This week, Big in Japan is on vacation in the Middle East, and will be bringing you travel news and happenings from around this often misunderstood region.

Home to the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, namely the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt is the original tourist destination. While the Greeks were writing epics and the Romans conquering civilizations, powerful Egyptian dynasties had long come and gone. Indeed, ancient Upper and Lower Egypt were some of the most sophisticated and complex civilizations to have ever existed on the planet.

The Great Pyramids are nearly always at the top of the most tourist itineraries in Egypt. Indeed, a camel trek through the desert plains of Giza is a memorable experience, assuming of course you ignore the fact that pyramids themselves are now located across from a KFC!

But, there are plenty of things you can do in Egypt that don't involve pyramids. Although this list is by no means expansive, here are our top 5 suggestions for getting the most out of your Egyptian odyssey.

The term 'starving students' took on a whole new meaning during a recent exchange to Egypt for one American teenager. Jonathon McCallum, once a healthy 155 lbs, recently returned home to his family--or, at least half of him did--weighing only 97 lbs after spending a school semester with a family in Egypt. So weak that climbing stairs and carrying baggage were a struggle, McCallum's emaciated appearance stunned friends and family members in Maine when he returned home recently.

What's the reason behind the dramatic change? McCallum's host family. Practicing Coptic Christians, they traditionally fast for 200 days out of the year, and when they weren't fasting, they doled out only meager portions of food to their charge. Although classmates urged McCallum to request a new host family, the 17-year-old was determined to stick it out.

However, McCallum's host father, Shaker Hanna, is denying the teenagers claims, calling them a lie. He goes on to say, "The truth is, the boy we hosted for nearly six months was eating for an hour and a half at every meal. The amount of food he ate at each meal was equal to six people." Right. Because this looks like the body of someone who eats like a pig.

Airfare Watchdog is reporting the latest in a string of strange USA-LON-XXX flights that are remarkably cheap for this time of year. This week, the Egyptian port of Sharm el-Sheikh is on sale from New York City for the paltry sum of about 600USD.

Availability appears to be anywhere between November and March, and AFWD has created a series of handy dandy links to help you search throughout an entire month of availability. The trick with booking this flight is to be flexible. Most dirt-cheap tickets are going to require a little bit of leeway on your part -- leaving on a weekday or flying out of your way to get to where you need to be. Just remember that you're getting a steal on airline tickets and any deal you can work out and book is a gift.

The campy movie "Snakes on a Plane" played up a common phobia of many people -- that's right; snakes. But it was just a movie, right? Surely with modern airport security no one could get on a plane with a suitcase full of reptiles, right?

Right -- so far. But a 22-year-old Saudi passenger in Cairo, Egypt made it all the way to his departure gate before officials stopped him to check his suspect suitcase. Inside, they found baby crocodiles, chameleons, and several snakes, including "at least one cobra, squirming to escape." The man claimed not to know about any rules disallowing reptiles, and that he was transporting them to a Saudi university for research.

In May, another Saudi was caught at the airport with 700 live snakes in his carry-on luggage.

Samuel L. Jackson, this is not a dress rehearsal.

Today's NY Times' article on Cairo's most dangerous job--traffic officer--grabbed my attention. I remember the crazy drivers in Egypt and have immense respect for anyone trying to control the traffic in any way. I always just closed my eyes when crossing the street.

I especially liked the quote of Salah Eissa, editor of Al Qahira, a weekly newspaper published by the Ministry of Culture explaining that the problem of Egypt is not that the Egyptian people do not like order: "It is the problem of making exceptions in enforcing this order - and this applies to traffic. It is something that provokes Egyptians and pushes them to think that since it is all a question of bullying, then every man to himself and everyone becomes a bully."

Every man to himself. Sounds like capitalism in its purest form.

Publishers Weekly calls this one "travel writing at its most enjoyable." Down the Nile: Along in a Fisherman's Skiff is about a journey born from the simple love of rowing. Rosemary Mahoney decides to buy a small rowboat and make her way 120 miles along the Nile between the cities of Aswan and Qena.

What an awesome solo feat to attempt! Despite civil unrest and the fear of vexing local traditions, Mahoney sets out. She finds a seven-foot skiff with the help of a sympathetic Muslim sailor and proceeds to do what culture and history says she should not.

Egyptian women don't row on the Nile, and tourists aren't allowed to for safety's sake. But Mahoney does it -- she endures extreme heat, terrifying crocs and the challenging cultural encounters that confront issues of faith and sex. She also finds connections to past river travelers like Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert. The reviews agree that Mahoney's global curiosity and creative wit will surely captivate readers of this new release.

There is nothing like an episode of food poisoning that can wreck one's trip, change priorities, or--if it takes more than two days--even reconsider one's view on euthanasia. I have been there many times, either myself or in spirit with other people. Yes, there was the cheap sushi in New York, the grocery store pre-cut water melon in Portland, the chicken satay in Amsterdam, the sandwich at Arby's, and the Lord-knows-what in Egypt (this one lasted for weeks and I contemplated death several times).

Because I like to know my enemy, I enjoyed this article on ivillage.co.uk entitled "How to avoid food poisoning while travelling". Most of the tips are quite obvious, although often hard to fully control: washing your hands, avoiding tap water (ice, fresh vegetables washed in fresh water), avoiding uncooked meat and unpasteurized milk, etc. The piece I found interesting is the description of the different "bugs" and their symptoms: Norovirus, E-coli (see picture), Salmonella, Campylobacter and Bacillus cereus. The little buggers look so harmless on screen...