Sunday 25th July 2010
The sun on the corrugated iron wall woke me up and shifted me out of bed pretty damn quickly this morning. My body aching from all the lying in bed (it's a hard life) I made it down stairs for a much needed shower and to wash my skanky hair. Downstairs is pretty much where we stayed all day, we had breakfast; flat bread, a boiled egg, jam, triangle cheese and butter, in the hotel and in the afternoon Djalma went out to get lunch. We spent the day watching the news and lazing around, I'm feeling much better for it, I haven't eaten loads but I did manage a whole chicken sandwich without much help.
Fingers crossed tomorrow morning in Petra will be a breeze although I'll definitely be taking it slow. I also managed a firm poo today, minuscule, no bigger than a cashew nut but I was pretty damn relieved – I hope that this marks the beginning of the end of my stay at the Diarrhoea Inn (or out). Roll on tomorrow's adventured in the ancient city of Petra!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Day Fifty-three - Aqaba to Petra, Jordan
Saturday 24th July 2010
Despite another crappy start to the day, pun intended, this time I managed to get out of my pyjamas before going out for breakfast with my nurse although getting there with all our gear (we decided, well mainly nurse did, that today was the day we were going to Petra) was a five minute mission that nearly destroyed me.
I had a quick shower at the hotel, more to cool down than get clean, my face a mask of tight pink torture, and got dressed while Djalma packed our bags and got us both ready to leave. After a day of nothing but pooping and sleeping you'd have thought I would be much better, but no, I was drained, lacklustre and emotional, but obedient. With our bags on our backs we headed to a nearby restaurant to get some breakfast, I made it there without wanting to poo myself, the little 'STOP POOING!' pills seemingly effective but I still couldn't face anything – food nor water. Yesterdays patient loving nurse had been replaced over night with energetic, bossy nurse and this one wasn't taking no for an answer 'Sarah you have to eat, blah bah blah... nag nag nag'. What is really annoying is that I know this, which I told him but it wasn't any good, he pushed me to order something from the menu, none of which I could face with such a rotten tummy, so I just burst into tears, what a sissy. Immediately yesterdays nurse was back and he came round the table to give me a hug and then let me off with a few nibbles on some dry flat bread which I forced down just to appease him.
After my emotional outburst, the thought occurred that I might not be ready for a two hour bus ride, through the desert, with out air-conditioning and so he suggested that we try and find a room with air-conditioning to stay another day while I recuperated. I, being obedient and with enough presence of mind to see that this was a good idea, agreed and he left me in the restaurant with the bags and went to try and find a vacant room. No such luck at 8.30am so he came back a short while later with two options; 1) go back to the same hotel and stay in the only free room with air-conditioning but which the owner admitted was more like a fan and not cold at all, or 2) get an air-conditioned taxi to Petra. We settled on the second and got straight into a taxi which Djalma had already agreed a price on - 25 Dinar for the two hour drive. I bundled into the back seat to lie down and enjoy the breeze from the car fans while Djalma, stayed up front wide awake enjoying the view of Wadi Rum (part of the desert where Laurence of Arabia was filmed and absolutely stunning).
We stopped just once, so I could use a small schools toilet – no western throne here dammit! And then were on our way again, we stopped near the hotel and after Djalma had agreed prices and rooms – we were on the roof again but sheltered properly and this time in actual beds not just on mattresses – I ejected myself from the back-seat and into the cool lobby of the hotel to lie on the couch for the next five or six hours.
Once it had cooled down a bit and the construction site had stopped making noise we headed up to the fifth floor, the roof, to our new open-air bedroom. The view out was stunning, although after a good look round we hit the bed to read a couple of books we picked up from the communal shelf in the lobby. Still not feeling the best but having eaten a bit more – some brown rice which Djalma had been on an absolute mission to find, I was feeling a bit better, not enough to go out walking though. We stopped reading to watch a particularly beautiful sunset behind some mountains and then were quickly back in bed making the most of the remaining light. I finished my book, which was OK – Too Close to Home – and then watched Inglorious Basterds to keep myself entertained, pretty gruesome but good and then time for one last toilet trip (all the way down to the ground floor) before bedtime.
Despite another crappy start to the day, pun intended, this time I managed to get out of my pyjamas before going out for breakfast with my nurse although getting there with all our gear (we decided, well mainly nurse did, that today was the day we were going to Petra) was a five minute mission that nearly destroyed me.
I had a quick shower at the hotel, more to cool down than get clean, my face a mask of tight pink torture, and got dressed while Djalma packed our bags and got us both ready to leave. After a day of nothing but pooping and sleeping you'd have thought I would be much better, but no, I was drained, lacklustre and emotional, but obedient. With our bags on our backs we headed to a nearby restaurant to get some breakfast, I made it there without wanting to poo myself, the little 'STOP POOING!' pills seemingly effective but I still couldn't face anything – food nor water. Yesterdays patient loving nurse had been replaced over night with energetic, bossy nurse and this one wasn't taking no for an answer 'Sarah you have to eat, blah bah blah... nag nag nag'. What is really annoying is that I know this, which I told him but it wasn't any good, he pushed me to order something from the menu, none of which I could face with such a rotten tummy, so I just burst into tears, what a sissy. Immediately yesterdays nurse was back and he came round the table to give me a hug and then let me off with a few nibbles on some dry flat bread which I forced down just to appease him.
After my emotional outburst, the thought occurred that I might not be ready for a two hour bus ride, through the desert, with out air-conditioning and so he suggested that we try and find a room with air-conditioning to stay another day while I recuperated. I, being obedient and with enough presence of mind to see that this was a good idea, agreed and he left me in the restaurant with the bags and went to try and find a vacant room. No such luck at 8.30am so he came back a short while later with two options; 1) go back to the same hotel and stay in the only free room with air-conditioning but which the owner admitted was more like a fan and not cold at all, or 2) get an air-conditioned taxi to Petra. We settled on the second and got straight into a taxi which Djalma had already agreed a price on - 25 Dinar for the two hour drive. I bundled into the back seat to lie down and enjoy the breeze from the car fans while Djalma, stayed up front wide awake enjoying the view of Wadi Rum (part of the desert where Laurence of Arabia was filmed and absolutely stunning).
