The sun woke us up around 9:30 as it became more intense. It's winter, so we're not talking about the blazing desert heat that everyone thinks of, but it was still intense and quite warm (maybe 80-90). I broke out the sunscreen :o) I must say that I am neither a bear, nor was I in the woods, but when nature beckons... If Joe Murphy is reading this then he'll get a chuckle. In all of my climbs I remained "bagless". In the desert you don't need a bag, but only to climb over the nearest dune and make like a cat ;o)Our breakfast consisted of pita bread toasted by laying it directly on the coals (giving it a burnt wood flavor that was not tasty) and fig jam. I'd never had fig jam before, and probably will only have it again if nothing else is available. I'm not saying it's bad, it covered the flavor of the bread quite nicely.
I went walking alone this morning. It was my first experience in a vast desert and I was finally able to be completely alone. It was nice but left me in a very solitary mood -- not ideal when 7 people travel in a toyota land cruiser (the vehicle of choice for desert folk).
As we broke camp our guide Ahmed utterred a quote, notable only in that he is eqyptian:
"We can't leave rubbish here because we come back many times."Ok, so they do have some concept of trash, they just don't care most of the time.After driving for a bit (sorry, not checking my watch on this trip as time flows differently in the desert) we stopped at a very small oasis. Basically it's a clump of trees no more than 10 meters in diameter with a spring inside. Next to it is ruins of an underground rumanian temple -- we couldn't enter it as it was too dangerous.
We drove through the black desert which is not what I thought of when they spoke of a black desert. I thought it would be black sand, but it was actually regular sand with small black rocks on top that give it its black look. Then we came to the white desert where we camped. Again, not what I was thinking of when I thought of a white desert. It had normal colored sand but had white rock (very chalky) protruding all over the place. The first area of white desert we stopped in was kindof a combination of white desert and black desert. It had these small rocks that looked like polished (soft edged) black crystals. It was pretty impressive.
We made camp in the white desert and had an early "snack" consisting of tuna, cucumber, tomato, onion, and chili peppers all chopped finely and combined for dipping with pita. I don't know if it was just my hunger or if that was truly an awesome meal, but I very much enjoyed it.
A few more bedowins were leading two swedish and one danish tourist on safari so they joined us at our fire that night in the white desert. Bedowin music is much better with a drum, and it turns out that Ahmed plays the drum better (in my opinion) than the sumara (that wind instrument). Because we had three musicians we got the full treatment of them alternating drum, sumara and singing. Our late meal was more rice and vegetables and a turkey. They actually picked the turkey up from a village earlier in the day and then killed and cleaned it -- something about fresh being the only way to go, and it was quite good. I became good friends with our driver's assistant Walit. From the little english he knew and the little arabic I was able to pick up and periodic translations by my friends we had a good time. I think they have a great life, which I said, to which they responded with an offer to work on safari there. Definately something to think about. Ahmed says that he would teach me arabic as I worked with him. I'd probably spontaneously combust in a desert summer sun though...
I slept very well last night. It wasn't quite as cold, and I felt very comfortable sleeping there. I was one of the first to wake up at 9:30. Breakfast was more interesting today than the day before. They broke out this rock-like bread and dumped water on it, which didn't actually soften it at all. It's much like chewing gravel and was kinda funny to hear everyone eating it. We started with just the bread and fig jam (a good combo) and then Mariwan got out a couple cans of tuna to dip straight out of the tin and some mandarins. All in all I think it's a much better breakfast than what's offerred at ismailia house ;o) Oh, I just noticed that I didn't include bedowin tea with the breakfast -- that's a given. Anytime we eat or sit around the fire you can correctly assume that we had bedowin tea, very strong, with mint and tons of sugar.The sun is more intense today (read: more sunscreen). It's not so much the temperature as the fact that you can't get out of the sun. Gack. Too friggin hot, and it's winter. Sheesh. Ahmed actually took his jacket off, it must be sweltering ;o)
A note on japanese folks. If you are japanese and/or would take offense by candid observations about japanese then please skip to the next paragraph now. I promise not to write anything important not pertaining to japanese in this paragraph. Ok, go now. *wait* Now, as I was saying, these japanese folks are gullible in the extreme. Really. I thought it was just these two girls but it turns out that all of them are (according to my egyptian friends). And egyptians love the fact that they are so gullible. Aziz had them wearing baggage claim stickers as their "desert ID number" and had them memorize it. That way if they got lost they would be returned to the group. And that's just one example out of wayyy too many. I started feeling sorry for them, but they seemed to be having a great time, so...
