there tomorrow... will let you know . But, I can say one thing - don't bother with the Pyramids or Cairo. Go to Jordan - Amman, Petra, Dead Sea, Jerash - way nicer.

desertmum

glynster

Never been to the pyramids or Cairo and have no desire to see either dump.


Jordan on the other hand I would agree, I went to petra on my own and will definately be going back as I was on a visa run from Saudi and didnt spend anywhere near enough time there.

Syria as well I really want to visit and Lebanon

My bucket is nearly full of shit right now so I may be going travelling shortly unless someone wants a 20 year experienced Tower and heavy steel rigger onshore but willing to do the offshore survival if anything offshore is going.

Millhouse

Let us also not forget that Jordanian women are beautiful... Egyptian women, well, aren't.

Wish me luck in the Casino - Bahtaboy, any tips?

OriginalSunshine

Salalah in the Khareef season

Muscat: Grand Mosque, authentic Souqs, restaurants & clubs where it is legal for tourists to drink, diving where there is no "organic material" floating around

Mussandam: one & only

RAK: Aqualand; Iceland

seven seas

overnight, on a boat, out at sea, drinking.

csdf

Iceland? Really?

Bahtatboy

Yeah, go for the big juicy ones. Oh, "tips", I thought you said ...

Bahtatboy

Over a decade since I did any serious money-making in Egypt. At that time there were only about half-a-dozen casinos in Cairo, the best IMHO being the Omar Khayam in the Marriott. So, a few basic tips:

1 Know what you want to do. If you're happy to spend $100 and walk out with nothing, then that's a totally different mindset from wanting to win.

2 Stick to roulette and blackjack, they're relatively simple.

3 Roulette. Don't get sucked into a Martingale: doubling you're bets until you win which, mathematically, will always result in a net win at some point, but in practice you'll hit the table limit and you'll run out of money really quickly. Instead, keep a track of red / black, even / odd and high / low, and when there have been, say, 5 of any of those, start flat betting on the opposite till you have a net win on that run. You're allowed pen and paper at the roulette table to keep track. Only play on the French tables (with a single Zero), never on the American tables (with two Zeroes).

4 Blackjack. Try to memorise as much of the below Basic Strategy chart as possible. If you can't memorise it all, remember the following 7 Golden Rules:

•Stay on a 12 if the dealer card is 6 or lower
•Hit if you have 16 when the dealer has 7 or higher
•Hit on a soft 17 or less and stay on a soft 18 soft or higher
•Always split aces and 8
•Split if you have a pair of 7’s against a pair of 7’s or lower for the dealer
•Never take insurance
•Double on 10 or 11 if the total of your cards is higher than the visible card of the dealer (never double against an Ace).

5 If you want to come out with more money than you go in with, be realistic. 10% profit for an evening's work isn't bad, so if you have a bank of $100 then $10 is a decent profit.

6 Don't drink, have fun, and benefit from all those punters who have the attitude, "I've got $100, and when that's gone I'll leave." They've already decided they're going to lose, which makes it easier for those of us who have decided we're going to win.

7 Good luck!

OriginalSunshine

http://www.icelandwaterpark.com/

obscenity in the desert

csdf

That's what I meant.

Bahtatboy

How'd it go?