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| From Aqaba, Jordan |
We stopped just once, so I could use a small schools toilet – no western throne here dammit! And then were on our way again, we stopped near the hotel and after Djalma had agreed prices and rooms – we were on the roof again but sheltered properly and this time in actual beds not just on mattresses – I ejected myself from the back-seat and into the cool lobby of the hotel to lie on the couch for the next five or six hours.
Once it had cooled down a bit and the construction site had stopped making noise we headed up to the fifth floor, the roof, to our new open-air bedroom. The view out was stunning, although after a good look round we hit the bed to read a couple of books we picked up from the communal shelf in the lobby. Still not feeling the best but having eaten a bit more – some brown rice which Djalma had been on an absolute mission to find, I was feeling a bit better, not enough to go out walking though. We stopped reading to watch a particularly beautiful sunset behind some mountains and then were quickly back in bed making the most of the remaining light. I finished my book, which was OK – Too Close to Home – and then watched Inglorious Basterds to keep myself entertained, pretty gruesome but good and then time for one last toilet trip (all the way down to the ground floor) before bedtime.
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| From 2 Petra |
Day Fifty-two - Aqaba, Jordan
Friday 23rd July 2010
I woke up early, the heat of the sun making it too uncomfortably hot to just lay there trying to pretend that the world hadn't already woken up and the sun wasn't already beating down at 8am. I didn't feel quite right and wasn't sure of the reason until I went down to the forth floor (the roof was on the fifth) and the toilet to find that my time of diarrhoea free travelling had ended, hopefully only for a short time. Thanking god for the single western style toilet, it is bad enough waiting for your liquefied insides to empty dramatically from your backside but to do it trying to keep your balance on shaking legs is a step too far, I made my way back up the stairs to our mattresses feeling markedly worse for wear. We decided to spend the day not doing anything which took us far away from the toilet, so Djalma made us a little mattress roof for some shade so we could lie on the roof, enjoying the sea breeze while I tried to hold it together.
I didn't manage that too well, drinking water or anything for that matter made me feel sick and I couldn't eat much either. Aside from breakfast at a local hummus/falafel street restaurant and some rice Djalma forced down my unwilling mouth early evening, I didn't eat much at all. I spent the day traversing the stairs between rest and release and I was absolutely shattered. I slept a fair bit but in-between toilet trips I did manage to stay awake long enough to watch another Top Gear special, the Winter Olympics, which made me chuckle a lot – those guys are fantastic – it's almost as good as a chat with Mum on Skype for curing homesickness. Djalma left at some point in the evening to recharge the computer and send off C/S requests, he came back with a mixed juice – possibly not the best thing for a dodgy tummy - but I drank it down and after one last trip to the loo to wee from my bum, I was back upstairs and asleep.
At about 1.30am I was rudely awoken by some loud dance music from a nearby club, it kept me awake for quite a while, giving me plenty of time to feel sorry for myself and my over-active, under-solid bowels and also time to realise that I had caught the sun quite badly on my face, despite spending all day in the shade. The combination of liquid poo, the stairs, too much sleep, feeling groggy, under eating, dehydration, sun burn and the too warm temperature was just too much and I very selfishly woke my sleeping husband up to tell him how bad I was feeling and that I was worried we were going to run out of water (despite drinking hardly anything). Bless his heart, he woke up the night guard to let him out of the hotel and went to buy some water at silly o'clock in the morning and then came back to comfort me.
I woke up early, the heat of the sun making it too uncomfortably hot to just lay there trying to pretend that the world hadn't already woken up and the sun wasn't already beating down at 8am. I didn't feel quite right and wasn't sure of the reason until I went down to the forth floor (the roof was on the fifth) and the toilet to find that my time of diarrhoea free travelling had ended, hopefully only for a short time. Thanking god for the single western style toilet, it is bad enough waiting for your liquefied insides to empty dramatically from your backside but to do it trying to keep your balance on shaking legs is a step too far, I made my way back up the stairs to our mattresses feeling markedly worse for wear. We decided to spend the day not doing anything which took us far away from the toilet, so Djalma made us a little mattress roof for some shade so we could lie on the roof, enjoying the sea breeze while I tried to hold it together.
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| From 1 Aqaba |
I didn't manage that too well, drinking water or anything for that matter made me feel sick and I couldn't eat much either. Aside from breakfast at a local hummus/falafel street restaurant and some rice Djalma forced down my unwilling mouth early evening, I didn't eat much at all. I spent the day traversing the stairs between rest and release and I was absolutely shattered. I slept a fair bit but in-between toilet trips I did manage to stay awake long enough to watch another Top Gear special, the Winter Olympics, which made me chuckle a lot – those guys are fantastic – it's almost as good as a chat with Mum on Skype for curing homesickness. Djalma left at some point in the evening to recharge the computer and send off C/S requests, he came back with a mixed juice – possibly not the best thing for a dodgy tummy - but I drank it down and after one last trip to the loo to wee from my bum, I was back upstairs and asleep.
At about 1.30am I was rudely awoken by some loud dance music from a nearby club, it kept me awake for quite a while, giving me plenty of time to feel sorry for myself and my over-active, under-solid bowels and also time to realise that I had caught the sun quite badly on my face, despite spending all day in the shade. The combination of liquid poo, the stairs, too much sleep, feeling groggy, under eating, dehydration, sun burn and the too warm temperature was just too much and I very selfishly woke my sleeping husband up to tell him how bad I was feeling and that I was worried we were going to run out of water (despite drinking hardly anything). Bless his heart, he woke up the night guard to let him out of the hotel and went to buy some water at silly o'clock in the morning and then came back to comfort me.
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| From 1 Aqaba |
Day Fifty-one - Aqaba, Jordan
Thursday 22nd July 2010
After a gloriously cool nights sleep, despite the near constant chatter of two kiwis who decided they wanted to see the sunrise form the same rooftop we were sleeping on, we were up, showered and out for breakfast. We decided to break with our Egyptian tradition and forego the falafel, opting instead for spiced rice, salad and the most beautiful creamy hummus (the Egyptian stuff was rubbish – far too runny) with plenty of flat bread.
