For Arab tourists, Cairo can be sin city

His family is typical of many Arab tourists. They rented an apartment near the Nile for their month-long stay. They spend their days visiting an amusement park, cruising the Nile or, as on this night, heading to the hotel's theater to see the new movie by classic Egyptian movie star Adel Imam.

"Anyone who drinks from the Nile will return to Egypt," he says, citing a proverb. "But also because of the good people here."

Prostitution an issue

The expansive garden area in the Marriott Hotel in Cairo's Zamalek neighborhood is a popular hangout for visiting Arabs. It's also know to be a place where many come looking for prostitution.

On the night this reporter visited, two women wearing heavy makeup and enveloping black robes sat at a table. A man wearing the dishdasheh robe, typical in Gulf countries, and a baseball cap walked by and dropped a piece of paper on the women's table.

What it said only the women know. But it's a common tactic to write down a room number and a dollar amount and discreetly toss the slip in the vicinity of a subtly apparent prostitute.

Mr. Shariff says that because Egypt is just a short trip from Saudi Arabia, it's an easy spot for vacation. "I like to visit the tourist places and visit the cafes here, and it has an Arab flavor … we like to come and join these parties that have Arab singers," he says.

As Shariff spoke to this reporter in the Marriott garden, a waiter approached and said he and a foreign journalist could not conduct an interview there.

"Don't worry. I'm not telling them about the hashish and [a drug called] bangao and Leil [nightclub]," he laughs, and waves him away.

Leil is a particularly famous club on Cairo's Pyramids Street, an area well known among Arab tourists for the good times to be had.

The Arab tourists "increase every year because we are very loving to them and we give them very good service and high quality. So they prefer to come here," says club manager Sami Nasherti, crowing that Leil is the only club to have received five stars from Egypt's Tourism Ministry. Leil provides "everything they like," he adds. "They eat and drink and see the belly dancers."

The two sides of the 'Arab Season'

At just past midnight, the crowds have only started to trickle in for the eight-hour program of belly dancers and singers at Leil.

Nasherti says the clients don't buy much alcohol but bring expensive foreign spirits, available only in the duty-free shops, with them.

Unlike the grittier clubs on the strip that cater to men, Leil serves "mainly families," Nasherti says.

But even with five stars and a dedicated second level for families, Leil still represents the two sides of the "Arab Season."

Two women in the bathroom, when asked, say vaguely that they are working. In the large mirror, they give a final once over to their sparkling lipstick, long strands of fake hair, and tight, midriff-baring clothing, then head out into the dark main room where the entertainment is under way and the seats are reserved for single men.

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