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[ghost]

Tunisia is a decent option for a vacation for teachers in Saudi.

Not more than a few hours by plane and you land in a country which is very well organized for tourism.

I stayed for one week at an all inclusive resort in Hammamet, and that was a safe and cheap option, but for the more adventurous, just take a flight there, and then stay in cheap hotels which are found everywhere.

The cheapest hotels in the north of the country cost around 15 dinars per night ($13.6 u.s.), and these were in cities with heavy tourism, including Tunis, Hammamet, Sousse and Kerouan. I suspect that if one travelled further inland or south, it would be possible to find rooms for around 10 dinars ($9 u.s.). The disadvantage of the cheapies is that the rooms come without a private bathroom, but there is a wash basin inside. The bathroom and toilets are shared, in the corridor.

Cheap meals

You can eat for 1.2 dinars which is equal to $1 u.s. - you can get a delicious sandwich, half a baguette filled with tuna fish and salad for that price. Pay 300 millimes extra and you get a side dish of fries, which are so popular here.

For a full meal in a local restaurant, minimum price is 2.5 dinars ($2 u.s.) and you get a piece of chicken, salad and fries.

Food is cheap, if you eat in the local places. The mint tea, post meal is very good.

Travel between cities is efficient and relatively cheap. Expect to pay around 5 dinars ($4) for every hour of travel, between cities.

Sousse was a revelation, with the promenade, looking like the promenade in Nice. In Sousse it is called 'corniche' and streches for miles.

Study Arabic in Sousse

I recommend the Language school -Sousse Langues, for their 2 month summer course, 48 hours, costing 300 dinars. The classes are for 2 hours three days a week.

You can take the classic Arabic, or the local Tunisian dialect. Also possible to study Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German and other languages at Sousse Langues.

Less pushy and mercenary compared with Morocco

I found Tunisians more laid back compared with the folks in Morocco, where I was often literally grabbed by the arm and forced to look at stuff I did not like. That does not go down well.

Tunisia appears more prosperous and orderly compared with Morocco, and visiting the upper class enclaves of Carthage and Sidi Bou in Tunis, one could see villas and properties that can rival the best in the world.

The puzzle is that most Tunisians (80%) live on between 300 to 800 dinars a month (conversion: 1 u.s. = 1.2 dinars) and you wonder how they get by on those figures. One suspects many Tunisians have under the table assets, not declared.

A primary school teacher only nets 400 dinars a month, with the secondary teachers netting 700- 800 dinars.

Compared with Egypt, though, you do not notice rampant and flagrant poverty. There are few street children, and those that pester tourists are often taken care of by the tourist police and authorities. I witnessed a disturbing scene in Sousse where a begging child was grabbed by the tourist police for asking for money to tourists. The police were not gentle. The screaming, pint sized beggar, was hauled off in the police van to the local police station. Very sad. You get the impression that the Tunisians do everything to keep the tourists coming, and anything that gets in the way, is treated with in a harsh way.

At the local internet cafe (there are very few in Tunisia compared with Turkey), the owner explained that because internet use was becoming commonplace in Tunisian homes, he was receiving fewer and fewer customers. His business was really going down the tubes. Interesting that arab youth appear to be much less interested in computer games compared with Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese youth - where computer gaming is such a big part of life for many of the north east asian youth.

The Tunisians are very gifted for languages. In the Medina, most of the sellers could speak decent English, Italian, French, German - and a growing number now speak decent Russian, because of the incredible growth of Russian tourists. In Hammamet, you could spot the Russians a mile away, especially thanks to the skimpy dress (retro style) of the Russian ladies.

At the holiday centre where I stayed, I was surprised to see Russian women going out night after night to the clubs, and they were not accompanied by their husbands - they would go there as part of a group of women. They appear to like Arab men. Perhaps the saying 'opposites attract' is true here.

The Russian men are very hard when it comes to buying stuff in the Medina. Once they decide on a price - they do not budge, and they don't put up with any nonsense from the Tunisian sellers. Fights do take place, and it is usually no contest, as the burly Russians are good in that department. But the authorities don't publicize the potential problems for fear of repercussion to the tourist industry.

Tunisia tourism is one of the main revenue builders of the country.

Ghost

[scot47]

Flights from Jeddah on both Tunisair and Saudia. When I was there I thought Tunisia rather expensive in comparison to Saudi Arabia.

[scot47]

From Dhahran/Dammam it is a longer haul. Not sure of flights to Tunis from here. Maybe via Riyadh/Jeddah.

Good places from here for tourism are Shiraz, Damascus.

[veiledsentiments]

A friend of mine in the Emirates visits Tunisia regularly and finds it expensive and also wondered how the local people lived on those low salaries. It is definitely not as touristy as Morocco and Egypt... not so many pushy touts. Great place for a break though.

AMIDEAST has a branch in Tunis if anyone is thinking of working there for a bit. We never see any ads for jobs in Tunisia, but then there are plenty of good Tunisian English teachers.

VS

[scot47]

Ghost
Don't plan too many vacations until you actually get here ! Incidentally we heard that our Eid vacation is from 25 September to 5 October.

After that there is a holiday from 3 to 13 December.

[ghost]