We wandered along the beach front stopping to sit and rest on a wall overlooking the beach. Underneath us there was a family with three young children sleeping under a sheet, the mother was really friendly and when she saw us looking at her sleeping angels and smiling, she started chatting and invited us down for food, having just eaten we declined but she insisted and passed some food up to us, hummus, foul (a creamed bean dish) and some freshly cooked bread. She was so sweet and friendly, I couldn't help but think that if the same situation had happened in Egypt we would have been wondering 'how much money will she want?' but she wanted nothing, she was just a lovely, generous, friendly woman. We eventually got to the tourist office (after being told off by the police for touching and even they were friendly) where they among other things, pointed us in the right direction for some good ice-cream where we duly headed and indulged in a single scoop each. We met the French/Flemish couple from the ferry crossing over, the second time we'd bumped into them that morning. After a small time chilling under the ice-cream shop's air-con we went in search of a café with wifi, a miserably hot and interminably long walk round the posh parts of Aqaba, absolutely painful in the heat. After about five years of what felt like aimless searching we ended up back near our hotel where we got directions to a nearby internet café and then spent most of the afternoon there, sleeping while Djalma tried to sort our the dodgy connection and then sorting out diary entries and uploading them onto our blog.
We left the café for the beach front to watch the sun set over Israel just across the water, it was gorgeous and then all the lights started coming on and made it even better – I do like to see the lights turn on a few at a time until it looks like a place is festooned with fairy lights. We walked along the sea front, the sand comfortably and refreshingly fine to walk on and in other places covered with sharp little stones trying to become one with the soles of my feet. The water was full of children playing, most of them hanging in the middle of the yellow rubber duckie rings being sold all along the beach front. It was such a nice way to spend an evening but we turned back in the direction of the internet café away from the fully clothed bathers, to go and finish up the work on the blog that we had left to catch the sun setting.
An hour and a half later we finished. I was wide awake from my nap in the afternoon but my body was knackered and I wasn't feeling too great in the heat. We got a massive juice for dinner and then headed back to our room on the roof to sleep under the stars.
After a gloriously cool nights sleep, despite the near constant chatter of two kiwis who decided they wanted to see the sunrise form the same rooftop we were sleeping on, we were up, showered and out for breakfast. We decided to break with our Egyptian tradition and forego the falafel, opting instead for spiced rice, salad and the most beautiful creamy hummus (the Egyptian stuff was rubbish – far too runny) with plenty of flat bread.
We wandered along the beach front stopping to sit and rest on a wall overlooking the beach. Underneath us there was a family with three young children sleeping under a sheet, the mother was really friendly and when she saw us looking at her sleeping angels and smiling, she started chatting and invited us down for food, having just eaten we declined but she insisted and passed some food up to us, hummus, foul (a creamed bean dish) and some freshly cooked bread. She was so sweet and friendly, I couldn't help but think that if the same situation had happened in Egypt we would have been wondering 'how much money will she want?' but she wanted nothing, she was just a lovely, generous, friendly woman. We eventually got to the tourist office (after being told off by the police for touching and even they were friendly) where they among other things, pointed us in the right direction for some good ice-cream where we duly headed and indulged in a single scoop each. We met the French/Flemish couple from the ferry crossing over, the second time we'd bumped into them that morning. After a small time chilling under the ice-cream shop's air-con we went in search of a café with wifi, a miserably hot and interminably long walk round the posh parts of Aqaba, absolutely painful in the heat. After about five years of what felt like aimless searching we ended up back near our hotel where we got directions to a nearby internet café and then spent most of the afternoon there, sleeping while Djalma tried to sort our the dodgy connection and then sorting out diary entries and uploading them onto our blog.
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| From 1 Aqaba |
We left the café for the beach front to watch the sun set over Israel just across the water, it was gorgeous and then all the lights started coming on and made it even better – I do like to see the lights turn on a few at a time until it looks like a place is festooned with fairy lights. We walked along the sea front, the sand comfortably and refreshingly fine to walk on and in other places covered with sharp little stones trying to become one with the soles of my feet. The water was full of children playing, most of them hanging in the middle of the yellow rubber duckie rings being sold all along the beach front. It was such a nice way to spend an evening but we turned back in the direction of the internet café away from the fully clothed bathers, to go and finish up the work on the blog that we had left to catch the sun setting.
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| From 1 Aqaba |
An hour and a half later we finished. I was wide awake from my nap in the afternoon but my body was knackered and I wasn't feeling too great in the heat. We got a massive juice for dinner and then headed back to our room on the roof to sleep under the stars.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Day Fifty - Dahab, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan
Wednesday 21st July 2010
Wow, it seem that we spent the whole day waiting to get out of Egypt and into Jordan, most likely because that is exactly what happened.
Feeling a bit queasy from the three beers each last night, we got up, Djalma packed and organised while I lay on the bed feeling sorry for myself and then we got a cheap taxi to the station with plenty of time to get our bus to Nuweiba for the ferry to Aqaba, the southernmost tip of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Once we arrived at the port in Nuweiba we had a good long wait for the ferry – around three hours as it was running late. There was a fairly big group of us waiting for the ferry and all of them were really friendly but I was too hot and crabby to socialise much and spent a good part of the time whinging or watching Top Gear's Vietnam Special which had me in stitches.
When we eventually got on the ferry it was just a matter of time – about an hour or so, before we landed in Aqaba and were stamped through passport control and welcomed into Jordan. First impressions were good at the port the men working were not sleazy and they welcomed us like they meant it, so far so good. We all shared taxis into town to find cheap hotels and said goodbye from there, some of us exchanging numbers and email addresses. Djalma and I sorted ourselves out on a rooftop with an amazing view of Aqaba, we dumped our bags and then did some lazy wandering/exploring. We had some ice cold Kirkady, a hibiscus drink and bought some long shorts for me to sleep in for when we aren't in a private room. Everyone is really friendly and really polite, shop assistants are helpful and don't get narked when you ask to see something and then don't buy it and there are no double prices – heaven! The downside is that everything is more expensive but not to worry – it's a small price to pay for equality and no hassle. Welcome to Jordan!
Wow, it seem that we spent the whole day waiting to get out of Egypt and into Jordan, most likely because that is exactly what happened.