We stopped at Crystal Mountain on our way back from the white desert. Any idea why they call it crystal mountain? It's cuz it's made of crystal, duh! It was pretty cool. Just on the side of the road. No flashing lights, no large signs, nobody selling tee-shirts saying they went to crystal mountain and all they got was this stupid tee-shirt, just a big lump on the side of the road (maybe 15 min climb to the top of it).
Our final stop before going to Ahmed's house was another hot spring. The people from the surrounding village were there bathing (in swim suits) and filling jugs of warm water from the spring. It was pretty cool. We were going to bathe there but the thought was that we'd got to another spring in a bit (that didn't happen).
We were starving by time we arrived at Ahmed's house. That's pretty much a common theme, that we're starving by time food is made available. This food was awesome though, and kept on coming. Again we had bread and a few different sauces/beans/veggies/tuna for dipping. Then a huge platter of rice arrived to go with the sauces. Finally chicken came and more veggies. Wayyy yum -- but then again I was starving so...
Well, at 8pm we got a minibus back to Cairo, arriving at around 1am. *sigh* the desert trip was over. It was good to be back and get a shower, but I had a great time. Got friggin sunburned through my sunscreen. Danged skin. It didn't hurt so I'm calling it a tan ;oP
I met a moroccan guy in the main room of ismailia house when I got back. Seemed a nice enough guy and bought me a can of beer that I enjoyed during and after my shower. Then, at about 2:30 (I hadn't gone to bed yet so I'm still calling it "today") he broke out a bottle of champagne -- way cool :o) Then a couple bottles of wine -- alright! Then the wiskey (Red Label) started flowing. There was a whole group at this point: me (american, duh again), the moroccan, a german, another american, 2 irishmen, a greek, and a dutchman. What a blast. I got to bed around 7am, a great end to a great trip.
I woke at 1pm feeling well rested. Not bad all in all except that I need to get a visa extension before going to dahab (my visa runs out on 30 January and I may want to stay longer than that). Paula said it took her 2 1/2 hours, but that I may be able to get it done more quickly if I was more pushy than she was. It took me 15 mins *grin* and cost only 12 EL. On my way out from there I met Aziz and Osama and went with them for tea, nescafe (that's as close as they get to american coffee), and grabbed a couple falafel.I noticed today that egyptians shop for clothes. I mean really. It's quite common for a few guys to stand for quite a long time in front of a store window that has 20 shirts or so on display discussing the merits of each shirt. Weird. I guess when you only have a couple shirts you want to get the very best one available.
We proceeded over to Islam's house, a friend of my friends so also a friend of mine. Turns out he sublets his flat to 5 or so guys, all of whom I was previously friends with. We had a great time just kicking back, listening to music (John Lee Hooker -- oh yeah!), and just relaxing. Later that night, like 2am, Islam began cooking some koshari (macaroni) with kofta (meat). It was amazing, he's an incredible cook. That was a great night :o) The only thing I noticed is that I wasn't able to fully relax as I can with other people. Because most of what they say is said in arabic I don't know what's going on all of the time, and their culture is so different that I had to constantly think about what was being said and how it was being said so as not to offend. It wasn't quite work, as they were my friends, but still not as relaxing as it could of been. But, that said, he has a couch and a stereo with some good blues comin out ;o) oh yeah...
