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Published: September 17th 2007
Bedouin-style relaxation
We spent a whole afternoon relaxing by the shore, eating "full English" and "Ämerican-style" breakfast. Just getting tired of Egyptian food...We ended our stay in Luxor with a mid-afternoon snack of self-made omlette, cunningly contrived to be eaten just prior to boarding the foodless 16 hour bus journey to Sharm-el-Sheikh, Sinai. There are 'quicker' ways to get there; for a heck of a price you can get a bus to Hurghada, and a ferry across to 'Sharm', and it only takes about 7 hours or so... however, the ferry only runs every now and again and we'd have been stuck in Hurghada for two days waiting for it. So, we took the 'straight through' bus... up to Suez on the west side of the Red Sea, and back down the whole of the East side, finally arriving at Sharm at about 10am.
We spent one night in Sharm and quickly realised that it was one night too long. I would like to rename the town something more like "Sharm-el-Sh***". Ha ha ha. It is a HORRIBLE resort 'town', consisting of mainly unbuilt 'resorts', and has nothing to offer but the beach and a gaggle of rude, and rather malevolent-feeling local touts/restauranteers. We decided to snorkel our way through the time and get out of there asap. The sea there is
Dahab beachside
A whole different Egypt... abound with amazing fish, even though the reefs themselves are clearly suffering, and are literally dieing before your eyes. In true Egyptian style, no-one seems to care one bit about people tramping all over the coral, and being the 'high-class resort' that it is, there are endless (to be honest mainly British!) scally tourists that do just that. I was sick of hearing them whine and moan about their various cuts and stings from the coral. I can't see the reefs lasting much longer at all if it keeps up this way, which it surely will...
But the fish were incredible. Hundreds of colourful varieties, many of which would come right up to us and try to nibble at our fingers. We saw some very impressive Rays, and a little sunburn aside, we at least were able to conscientiously leave with ourselves and the coral no worse for our having been there.
We quickly escaped to Dahab on the Gulf of Aqabba and have spent two very relaxing days here. The sea is bluer than we could have imagined, and the waves crash in on the beach with whitening fury. It is perfectly warm and sunny, with a
At the top of Mt. Sinai
It's almost daybreak with still a few stars in the sky. We managed to get off the beaten track of the masses for a bit and the stars were amazing--you could actually see them twinkling. strong and refreshing breeze/wind. We have had some excellent and cheap food with all the fixings (finally found a restaurant that serves more than just the bare bones menu item listed!), and are slowly getting our minds in groove for the flight to India late tomorrow.
Last night saw us traipse up Mount Sinai at 2am to watch the sunrise. A fantastic scene but frought with annoyances; SO many people, and scams to make you pay for guides, and camels that literally ran us (well Lachlan at any rate) clear off the side of the path and over a (thankfully on this occasion short) precipice! There are 3750 'steps of repentence' built sometime ago by some monk, who was associated in someway to St Katherine's monastery, which 'houses' the 'burning bush' at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain itself is 2800+ metres, and the whole path up was pepperred with chintzy tea shacks, and touts that would almost jump out at you from behind rocks selling highly relevant and ubiquitous 'alabaster' eggs, and pieces of agate/rock-crystal. There is a lot of litter the whole way up. 😞 The monastery itself was a joke... about 40 sq ft of
Only a few of the masses...
Definitely detracts from the peacefulness and tranquility that it could've been at the top. Especially with annoying Egyptians selling blankets and matresses. space to move in and about 250 tourists at any one time... crazy. In case people don't know... Mt Sinai is where Moses apparently received the 10 commandments.
Afer a long nap, we're back in Dahab, looking for a fruity cocktail and some food. So with that we'll be off, and look forward to writing more from India.
Enjoy the pics.
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Doug
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Walk like an Egyptian
I can understand the annoyance of being hasseled to buy something every time you turn around. Reminds me of when we were in Italy. We could have bought a "Rolex" for every day of the week for an incredable "bargin". The sense of history that you are seeing and experiencing has to be incredible. I am sure that the photos, which incredable, are not showing the true wonder of these places. Look forward to your entries.