Feeling a bit queasy from the three beers each last night, we got up, Djalma packed and organised while I lay on the bed feeling sorry for myself and then we got a cheap taxi to the station with plenty of time to get our bus to Nuweiba for the ferry to Aqaba, the southernmost tip of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Once we arrived at the port in Nuweiba we had a good long wait for the ferry – around three hours as it was running late. There was a fairly big group of us waiting for the ferry and all of them were really friendly but I was too hot and crabby to socialise much and spent a good part of the time whinging or watching Top Gear's Vietnam Special which had me in stitches.
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| From 10 Dahab |
When we eventually got on the ferry it was just a matter of time – about an hour or so, before we landed in Aqaba and were stamped through passport control and welcomed into Jordan. First impressions were good at the port the men working were not sleazy and they welcomed us like they meant it, so far so good. We all shared taxis into town to find cheap hotels and said goodbye from there, some of us exchanging numbers and email addresses. Djalma and I sorted ourselves out on a rooftop with an amazing view of Aqaba, we dumped our bags and then did some lazy wandering/exploring. We had some ice cold Kirkady, a hibiscus drink and bought some long shorts for me to sleep in for when we aren't in a private room. Everyone is really friendly and really polite, shop assistants are helpful and don't get narked when you ask to see something and then don't buy it and there are no double prices – heaven! The downside is that everything is more expensive but not to worry – it's a small price to pay for equality and no hassle. Welcome to Jordan!
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| From 1 Aqaba |
Day Forty-nine - Dahab, Egypt
Tuesday 20th July 2010
We had a different addition to our little group, Mandy was only out for the dive yesterday and this time we had a very talkative, friendly South African called Rene who got on Matt's nerves a little by talking too much – a shame because she was really rather sweet. We all boxed up our stuff after going through the homework and knowledge review for the day's dives; the obligatory deep dive (to 30m) and a self planned multilevel dive. We bundled into a taxi which took us to roughly the same area as yesterdays afternoon dive and after a thorough briefing we tackled the deep dive. This was one that I was feeling rather anxious about, I didn't know what to expect whether it would be cold and dark or enclosed, but it turned out to be fine. We swam along to the beginning of the Canyon, passing shoals of fish and different coral on the sea bed to the beginning of the Canyon, approaching it we saw a long thin beautiful curtain of small bubbles, it was astonishingly beautiful and stretched out for about ten metres. I asked Matt what was causing it and he tapped his regulator, confused – I knew it was air, I'm not that thick – I saw the reason for it when we swam over the top – a line of divers at the bottom deep in the Canyon, their bubbles spread out by the coral and sand in the sea bed at the top.
The canyon was surrounded by coral and schools of fish but there wasn't much inside the canyon, I was grateful because one of my primary concerns is knocking something over and killing it, we descended two at a time. I had briefed Djalma on the buddy system that I wanted to use for these two dives – hand holding and never being separated, so he was very reassuring so going down was amazing, it got darker and the space we had wasn't much but I didn't spaz out or feel overwhelmed instead I really enjoyed it, we got to the bottom and did a colour test and some basic maths to determine if we were suffering from nitrogen narcosis, the effects being very similar to being drunk. I was utterly disappointed when the realisation came that I was not narked, just a bit slow even at basic addition. It was much lighter at the bottom than I had anticipated, which was nice and reassuring, we swam along the bottom for a bit, whizzing through our air at such a low depth but we ascended at the end of the short canyon to continue our fun outside. The canyon was just amazing and I had more fun diving here than I thought possible, it was so different to anything we had seen in any of our previous dives, just incredible.
We swam along to our exit point, different to the entry point, over table coral, a giant pufferfish, loads of different wrasse (some of the most colourful and patterned fish in the Red Sea) including bird, unicorn and cleaner wrasse, the latter of which cleans divers teeth if they remove their regulators Djalma, Matt and Rene had fun doing this but I was a bit preoccupied with choking so I gave it a miss.
We had a good long lunch break – about three hours, talking about how amazing the dive was and going through all our knowledge reviews and then planning our afternoon dive.
Soon enough we were back in the water, this time for our multilevel dive in Bells to Blue Hole. Blue Hole has a particularly bad reputation as a dangerous dive site after several divers have died trying to dive it. What is remarkable about the blue hole is that it is enclosed by a sheer coral wall all the way round and is an immediate drop to 110metres from the shore. The surface was covered with sizzling snorkellers all enjoying the deep blue – you can't see the bottom.
My spazzing out limits were sorely tested by just the idea of diving here, but in our briefing Matt put our minds at ease and as always calmed everyone down and made us all feel safe, so at the starting point of the dive a group descent to ten metres and then a chimney drop we had to do by ourselves – single file one on top of the other (with big gaps between, of course) didn't seem so stomach churningly impossible after all.
While it was my turn down the chimney (shaped like a rough 'C', we went down with our backs to the wall, facing out to the blue) I heard a mad pinging from Matt to get everyone's attention, this was just before I was bout to go down passed the closed section, underneath which the chimney stopped and went into the see. I looked up to see a Hawksbill Turtle swimming by - incredible - I took it as a personal message from the big man above that everything was fine. It didn't stop me from getting out of there as fast as my fins would propel me nor did it make me brave enough to look in the dark shadows or holes under ledges and outcrops as I sank, I kept my eyes on the prize – the bottom of the chimney. I felt quite a sense of achievement at doing it AND enjoying it. Djalma came down after me, at the briefing Matt gave him special permission to go head first (upside down!) while everyone else had to do it normally, it was quite possibly the best early Christmas present a person could give him, he spun round inside the chimney like he had a sick wish but made it to the bottom and gave me the 'fucking cool' sign – lots of hip thrusting followed by big OK finger signs.
All grouped together again, we swam up a little bit to conserve our air consumption and followed a single solid wall of coral which stretched from all the way down out of the blue to just below the surface of the sea. So we swam along with the never ending wall of coral to our right – our last dive in Dahab, our last dive with Matt – with the sea stretching out around us, a peaceful deep sky blue where ever we looked, never getting darker just the same shade below and around us, so calming and at the same time awe-inspiring. There were huge patches of enormous elephant ear coral, covering sections of the coral wall, incredible in size, shape and perfection. We also saw tuna (very far away), masked pufferfish, giant clams, splendour wrasse, parrot wrasse, royal angelfish, fire coral and gorgeous mushroom leather coral. There was a nice gentle current which helped us along, we saw antheus swimming into it giving us clues that it was there – it was so gentle. We swan up to seven metres to pass over the saddle into the Blue Hole, a section of coral ring which was deeper underwater and a much safer bet than the other entry point for divers, 57 metres below sea level – no thanks. Once in we slowly swan around the edge to the exit point. At our safety stop I hovered the entire three minutes watching two Red Sea Anemonefish swim around outside there home – a green sack holding the anemone clearly visible, it looked like a home in a bag – it was just stunning.