Actually writing this today, on 19 January (I have to go back and update 13-18 January right now). I'm impressed with all of the people reading this. I'm getting mail from people I've never met saying that they are enjoying my trip -- that's cool :o)I got to sleep around 4-5am, so didn't wake up until 2 or so (hey, I'm on vacation, gimme a break! And it is too different than when I was working Duane! ;o) Today all I have to do is get a bus ticket for Dahab tomorrow and update my web site. The bus I need leaves from Torgemon Station which, although I've been there a few times, I still can't find -- so I'll take a cab :o) Traffic was horrendous, but I still stuck to the 3 EL rule. The cabbie started to argue but he knew it was fair and accepted it when I told him that I also knew it was fair. The ticket for a night bus turned out to be 70 EL -- ouch! No student discount there either. I expected it to be 50-60 EL. C'est la vie. Still only about US$20 for a 8 hour trip, so I can't really complain. I decided to walk back from the bus station so I could look for some vitamins -- no luck, but I did find my way back (bonus!).
I was thinking about my writing here and don't feel that I'm doing my travels justice by writing about what I see and do. The real adventure is learning about the people and the culture. Egypt was a disconcerting place when I first arrived. I spent way too much and was taken aback by all of the people that wanted something from me -- and everyone wanted something from me :o) Now I feel more at home, at least as much as that is possible being on a different continent. I have gotten to know quite a few people, and am becoming quite well known in the area of Cairo that I've been hanging out in.
Hang on a sec, a guy needs to use this machine so I'm going to switch with him. Damn, played hell for an hour trying to save this friggin thing (read: 10 EL!), trying to split it into two files now, thinking it's a memory/connection time thing and that a smaller file will work better. Here's hoping... Christ! Ok, now split into two files. It seems that the only file I have problems with is the main file (was the only file) for January 2000. It's the next day now, and I think I'm done fighting with that file now and onto this one. Should be done in a bit. I don't actually remember the last time I got irritated -- I must be on vacation :o)
Back to the topic at hand. Where was I?? Oh yeah, my thoughts on Egypt. Frankly they're different than yesterday when I started writing this. Maybe it's because I took the rose colored glasses off, or just because I'm not in a great mood right now, but I believe what I'm about to write so I'll write it ;o). Egyptians have a different sense of "mine vs. yours vs. ours". They share everything it seems, including personal space -- something which they have no concept of. I didn't notice so much until I got into a less than peachy mood. It's impossible to be alone in this city -- I tried to sit and have some tea last night after my internet adventures and was constantly prodded into conversation by the locals. That used to be cute but now it's just getting old. I played the nice tourist though, they didn't seem likely to be the source of my upload problems.
Right, so I'm rambling. Another thing is that all of the males here have a 9th grade attitude towards sex. They giggle and gossip about it and it seems that that's all they think about. I've heard from women all my life that clearly that's all that is on a man's mind. Well ladies, if you'd like that to actually be true then come hang out in Egypt for a while. Frankly that topic is getting a bit old as well.
Enough bashing, what do I like here? I like that people sit around and just spend time with eachother. I like the increased contact and familiarity. Yes, I know that contradicts my whining a couple paragraphs up, but life is a series of contradictions. These are just my thoughts as they come up. Back to topic... I like the food for the most part. If you stay away from the couple dishes that are drowned in oil, and season things yourself when possible (to avoid excess salt and sugar) then the food here is much more healthy than what I've been exposed to in the states. They use many more whole foods (processed foods are expensive). I also like that you can get a cab acrossed town for under US$1.00, and that you can get a good price on something if you're willing to cultivate a relationship with the seller. Bartering isn't simply arriving at a mutually agreed upon price, it's about friends vs. strangers. A tourist gets a higher price for a multitude of reasons, one of which is that they enter the shop as a consumer and are therefore viewed as strictly a source of income for the seller. A local walks into the shop as a friend in need of help, this causes the seller to become a provider doing something nice for his friend. The drawback (by american thinking) is that what you save in money you give up in time. Time is so valuable that it can't possibly be wasted on somthing as simple as a purchase, and if the interaction is only a purchase then I agree with that logic completely. It is tiring though -- my relationship muscle is weak from lack of use. Ok, enough of that, I have a lot to write today ;o)
Gotta be out of my hostel room by 11am or I pay for another day, and I stayed up til around 3:30am chatting with some aussie folks that just got into town. My bus for Dahab leaves at 11:30pm. I'll write that trip as 20 January since the bulk of it occurs on that day. Today all I need to do is straighten out this internet horseshit, and I believe I'm out of the woods now. Only have to update a few days on this page (which seems to be working fine -- go figure) and I'm all set. I've decided to indulge myself and buy an actual towel. The travel towel I have is nice and all, but I borrowed one from someone while in the desert and it was quite nice as I hadn't touched a towel in a month and a half. The things you miss...Whew! Finally done. In a pretty good mood. Gonna check mail, send mail and then go find food -- I'm starving! It's 4pm and I have to leave at around 10:30 to head for my bus. I'll look around for some friends to say "bye" to and probably kick back and wait. I think I'm getting better at this relaxing thing :o)
Right, didn't see my egyptian friends before going, but I said my "good-byes" yesterday. Met some more folks from the hostel and went to eat with them. Turns out a couple of them, an aussie and a south african, will be heading over to Dahab in 7-10 days after their trip to Luxor and Aswan. That should be cool.
