Oasis, Days 22-27

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Saturday 14th May 2011 - Day 22 Oasis

Breakfast was anytime until 12 noon which was awesome as it meant we could have a sleep in. Breakfast was really good, we could pick whatever we wanted off the menu which was anything from fruit, omelette to a full cooked breakfast - I went for the full cooked breakfast of course! After breakfast Dave took us down to a local dive shop. Given that we were in Dahab for 7 days instead of the original 4, there was plenty of time for people to complete their open water or advanced dive courses. Even though I haven't been diving before, it's not really my cup of tea so I opted to do snorkelling instead. After the dive shop we wondered around town just to have a look. The shop merchants were, as we expected, constantly coming out of their shops trying to get us to come in and buy stuff. They very rarely gave you a price when you asked, telling you to come in and look more then they would give you a price. A stern "La Showkran" (no thank you, one of the few arab words I learnt) and they tended to leave you alone, until you got to the next shop of course! We stopped off at Same Same but Different restaurant to have a shake (I got chocolate) before me, Jess, Pop and Amin then went on the hunt for watermelons and vodka as we, yes you guessed it, intended to fill the watermelons with vodka! We wondered around for ages partially getting lost before we finally find them in a little ally way. When we got back to Bishbishi me and Jess started the process. We cut a hole in the top of the first one and using a funnel we had made out of an empty coke bottle started to fill it up. It didn't really work very well, soaking in very slowly - a lot slower than it had when Jess did it last time (I actually had never filled a watermelon with vodka to my surprise!). We tried on the second watermelon which worked even worse than the first one, not soaking in at all. Third watermelon lucky and that it was! As soon as Jess started pouring the vodka down the funnel it just soaked in straight away. Half a bottle of vodka in each later and we had two lethal watermelons settling, ready to eat in two days time. We went out to dinner again followed by Mojitos Bar again and more fish bowls.....

Sunday 15th May 2011 - Day 23 Oasis

After another great breakfast we set off on a snorkelling trip to the Blue Hole. There were quite a few of us that went so we headed off in two jeeps. We had an undercover area reserved for us as well as loungers that we could use. Most people jumped in straight away but me and Jess decided on a bit of sun first to warm up and also I was trying to build myself up to getting in the water! I hadn't been snorkelling in years so I was a bit dubious at first and a couple of local guys obviously saw that and took it upon themselves to show me and Jess around the reef arm in arm - it was a little odd but I'm sure their intentions were kind. After our snorkel we had lunch and watched in amusement as a camel drank a can of coke. After lunch and a relax, we were shown another spot to snorkel but I didn't go in this time, opting to sit under the shade with Dre and have a longer rest. We headed back to Bishbishi at about 3pm. I had quite an early dinner as I was going to bed early - we had to be up at midnight to climb Mt Sinai.

Monday 16th May 2011 - Day 24 Oasis

I woke up at 11:30pm and got myself ready for Mt Sinai, meeting at reception just before midnight. The bus ride there took 2 hours so I tried to sleep a bit as I was still tired. We got split into two climbing groups with a local guide each - Team Foxy and Team Happy. I was in Team Happy, which wasn't exactly the case at 2am in the morning!! Armed with our torches, sleeping bags, day packs and water we began the climb. It was definitely hard going and we got caught up in a few places as it was a pilgrimage so there were loads of old people trying to make the climb as well. We did stop quite a few times to have a rest and catch our breath or meet up with the other group which was good, it wasn't so exhausting but still pretty hard out. We made it to the top at 4:30am and our guide showed up an awesome spot on a rock ledge to watch the sunrise. We got into our sleeping bags and relaxed while we waited for it to rise. It was an amazing sunrise!! Our ledge was exposed so it was really windy and we were all freezing so we didn't last long there, heading to one of the little huts to have a nice hot cup of tea. We had two options of going back down the mountain, the way we had come or down the 3000 steps of repentance - laid by one single monk, the poor bastard!! I chose to go down the steps as did Bonnie, Pop, Nathan and Sam. Our guide also came down with us. He was crazy, leaping over all the rocks and racing down the steps, wearing only jandals! It was quite hard on my knees and hips and by the time I got to the bottom both my legs were shaking and felt like they were going to give way under me. I was pushing myself quite hard though but it was totally worth it, the views and pictures I got were fantastic. We had to wait at the Monastery at the bottom for 2 hours before it opened and we could go in so most people slept on the rocks. The Monastery was ok, nothing too spectacular, the amazing thing being "the burning bush" which to me just looked like a normal bush! We didn't stay long as we all just wanted to get back to town, which was of course another 2 hour journey back. Most people went back to bed but Jen and I decided to have a wonder around town and a bit of retail therapy - I got 2 skirts and Jen got some scarves. We went out to dinner again but the food was terrible, a lot of people had to send theirs back, so most of it was free. Once again we headed to Mojitos where a few of the guys got up to do a bit of Karaoke. I was about 15 drinks short of getting anywhere near the mic so I just sat back and what the entertainment!