We got out the water, our minds blown by the most incredible day of diving and another turtle!
We headed back to the centre in the same taxi we came in, cleaned our kits and then sat down to our new Advanced Certificate paperwork and we said goodbye to Rene. We had arranged with Matt to go out for a couple of beers as it was our last day, Linda met us along the way and after many stops we eventually sat down at a restaurant by the sea and polished off a record three beers each and a cherry sheesha. We spent most of the time talking about the diving and our time in Dahab it was a lovely end to a beautiful day, but saying goodbye was much more difficult than we expected it to be and we made the goodbye a short one. More than the beauty of the Red Sea and an amazing location near the desert and the mountain, Matt was the main reason for such a delightful stay in what became our favourite place in Egypt. Goodbye Dahab, sniff sniff.
To Marcel and Henrique:
Alemão, you bought us a day in Egypt. I had no idea which one to choose until we got to the end of the second dive. The advanced course wasn't planned so your generous present went towards that. Thanks brow. After handball and snowboarding, diving is my new sport. If you haven't dived yet, you gotta do it! It's just amazing!
Henrique, I know you've been going diving, so you know what we're talking about. I had to change your present to this amazing unexpected experience since we've decided not to take the risk of getting an Israeli stamp in our beautiful passports (that would prevent us from getting in four countries ahead in our long journey).
Thank you guys! And as lots of T-shirts advised in Dahab:
Dive now, work later!
We had a different addition to our little group, Mandy was only out for the dive yesterday and this time we had a very talkative, friendly South African called Rene who got on Matt's nerves a little by talking too much – a shame because she was really rather sweet. We all boxed up our stuff after going through the homework and knowledge review for the day's dives; the obligatory deep dive (to 30m) and a self planned multilevel dive. We bundled into a taxi which took us to roughly the same area as yesterdays afternoon dive and after a thorough briefing we tackled the deep dive. This was one that I was feeling rather anxious about, I didn't know what to expect whether it would be cold and dark or enclosed, but it turned out to be fine. We swam along to the beginning of the Canyon, passing shoals of fish and different coral on the sea bed to the beginning of the Canyon, approaching it we saw a long thin beautiful curtain of small bubbles, it was astonishingly beautiful and stretched out for about ten metres. I asked Matt what was causing it and he tapped his regulator, confused – I knew it was air, I'm not that thick – I saw the reason for it when we swam over the top – a line of divers at the bottom deep in the Canyon, their bubbles spread out by the coral and sand in the sea bed at the top.
The canyon was surrounded by coral and schools of fish but there wasn't much inside the canyon, I was grateful because one of my primary concerns is knocking something over and killing it, we descended two at a time. I had briefed Djalma on the buddy system that I wanted to use for these two dives – hand holding and never being separated, so he was very reassuring so going down was amazing, it got darker and the space we had wasn't much but I didn't spaz out or feel overwhelmed instead I really enjoyed it, we got to the bottom and did a colour test and some basic maths to determine if we were suffering from nitrogen narcosis, the effects being very similar to being drunk. I was utterly disappointed when the realisation came that I was not narked, just a bit slow even at basic addition. It was much lighter at the bottom than I had anticipated, which was nice and reassuring, we swam along the bottom for a bit, whizzing through our air at such a low depth but we ascended at the end of the short canyon to continue our fun outside. The canyon was just amazing and I had more fun diving here than I thought possible, it was so different to anything we had seen in any of our previous dives, just incredible.
We swam along to our exit point, different to the entry point, over table coral, a giant pufferfish, loads of different wrasse (some of the most colourful and patterned fish in the Red Sea) including bird, unicorn and cleaner wrasse, the latter of which cleans divers teeth if they remove their regulators Djalma, Matt and Rene had fun doing this but I was a bit preoccupied with choking so I gave it a miss.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We had a good long lunch break – about three hours, talking about how amazing the dive was and going through all our knowledge reviews and then planning our afternoon dive.
Soon enough we were back in the water, this time for our multilevel dive in Bells to Blue Hole. Blue Hole has a particularly bad reputation as a dangerous dive site after several divers have died trying to dive it. What is remarkable about the blue hole is that it is enclosed by a sheer coral wall all the way round and is an immediate drop to 110metres from the shore. The surface was covered with sizzling snorkellers all enjoying the deep blue – you can't see the bottom.
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| From 10 Dahab |
My spazzing out limits were sorely tested by just the idea of diving here, but in our briefing Matt put our minds at ease and as always calmed everyone down and made us all feel safe, so at the starting point of the dive a group descent to ten metres and then a chimney drop we had to do by ourselves – single file one on top of the other (with big gaps between, of course) didn't seem so stomach churningly impossible after all.
While it was my turn down the chimney (shaped like a rough 'C', we went down with our backs to the wall, facing out to the blue) I heard a mad pinging from Matt to get everyone's attention, this was just before I was bout to go down passed the closed section, underneath which the chimney stopped and went into the see. I looked up to see a Hawksbill Turtle swimming by - incredible - I took it as a personal message from the big man above that everything was fine. It didn't stop me from getting out of there as fast as my fins would propel me nor did it make me brave enough to look in the dark shadows or holes under ledges and outcrops as I sank, I kept my eyes on the prize – the bottom of the chimney. I felt quite a sense of achievement at doing it AND enjoying it. Djalma came down after me, at the briefing Matt gave him special permission to go head first (upside down!) while everyone else had to do it normally, it was quite possibly the best early Christmas present a person could give him, he spun round inside the chimney like he had a sick wish but made it to the bottom and gave me the 'fucking cool' sign – lots of hip thrusting followed by big OK finger signs.
