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Published: November 5th 2007
Our time in Egypt is complete, marking the end of our second leg of the trip. It is scary as it all goes so quickly!
After leaving Isreal and Jordan, we travelled for 15 hours straight to the south of the Red Sea atto a place called Marsa Alam. The plan was to chase after what is reputedly some of the best diving and snorkelling in the Red Sea. The main problem was that the area isn't exactly set up for independent travellers. In fact, there is virtually no transport infrastructure and only four- and five-star hotels (completely out of our budget range). Not to be beaten, Scott wrote several emails and found a place with huts on the beach available, alongside their nice hotel rooms. With accommodation sorted out, off we went.
There is no bus stop at the resort, Al Nabaa, as it is in the middle of nowhere. The only description we had was "25 miles north of Marsa Alam". The local bus driver didn't have a clue where it was, and even with the whole bus load of people helping us, we still managed to miss the hotel completely and ended up getting off at
another, completely different resort. We decided to check it out.
The guards there didn't seem to know what to do when we showed up at the gate with our backpacks. They wanted to know which travel agent we were with and why we were not on the bus from the airport with everyone else. I guess people don't just show up to these resorts?! When we were finally let through to reception, they were equally helpless. They had no clue how much the rooms cost, which I found amazing at first. I guess it is all booked from abroad and the staff just show clients to their room.
When the price was eventually established as US$90 (hello, we are in Egypt, are we not?!) we made a hasty retreat and jumped on the hotels free minibus in order to get a ride out of there and back along the coast. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a teeny tiny sign for Al Nabaa - our resort! By the time we had gone along with the game and got off the shuttle bus at the beach, we were miles past the resort again, but this time
Can we get a ride....anyone?!!...
Hot and quiet road near our hotel in Marsa Alammanaged to hitch a lift for a little baksheesh. Finally!
On arrival at the real hotel, the same front desk fiasco ensued. No-one could tell us the price of the beach huts, even though we could tell THEM the price because of our emails. After much waiting around, they finally called a manager who agreed to the price we were given on the internet. Glad to be finally checked in, we ran straight over to the dive shop and booked onto two dives for the next day, and the holiday began!
It was quite nice to feel pampered for a couple of days in a nice resort - swimming pool, half board meals, lovely room... Such a welcome break from the mad rushing around of the previous week. The dives were good, but no better than the north from what we saw. The snorkel we did was fantastic, though. We shorkelled to the adjoining bay, taking two and a half straight hours! During this time we saw at least 8 turtles, a free-swimming eel, huge schools of batfish and unicorn fish, two guitar rays, many blue-spotted rays, and a big family of squid. The only thing we were
Our ride - the back of an egg truck
Scott is smiling - this is before the driver started the dodgy manouvers! missing was the dugong, for which this area is famous for. Unfortunately, the high price of the accommodation (not to mention the exorbitant price of beer!) forced us to soon move on, and we left this underwater paradise and headed to Luxor.
What a shock to the now-calmed system! Luxor is supposedly the tout capital of Egypt, and boy did we feel it. We were shattered even before we got there, though, as the non-existent infrstructure left us a little high and dry.
We checked out of our nice resort at 12:00 noon and walked the long hot dusty road to the main highway to wait for a public bus. We had no idea when one was going to come as no-one seemed to know, so after a while of standing in the hot sun, we decided it was time to hitch a lift. After a few failed attempts (like tour buses calling their boss and being told, no, they can't pick up strangers for baksheesh), we were offered a ride for the 120km to the next town by a pick up truck that had abviously been used to transport eggs, judging from the congealed egg in the
back. Not wanting to stand in the sun any longer, we quickly agreed to the 20 pounds fare (US$4) and jumped in, trying to avoid the congealed egg as much as possible.
The journey began OK, but we soon started to realize that the driver was a maniac. After a couple of seriously dumb manouveurs, I almost asked him to stop so that we could get out. In the end I decided to just hang on, bury my head in Scott's shoulder, and pretend I was on a nice beach somewhere a very long way away. It worked. We covered the 120km in less than an hour (you do the math!).
Thankful to be back in "civilization", we took a mercifully slow bus ride to a random little town about an hour away from Luxor, then walked to the minibus stand. Problem - due to the 1997 tourist massacre in Luxor, the police restict how tourists can travel and we were told that we had to wait for the train, which was over 3 hours to wait, rather than hop onto the mini bus and go there and then. It seemed to rediculous! In the end, they negotiated
that we paid 10 Egyptian pounds, rather than the usual 2.5 Egyptian pounds, and they would take a sneaky route out of town so that the tourist police didn't detect us. It seemed the easiest solution, and we agreed, wondering if it was just another scam. As it happened, I think they were telling the truth as they bumped all around picturesque but litter-strewn fields and canals before making it back to the main road.
The next couple of days were spent sightseeing at the usual tourist sites (Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, Valley of the Kings, fellucca ride on the Nile...) and avoiding the relentless touts. It was kind of like being back in India again - people following you but claiming they are not, taxi drivers changing fares after you have agreed on the price, and garbage and filth everywhere. I was kind of glad that I only just found out how they cool the bread and keep it from being soggy...had I known prior, I would have missed a lot of meals (see last photo!)
Scott came up with the plan of turning the tables and asking them the questions before they had a chance to
ask us:
Where are you from? (i.e. How rich are you?)
Where do you stay? (again, how much money do you have and can I take you there?)
What is your name? (trying to establish a friendly atmosphere ready for the selling sting)
How long have you been in Egypt? (i.e. Do you know the real price?)
We also got into negotiations with quite a few, trying to sell them anything from our guide book to our half-empty bottle of water for rediculously high prices. They were surprised by the turn-of-tables at first, but most found it funny and backed off. Nice strategy, Scott! Just as we are getting into the swing of this Egyptian-travel thing, we have to leave! Next stop is Johannesburg, South Africa. From everything we have heard/read, I think there will be many more stories to come!
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