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Published: April 29th 2009
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On our return to Cairo we picked up where we had left off with applying for visas. We reached the conclusion that irrespective of our ability to get Russian visas, we would need a Chinese visa if we wanted to see anything of the country other than Hong Kong. Naively we assumed that few Egyptians would be applying for Chinese visas and therefore, getting a visa would be a relatively straightforward task. How wrong we were. From the what we saw, we can conclude that before long a significant proportion of the billion or so people in China will be Egyptian.
With Egyptians not being renowned as early risers, we thought that arriving at 7am, an hour and half before the embassy opened, would secure us a decent a position in the queue. Sadly we were up against professionals and each of the thirty or so people ahead of us the queue worked for an agency and had with them a bag full of applications. We waited patiently, watching a DVD of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics for around four hours, before we eventually got to see the Consul.
Once again, several eyebrows were raised at us
applying for visas outside our country of residence. However, being significantly more open to reason than the previous two consuls we had encountered, we were assured that one way or another, we would be able to get a visa here in Cairo. He told us that our cause would be aided significantly if we could obtain a letter of recommendation from the British Embassy. Unfortunately, the British Embassy has a policy of not issuing such letters. However, they were kind enough to charge us £30 to issue us with a letter saying that they don’t issue letters of recommendation! Although, this was a seemingly ridiculous situation, having any letter signed by the British Consul seemed enough to appease his Chinese counterpart. Therefore, on our fourth visit to the Chinese Embassy we were able to apply for our visas and successfully collected them a couple of days later.
In common with the majority of native English speakers, we are unforgivably lazy when it comes to learning foreign languages. However, on this trip we have learnt that a little goes along way and even a badly pronounced, “Thank-you” in someone’s mother tongue is greeted rapturously. Keen to make more than a
token effort and attracted to the idea of having more to show for this trip than photos and a tan, we decided to try and learn some Arabic between applying for visas. We enrolled for an intensive course of tuition at a local language school, where private tuition cost only a fraction of the what we would have paid back home.
Needless to say, the first major obstacle we needed to overcome was the alphabet. However, we managed to pick things up surprisingly quickly and before long the previously indecipherable squiggles that surrounded us began to make some sense. Pleasingly we were soon able to even form fairly useful sentences, albeit excruciatingly slowly. We were taught an incredible amount in only a short time. Our next challenge is to consolidate what we have learnt before we leave the Arab world and hopefully carry on the learning when we return home.
Given that it was not possible to pursue visa applications or Arabic tuition at weekends, we decided to explore the rest of Egypt as long weekend breaks from Cairo. In search of much needed relaxation our first stop was Dahab on the Red Sea coast. In order to
maximise our break we took the night bus from Cairo, which was incredibly comfortable and we were able to sleep for most of the nine hour journey. On arriving in Dahab we delighted to find that although far from undeveloped, it seemed to have escaped the fate of over-commercialisation suffered by Sharm El Sheik and Hurghada. We spent a fantastic few days relaxing by the sea in the many cafes and restaurants.
In search of some much needed exercise we opted to take the popular trip to climb the nearby Mount Sinai. Despite setting off at 2:30am in order to see sunrise from the summit, we were joined by an almost incredible number of people and a near continuous line of torch lights snaked their way up the mountainside. In comparison to some of the other mountains we have visited, it was neither as challenging nor as spectacular. However, it did provide us with some impressive views and a refreshing change to both the beach and Cairo. At the base of the mountain we visited the largely unimpressive Saint Katherine’s monastery, notably only for being the alleged home to the biblical burning bush.
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Liz Gifford
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Hey, I've been to Dahab!! I think thats the first time I've actually been to somewhere you have visited. Thats about as adventurous as our holidays get - although we are off to Coventry for the weekend.....Loving your updates by the way, they are so professional and gorgeous photos too, take care Liz x