All grouped together again, we swam up a little bit to conserve our air consumption and followed a single solid wall of coral which stretched from all the way down out of the blue to just below the surface of the sea. So we swam along with the never ending wall of coral to our right – our last dive in Dahab, our last dive with Matt – with the sea stretching out around us, a peaceful deep sky blue where ever we looked, never getting darker just the same shade below and around us, so calming and at the same time awe-inspiring. There were huge patches of enormous elephant ear coral, covering sections of the coral wall, incredible in size, shape and perfection. We also saw tuna (very far away), masked pufferfish, giant clams, splendour wrasse, parrot wrasse, royal angelfish, fire coral and gorgeous mushroom leather coral. There was a nice gentle current which helped us along, we saw antheus swimming into it giving us clues that it was there – it was so gentle. We swan up to seven metres to pass over the saddle into the Blue Hole, a section of coral ring which was deeper underwater and a much safer bet than the other entry point for divers, 57 metres below sea level – no thanks. Once in we slowly swan around the edge to the exit point. At our safety stop I hovered the entire three minutes watching two Red Sea Anemonefish swim around outside there home – a green sack holding the anemone clearly visible, it looked like a home in a bag – it was just stunning.
We got out the water, our minds blown by the most incredible day of diving and another turtle!
We headed back to the centre in the same taxi we came in, cleaned our kits and then sat down to our new Advanced Certificate paperwork and we said goodbye to Rene. We had arranged with Matt to go out for a couple of beers as it was our last day, Linda met us along the way and after many stops we eventually sat down at a restaurant by the sea and polished off a record three beers each and a cherry sheesha. We spent most of the time talking about the diving and our time in Dahab it was a lovely end to a beautiful day, but saying goodbye was much more difficult than we expected it to be and we made the goodbye a short one. More than the beauty of the Red Sea and an amazing location near the desert and the mountain, Matt was the main reason for such a delightful stay in what became our favourite place in Egypt. Goodbye Dahab, sniff sniff.
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| From 10 Dahab |
To Marcel and Henrique:
Alemão, you bought us a day in Egypt. I had no idea which one to choose until we got to the end of the second dive. The advanced course wasn't planned so your generous present went towards that. Thanks brow. After handball and snowboarding, diving is my new sport. If you haven't dived yet, you gotta do it! It's just amazing!
Henrique, I know you've been going diving, so you know what we're talking about. I had to change your present to this amazing unexpected experience since we've decided not to take the risk of getting an Israeli stamp in our beautiful passports (that would prevent us from getting in four countries ahead in our long journey).
Thank you guys! And as lots of T-shirts advised in Dahab:
Dive now, work later!
Day Forty-eight - Dahab, Egypt
Monday 19th July 2010
It was a late start to the day. We woke up late, Djalma went out to get breakfast, surprise – falafel! While I stayed back and tried to catch up on my diary and our pictures. We ate breakfast and did our homework, this time for the Naturalist Chapter (not to be confused with nudist or naturist!) as well as the back log for the other knowledge reviews that we hadn't done – not multiple choice they took a lot longer to complete. Instead of looking out for different fish families like yesterday (scorpion, wrasse, puffer and butterfly) we focussed on different corals.
Out near the dive site - Ricks Bay to Canyon we suited up, were briefed and got into it. It was stunning and again the “skills” were not demanding, we swan along looking for different coral for over fifty minutes we saw; brain, fire, raspberry, pore and broccoli coral and on the way back another diver, Mandy, who had joined us for the dive pointed out what looked two injured, limping lionfish covered in vegetation, but were actually two rare Red Sea Walkmen, it was a great end to a great dive, we got out, I was enthusiastic again and we went back to the centre to debrief and talk about the things we'd seen and identify the coral we didn't know the names for.
We had showers and dressed nicely for our romantic dinner by the sea, a present from Biriba and De (thank you!). We started with a beer and some very cheesy garlic bread in one restaurant which was soon followed by a walk to a restaurant where the waiter didn't insist on listening to Whitney Houston or Celine Dion on repeat at an ear splitting level. It was a shame that we didn't love it as much as he did, he was grooving and getting into the music out in the street, perhaps unsurprisingly his niche taste in music and intense moves did not attract the crowds.
We headed back to Funny Mummy, a chilled out place with excellent music right on the seafront, cushions on the floor and low tables topped with candles. After a lot of deliberation we settled on some fried calamari for a starter. It was heaven, big juicy chunks in a light batter and cooked to perfection, despite not feeling all that hungry we wanted to make the most of our gift and so shared a meal, some grilled fish, king prawns, rice and vegetables which followed some mammoth onion rings as a second starter as washed down with some good old Sakara.
Feeling full but chilled out we headed away from the sea front and the view of Saudi Arabia and into an internet café where Djalma called home and I sent some couch-surfing requests. We headed back to our hotel where we tried to arrange to stay in the same room instead of being turfed out into a different room also with air-conditioning. It all ended a bit nastily and Djalma told the turd behind the front desk where to go and what to do when he got there. It wasn't the nicest end to a lovely evening and I was a bit worried that he would turn up with some extra people and kick us out the hotel, so I locked the door and left the key in before going to sleep. The last part aside it was another gorgeous day in beautiful Dahab.
It was a late start to the day. We woke up late, Djalma went out to get breakfast, surprise – falafel! While I stayed back and tried to catch up on my diary and our pictures. We ate breakfast and did our homework, this time for the Naturalist Chapter (not to be confused with nudist or naturist!) as well as the back log for the other knowledge reviews that we hadn't done – not multiple choice they took a lot longer to complete. Instead of looking out for different fish families like yesterday (scorpion, wrasse, puffer and butterfly) we focussed on different corals.
Out near the dive site - Ricks Bay to Canyon we suited up, were briefed and got into it. It was stunning and again the “skills” were not demanding, we swan along looking for different coral for over fifty minutes we saw; brain, fire, raspberry, pore and broccoli coral and on the way back another diver, Mandy, who had joined us for the dive pointed out what looked two injured, limping lionfish covered in vegetation, but were actually two rare Red Sea Walkmen, it was a great end to a great dive, we got out, I was enthusiastic again and we went back to the centre to debrief and talk about the things we'd seen and identify the coral we didn't know the names for.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We had showers and dressed nicely for our romantic dinner by the sea, a present from Biriba and De (thank you!). We started with a beer and some very cheesy garlic bread in one restaurant which was soon followed by a walk to a restaurant where the waiter didn't insist on listening to Whitney Houston or Celine Dion on repeat at an ear splitting level. It was a shame that we didn't love it as much as he did, he was grooving and getting into the music out in the street, perhaps unsurprisingly his niche taste in music and intense moves did not attract the crowds.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We headed back to Funny Mummy, a chilled out place with excellent music right on the seafront, cushions on the floor and low tables topped with candles. After a lot of deliberation we settled on some fried calamari for a starter. It was heaven, big juicy chunks in a light batter and cooked to perfection, despite not feeling all that hungry we wanted to make the most of our gift and so shared a meal, some grilled fish, king prawns, rice and vegetables which followed some mammoth onion rings as a second starter as washed down with some good old Sakara.