Well, it's actually 28 January for me so I best be writing some more entries. Not much to write about, I actually thought about blurring the whole Dahab experience into one entry, as it's become somewhat of a blur for me :o) Is it possible to relax too much?? I'm top ranked amateur, thinking of going pro ;oP
Long ass bus ride throuh the night to Dahab, Egypt, in the area known as Sinai. Yes, that would be the same name as the biblically renowned Mt. Sinai. Yes, I'll be climbing it. Jeez you ask alot of questions! :oPRight, the bus ride was ok. I sat next to a nice guy headed to Sharm ElSheikh, he works there in the Hiatt Regence Hotel as the head barman there. Had a decent chat as his wife teaches english. Was able to get some sleep, but you know how it is on a bus -- none of that quality snoozin. We stopped at a large cafeteria type place that caters to busses around 3am. I was kinda hungry but since I was partially asleep and everything was in arabic I couldn't really make out what the hell was going on -- too much work and I wasn't that hungry anyway, right?? Skip it. Oh, Die Hard was the movie of choice for this trip. I can't believe I slept through a classic like that. "Fists with your toes..."
Got to Sharm ElSheikh pretty quickly, just before dawn at 6am. Switched busses here in a sleepy daze, assumed my pack would follow me as we switched busses, but alas that was not the case -- stay tuned.
As we pulled out of Sharm headed for Dahab the sun was just coming up over the Red Sea. First, a point. The Red Sea is not red, in fact it's quite blue. The whole damned area is amazing. The sea being so blue is nice and all, but the sky is very clear as well, then you add a pristine desert and throw some jagged mountains in and you've definately got a place to kick back, throw a log on, and relax. I can't possibly do justice, it's simply breath taking.
Ok, that's about as sappy as I can get, but it's not my fault, the danged place is spectacular. Back to reality tho. We pulled into Dahab City (yeah, right) around 8am. Dahab City is as much a city as I'm the friggin Queen of England (no disrespect to England's figurehead intented). But hey, if they want to call it a city then more power to them. It's not like there's a city close by anyway. Right, so my bag. The bus driver is asking in a less than pleasant, more frantic manner "where da bag?!?" to which I respond "what??". With the help of a couple more guys that work here, a fellow from my soon to be new home away from home (Caravan Camel Camp), and another traveller that was much more educated linguistically than anyone I'd mentioned before (including myself), we were able to get a call in to Sharm ElSheikh, locate my bag and have it brought on the next bus. I'll need to come back around 10am for it. Not a problem.
Ahmed, the guy from Caravan Camel Camp, gave me a ride back to the camp in the back of his light pickup truck (everyone seems to drive a light pickup truck around here) for the low low price of 5 egyptian -- yeah right. I told him I could have gotten a cab for 3, so he said 3 would be fine -- that wasn't my point. I ended up giving the driver 2.50 and feeling neither good nor bad for it. Got the best breakfast I'd ever had since leaving the states for 6 egyptian and dozed by the red sea in the morning sun. Did I mention that this place is beautiful? In a word, WOW.
My bag came in at 10:30 with no problems. I headed back, stowed my bag and wandered town in search of a towel. Now, to set the record straight, I of course have read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and know full well that I would be doomed to fail had I left home without my towel, but in my defense let me say that I did have a towel (of sorts) with me. Granted it was a small sized travel shammy towel, but it did the trick and filled that ever so important requirement. When I was in the desert, however, I was tempted by the towel of a friend and partook of the towel, and it was good. I vowed on that day that I would once again carry a proper towel, best danged thing I ever did. Try using a shammy towel for a month and a half and then go back to a proper towel -- you don't appreciate things until you don't have them.
