Egyptian Sinai (with link to BeNeLux)
Well, Egypt. Firstly, lets cover what we didn’t do, ie about 98% of the country. So we won’t be regaling you with stories of the Pyramids, Nile, Luxor etc.
We flew into Sharm el Sheikh “Sharm”, famous mainly for diving. Judging by the visitors, the predominant feel is of an Italian Riviera. Sharm is on the Sinai coast near the point where the Strait of Tiran meets the Red Sea.
Sharm Airport was a bit of a sham. Basically think developing world tourist airport. The visa people tried various methods to extract extra cash. The unnecessary duplication of X ray machines. There were lots of people standing around doing very little. And then there the guys offering to carry your bags for money. One man moved some of ours all of about 2 metres before asking for money: which we didn’t give.
Our accommodation for the week was the Hyatt Regency. Bill Clinton had dropped in to mediate at a Middle East Peace Conference held there 2 months earlier. This was our first 5 star hotel experience (reasonably priced thanks to the package), and we were very impressed. The pool facilities were superb: waterfalls, a man made river to swim along, great water slide, and a coral reef just off the shore. Amazing choices were available in the breakfast buffet. And the room was very comfortable. Jennifer said she slept better than at home: a high compliment indeed.
Egyptian tourism is suffering heavily due to the Palestinian uprising. Someone told us that tourist numbers in Sharm were down 50-60% on last year. This doesn’t really make sense. Egypt is not Israel and further, is at peace with Israel. Having said that, Jen was out doing a spot of night photography one evening, and saw a large flash come from the direction of Saudi Arabia. Her initial thought was they had launched some sort of missile, declaring war on Israel. It bemused her when she realised she had just seen lightning.
We snorkelled on different days. There seemed to be more living coral than Belize: although at one site masses of Italians seem intent on destroying the coral through their ignorance. At other spots we saw wrecks on the reefs. Snorkelling seems to have the odd physiological effect of requiring you to go to the toilet almost as soon as you clamber on the boat. This, if you are breaking up your snorkelling means you are regularly needing to “de-suit” simply to go to the toilet. Another odd effect is the speed at which a hearty appetite is developed. We felt odd tucking into an excellent lunch during Ramadan while the Muslim staff watched.
On one day we swam ashore to a charming sun drenched clump of dirty lunar landscape called Tiran island. Tiran deserves special mention. The Saudis gave it to the Egyptians, very nice of them considering its strategic importance due to the shipping lane. And the Israelis grabbed it and fortified it during one of those little conflicts of the last few decades. The only reason we swam ashore was for a glimpse of Saudi across the strait. We made it to the top of a gradual hill, had our glimpse and returned to the boat, roughly following a vehicle track (a good thing? – read on). Following one subsequent rogue comment and a little investigation, I now see Tiran in a somewhat different light. According to a 5th September 1996 story in the Hawaii Army Weekly all is perhaps not as it seems. To summarise, at one point in the not too distant past the island featured all of the following problems: sharks, peacekeepers, landmines, dangerous feral dogs, the nightly boom of animals clearing landmines. Snorkelling has definitely whetted our appetite to learn how to dive.
Banana boating and parasailing were also on the agenda. We were really looking forward to the latter, and as the time drew closer, Andrew got quite nervous. Egyptian TV decided to film another parasailer on our boat. You hear about various methods of takeoffs and landings, but both in our case were the back of the boat: relieving Andrew somewhat. We were to be the finale, the only two person parasail. When the big moment arrived, Andrew experienced anti-climax and it was Jen’s turn to feel nauseous. But all ended up alright, and on the descent we were dunked repeatedly by the amused driver.
We also undertook some expeditions into the Sinai. These were made possible courtesy of the Israeli Army Engineer who built the sealed road during the occupation by the Israelis. He subsequently died when his jeep ran over land mines that he had planted himself. They had shifted from his map’s position after a flash flood.
