Other then the typical Nightlife places, like discos and sexy time clubs ... what are some of the night life in your MENA country?

In Algeria, again other then the bar/cafes men only frequent and some underground strip clubs ... There is somewhat of a lively nightlife. There are always things to do in Alger as far as the Opera, souqs, cinema, sports, concerts and just walking along the beach. I am sure there is alot more to do in Oran, thou.

But I do miss the adventures of my youth ... backpacking in the Balkans where we could find cafes/resturants open until the early morning hours ... sit people watching or just walking along the streets.

Here, nothing like that During Mawlid and Ramadan everything is open until about 11pm ... 12 in Alger but it is mostly all shopping.

Now you !

We didn't go to the bars. The cafés were there, of course. We didn't go to the cinema -- hubby said it tended to be crowded and noisy. What I remember most was just the throng of people out and about late at night. July was hot during the day, but as soon as it cooled off in the evening, everyone got outside and made up for lost time. So it was street food, some street entertainment, shopping, people-watching for us mostly. I thought he'd find the nights outside here terribly boring -- and I was right -- but he's a trooper and he's adjusted.

In algeria just going around to cafe's, jijel's beach, grocery shopping cuz I missed real spagetti and ice cream. We frequently went out to eat at night or did barbeque in my house there. We built a swimming pool there too so me and my husband we had fun with that alone at night hahah. Shopping here and there in Algiers at night was sooo fun. We loved going to stores with imported things like hookahs, carpets, paintings etc.. We go out during the night more than day b/c my spouse has this thing about going out before 7 bec so many women are running across the streets where cars are trying to get themselves killed!!! Oh gosh it just made me realize there's more to do there than here but America is still the best.

There are no sexy time clubs in Libya No alcohol allowed in the country so no bars either Things do stay open at night though but usually it's just the men who are out after dark.
When we were in Egypt I remember teasing my hubby about wanting to go out at all hours of the night.... you know here you're only up to no good if you're out that late but when he finally got me to go out I saw that EVERYTHING in Cairo is open really late at night and that's when we did our best shopping..... he says it's like that in Libya too.... I guess it has something to do with the heat during the day. I went to the dermatologist really late at night in Egypt.... they said it was his regular hours

what is a sexy time club?

otherwise known as, a club.

We went out to eat a lot, walked along the Front de la Mer in Oran, went to some clubs (the one at the Sheraton) and some bars, went to a mall.. although there wasn't much in it, sat outside and ate ice cream, met friends in coffee shops...

PS i HATED the ice cream in Algeria. And I felt so bad because Medy's sister always got so excited. They only had four flavors: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and lemon. The lemon was the only one I liked, it was kind of like sorbet. The rest were horrible... soupy and artificially flavored.. bleh. They MUST have other kinds of ice cream.. someplace.. Henia? Also the place that they went to get it you had to bring your own plastic container and they would put the ice cream in that.


ETA: NOT sex clubs.... dance clubs...

i thought it was a fancy name for a house of ill repute.

This is OT, but I saw a condom machine on the side of a building next to a busy city street in Meknes, right by the sidewalk. I've never seen one out in the open like that here.

Condom machines all over the place in Italy. I think it's a smart idea, I don't know why we don't have them here!

I agree. And the sex ed classes my husband described sounded much better than what we were given, dang cartoons circa 1957.

Translation of Henia words are as follows ....

Sexy time club= strip club, or any other place that offers any sexual related entertainment
Disco=dance club

Oh ok, lol. I think most clubs are sexy time clubs then, discos included!

Alhamdulliah: Did you go during Ramadan? I know here everything is closed in the daylight but opened late into the night during Ramadan.

Holly: There are many places to get good ice cream. But none of it is real (all made from powders) and nothing like Italian ice creme! But yes, only the basic flavours. But the ice cream palours here do do many interesting sundaes. Like rolling the ice cream balls in almonds, then drizzling coffee or chocolat syrup all over it, then topping it with whipped creme. But bring your own plastic container? WTF that sounds lame! But here ice cream only availible from mid-April until October.

I miss living in a city, that is open pretty much late into the night.