Anyway, I digress. I was told by many that Dahab was dirty, which is simply not true. It is by far the cleanest town/city I've seen in Egypt. Granted I didn't visit Siwa Oasis, or Aswan, but I trust that Dahab is right up there in cleanliness. A very nice little town indeed. My quest for a towel took me the length of what we all call Dahab, which is not to be confused with Dahab City. Dahab City is about 5 mins drive from Dahab and isn't nearly as developed. I was amazed to find things in Dahab that I couldn't find in Cairo -- Snickers for instance! They cost 2 egyptian each (about US$0.60) and are the small size, but yummmm! All this writing about them is making me want another ;o) Dang, the towel. I found two shops that offerred towels. The better quality shop wanted 65EL for a medium towel, yeah right. I paid 20EL and felt ok about it, but would have preferred 15. It's a nice lavender color and I'm proud as hell to have it. I think there's even a floral design of sorts on it. Like I care. It's terry and wonderful. My search ended around noon, just in time for a shower (why do you think I wanted the towel??) and a bit of a siesta.
I woke around 3:30 and stepped outside to meet Khaled, an aussie I had met in Cairo. I knew that he was coming the day before me but didn't expect that we'd hook up as he was only passing through. Kicked back with him and Ahmed in the center area of the camp (cushions, palm trees, etc) and relaxed for a bit. Khaled and I then went for a feed at a place that looks like a large ship. Ok it doesn't look exactly like a ship since there are windows and a door in the side, but you get the idea. I had a kofta (lamb) pita sandwich that was great. The sun started going down around 5pm and with it the temperature. Funny how the temp really drops when the sun goes around here. Khaled and I shared a room which dropped the rate to 5EL each (otherwise 8EL for someone staying alone in a room -- lodging is by far the cheapest thing in Dahab).
Khaled left at around 10am I think, headed for Jordan. I went back to sleep and woke somewhere around noon-ish. That's a current theme. You can assume that in Dahab I'll wake around noon-ish unless I state otherwise. There was one day that I woke around 10:30!! Wow, that was a long day ;o)Today is definately laundry day. I gave one pair of pants and my flanel over to be laundered by the camp and commenced washing my socks, underwear, t-shirts, and shorts out by hand. This taught me that I still have too many shirts (I think 6 now). I'll probably be happy to have them in the summer tho...
I saw Andrew again. He's the guy that I originally headed out for Petra with from Florence. We split ways in Haife, Israel and I didn't expect to see him again. Kinda cool bumping into folks that you used to know.
Was tired today so I went back to my room to take a nap around 6pm...
Woke up today at noon. Anyone up for some math? Turns out my "nap" from yesterday at 6pm turned into an 18 hour solid snooze. I have to say that I'm feeling fairly rested after that ;o)Big day ahead of me. I folded laundry, that must have taken at least 15 minutes. Good thing I was well rested or I'd definately need a nap again ;oP I moved from room 16 to room 21. The difference is that 21 has a double bed. I figured that as long as I'm paying 8EL per night then I may as well have a nice bed all to myself. After all of that stress I headed down to the beachfront for a while. The weather is good today. Not too hot but plenty of sun. I'm discovering that it's not the sun that I hate, but the intense summer sun. That killed the afternoon, so I ate and went up the street to a place called Crazy House -- a pub with a pool table. Cool. Shot pool with a mad irishman named Aidan (yes, he was fully insane I'm sure) and a few scots and a german dude named Sandy. I'd like to tell you what time I went to bed but I don't know. No, I wasn't drinking heavily (I think two ouzo and fanta all night -- don't try this combination at home, it's not good, but it was all I had to mix with), it's just all such a blur at this point that I don't recall. I believe it was actually around 2pm that night, but don't quote me.
