Blogs from Dahab, Sinai, Egypt, Africa - page 16

Days 21-24 (Thur 15th - Sun 18th Feb): I spent these few days in Athens where I went through the necessary procedures to get my syrian visa, this including getting a letter from the British Consulate, which cost 65 Euros! The actual visa cost 42 Euros, so at a total cost of 107 Euros as well as the effort spent getting it, I just had to hope that it would be worthwhile! Kurt was still in the hostel and we went out for a meal one night. On another night I spent the evening with two Japanese girls, Toko and Nosomi, and a French woman, Juliet, who invited me to try some of the sea-urchins she had caught that day. When I saw that the spiny creatures were still alive I protested against eating them without ... read more

Egypt has stolen my heart! The people, the food, the hospitlity, the temples, pyramids and tombs! Everywhere is exciting and I find myself really happy to be here, like really happy to be here! For those who dont know, I have joined a tour group here in eygpt for 3 weeks and have had such a good time. From where I left off, I arrived with my expectations blown to shreds. Cairo is much cleaner that what i thought it would be, plus the people are much nicer than I expected, and its organised (except for the traffic) and the Falafels are to die for, mmmmmm! Not to mention Koshery (rice, pasta, chick peas, and tomato based sauce)! The Egyptian Museum is mind blowing, all the artifacts, the history, the size, the wealth. It was almost ... read more

Leaving in the morning from Luxor couldn’t have been easier, everything actually went as planned. Granted we were taking off on ‘scary’ Egyptair, but it was for the last time. Luxor airport is like a little regional airport, something you’d see in medium sized town USA. (well sort of, except they don’t check i.d. really well). Anyhow, the hardest part, was YET again waking up before dawn. Unfortunately, Sharm airport WASN’T all that normal. No real arrivals gate or departures gate, signs clearly not in English, and frankly, once you got through the armed baggage area, there was nothing there. So Bryan and I are wandering around outside, thinking we are going somewhere which would give us some ‘departure’ options. Such as line of cabs, buses, anything. But no. Nothing. So we walk further on. To ... read more

Arriving on the 23rd in Dahab, I spent the next 8 days there, doing very little. I would spend the day either sitting on the beach sipping banana shake while reading, snorkelling in some world-class coral, chatting it up with other travellers or laid-back locals or lazily surf the internet. The evening were spent drinking and chatting with other people, or watching movies at Tota, the famou boat-bar of Dahab. I did very little and I loved it that way. Philip (the quebecer from Petra) joined me on the 24th and we celebrated Christmas together and some people from the Auski camp. For New Year the fun was a bit broken because I realized only before we were supposed to go out that all the ATMs in town were out of money and I didn't have ... read more

Wedesnday 27th. Caught the over night train from Luxor to Cairo via first class seats again. Upon arriving back at Cairo I checked into the hotel and then went out on the town again for dinner. The following day was mainly used up in transit where I went by coach under the sewers canal through to Sinai. The scenery was amazing with hills/mountains sort of rolled over many times through the many years showing thick sedimentary lines, not like anything I had ever seen before. Checkpoints where all over the place so much so that it was like driving through a war zone. The contrast of barren lands on one side and the emerald green of the water on the other side with the added contrast of well pumps and oil rigs spotted here and there ... read more