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| From 10 Dahab |
Feeling full but chilled out we headed away from the sea front and the view of Saudi Arabia and into an internet café where Djalma called home and I sent some couch-surfing requests. We headed back to our hotel where we tried to arrange to stay in the same room instead of being turfed out into a different room also with air-conditioning. It all ended a bit nastily and Djalma told the turd behind the front desk where to go and what to do when he got there. It wasn't the nicest end to a lovely evening and I was a bit worried that he would turn up with some extra people and kick us out the hotel, so I locked the door and left the key in before going to sleep. The last part aside it was another gorgeous day in beautiful Dahab.
Day Forty-seven - Dahab, Egypt
Sunday 18th July 2010
We started back with Matt this morning, it felt a bit weird to do a course without Amy but is was really good to continue lessons. We got stuck in with the obligatory Navigation Course and strapped on the compass and jumped through all the hoops the unit required. Even though the unit was a bit boring and at times confusing (for my over taxed brain not Djalma's) it was still good, being back in the water and being able to watch the fish swim by.
We broke for a quick lunch and then got stuck back in with the AWARE Unit which focusses on different fish and caring for the aquatic environment. We went out to the Islands, three big coral underwater islands, a taxi ride away. I was really quite excited, especially as the unit wasn't very demanding – swim around and look at fish and hopefully try and remember what they were, however once we were in the water and swimming around I felt overwhelmed and quite a bit anxious. The area was spectacular but a little bit too daunting, we swam between the island and over massive coral beds so big and deep that they seemed to rise up from the blue and not the sea bed, my mind went into Jaws overload and I got over it as fast as I could, which was such a shame because it was so beautiful. It also didn't help that just before the end we had to swim through two small joined caves both of them open topped but to enter we had to swim through an archway, the fit was tight and I bounced off the top in my haste to get through. Djalma was fine, of course and didn't even notice the two (poisonous) lionfish kicking back in the corner,
terrorising me before I'd even got into the cave. Matt swan through before me – not in the plan – which caused me to lose it a bit- I was counting on a Sarah sandwich to feel safe, but I was unspeakably grateful when I realised it was to form a human barrier between me and the lionfish in the corner. We got through the caves and out of the water - it was the only dive that I was grateful when it had finished and I could get out of the water.
We packed up our stuff and headed back in the taxi (they wait for the duration of the dive), the mood a little bit lower because not all of us (me) had really enjoyed the dive. Homework was set back at the centre and we tootled off back to our, now air-conditioned room to read and sleep.
We started back with Matt this morning, it felt a bit weird to do a course without Amy but is was really good to continue lessons. We got stuck in with the obligatory Navigation Course and strapped on the compass and jumped through all the hoops the unit required. Even though the unit was a bit boring and at times confusing (for my over taxed brain not Djalma's) it was still good, being back in the water and being able to watch the fish swim by.
We broke for a quick lunch and then got stuck back in with the AWARE Unit which focusses on different fish and caring for the aquatic environment. We went out to the Islands, three big coral underwater islands, a taxi ride away. I was really quite excited, especially as the unit wasn't very demanding – swim around and look at fish and hopefully try and remember what they were, however once we were in the water and swimming around I felt overwhelmed and quite a bit anxious. The area was spectacular but a little bit too daunting, we swam between the island and over massive coral beds so big and deep that they seemed to rise up from the blue and not the sea bed, my mind went into Jaws overload and I got over it as fast as I could, which was such a shame because it was so beautiful. It also didn't help that just before the end we had to swim through two small joined caves both of them open topped but to enter we had to swim through an archway, the fit was tight and I bounced off the top in my haste to get through. Djalma was fine, of course and didn't even notice the two (poisonous) lionfish kicking back in the corner,
terrorising me before I'd even got into the cave. Matt swan through before me – not in the plan – which caused me to lose it a bit- I was counting on a Sarah sandwich to feel safe, but I was unspeakably grateful when I realised it was to form a human barrier between me and the lionfish in the corner. We got through the caves and out of the water - it was the only dive that I was grateful when it had finished and I could get out of the water.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We packed up our stuff and headed back in the taxi (they wait for the duration of the dive), the mood a little bit lower because not all of us (me) had really enjoyed the dive. Homework was set back at the centre and we tootled off back to our, now air-conditioned room to read and sleep.
Day Forty-six - Mt Sinai and Dahab, Egypt
Saturday 17th July
After a cold hour or so trying to sleep and waking up to an very unspectacular sunrise we walked around the top we started the bloody long trek back down. Despite being fortified by a pack of hobnobs (biscuits) the going was slow and our progress painful, we stopped a lot along the way resting our tired shaking legs. The sun rose and got hotter, I complained more and Djalma kept on pushing forward. Despite the unpleasantly long descent the mountains were amazing, in one place there was a rock formation that looked a bit like a camel and in the distance we could see the Monastery, hooray! But twenty minutes later we weren't that much closer – how demoralising, we chowed down the two galaxy caramel bars from last nights pudding and made the final push to the finish without stopping. We decided to forgo St Catherine's Monastery – at that point we really couldn't have cared less, instead we stumbled back to the pick-up point to wait for our air-conditioned mini bus our legs shaking and knees occasionally giving out.
We plonked ourselves down only to find that after our long wait that the guy's air-conditioning was “broken” what a cheapskate, we sizzled all the way back to the hotel, checked in and promptly fell asleep. Ten hours later we woke up, sticky and hungry and went to get dinner and our bags that we had left at Matt's house, we turned up around 11pm catching him before bed and then had the long trek back to our hotel on the other side on town. Despite sleeping for ten hours I fell asleep while reading the Navigation Chapter as homework for the advanced course we started the following morning.
