Religion, Politics, Taboos, Dress Code and Other topics that might concern you in Dahab or Egypt.

Dahab as most of Egypt is mostly dominated by the Muslims, but it is less conservative than most areas like Cairo and Luxor. Even thou the people are Muslim they do
not really frown upon a tourist drinking alcohol and even many of the locals here enjoy alcohol sometimes, but this is actually frown upon.

Dress Code

You can dress like you wish as long as you don't go all the way and take the top off. When it comes to sunbathing topless i do not think that the police will take action and even some of the restaurants would not warn you about it, but I think this is a sensitive area where the person should show some respect for the culture of the country you are visiting.
For women to walk around in bikini or miniskirt is not an issue in Dahab as long as you are not Egyptian and this is the working uniform of many female dive instructors.

Alcohol

Regarding previously mentioned about alcohol its not really an issue her in Dahab, there are several nightclubs and bars that are open till around 3AM and liquor stores that are open
til 2AM. Many restaurants have an alcohol license and serve it to their customers while some others either get it to you from a store or let you bring from outside. Be aware that there are
not may respectable alcohol brands in Egypt, the good ones are ID vodka, Stella beer and Sakkara. Many of the brands here are imitations of other brands, but with spelling mistakes like
Fine landia instead of Finlandia, Tequlla and other attempts to pass of cheap liquor to a tourist.

Drugs

Drugs is a topic that is getting more and more heated in Egypt at the moment. There is a lot of drugs, but there is a completely different specter of drugs than what you find in a European market.
Hashish and Marijuana is quite common between both tourists and Egyptians even thou they have very strict penalties for Egyptians caught with drugs. For amounts as small as 10 grams you could get a sentence as a drug dealer and get a minimum sentence of one year in prison. This is the law, but things indicate that they are not as strict in reality, but the police are working hard to fight the drug trafficking.
There is becoming a problem of abuse of opiates and opium in particular, but also their chemical relatives. The Bedouins has used Opium for centuries as cure for fever and pain relief by putting it behind their teeth and sip tea. The Egyptians on the other hand have a tendency to use it as an addict and even using needles. This is not a problem in Dahab, but it is an increasing problem in the rest of Egypt.
There is not much if any at all designer drugs like ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamine or LSD. The majority can not afford to import it and the penalties are so strong that they also would not risk it.
According to quran there is no room to use any drugs, but alcohol have been ringed out as the worst.

Theft

Theft is not an issue her in Egypt as it is not acceptable in the quran in any way and by the old Sharia and Egyptian law has high punishment. If you should get anything stolen from you, you should report this to the police. The police will investigate it seriously and can not be bribed by the owner on this subject. The thing is that you need to consider if you are 100% sure if it was stolen, because the process they go through to find the guilty one is quite tough and if a person is falsely accused this can have quite severe consequences.

Sex in Islam

Sex and Islam is a special subject of its own. This is very hard on many of the Egyptians, but this is mostly caused by cultural and religious reasons and not political. A unmarried couple is not allowed to have any form of physical contact and is not allowed to share a room. A marriage is a very expensive for the man. He needs to prove that he can provide for his wife by having a house and other things that is necessary as well as a certain amount of money in solid cash. This is often resulting in marriages within the same family to avoid these costs and still be able to create a family so a marriage between two cousins is not uncommon even thou its not fully accepted in the quran. So as a result of this many people can never have a girlfriend and also can not afford to get a wife.
What is happening a lot in Egypt at the moment now is that you have a high increase in sex tourism. By sex tourism I am referring to may older women comes to Egypt and starts a relationship with young Egyptian men.
Often this is women who are 40 and above with young men in their early 20s. There are several reasons for the Egyptians to do this. First of all it gives them an outlet for the sexual frustration and it provides them with a financial future and even a chance to leave the country. The way it usually goes is that a young man chats up an older woman and usually has a drink. Because of the laws i mentioned before a foreign woman and an Egyptian man is not allowed to share a room in a hotel and sometimes not even a house. So after a long time going out the man declares his undying love, but they are prohibited by law to spend the night. This usually starts up on a vacation and then continues in their home country over internet. These women are often lonely and often previously married. Often the woman gives him a bit of money to get their life on track and in very many cases this results in a marriage. There are different forms of marriages, but to be able to stay together you need a full worthy marriage registered in the embassy. Then when they are married the wife then applies for his Visa and he can go to her country. This is usually where it ends. This is a sorry fact and it happens all over Egypt, but specially these tourist places like Sharm, Hurgada and Dahab. This is starting to getting referred to as MMID (My Mohammed Is Different) as this is what these women tend to think. If I take I wild guess around 2% of these marriages have a happy ending. Be careful.