Another theme you'll see is me heading down to the beachfront to sit and relax. Everyone congregates there. There are probably 20 different restaurants, all of which serve similar food at similar prices with the same type of seating and service. The main differentiating factor is the music. Some places play more R&B, some play sappy balads, while most play reggae and the like. I have a couple that are my favorite to hang out at. Laura is quite nice just to lounge in. I like the folks that work there and many of my friend like to hang there as well. Friends is better to eat at as they have the best food for a reasonable price, and I've spend a couple days there as well. Recently I've come acrossed Blue Moon which has every menu item (except drinks) at half price. Now I eat there daily and at times move to another place to relax.Right, so today I headed down I believe to Friends where I met Sandy (he was playing pool last night but we didn't speak). He's scottish and quite a hoot. He was supposed to go back to scottland on 3 January I believe, but hasn't made it out yet ;oP That's a common story here as well, many people staying much longer than they had planned. Time just flies by here. Well not so much flies by, but moves along pleasantly enough that you don't want to disturb the flow :o)
Sandy and I talked for the afternoon. Turns out we have alot in common. He also sold off alot of things and went travelling. I wonder how many people don't enjoy where they are in life but don't feel that they have a choice to change it.
Anyway, so I went to dinner with a large group of danes and scotts and had a great time. Some of them were heading off to the disco tonight so I decided to follow. Talk about interesting. I believe there were about 30 egyptian guys there, probaby 4 women, me and another white guy. Interesting ratio. No pressure either (dancing in a room with 30 black guys -- a compliment to black guys), but I held my own and had the last laugh when they all got up for Dancing Queen and Ice Ice Baby :oP The disco is open from 12:30am to 2:30am, so my bed and I met shortly after 2:30am. Definately a good night :o)
Today I met my best friends thus far in Dahab. They are staying in the room next door to me and are from New Zealand (couple of kiwis). They travelled up through africa recently and some of their stories are tempting me to go that direction. Names? The boy one is named John and the girl one is named Karen. They've been travelling quite a bit and we always seem to have a good laugh.Just hung out today. That's it. Talked with John and Karen. Nicest day thus far.
Actually woke up around 10:30 today! It's a weird thing, everyone tended to wake up early today. Hmmmm, creepy. The wind made a showing today. Made the red sea look like the washington coast. The waves were up, the wind blew the spray up over some rocks, the only difference is that it's warm here, oh and you can look over and see Saudi Arabia :o)On my way down the road today I saw a guy painting a wall with his hand. Thought it notable.
Headed back up to the disco tonight where I met Sandy and Nora (algerian girl hanging out with Sandy -- together they are quite a riot). Tonight was better. More songs that I recognized, a larger woman to man ratio, and I had fun hanging out with my friends.
It's still breezy today. I guess it is winter so it's to be expected :o) I was going to internet today but the shop was closing at 3pm when I got there. Go figure. They are re-opening at 5pm. *sigh* back to the beach for some relaxation. Life is rough :o)I met some americans today. I haven't seen many americans in a while. Was cool talking with them about the states and our impressions of egypt and travel in general. I was going to get something to eat, but ended up talking and forgot to get dinner. Guess I wasn't so hungry after all ;o)
Well, today is definately an internet day. Woke to major wind, dark clouds, one would think I was in Washington! It's even cold (ok, probably 50, but still). So here I am, I've read my 30-odd e-mails, thanx all for the notes. It makes me feel a bit connected way out here in BFE. I'll be off for some food (nope, still haven't eaten) and a bit more relaxing. I really feel that I'm getting the hang of this relaxation thing. I don't even feel that I have to ponder anything earthshattering while I sit. I am content to just sit and exist. Not a bad thing once you think about it. If I ever had a doubt as to whether this was a bad thing to do or not then it is gone now -- this is a great experience for me. I hope that some of what I'm learning comes through what I write. If you ever get the chance then I would whole heartedly encourage you to just pick up and go for a while. Your life will still be there when you return :o)My plans? I was asked yesterday how long I planned to stay in Dahab. All I could answer is "Not more than 6 months" -- that's when my visa runs out. I figure I should be good enough at relaxing by then that I should be able to accomplish it in any city in the world. We'll see...
Ahh, nice and warm today, gentle sun with a slight breeze. I'm thinkin that yesterday was a good day because it really made me appreciate the weather today. I mean really, if it was sunny and warm every day then I wouldn't appreciate it at all.
