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EGYPT
11 September, we spent a few days in Cairo, smelly, crowded and still, very interesting. The first impression was kind of negative, and then we got to understand better the way the population lives and their habits. We had our first ta'amiya's and fuul, but now we have enough of chickpeas, with chickpeas, etc, and since the vegetables are not really to be trusted, neither the meat, we stick to pizza's and pasta's. People are very friendly, at least most of them. Everybody says "Welcome" to us and they want to know where we come from. In Luxor, after a ride in a luxury train (very cheap!!), we could sense that the downfall of tourism after the "incident" of 1997 is threatening lots of small businesses. There's a lot of stress and competition in the air, and they hassle a lot. But they have to make a living, right? We really "cooked" our brains there, because it was much too warm, but the sites in the Valley of Kings and Queens are amazing. 4000 years old and very well preserved!! Anyway, we'll try to show you some photo's pretty soon. After a crazy bus ride of 17 hours - the drivers were stopping every 4 hours to smoke sheesha, the egyptian waterpipe - we arrived in Dahab. I think we're going to stick around here for a while because it'cheap and the atmosphere very relaxed. I mean, both egyptians and tourists are relaxed here. The Red Sea is beautiful, there's a lot to do, even with a snorkel. Tomorrow, we'll climb on Mount Sinai early in the morning to watch the sun rise.
Date: 22 of september: We are still in Dahab and we decided not to go to Jordan, merely because of the expensive trip and visa, but also because of an overdose of temples and desert we encoutered in Cairo, Luxor and of course in Dahab. Dahab in a nutshell: Waking up, looking for a restaurant which offers the cheapest breakfast for that day, the best deal. "Hey mister, come and look, jou get free drink, free tjoklat bancake, or as jou like...". After that snorkling in the BLUE HOLE (fascinating really, you walk 3 meters from shore, in the sea and you drop down 180 meters, so to speak, among beautiful coral, and fish, lots of fish), EL GARDEN which is a five minute walk from our hotel/camp and actually resembles an underwater garden, with grass, hills, cliffs and after you swim through the garden you find yourself surrounded with magnificent coral, with all the colors of the rainbow. Just outside our hotel/camp (Birdhouse Camp) is where we spent most of our time, we snorkel a lot there in yet another kind of coral, with its own unique kind of fish, among which some deadly lionfish, a merely 3 meters from the beach in 1 meter deep water. Enough about the coral... The camp owners are 3 friendly brothers, called Ezset, Hamdy and Nasser. They entertain us, offer us really cheap trips, and give advice about how to get around town. Today they showed me how to dance an ancient dance in which we simulate a swordfight, and if he's not dancing he (Ezset) does magical tricks. The people we encounter here are proud of their culture, them being muslim and living in this beautiful place called Dahab, and it is. Everyday though, there are some annoyances, but I'm not going to describe them to you all, 'cause it's not worth it. They haven't been able to spoil my day. After swimming we hit the showers, and this is funny, the showers are with salt water, all along the beach, so our soap is not soapy, our hair is not clean and our skins remain sticky. But what the hell, we're in Dahab. A place where one can relax, swim, surf and of course dive. One of the cheapest places in the world to learn as well, but still not in a world travellers budget, maybe next year. So, we are relaxed, tanned and kinda sick of the boring cuisine over here, so we can actually smell India already. Our minds are ready for India, and so are our stomaches. In a few days, we'll be in Cairo airport, lifting off to Dubai, where we are stopping just to take off again to Delhi. This is going to be the last update for Egypt, untill my brother receives the photo's made over here, and puts them on the Net. So Ma Salam, or Goodbye, see you later...
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