The highlights of the tours were:
· the Coloured Canyon; this is a very beautiful spot in the Sinai desert. The rock colours and shapes were stunning, as was the light. There were a number of good vistas. It was very easy to feel like Lawrence of Arabia. The only problem was the canyon kept on getting narrower. Until we got stuck in a tourist traffic jam in the middle of the desert. Just around the corner a lot of laughing was going on – what was everyone up to? A rock had fallen from the top of the canyon and wedged itself near the bottom, the cliff faces at this point being less than a metre apart. The gap for humans to slip through was small, but getting in wasn’t anything on getting out: the latter was a steep slide of at least 2 metres. We are amazed that Dave, the rotund chain smoking cockney pub operator from the east end of London made it at all. We’re surprised they don’t make people fit through an equivalent space (think airport luggage) BEFORE taking them on the tour:
· a Bedouin Dinner; the interaction with the Bedouins was rather limited and the camels were predictably uncomfortable and grumpy, but sunset in the desert and the meal were wonderful. Jen had asked whether an all night option was available, the response to which was gales of laughter and comments about 50 camels being an appropriate price.
We were also supposed to climb Mount Sinai, the place where Moses received the Tablets, to see the sunrise. However frustratingly we didn’t actually make it since the bus that picked us up at 22:30 had to turn around since a flash flood in the desert had washed away the road.
One night we made the mistake of being the only guests in a restaurant after having been told “I’ll fix you a special price at the end of your meal”. The proprietor interrupted our meal occasionally to advise us of some of the intricacies of the Egyptian pop music being pumped out on the restaurant television. The food was great, it was just a little awkward having circa 10 underemployed staff members watching you. And our “special price” ended up being about GBP 30, not cheap even by Jersey standards.
We bartered much better as the week went on, although it was complicated by the fact that Egyptian pound notes seem to go down to some impossibly small value and are often rather flimsy. They were a graphic representation of the concept of “filthy lucre”: the money changer in the UK who provided us our initial notes even gave us a health warning!
The flight back to Gatwick was buffeted with strong winds. But our pilot was a real professional, and we exited the plane to the tune of Sade’s “Smooth Operator”.
On balance this was probably our best holiday yet: we hardly spoke about what we would do next.
We flew into Sharm el Sheikh “Sharm”, famous mainly for diving. Judging by the visitors, the predominant feel is of an Italian Riviera. Sharm is on the Sinai coast near the point where the Strait of Tiran meets the Red Sea.
Sharm Airport was a bit of a sham. Basically think developing world tourist airport. The visa people tried various methods to extract extra cash. The unnecessary duplication of X ray machines. There were lots of people standing around doing very little. And then there the guys offering to carry your bags for money. One man moved some of ours all of about 2 metres before asking for money: which we didn’t give.
Our accommodation for the week was the Hyatt Regency. Bill Clinton had dropped in to mediate at a Middle East Peace Conference held there 2 months earlier. This was our first 5 star hotel experience (reasonably priced thanks to the package), and we were very impressed. The pool facilities were superb: waterfalls, a man made river to swim along, great water slide, and a coral reef just off the shore. Amazing choices were available in the breakfast buffet. And the room was very comfortable. Jennifer said she slept better than at home: a high compliment indeed.
Egyptian tourism is suffering heavily due to the Palestinian uprising. Someone told us that tourist numbers in Sharm were down 50-60% on last year. This doesn’t really make sense. Egypt is not Israel and further, is at peace with Israel. Having said that, Jen was out doing a spot of night photography one evening, and saw a large flash come from the direction of Saudi Arabia. Her initial thought was they had launched some sort of missile, declaring war on Israel. It bemused her when she realised she had just seen lightning.
We snorkelled on different days. There seemed to be more living coral than Belize: although at one site masses of Italians seem intent on destroying the coral through their ignorance. At other spots we saw wrecks on the reefs. Snorkelling seems to have the odd physiological effect of requiring you to go to the toilet almost as soon as you clamber on the boat. This, if you are breaking up your snorkelling means you are regularly needing to “de-suit” simply to go to the toilet. Another odd effect is the speed at which a hearty appetite is developed. We felt odd tucking into an excellent lunch during Ramadan while the Muslim staff watched.