I met a nice dutch girl today named Esther -- my first dutch person. Ever wonder why they call people from Holland dutch and not hollish
. Anyhoo, she has adopted a dog here named Sam, her "dahab dog". She's just hooked up with Vito, a guy from Belgium (again, flemmish and not belgish -- go figure) and plans to travel over land to india. Sounds like an interesting idea but I can't go. Some countries in between that wouldn't welcome an american I'm afraid. Besides, I'm not that hip on india anyway (that's "anyways" for y'all back east ;oP) Back to Esther. She didn't begin travelling alone. She started out with a girl named Lesette, her "left friend". She calls her that because she travelled 2 1/2 weeks of their 7 month planned trip with her then left to run back to her boyfriend. I thought the term funny enough to be noteworthy ;o)
Laundry is definately the first order of business today. Nothing like scrubbing out stiff socks in the sink -- ewww. I then stumbled upon Esther and Vito during my quest for breakfast. Too bad their leaving soon, I'm hitting it off quite well with them.
A bit of Dahab culture for ya. There are these Bedowin girls that wander around selling hand made (braided and wrapped multi-colored string) bracelets. The things can be found on the wrists, ankles, necks, sunglasses, and in the hair of danged near every traveller here. I've resisted for these 10 days thus far but this morning succumbed to the pressures of the oldest and most persistant girl named Samira. I ended up paying 2EL for a bracelet. Not a bad price, and it helps her out a bit. Nice girl. It was made specially for me in the colors of my hat -- I'll have to wait for it to fade quite a bit for the colors to acually match :o)
My friends Karen and Jon switched camps today to Camelot. It's much closer to things (this 5 min walk is killing me! ;oP) and the showers are much better than the ones here. I spoke with the guy in their new camp (Camelot) and couldn't get him lower than 7EL per night. I'll keep trying and shopping.
We went to Blue Moon cafe for dinner (as usual). Every restaurant here has a special -- Blue Moon's special is that everything on their menu is half price. Their food isn't half bad so for the price it's great. A girl that I had seen around town (ok, it's more of a village than a town, but still) was eating alone at the table next to us. Now I must say that restaurants here in Dahab are not the same as restaurants everywhere else in the world (at least the ones I've seen). These restaurants have very short tables and large cushions for you to sit on. Very relaxing atmosphere. Also, it's not considered odd in the least for a complete stranger to come up and sit at your table and begin talking like he's known you for ages. Therefore, when I saw this girl eating alone I thought it quite odd. Being odd myself I felt compelled to join her to find out what's what. We had a nice conversation and became friends. She's from Czech Republic, Prague specifically, and is an artist studying here at an art shop. Nice deal she has going, she learns some specific skills and earns a bit of money while hanging in one of the most beautiful locations on the planet. Oh, her name is Daniella. Conversation is relatively easy considering the small language barrier.
Then I met this nice woman named Jane who was sitting next to the fire. Her boyfriend is travelling in Hungary or something. Odd that they both went travelling and didn't choose to go to the same place. Nice chick tho. She's a thin red headed kiwi nurse -- people from New Zealand are called kiwi, not New Zealish, something about their national mascot being a small blind flightless bird called a kiwi. I thought it was because they were all fruits...
Tonight, as with most nights, I relaxed with Jon and Karen. I'm glad I met up with these two as they are a riot.
Switched to Bedowin Palm camp today. The showers suck, the toilet is worse, but they only charge me 5EL per night and claim that the toilets are being fixed.
Kiffi and Michelle showed up tonight. I met them in Cairo and have been using them as my excuse for not doing anything -- claiming that I was going to relax until they got here and then begin doing the touristy things with them. It's a good plan anyway ;oP People around town were doubting that they exist. I'm glad they showed up.
A couple scottish chicks named Tracy and Alison were hanging out at Blue Moon. The thing I like so much about Dahab isn't meeting the egyptians, but meeting the tourists. The theory is that eventually all backpackers come here at some point. I've met so many folks from around the world while kickin back here. The only sad thing is that they all leave eventually. On that note, Esther and Vito should be gone today. I wonder what her dog thinks about that...