Brah wrote:Kinda reminds me of the trip to Sihanoukville some tourists choose to do while the Khmer Rouge were still active, and those tourists were abducted.
It was at a time I really wanted to visit the general area including Sihanoukville but heeded the advice not to.
Maybe an unfair comparison but would make sense to wait a bit at the moment.
There are some parallels in that, but also some differences. Thinking about geographical isolation, take Sharm-el-sheikh for example, right at the bottom of the Sinai peninsular. It is 8hrs by good highway from Cairo, 99% of what is between is desert. There is a huge sense of isolation.
It is essentially a 'closed city' in that Egyptians cannot just roll up there without a reason. There used to be just one road in and out (there are now two), and there are police checkpoints every few miles on the roads. Sharm itself is surrounded by a Tex-Mex style steel fence to keep the Bedouin nomads out.
You'll hear it said that Sharm 'isn't Egypt', and I see the point. The other big dive towns are similar. As I said I've friends who have worked there for years and never even seen the pyramids.
p.s. I was the same as you re: Cambodia. I finally got to visit in 2009. Wow, what a place. Somewhere I've wanted visit for c.20 years now is Lebanon (Bekaa Valley etc) and Syria (the coastal Crusader castles etc). Maybe one day I will finally conclude that the time is right...