Murder

Murder is also something you never heard about. I have lived 3 years in Dahab and I have never heard about a murder happening here even in the past. Occasionally you hear about some family tragedy in Egypt where some young women or man has been killed by their family for reasons such as family honor like coming out as gay or a woman sleeping with another man wile she is married.

Terrorism

Terrorism is something that has happened in the past, but its not really a factor. Many people have probably heard about the suicide bombers in Dahab 2006. This was an action condemned by the mosques and absolutely not tolerated between the Muslim groups. This was not aimed towards the western tourists, but this was a time in Dahab when you had a lot of Israeli tourists here and the terrorists was coming down here from North Sinai. Every man in the town from this area who was in Dahab was caught and interrogated and they got the people behind it. This happened in the middle of the day. There were 3 suicide bombers who detonated their packages simultaneously. They were said to be nail bombs set of by a time detonator. 23 people died and around 80 was wounded most of these Egyptian.
There has been several terrorist attacks in Egypt over the years, last one happening in Cairo last year. They are not frequent and as a temporarily citizen of Egypt i do not consider this a threat.

Sabbath and Ramadan

The Sabbath in Egypt is on a Friday. It does not have that much impact on the daily life here in Dahab as the only effect is the volume of the speakers from the mosques going up a notch and that the stores are closed from 10 to 12. What they usually think here is that it is the holiest day in the week and you should sin less than other days. Your priers in the mosques are worth more and not going to the mosque on this day his frowned upon by other people if you are a Muslim.
Ramadan is the holy month and is basically their name for September. Some people might say that it is not a good time to go to Egypt, but i tend to disagree. For the tourist you dont see that much of a difference and the difference you see is a good experience and will give you a deeper insight in the Muslim culture. They are not allowed to eat or drink between sunrise and sun set and this is the time set by Mecca time. This is for them quite tough as it is a time when it is quite hot in Egypt and the urge for drinking water is high. This is considered a trial and is an occasion for the people to show god that they are good Muslim and not only their fellow man. Everyone can see that you pray and that you don't do the sins that are punishable, but that you suppress your urge to drink and eat is between them and their god.
There are some exceptions for the Ramadan and in most cases you can do it later when you are able to do it. This is for example if you are pregnant, menstruating, seriously ill or if you have any condition that requires you to take medication as you are not allowed to swallow pills either during this time.
Ramadan is also a time where you are required to give your offerings to the poor and needy. If you can you should give one tenth of what you own to the less fortunate this is also one of the reason why you are enduring this trial so that you can understand the poor and hungry and that god has given you what you have.

Politics

Politics is a sensitive subject i Egypt and i do not recommend discussing the subject with any Egyptians or Bedouins. You can talk about it with you fellow travelers, but don't discuss it with the locals this is because you don't understand how it works and if you do then you understand why you should not discuss it. You can discuss the law, the culture and the religion, but avoid politics.

Sex offenses

I have heard many traveler stories about people who have been sexually assaulted. In most cases this is not true. I know one time last year there was an attempted rape, but there was a story behind it where the woman invited the man for drinks, as a person who do not drink he got very drunk and completely miss understood the situation. The police picked up the man the same day and he was sent to prison. This is the only serious case i know about. The other case i know about was a girl who went home with a man to have a drink (Alcohol) and during that time in his house the man touched her breast. She panicked, left and reported it to the police. The man was arrested and sentenced to jail. Now if this was in Europe and a man invites only one girl to the house to have a drink he might think that he is getting lucky. Especially if the man is a 23 year old virgin and don't know how these things work. The sentences for sex offenders in Egypt are very strict and are something they most likely will not even try to attempt. The girls feel safe here walking up a dark ally alone at 3AM and that is more than what you can say for any European city.