Seen in Cairo : Nabulsi Shaheen soap factory

Seen in Cairo: The once famous handmade Nabulsi Shaheen olive oil soap factory in Alazhar area, Cairo.

 In the first half of the 20th century, Nabulsi Shaheen was the most famous and popular soap in Egypt. There were several popular brands of the Olive oil soap, originally made in Palestine. The most famous brand was Nabulsi Shahin.

Originally named Nabusli Shaheen in the 1920s, the famous Nabulsi soap used to have a different name before the July 1952 coup. Its name had been Nabulsi Farouk from the 1930s to 1950s.

Yes, it was named after King Farouk of Egypt and Sudan due to his popularity at first in the country but it was changed as soon as he was ousted.

Seen in Cairo : Old Minaret

That old minaret of that old mosque in that old #Cairo street standing high with its engravings as it much as it can.
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Happy 30 June Dear Egyptians : Less energy subsidies , more fuel prices

Earlier Thursday, Egyptians woke up to the news that government announced cuts in the energy subsidies effective immediately, which means that there will be an increase in the fuel prices and subsequently there will be an increase in the price of everything.

The price of 80-octane gasoline has increased from LE 2.35 per Litre to LE 3.65 which means buses, microbuses, taxis and even tuktuk's fare will increase.

At the fuel state, an old taxi driver and a sign with the new prices
in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday "Photo: Reuters"

The prices of food supplies as well any things use that trucks for transportation will increase as well.

Already, vegetables' prices are expected to increase by 40%.
A simple salad will cost the Egyptian family nearly LE 50 !!

The price of 92-Octane gasoline has increased from LE 3.50 per Litre to LE 5 in another blow to the Middle class that own cars.

The price of gas cylinders has increased from LE 15 to LE 30.
A Huge number of Egyptian especially the poor working classes in the governorates will be affected with that increase.
The number of Egyptians who got access to natural gas in homes is still small compared to the Egyptians who still use the gas cylinders, especially in the countryside.

Experts say that the inflation will increase after this new wave of high prices that can reach to 35%.
In May, the inflation rate hit three-decade high with 32.9 % but it dropped in April but it fell to 30.9% in May.

This is the third major increase in the prices of fuel in Egypt since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi became the head of state.

The first time was in July 2014 while the second was in November 2016 following the Center Bank of Egypt "CBE" to devaluate the Egyptian pound aka to float the price of Egyptian pound free.

We knew that this will be coming because the start of the new official fiscal year 2017/2018 is 1 July in Egypt.

#Ramadan Arabian Nights 2017 : Princess Sea Pearl Ep.29 and Ep.30

First of all, I am more than sorry for not posting anything on the blog or even continue our Arabian tale for this Ramadan or even posted Happy Eid from Egyptian Chronicles to you.


It was out of my hand as I had technical problems with my Windows 10 Dell laptop on Saturday.Thank God I have managed only to fix those problems only late Thursday.

They were technical problems related to booting and scary BSOD.
I spent technically the three days of Eid in attempting to fix my laptop aside of eating, watching movies on TV and sleeping.
Lots of things took place and I know that I can start with our Audio Arabian Nights tale for this year, the tale of Princess Sea Pearl.

I think before continuing our audio tale, you have to refresh your memory to remember what happened from nearly a week ago.
Now we going to finish our tale and know the fate our heroes for this whether the good or the villains.

Episode 401 or the Twenty Ninth night

#Ramadan Arabian Nights 2017 : Princess Sea Pearl "Ep.25", "EP.26", "EP.27" and "EP.28"

First, Happy Eid in advance.
Second, we are getting close to the end of Ramadan as well the end of our tale for this year, the tale of Princess Sea Pearl.
Now, we stopped at the Twenty-third Night in the previous post. Sadly enough I could not find Episode twenty-four anywhere online even at the Egyptian State Radio's archives.

Nevertheless, based on the previous episodes and the upcoming episodes I can tell you that it is about that second meeting between Princess Sea Pearl and Hamal Al-Asya where they will fall in the love.

I can tell you also that in Episode 396 of the Radio Arabian nights show that Princess Sea Pearl marries Hamal Al-Asya and as she becomes a human, she loses her memory.

Third, here are our episodes for tonight.

Episode 397 or Twenty-Fifth night

This is what the Syrian refugees did to our Egyptian economy

Tuesday, the world celebrated the World Refugees Day. United Nations and its organizations above them UNHCR as well many countries in the world used that day to highlight their efforts to help the refugees around the globe.
The world is facing one hell of a refugees problem that it has not seen before since the WWII.
Back in our corner of the world, there has been one hell of silence when it comes to the Arab governments or Arab media.
In a sad irony, the Middle East or rather the Arab world is the Source of more than the half of refugees around the globe now.
Aside from Palestinian refugees who have been in limbo since 1948 and 1967, we have got Syrian refugees, Iraqi refugees, Yemeni refugees, Sudanese refugees and Somali refugees.
The media is busy with Ramadan TV season and at the same time the internal Gulf crisis as far as I could tell.
In Egypt, we got also Ramadan TV season, bad economy and a worse political situation with the ongoing Tiran and Sanafir Saga.Yet I have not forgotten about this important day.

It is never too late to post something about the refugees in Egypt or any other place in the world.

Earlier this month, I have read interesting facts that made me love the Syrian refugees in Jobs Make difference report published by UNDP, International Labor Organization "ILO" and World Food Programme "WFP.

For example; the inflow of Syrian direct investments headed to Egypt, Jordan and Turkey as things escalated from revolution to civil war in an easy way.

The report says that Syrian refugees in Egypt injected in those years not less than $800 million.
Yes, $800 million were injected into our economy through Syrian investors and businessmen who moved to Cairo.
The $800 million could have been more if it were not for the restrictions on foreigners to invest in Egypt as they lack to access to credit and banking.
They also must have Egyptian partners.

Two Syrians working in a falafel and beans shop at the Syrian street in October City
in 2016. See more photos here 

I believe the source of those millions is the textile factories. Yes, Syrian textile factories that found a huge demand in Egypt.

#Ramadan Arabian Nights 2017 : Princess Sea Pearl "Ep.20", "EP.21", "EP.22" and "EP.23"

And we continue our tale for this year, the tale of Princess Sea Pearl.

Again this Ramadan is special for personal as well for general reasons that make me share with you those episodes in that way.
To refresh your mind, here is a link to the past episodes so you can remember what Hamal Al-Asya has done.
Now without further delay and lots of useless and endless talk, here are the episodes.
We will see how Hamal Al-Asya meets with Princess Sea Pearl and how his life will be turned upside down. His wicked stepmother and so-called brother return back to our tale for this year for more bitterness and wickedness as usual.

Episode 392 or the twentieth night

Episode 393 or the twenty-first night