At The Basma Hotel, Aswan | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 3 (Part 29) 02D19

One Night and Dinner in The Basma Hotel | Aswan

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

After arriving at the Basma Hotel, our tour guide handed over our keys and room numbers. Something I loved about being with a tour group is that the tour company pre-arranged everything and I didn’t even have to go through the hassle of checking in while in a foreign country.

Basma Hotel is located on very high ground, possibly the highest point of Aswan. Basma Hotel is a huge hotel complex with 200 rooms and a very big swimming pool. I saw a huge piece of artwork hanging on the entrance door wall that looked like it was made of mosaic or marble. The front of the hotel gives access to amazing views overlooking the beautiful greenery, the city of Aswan, mountains, yellow sand dunes and the amazing Nile River.

Basma Hotel, Aswan, Egypt

It looked like rooms can have 2 different types of views. Rooms on one side will have the Nile view and on the other side will have the city view. Regardless, you get to see the surrounding mountains and yellow sand dunes.

My room got the city mountain view. The problem with this hotel was that it was too old and crying for a renovation. My room had 2 beds. Ultimately, I was OK with my room. It felt clean and tidy, except everything was old. The bathroom was nothing fancy, but acceptable.

I even had a balcony, but a weird thing made my balcony and views feel weird. It looked like square blocks of concrete structures on the floor level outside my balcony. I was not sure what those were or why they were in front. They could be structures to support the building or something else. They were not directly blocking any views because they came up from the ground up to my balcony floor level. But if I looked from my high floor to the ground, then they block the view. The presence of these concrete blocks made me not like my room as much as I could otherwise. So, I didn’t get to enjoy the balcony and full city view with the mountains beyond.

In the evening, some of my tour members went for an extra tour to the Nubian village, which I skipped. Instead, I took a stroll around the hotel vicinity. I took my time to walk the whole complex and took some pictures and videos. I even exited the hotel boundary to mingle in the local busy streets and browse the shops right next to the hotel, but didn’t stay outside the hotel for too long.

In the evening, I had my coffee inside my suite. I used the hotel-provided instant coffee, although I had my own backup coffee. After coffee, I took some time to write down my travel details and back up SD cards to my portable hard drive. I had been taking notes of my travel details daily to help me write later on.

At night, I headed for dinner at the hotel restaurant. I had a beef curry with rice. The price was 150 LE, which would be $12 CAD. I found the food here was good and they were more attentive than the Oasis Hotel in Giza. The prices were cheaper also with greater quantity. 

The next day we would spend the night in the middle of the Nile in a Felucca Cruise boat.

Limited Time Opportunity: Download Credit Card Hacks For Free on Amazon

Credit Card Hacks:

What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know By Award-Winning Author Ahmed Dawn

This is a special post to let you all guys know that my latest book Credit Card Hacks has been published and currently available on Amazon.

There is a promotional free download offer, which will expire on December 12, 2020 midnight. Grab your free copy here:

mybook.to/CreditCardHacks

Credit Card Hacks is a must-have guide for digital-age credit card users and delivers simple steps to use credit cards for savings and travelling the globe for free or paying very little.

If you are not using the right credit card, you are losing an opportunity to earn a free point or mile. To help you get started with credit card benefits, this book will show you:

 - How to Pick the Right Credit Cards

- How to Use Promotional Rate Offers

- What Credit Card Feature You Should Never Use

- The Hidden Credit Card Perk No One Uses

- How to Travel for Free/Fly Business Class Using Credit Cards

- And much more

The Day I Knew Invest Now Changed Someone’s Life

The Day I Knew Invest Now Changed Someone’s Life

First Published Date: July 24, 2008

When I was writing Invest Now, I was often occupied with the idea  that the objective of this book would be to change someone’s life. I was not too worried about selling lots of copies, or making lots of money, or even becoming a famous author. I was worried about only one thing. My target was something very simple and straight forward – to change a one person’s life. To help someone with what I have learned all these years, and to enlighten someone’s life with all of the knowledge and hard work I put into my first book. If I accomplish this, I would consider Invest Now a successful venture, and I would consider myself content with the feeling of joy and accomplishment.

And then came the day I had been waiting for. This is what I have wanted to happen since Invest Now was published. On the weekend of July 12, 2008, I was attending a community-based book fair and cultural festival. This event was taking place at the Church of St Columba & All Hallows, 2723 St. Clair Avenue East, Toronto. On Sunday, July 13, some visitors were browsing Invest Now. Some of them were just passing by after having a quick glance at my stall. All of a sudden, a guy rushed to my stall out of nowhere. His first question was, “Are you the author of Invest Now”? I replied, “Yes.” Then what he told me went beyond my imagination. I was totally astonished – but my heart was filled with indescribable joy and a sense of accomplishment. I am now going to share with you what that gentleman told me.

