Posts (page 2)
We have climbed its mountains, Relaxed on its beaches and met many of its friendly locals. Sinai has everything you could want for a short break: sun, sea, sports and wildlife, plus a wide variety of hotels and restaurants on the sea front. The time has come to pack our bags again and face the overnight bus ride around the Gulf of Suez back to Luxor. This time armed with a travel pillow to make the journey a little more comfortable.
It was a bit too windy to snorkell today. So as we do not like the taste of seawater that much we walked along the coast out of town until we found some crazy people who did. There where dozens of windsurfers and a handful of extreme nutters kite surfing.
We snorkelled at The Blue Hole today. The Blue Hole is a coral reef shaft just off the coast which plunges down 260ft. It is easy to get vertigo when you see scuba divers swimming below you. We stopped for a few drinks at one of the many Bedouin style cafes on the coast. The owner was one of the surprisingly large number of Egyptians who has mastered a highly convincing cockney accent to charm the tourists with. Del and Rodney must have been here first.
We spent the day snorkelling and we saw a lot more coral this time. I think you are kept away from it on your trial scuba dive as it is easy to damage if you are still learning to set your buoyancy. Snorkellers do not have this limitation so we were free to float over the reef. We saw Porcupinefish, Wrasse, Giant Clam, Honey Comb, as well as Brain and Finger Coral. Below are some of the less fortunate sealife which only made it to Karens dinner plate
Throughout this trip we have constantly been reminded about another traveller from the Old Testament who by chance seems to have taken a similar route to us. Although our knowledge about the story of Moses does not extend much past the Disney film our muslim guides have been happy to tell us all the stories about the places we have visited. Like the origin of the ten commandments and the parting of the Red Sea. Although it did not take us 40 years to reach Mount Nebo we were more than happy to view Jerusalem from a distance.
I completed my first scuba dive today. I saw lionfish, bannerfish, coralcod, triggerfish, grouper, butterflyfish and cornetfish but not that much coral compared with Jamaica or Australia. The experience was enjoyable although a little painful. The trick of equalizing ear pressure by holding your nose and blowing only worked on my right ear. So below 3m it got a little uncomfortable. The diving experience has not overtaken me like a drug like so many Dahab residents, I think I prefer the freedom of snorkelling, as the paraphernalia along with the chance of ruptured lung and burst eardrum does not appeal to me.
After what seems like an eternity of packing and unpacking. Jumping on and off busses. We finally reached the time to kick back and relax for a week or two in Dahab. The local beer here is very cheap and very tasty unlike Jordanian Petra beer which can reach 12%alc and has a kick like a grumpy camel.
We have been in Jordan for a few days now. Jordan is about the same size as the UK but has only 6 million people. Like Egypt the country is mostly desert with limestone and granite rocks on the surface of red or yellow sand. The people are polite, reserved, friendly and well dressed. The country seems well ordered compared with the chaos of Egypt. It is more expensive here but you can window shop without being badgered the moment you show the slightest interest in something. So far we have seen the locations of many films; Indiana Jones(Petra), Lawrence of Arabia(Wadi Rum) and Kingdom of Heaven(Kerak). We have finished the tour now and are making our own way back to Dahab via Aqaba. This post will probably have to wait till we get back to Egypt as I am experiencing some difficulty uploading through the Jordanian phone network.
The food in Egypt is very tasty. It is spicy but not as strong as Asia. They have some delicious soups and salads always served with some kind of pitta bread. My favorite, fessekh, was a cross between naan and a croissant. We both expected to lose weight while travelling but since arriving in Egypt Benz is now the proud owner of a one pack and rapidly losing sight of his toes.
We arrived in Dahab today. It is the laid-back seaside village we had hoped for. It is full of diving clubs and open-air sea front restaurants, each with its own quaint style and hippy atmosphere. We will be in Jordan by this time tomorrow but we will be back in Dahab for a week on our way back to Cairo. We can not wait! This is a shot of our hotel.
