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Published: December 3rd 2005
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Wave like a princess
before going to the sharks. Food
Excellent mezze and other Egyptian specialties. Seafood is recommended.
Price
Everything is 2 or 3 times more expensive than it should be (compared to Cairo).
Weather
Sun and blue skies never fails.
Diving
There is no question why Sharm El Sheikh exists and if you take a trip to here without diving you miss out. I did four dives in Sharm and 2 dives in Dahab (80 km north of Sharm) and they were all different from each other regarding fish, landscape and coral formations. Most memorable for me is the dive in Tiran where the current let you slide past the corals without moving a fin. Maintain your buoyancy and the dive is just like a beautiful slide show!
Dahab is famous for the Canyon and the Blue hole and they were both amazing in different ways. If you want to know more about the diving just send me an email.
Culture
Forget about authenticity as everything is here only for the $$$. Some of the Egyptian (mostly men) are one of the most paradoxal people I have met. The paradox lies within the borderlines of music, Islam, gender and Western lifestyle.
First, Egypt seems like a patriarchic society
where women are objectified and lack true freedom of expression. I got the impression that if they are to be accepted by the society they need to conform to the mentality and rules made up by the men.
In Sharm El Sheikh (as in many other places of the world), religion is more like a collective habit. When the praying sounds arouse from the minaret it is like everything stops. Music is turned off, shops are closed and redemption is sought for the past hours sins. Then it all starts again until the next Besmellah al rahman- e- rahim. Sex, alcohol, cheating and decepetion seem to be the true cornerstones of the men in Sharm (mostly working there and coming from other parts of Egypt). Since the bombings in July 2005 one would think the importance of tourism would be recognized as necessary for the survival of Sharm as a tourist attraction. However, there is an arrogance (typical for overly exploited touris destinations) that demonstrates a narrowminded scope and short term thinking - something like: "let the tourist people spend their money, we are only here to take them and we care about nothing else". Although it's hard to blame
such mentality considering the disrespectful way some tourists behave with no regards to the local customs and people.
Talking about locals, when I asked a man, who proudly admitted a ravenous taste for women, what he thinks about polygamy he replied that up to four wives would suit him great. He explained that he as an Egyptian man has the "power" (by power he meant male stamina for sleeping with different women during the course of a week) and money to satisfy them. So I asked: "what if a woman has enough "power" (cause I know there's just as many of them :P) and money to satisfy four men?". The answer for such "impossibility" defaulted in stupidity proving the skew view of a gigolo in regards of gender equality.
So with all this said, what is so great about the people in Sharm?
Well no matter how retarded you find the mentality of some people, you will always find music in their soul waiting to be lured out. And of course there must be many nice people with a perspective on life that leaves room for respect, kindness and generosity - but they seem to be more of a rarity
Tiran Island
On the way to the first dive than ubiquitous in the touristic areas of Sharm El Sheikh.
There is always nice people to meet and good friends to make when travelling. It all depends on who you are and what you are digging for. To me it was a great vacation to get away for a week from the cold and just relax, eat and dive as the sun constantly licks your body. And I won't hesitate to go back for diving!
Now I´ll just let the pictures talk about my stay in Sharm El Sheikh.
Ashofak Baadin
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albert
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nice pictures! Different lifestyle, but bot always be...