On one day we swam ashore to a charming sun drenched clump of dirty lunar landscape called Tiran island. Tiran deserves special mention. The Saudis gave it to the Egyptians, very nice of them considering its strategic importance due to the shipping lane. And the Israelis grabbed it and fortified it during one of those little conflicts of the last few decades. The only reason we swam ashore was for a glimpse of Saudi across the strait. We made it to the top of a gradual hill, had our glimpse and returned to the boat, roughly following a vehicle track (a good thing? – read on). Following one subsequent rogue comment and a little investigation, I now see Tiran in a somewhat different light. According to a 5th September 1996 story in the Hawaii Army Weekly all is perhaps not as it seems. To summarise, at one point in the not too distant past the island featured all of the following problems: sharks, peacekeepers, landmines, dangerous feral dogs, the nightly boom of animals clearing landmines. Snorkelling has definitely whetted our appetite to learn how to dive.
Banana boating and parasailing were also on the agenda. We were really looking forward to the latter, and as the time drew closer, Andrew got quite nervous. Egyptian TV decided to film another parasailer on our boat. You hear about various methods of takeoffs and landings, but both in our case were the back of the boat: relieving Andrew somewhat. We were to be the finale, the only two person parasail. When the big moment arrived, Andrew experienced anti-climax and it was Jen’s turn to feel nauseous. But all ended up alright, and on the descent we were dunked repeatedly by the amused driver.
We also undertook some expeditions into the Sinai. These were made possible courtesy of the Israeli Army Engineer who built the sealed road during the occupation by the Israelis. He subsequently died when his jeep ran over land mines that he had planted himself. They had shifted from his map’s position after a flash flood.
The highlights of the tours were:
· the Coloured Canyon; this is a very beautiful spot in the Sinai desert. The rock colours and shapes were stunning, as was the light. There were a number of good vistas. It was very easy to feel like Lawrence of Arabia. The only problem was the canyon kept on getting narrower. Until we got stuck in a tourist traffic jam in the middle of the desert. Just around the corner a lot of laughing was going on – what was everyone up to? A rock had fallen from the top of the canyon and wedged itself near the bottom, the cliff faces at this point being less than a metre apart. The gap for humans to slip through was small, but getting in wasn’t anything on getting out: the latter was a steep slide of at least 2 metres. We are amazed that Dave, the rotund chain smoking cockney pub operator from the east end of London made it at all. We’re surprised they don’t make people fit through an equivalent space (think airport luggage) BEFORE taking them on the tour:
· a Bedouin Dinner; the interaction with the Bedouins was rather limited and the camels were predictably uncomfortable and grumpy, but sunset in the desert and the meal were wonderful. Jen had asked whether an all night option was available, the response to which was gales of laughter and comments about 50 camels being an appropriate price.
We were also supposed to climb Mount Sinai, the place where Moses received the Tablets, to see the sunrise. However frustratingly we didn’t actually make it since the bus that picked us up at 22:30 had to turn around since a flash flood in the desert had washed away the road.
One night we made the mistake of being the only guests in a restaurant after having been told “I’ll fix you a special price at the end of your meal”. The proprietor interrupted our meal occasionally to advise us of some of the intricacies of the Egyptian pop music being pumped out on the restaurant television. The food was great, it was just a little awkward having circa 10 underemployed staff members watching you. And our “special price” ended up being about GBP 30, not cheap even by Jersey standards.
We bartered much better as the week went on, although it was complicated by the fact that Egyptian pound notes seem to go down to some impossibly small value and are often rather flimsy. They were a graphic representation of the concept of “filthy lucre”: the money changer in the UK who provided us our initial notes even gave us a health warning!
The flight back to Gatwick was buffeted with strong winds. But our pilot was a real professional, and we exited the plane to the tune of Sade’s “Smooth Operator”.
On balance this was probably our best holiday yet: we hardly spoke about what we would do next.
posted by frankling1 at
11:29 PM