He works as a financial advisor. He came across Invest Now at a local bookstore. At first, he bought one copy for himself out of curiosity. And then, he fell in love with Invest Now instantly. He was having a hard time explaining the world of investments to his clients. Once he found Invest Now, he started giving a copy to his clients. So far, he has distributed 7 or 8 copies, but it did not stop there – he started recommending Invest Now to other advisors at his firm. He also wrote a few articles in the local newspaper, and he recommended Invest Now in those articles. Finally he said, “Thank you, thank you so much for writing a book like this, and helping lots of people to understand such a complex matter in easy way. It saved me so much time and work – before I would spend days explaining investments to my clients; now I give them this book and ask them to read it first before I recommend anything else. You made my life so easy – I appreciate your hard work and thank you for helping so many people.”

It definitely feels good knowing Invest Now has served its purpose, and changed someone’s life. I am sure I will come across many more stories like this in the years to come. However, this is not where everything ends. This is just the beginning. With my website “A Dawn Journal”, and with more books to be published in the future – I will be able to change many others’ lives. I will be able to help a lot more people; that’s what makes me write more. I needed a confidence boost, and this reader just gave me that. What I heard from him was exactly what I needed to be confident in continuing my journey into the future.

Hong Kong Property Prices Keep Rising

Hong Kong’s Upward Bound Real Estate

First Published Date: Feb 10, 2013

Hong Kong is the third most expensive place to buy an apartment, according to a recent report published by Global Property Guide shows. Monaco and London are the most expensive cities on earth for apartments, just before Hong Kong.

An average 600 square feet apartment is expected to cost somewhere between $500,000 to $600,000 USD. However, this high price is not a surprise as Hong Kong has been doubling its property prices in the past four years. In 2012, property prices have increased 20 percent. Hong Kong has one of the most open economies in the world and its property market is investors’ favourite due to easy and straightforward real estate transaction procedures.

Author/Copyright: Ahmed Dawn www.adawnjournal.com

Investors from around the globe, mainly from the U.S. and European countries, are flocking to Hong Kong to chase growth. Hong Kong recently implemented measures to curb its overheated property market. Some of the measures taken were to implement a 15 percent tax for foreign and corporate buyers and the extension of a special duty tax on frequent transactions, along with increasing the supply of apartments. However, these measures were proved to be insufficient to curb property prices. Sales volumes have declined, but no significant price correction has come into effect. Hong Kong’s low rate mortgage supports high property prices in the city. Hong Kong’s lending rate is tied to U. S. low interest rates to maintain currency peg to the U.S. dollar.

As long as the U.S. and developed countries keep their interest rates at a record low and go through quantitative easing, investors will be pouring their capitals in Asia to pursue growth. With capitals flocking in from foreign countries and from local buyers due to low local lending rates, the Hong Kong real estate boom may not bust that soon – as least until 2015, as the US Fed is expected to raise rates gradually starting then

FinTech EQ Bank High Interest Savings Account Worth Taking A Look

FinTech Financial Institutions Are Shaking Big Banks

First Published Date: January 15, 2017

FinTech financial institutions use technology to offer financial services that keep costs lower and it’s no wonder Internet-only operators like EQ Bank can offer to pay high interest rates on its savings account.

The EQ Bank high interest savings account just works like a regular checking account that can do all the necessary jobs of a checking account, but it gives you high interest on your deposits plus additional features for free.

Let’s take a look at some of the features available for free:

– High interest, which is currently at 2 percent

– No fees whatsoever

– No minimum balance required

– Unlimited transactions

– 5 free Interac e-Transfers® each month

– Neat smartphone app

A CBA (Canadian Bankers Association) survey shows that only 13 percent of Canadians are using branches as their main banking method and 55 percent are doing the majority of their banking online. FinTech financial services such as Borrowell, MOGO, EQ Bank, and so on are putting a dent in traditional banking services and all big banks are keeping a close eye on the market.

Instead of just researching and collecting data, some big banks have already refused to sit idly doing nothing and started taking action. For example, TD started a partnership with Moven for mobile money management tools and CIBC started a partnership with Borrowell to deliver digital borrowing experience. Other big banks are also working on similar projects.

As the Internet and technology are making lives easier with lowering costs, you will see more and more Uber-like entrants in the financial sector, disrupting big banks and the way they provide services and collect fees. Consumers are on a solid path to benefit from these disruptions.