Blogs from Dahab, Sinai, Egypt, Africa - page 2

We arrived in Dahab after a 40 minute flight from Hurghada which saved us a 12 hour bus ride something we were all very grateful for. Dahab is a small costal town situated on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Many people travel here to get their diving competencies as it is very cheap and because Dahab offers some of the best diving spots in the world. We arrived at our hotel which is beachfront late in the evening where we could see the lights of Saudi Arabia over the ocean. Before we went to sleep we made plans to snorkel the following day at the famous blue hole. The Blue Hole is a subarine sinkhole around 130 m deep. The hole itself and the surrounding area has an abundance of coral and reef fish. ... read more

This is only going to be a short entry but i feel it is a necessary one. It would be a little disrespectful not to note Remembrance Day in this blog, especially as i managed to commemorate in such a unique way this year. About 15minutes before the sun rose on Friday, I remembered that it was the 11th and therefore Remembrance Day. And it was then, at 5.30am, sitting at the summit of Mount Sinai, listening to an american choir sing 'Hallelujah', the first rays of sun escaping over the horizon to warm our icy extremities and flood the valleys spread below us with light, that i chose to do my minute's silence. Despite it being a spot famous for religious pilgrimage, i couldn't quite declare the moment spiritual. There were a lot of people ... read more

I am finally leaving Cairo for good. After using Cairo as my base for numerous excursions withing Egypt , I am setting sail and moving on. I stayed in Cairo for one night after returning from Khartoum and the next evening I caught the eleven oclock night bus to Dahab. This was a very interesting Bus trip because first of all it arrived about an hour and a half late. That is ok I didn't expect it to arrive on time. I was very tired by the time the bus arrived and was ready to crash on the bus and wake up in the morning fully refreshed.....this did not happen. This bus had more stops and checks than any other bus I had taken thus far in my trip. At one point everyone had to get ... read more

Hey all, it feels like ages since I've had the time to sit down and catch up!! Our last day in Luxor, myself and Emma had to get up at half 4 to go hot air ballooning, we were very bleary eyed but it was worth it- we caught sunrise over the Valley of the Kings as we rose up. We didn't have a lot to do apart from look around but our "chief pilot" was very good and even came out with an "Cad is ainm duit?" when he learned I was Irish! Came back to the hotel for breakfast at half 7 before getting a horse and carriage ride through Luxor to Karnak temple. This is one of the most famous ancient Egyptian ruins where pharohs of all ages have left their marks- but ... read more

My plan for getting to Dahab was to take a bus to Hurghada, get a short 90 minute ferry to Sharm el Sheikh, and then a quick bus ride to Dahab, I figured I would be there in a day. Unfortunately after a long bus ride to Hurghada, a miserable night of sleep on an extremely uncomfortable cheap bed, an early morning so I could get to the ferry with plenty of time, “we no why ferry no work” in the words of the boat captain. Distraught, I got another bus ticket to Cairo, followed by another bus to Sharm el Sheikh. The “food” the bus company was supposed to provide turned to be an extremely sugary juice box and a twinkie. Needless to say twenty hours later I arrived in Sharm a starving exhausted broken ... read more