Middle East - Anthony Ham [539]
TOILETS
Outside the midrange and top-end hotels and restaurants (where Western-style loos are the norm), visitors will encounter their fair share of Arab-style squat toilets (which, incidentally, according to physiologists, encourage a far more natural position than the Western-style invention!).
It’s a good idea to carry an emergency stash of toilet paper with you for the times when you’re caught short outside the hotel as most of these toilets have a water hose and bucket for the same purpose.
TOURIST INFORMATION
Most countries in the region have tourist offices with branches in big towns and at tourist sights. That said, don’t expect much. Usually, the most the offices can produce is a free map; help with booking accommodation or any other service is typically beyond the resources of the often nonetheless amiable staff. The exceptions to this rule are some of the offices in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, which are in fact very useful. You’ll usually get better results relying on the knowledge and resourcefulness of your hotel reception or a local guide. Tourist-office locations are given in the individual town and city sections throughout this book.
TRAVELLERS with disabilities
Generally speaking, scant regard is paid to the needs of disabled travellers in the Middle East. Steps, high kerbs and other assorted obstacles are everywhere, streets are often badly rutted and uneven, roads are made virtually uncrossable by heavy traffic, and many doorways are low and narrow. Ramps and specially equipped lodgings and toilets are an extreme rarity. The happy exception is Israel and the Palestinian Territories; Click here for details. Elsewhere, you’ll have to plan your trip carefully and will probably be obliged to restrict yourself to luxury-level hotels and private, hired transport.
If it all sounds difficult, remember that where Middle Eastern governments have singularly failed to provide the necessary infrastructure, local officials, guides and hotel staff almost invariably do their best to help in any way they can.
Before setting out for the Middle East, disabled travellers should consider contacting any of the following organisations who can help with advice and assistance:
Access-able Travel Source ( 303-232-2979; www.access-able.com; PO Box 1796, Wheatridge, CO, 80034, USA)
Accessible Travel & Leisure ( 0145-272 9739; www.accessibletravel.co.uk) Claims to be the biggest UK travel agent dealing with travel for the disabled. The company encourages the disabled to travel independently.
Holiday Care ( 0845 124 9971; www.holidaycare.org.uk; The Hawkins Suite, Enham Place, Enham Alamein, Andover SP11 6JS, UK)
Mobility International USA ( 541-343-1284; www.miusa.org; 132 East Broadway, Suite 343, Eugene, OR 97401, USA)
Royal Association for Disability & Rehabilitation (RADAR; 020-7250 3222; www.radar.org.uk; 12 City Forum, 250 City Rd, London, EC1V 8AF, UK) Publishes a useful guide called Holidays & Travel Abroad: A Guide for Disabled People.
Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality ( 212-447-7284; www.sath.org; 347 5th Ave, Suite 610, New York, NY 10016, USA)
Visas
If you do one piece of research before setting out on your trip, it should be to familiarise yourself with the requirements for obtaining visas for the countries that you intend to visit. For the unwary, it can be a minefield. For the well informed, it shouldn’t pose too many difficulties. For more information on the visa requirements for each country, see Visas in the Directory of the relevant country chapter. For a broad overview of visas and border crossings for Middle Eastern countries, see the table Visas & Borders at a Glance that follows this section.
If Israel and the Palestinian Territories loom on your horizon, the most obvious thing to consider is how to get around the problem of an Israeli stamp in your passport if you intend to later visit Syria, Lebanon or Iraq. For advice, see the boxed text, Click here.
There are other things