You know, I knew that you'd be headed in this direction. I figured if anybody on here was a world traveler, it'd be you.
As far as hash goes, I lived in London for a couple of years and the best stuff by far was straight from the middle east. Lebanon to be exact. Totally agree with you on that. I smoked so much of that shit that I developed a stuttering problem that lasted for two years after I came back stateside.
But talking about just straight pot....Cali takes the cake. There's an extremely high demand for the cream of the crop buds in LA/Hollywood, and people with the money (and there are lots and lots of them) are willing to pay whatever they have to just to get the highest grade THC possible. As a consequence of the high demand high dollar high quality market, there's a lot of competition going on between the cultivators to try and outdo each other. And with the insane prices for this boutique weed, they are making a shitload of money and are able to put in a lot more back into their "businesses". That kind of money can't be found in other places.
And not only that, my stuff (bought in L.A.) won first place at the Bud Bowl in NYC a few years ago. We sent the Dutch and the Canadians home crying!
Never been to Egypt. I always wanted to go, but I thought there was no way in hell I'd be able to smoke there! I'd love to hear about it.