Tuesday 17th May 2011 - Day 25 Oasis

Jess woke up feeling really sick and decided she was not up to going on the 4x4 quad bikes so I ended up going doubles with Pop. We spent a few hours quading around Dahab, stopping to take photos and swim at the Blue Lagoon. We saw a stupid woman try to jump her horse over a small rock wall which it clearly didn't want to do and stumbled and almost fell over. I wanted to slap her silly!! We made our way back to town with a few antics from the guys who ended up getting told off. All in all it was a really fun time. When I got back I checked on Jess who was still not feeling great, although she did manage a short walk into town before returning to bed. I left her to it and just relaxed on the cushions in the main area of Bishbishi. We had a take away dinner from a falafel place just down the street from Bishbishi which was soooo good! Later on I grabbed one of the watermelons and got a few of the Bishbishi guys to help me cut it up. Vodka poured out when it was cut, going everywhere! I wasn't too sure if that meant it didn't soak in or whether it had soaked in all it could and that was the excess left. It didn't look too healthy, not exactly helped by the fact that it had not been kept in the fridge! A handful of people were sitting around the table playing ring of fire so I joined them with the watermelon. Everyone took a piece eagerly wanting to give it a try - the expressions on their faces when they bit into it was priceless! It was bloody awful, tasting more like rocket fuel than watermelon! We decided to add it to the game so that every time someone picked up a "Jack" card they had to eat a piece. Kev got most of the Jacks to his disgust. We played a couple of rounds before heading to Mojitos once again. A few stopped off at Omar's Shisha shop but me and Pop weren't keen so we carried on to the bar. Jen, Amin and a couple of others were there so we drank and danced the night away with the locals until the early hours.

Wednesday 18th May 2011 - Day 26 Oasis

Today we spent lying on the loungers on the beach at the Light House - a point along the beach that is good for snorkelling and diving. They were having a Guinness World Record attempt at Freediving which made me think of Braden. We had lunch there and headed back to Bishbishi late in the afternoon. Because it was our last full night in Dahab, Dave had arranged for whoever was keen to go out to dinner at a restaurant that had all sorts of different cuisines - Chinese, Thai, Sushi. Not everyone went but a fair few of us did. I got Pad Thai - not the best Pad Thai I have ever had but it was still good given that we were in the middle of Egypt. After dinner those keen for a big last night headed to the pub. There was no one at Mojitos which was good as we wanted to try a new pub we had heard about - The Treehouse. There was actually not many people at the Treehouse either but given it was not peak season and we wanted to try it out, we stayed. The place was huge, it went back a good 30 metres or more, at the end there was a huge round area with cushions set up that we promptly claimed and made ourselves at home. They didn't normally serve fish bowls but one of the bar tenders there used to work at Mojitos so he knew exactly how to make them and they were kind enough to say they would make them for us, at the same price as Mojitos. What was even better was that he said we could pick any cocktail off the menu and he would make it into a fish bowl rather than only having a few to chose from like at Mojitos! It started off with me, Jen, Dre, Amin and Pop with Dave, Emma and Nev joining us later followed by Kev and Simon. Dre was pretty wasted so he took himself home shortly after as did Kev, Emma, Dave and Nev leaving the originals + Simon running a muck, and that we did!! 3 fish bowls resulted in me hounding the bar people for a free tshirt which they reluctantly gave me in the end, at one stage I was being nosey in this back room where they were renovating what was going to be a night club not to mention all the mischievous photos that we took - one of me doing an awesome plank and another of Simon motorboating my boobs! We think we left in the early hours when they closed, but none of us were quite clear on that. When we got back to Bishbishi Pop decided it would be a good idea to bang on Karli and Ben's door. Me and Jen, not wanting a bar of this, hi-tailed it out of there and went and sat with the kitten on the cushions. When Pop came back he was bleeding from the forehead and proceeded to tell us that Ben had headbutted him! What time we finally went to bed is still a mystery.

Thursday 19th May 2011 - Day 27 Oasis

Today was our last day in Dahab so me, Jess and Jen wondered around town getting last minute supplies from the dodgy pharmacy that handed all sorts of stuff out without prescription - like viagra, sleeping pills and even 600mg ibuprofen!! We didn't go too crazy, I just got some stomach antibiotics that were an absolute godsend at times and Jess got some sleeping pills for the long bus ride. We had to be out of our rooms by 4pm so when we got back to Bishbishi we packed all of our stuff up. I took out x2 pairs of jeans, a pair of ¾ jeans, a hat, a jumper and a vest all to give to the orphanage in Luxor that we were going to visit. After taking all that out I was finally able to de-extend my pack and it felt lighter instantly! We stored all of our packs in one room and went for a last dinner together. The bus arrived at 7pm. It was a proper coach so we had 2 seats each which was awesome as we could stretch out across both. Dave reckoned it would take about 12 hours to get to our first stop and then another 5 hours to Luxor. We drove for 2 hours before arriving at a road block - the police had closed the road an hour before we got there. They did not give an explanation, they simply said we could not pass so we had to go all the way back and then go up the coast by Sharm el Shake instead, adding 4 hours to our already long journey. I found out only as I was getting on the bus that Braden had arrived in Sharm that afternoon for a freediving trip - I was quite gutted as it would have been really good to catch up with him. I attempted to sleep undrugged which was initially fine but most of the trip was off and on - at one stage I was sleeping underneath the seats as I could stretch my whole body out but that got a bit hard and uncomfy after a while.

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