Middle East

The Middle East is a region in Western Asia, Northern Africa and Eastern Africa. However, it has no clear boundaries, and so it might include countries from Southern Asia and Central Asia, too.

The following countries are usually considered to be located in the Middle East: 


 * Flag Afghanistan.png Afghanistan
 * Flag of Algeria.png Algeria
 * Flag of Bahrain.png Bahrain
 * Flag of Djibouti.png Djibouti
 * Flag of Egypt.png Egypt
 * Flag of Eritrea.png Eritrea
 * Flag of Iran.png Iran
 * Flag Iraq.png Iraq
 * Flag of Israel.png Israel
 * Flag of Jordan.png Jordan
 * Flag of Kuwait.png Kuwait
 * Flag of Lebanon.png Lebanon
 * Flag of Libya.png Libya
 * Flag Morocco.png Morocco
 * Flag of Palestine.png Occupied Palestinian Territory
 * Flag of Oman.png Oman
 * Flag of Qatar.png Qatar
 * Flag of Saudi Arabia.png Saudi Arabia
 * Flag of Somalia.png Somalia
 * Flag of Sudan.png Sudan
 * Flag of Syria.png Syrian Arab Republic
 * Flag of Tunisia.png Tunisia
 * Flag Turkey.png Turkey
 * Flag of the United Arab Emirates.png United Arab Emirates
 * Flag of Yemen.png Yemen

Cyprus, Pakistan, Western Sahara and some other countries are sometimes included within the Middle East region, too. See the map below for more details.

Female
alex: As the question and discussion comes up regularly, I would like to devote a couple of thoughts to the topic “Hitchhiking as female”, even though I can only give limited information regarding this as I am male and the experiences are only second hand and interpretative. I can say that the people that I, and when I was with a female companion, met during my journey (and the four months I stayed in Yemen before that) brought a lot of respect into the encounter we had in Yemen. This is also what was reported from many other female moving solo in bigger cities. Further, I felt that the social pressure towards adequate behaviour in public is very high in the Middle East, meaning that people usually will not behave inappropriately when other people are around and watch or when the attention is brought on a person (thus in awkward situations taking people out of the anonymity helps!). Arguable, males in Arabic societies do have less contact with females (and the other way around) and many prejudices exist (on both sides), about Western women and Arabic societies and men which does not make the issue easier. Nevertheless, the guys I met and talked to are males like in other places and their needs and jokes are not much different. Generally, there are risks in all societies, and I think one cannot argue whether they are higher in the one or in the other (unknown) society. From my experiences and perspective there is no discussion whether females that hitchhike in the West, and came to a understanding and handling of the risks, should or should not hitchhike in the East.



Links

 * Hitchhiking Guide to Turkey for girls
 * Notes about Female Hitchhiking in the Middle East
 * Just hitching rides: A journey from Eid to Christmas (Hitchhiking from Yemen to Germany), abgefahren Blogs

Middle East isin: World

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