True. True

There seemed like so much to do in both Cairo and Alex at night since the place never shuts down. Mostly in Alex we'd sit outside along the water in a cafe and drink tea or fruit smoothies and just people watch. In Cairo we just went out to different shops and cafes and did the same thing basically.

ah ok, so i was kinda on the right track there.

Have you tried going to that ice cream shop in constantine?? Pista ice cream oh my it's so delicious

LOL - What is sexy time clubs???
In Lebanon there is Casino du Liban; people get dressed up and go there, also cool cafes and lounges with Hookas.
In Egypt most we did was go to cafes and drink tons of coffee and smoke hookas .... No bars or Casinos.

Nita

Yeah Hookahs were really popular with us until I found out how much worse the tobacco is !!! I've heard about tobacco-less hookahs but I'm not buying the IDEA

But What is sexy time clubs???

No, it wasn't Ramadan when I went.

We went to a few night clubs that were indoor outdoor on the beach in Hurghada. I didn't have very much fun because my Husbands doesn't want me to drink or be around me drinking but being around the hundreds of other sexy drunk foreign women didn't bother him or his friends much. They rather enjoy the attention.

yeah what is nightlife in the middle east? lol

When i will be in Jordan I dont know what to do or what to see. I will get into Amman at 10:30-ish at night. And tehn next day I dont know what we will do. Just as long as we are at Palestinian border before it closes. Til then Amman is ALL MINE!

Many of the largest cities in the Middle East are bustling into the wee hours of the morning -- Amman, Beirut, Cairo all have very active night life with restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, etc., even some shops staying open well past 2am -- and not just during Ramadan. Of course not all these places are serving alcohol or having scantily clad women, but if you're looking for that, you can easily find it -- especially in the upscale hotel districts and tourist areas.

Ramallah, although much smaller than the cities mentioned above, has been called the Little Manhattan of the Middle East because of its cosmopolitan nature and surprisingly hip night life scene (along with lots and lots of neon.) There are many internationals there for business, media, government work, etc., and a surprising percentage of its permanent population is rather affluent. Historically, Ramallah was a predominantly Christian town, although many have now emigrated overseas due to the hardships of the last 60 years, and the influx of refugees from what is now Israel and people from other towns seeking work have greatly increased the Muslim community. But Ramallah is still much more "Westernized" than any other Palestinian city. And it has plenty of bars, discos and liquor stores -- more than any other Palestinian town except perhaps Bethlehem. (Jerusalem is in a category of its own.)

You don't usually see too many Palestinian women hanging out late at night in the clubs -- there are a few, but after dark it's mostly local men or internationals of both sexes. A female would definitely not want to go into most of the cinemas -- only the ones geared toward international customers. But in normal times you would see families having dinner at the muntaza'at (outdoor restaurants in a park-like setting) or even shopping until 10 or 11 or 12.

But it's not normal times now. The city is much more subdued than in the 90s -- money is tight, the closures are killing commerce, the military incursions disrupt and/or destroy business, and the checkpoints make it much more difficult to travel after dark. But still, there is nightlife in Ramallah -- you just have to look for it a little harder.

Actually we cant stay til night anyways in Ramallah. It would be too late for us to get back. Too dangerous at night. This time we wont go during ramadan so I expect it to be different;)
yes it is more "westernized" than the rest of Palestine than say, the villages. but I think the days of it being little Manhatten are gone. Where my husband took me was all brown buildings...just normal looking middle eastern city that you'd see in the pictures. We went to a mall that was kinda inhabited because of ramadan. The people that I tried to talk to (one guy in a bank for example) did not even speak English. I was quite surprised to see that. But we dont go to bars or clubs anyways so that is kinda irrelevent to us:) The times are harder now though for all of Palestine though snce second intifada though.

not inhabited mall. An uninhabited mall.

I've spent a lot of time in Ramallah, and I know it well. Perhaps you didn't see much of it, but if you scratch the surface you will find that it is much different than you might think in a passing glance. Yes, the architecture and type of stonework is similar to what you will see all over the West Bank -- of course, it's the Palestinian style. But didn't you see the upscale neighborhoods outside the downtown area ? There are many absolutely magnificent homes -- true villa style, and they cost millions of dollars.

