Blogs from Sinai, Egypt, Africa - page 4

dahab day 1 yesterday me and dad went snorcling in the red sea and t was great we saw fish of all kinds and cool coral that was every where and lots of sea enenimies that waved about i n the sea. we mainly went snorcling near the light house however joseph and amy recomended eel gardens which was also quite cool but dangerous as to get to the coral in deep water you must swim around 500metres through 1 metre high water that had posinous sea urchents and black sea slugs so we couldn't stand up much or we might get posened. when we went snorcling the sun cream got washed off so the sun burnt our backs. dahab day 2 today was my favourite yet, we stayed in bed until 12 oclock and then ... read more

Staying at Bishbishi in Dahab. This is my favourite place so far - very relaxed and love being by the sea. Can highly recommend Bishbishi - friendly staff, great food, good rooms from between 1.50 - 6 pounds per night. From here you can do quad biking, horse riding, diving, snorkelling. Went to Blue Hole to snorkel yesterday - was amazing, like Finding Nemo :) Beautiful coral and fish and, according to the Aussies, diving and snorkelling is better than the Great Barrier Reef. You can also travel to Petra, Jerusalem, and Mount Sinai from here. Walked up Mount Sinai a couple of nights ago. Hard going if you're as unfit and unused to hiking as me, but made it to the top (over 2000 metres high). There are lots of coffee shops on the way ... read more

"10 pounds!?!?" exclaimed Sags. 1.5 litres of water cost about three pounds everywhere else in Egypt, you see. But here at the roadside shop in the middle of nowhere, it was ten pounds. I mean, where else are you going to go? It was obvious that there is an arrangement between Travel Talk and this shop for the coach to stop here, as our tour guide Yasser (or Yes Sir as he prefers to be known) shows us a model in the store of the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal was strategically important - and perhaps still is - as it provided a shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea - and passage to the Indian Ocean. It was so important in fact, that the British made sure they kept control of it ... read more

So this is the plan for India. For starters, I chose India for several reasons. I think it is going to be the Asian superpower of the 21st century. Over the next thirty years India is going to add up to 300 million workers to the international workforce, that combined with dropping birth rates should mean what economists refer to as a “population dividend,” a situation where there is a huge influx of workers who have a decreased amount of dependents which leads to increased standards of living and disposable income (think baby-boomers in the US). Compare this to China which has the 4-2-1 effect of 4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 child. By 2050 China will have as many pensioners as workers---in other words China has already peaked, and they are still poor. India is on ... read more

Never trust a guidebook. The lesson of the day. After spending the night on Mount Sinai, I had been planning on getting either the 1pm bus, or one of the 'frequent' minbuses that my guidebook said run from St Catherine to Suez, where I could then catch the overnight bus to Luxor, saving me spending a night in some deadbeat town or at worst the bus station, and giving me time in Luxor and Aswan before the ferry to Sudan. But once I was back from the summit, I was told there was only a 6am bus to Suez. And nothing else. No 1pm bus. No minibuses. Nothing. My only option was apparently to hire a car for 120EP, more than my previous 5 nights accomodation. It may have only been 12GBP, but still. It's all ... read more