Not everyone speaks English, but many people there do -- I happened upon them every day -- in stores, in the banks, in restaurants and cafes, in taxis, on the street. Certainly Arabic is their native language, and everyone speaks that, but didn't you notice all the shop signs in English ? Even the street signs in downtown Ramallah are in both Arabic and English. Many of the older businesspeople and most college graduates are fluent, and even the schoolkids have some rudimentary knowledge of English -- it's now mandatory to study it from primary through high school there. I cannot tell you how many times people have proudly pushed their children right up in front of me, prompting them to "ahki ingleezi" (speak English.) A little 5-year-old girl sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" perfectly for me, which she had learned in her kindergarten.

The mall you speak of was built by Sam Bahour -- a Palestinian-American millionaire. It's nice -- it has some pricey shops, but I have been there many times because the supermarket on the bottom level is the best in town. There are not so many stores in there yet, but the food court was doing decent business. You know, some people told Bahour that he was just throwing his money away -- that it would be destroyed by the Israelis, or that people wouldn't have money to spend there. He said he didn't care -- it was his gift to the Palestinian people to have something nice like that.

Ramallah will come back to normal insha'allah, and be better than ever. Count on it.

yeah the villages around ramallah yeah. They have beautiful houses:) Sorry, but I consider that outside of ramallah like what our suburbs would be:) but yes, they are good. We went past there on the bus on the way to Ramallah. And in fact, my husband's brother in law (he's a rich Us citizen here) bought not one but TWO of them there!
Like I said, this time I am going to work harder at dragging my husband out. Well, as much as I can without making a scene anyways which is can be quite hard:)
aww I wanna speak to some pali kids! I miss them!!!!:(
hehe well now I think that the people do not have money to shop at the mall so he better lower his prices:) But once things quiet down there again sure Ramallah will be back:) I can see that if there was no problem it would be a good city. And who knows, maybe one day habibi and I will be rich enough to afford one of those villas!!

LOL it's not Sam Bahour who sets the prices on stuff at the mall -- the shop owners do that themselves. And actually the prices at the supermarket there are even lower than all the little mom-and-pop stores downtown, plus they have the kind of selection (and presentation) like you'd see in the U.S.

Certainly there are suburbs and villages outside Ramallah that have some beautiful villas, and also Ramallah's twin city of al-Bireh is quite upscale, but I was specifically talking about *inside* the municipality of Ramallah -- neighborhoods like al Irsal, Om al Shariat, up by the Ministry of Health, etc. There is much more to the city than just downtown or "Old Ramallah," and I'm sorry you didn't get to see it. I am talking about gorgeous, palatial homes of 5000 square feet and more with 3 and 4 levels, stunning arched windows, tile roofs, balustraded balconies, and beautiful gardens -- Ramallah has many of them. I lived in a flat in Om al Shariat for a couple of months, and I've also stayed in al Irsal, so I've seen these homes with my own eyes -- I took pics of them because they were so beautiful. Real estate inside the city is of course much more expensive than outside, which is the reason the outlying areas are also very popular.

And yes, you must demand that your husband take you out to see more !

yes and I dont wanna leave my camera in the car like I did last time, lol
Well, actually I dont know how much i'm going to see this time though really:( My husband's car is not insured. And he cannot get insurance on it cuz it's a cheap car...like $500 car. The Palestinian government wont let them insure cheap cars, only the imported ones. I guess the cheap cars may have less time surviving a Palestinian head on collision:) I dunno really. But now the pali police are bored I guess and they are searching for uninsured cars and beating them up and taking them away. the people have said to the police why are you doing this? We dont have the money even for a good car to get insurance on it and now you take the only car we have? The police say it's not our problem. So needless to say, my husband guards his car with his life:)
I HATE THE PA WITH EVERY OUNCE OF MY BLOOD!!
He says anything we wanna do, we can come back and do when we have money.

hehe ok the thread is not about Ramallah so dont forget the other stuff. Fill me in on hot spots in Jordan and Jericho. (since Jericho is on the way from Jordan to the village...I will make him stop there if I have to twist his arm off, hehe) So see, I am sneaky wife:)