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| From 10 Dahab |
After a cold hour or so trying to sleep and waking up to an very unspectacular sunrise we walked around the top we started the bloody long trek back down. Despite being fortified by a pack of hobnobs (biscuits) the going was slow and our progress painful, we stopped a lot along the way resting our tired shaking legs. The sun rose and got hotter, I complained more and Djalma kept on pushing forward. Despite the unpleasantly long descent the mountains were amazing, in one place there was a rock formation that looked a bit like a camel and in the distance we could see the Monastery, hooray! But twenty minutes later we weren't that much closer – how demoralising, we chowed down the two galaxy caramel bars from last nights pudding and made the final push to the finish without stopping. We decided to forgo St Catherine's Monastery – at that point we really couldn't have cared less, instead we stumbled back to the pick-up point to wait for our air-conditioned mini bus our legs shaking and knees occasionally giving out.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We plonked ourselves down only to find that after our long wait that the guy's air-conditioning was “broken” what a cheapskate, we sizzled all the way back to the hotel, checked in and promptly fell asleep. Ten hours later we woke up, sticky and hungry and went to get dinner and our bags that we had left at Matt's house, we turned up around 11pm catching him before bed and then had the long trek back to our hotel on the other side on town. Despite sleeping for ten hours I fell asleep while reading the Navigation Chapter as homework for the advanced course we started the following morning.
Day Forty-five - Dahab and Mt Sinai, Egypt
Friday 16th July 2010
We slept in late trying to enjoy the little breeze coming through the front door but failing miserably in the heat, we eventually got up and went out for breakfast. Walking into town to get something to eat, I got a bit overwhelmed at all the talk of more diving, especially because it didn't feel like we were enjoying our very recent success as much as we should have been, and I had a bit of a cry. The Advanced Open Water course consisted of five different dives, two of which were mandatory; a navigation dive and a deep dive to 30 metres. Djalma was really keen to do a night dive and I felt awful for being such a big girl and not wanting to do it because I was afraid of the dark still – ridiculous I know but I really didn't want to test my limits that much. In the end we decided to take it a bit slower and do some less taxing dives which worked out quite nicely in the end.
When we got into town we spent time chilling out in an internet café/restaurant and Djalma left me there while he went all over town getting ingredients for an Egyptian feijoada. He bumped into Clare and Lil along the way and invited them over for dinner and then came back to collect his tired but slightly less emotional wife to go back to Matt's and start the dinner. The heat was intense and there was barely a breeze in the air, we were slick with sweat by the time we got back and then had to get straight to work in the kitchen. I managed to chop three massive onions before I passed out on the couch and slept solidly for two hours while Djalma sweated away in the kitchen, by the time he had finished he looked like he had bathed in baby oil! Linda dropped by hoping to see Matt but found us instead and helped us to shell the mountain of beans for the meat/bean sauce. She had to leave before dinner was ready and so Djalma made her a vegetarian version for her to eat before she went off to do a night dive. Soon enough Clare and Lil arrived with beer and pudding, by now dinner was almost ready and it was good to have more help shelling the bean – the skins were so tough that it would've been quite unpleasant to eat them with their skins on. Everyone helped themselves to the different dishes on the hob and we all sat outside in the enclosed garden drinking beer, laughing, talking and sweating, it was a lovely, fun, relaxed evening, my favourite in Dahab so far.
Djalma and I had a date to climb Mt Sinai, courtesy of Careca and Elke (thank you!) and so headed off early to get the bus to the bottom of the mountain. It was slightly cooler there but climbing up kept us more than warm and so we didn't need the fleeces we'd brought with us until we got to the top and had stopped. Our guide up the mountain was shocking, a short skinny Bedouin with almost no English to speak of, he charged off (doing this climb every day had made him super fit) and lost Amy and her new friend in the first three minutes not realising until a good twenty minutes later. He sent someone back down to look for them which was hopeless because he had no idea who he had lost, while waiting for them to catch up, hopefully, they rode by high up on a couple of camels and so we started off again. We stopped several times to rest, much needed – although you have to be relatively fit for diving it's not an energetic sport by any means, we made it very slowly up the seven hundred odd steps to the summit very slowly keeping our place in the enormous queue to get to the top. I've no idea how somebody calculated the number of steps, in some places it was moderately safe rocks to step on and in others more like a bumpy ramp, but we made it and found a spot near the edge to lie and wait for the sun to rise. We were absolutely shattered and tried to cuddle up together to keep warm, the sky was light well before we saw the sun, which appeared about fifteen minutes after the true sunrise, hidden by low-lying clouds and a heavy mist.
During the time that we were cuddled up Djalma overhead an annoyingly loud and talkative Brazilian who was commenting on everyone that she saw, at one point she commented on us 'oh, look at those two lying together, oh, but look where they are – so close to the edge, no I'm better off here. Hmm, look at his hair, that can't have seen water in at least four days.' she had fallen victim to the assumption that no-one else can understand you, so you can what you like as loud as you like, oops.
We slept in late trying to enjoy the little breeze coming through the front door but failing miserably in the heat, we eventually got up and went out for breakfast. Walking into town to get something to eat, I got a bit overwhelmed at all the talk of more diving, especially because it didn't feel like we were enjoying our very recent success as much as we should have been, and I had a bit of a cry. The Advanced Open Water course consisted of five different dives, two of which were mandatory; a navigation dive and a deep dive to 30 metres. Djalma was really keen to do a night dive and I felt awful for being such a big girl and not wanting to do it because I was afraid of the dark still – ridiculous I know but I really didn't want to test my limits that much. In the end we decided to take it a bit slower and do some less taxing dives which worked out quite nicely in the end.
When we got into town we spent time chilling out in an internet café/restaurant and Djalma left me there while he went all over town getting ingredients for an Egyptian feijoada. He bumped into Clare and Lil along the way and invited them over for dinner and then came back to collect his tired but slightly less emotional wife to go back to Matt's and start the dinner. The heat was intense and there was barely a breeze in the air, we were slick with sweat by the time we got back and then had to get straight to work in the kitchen. I managed to chop three massive onions before I passed out on the couch and slept solidly for two hours while Djalma sweated away in the kitchen, by the time he had finished he looked like he had bathed in baby oil! Linda dropped by hoping to see Matt but found us instead and helped us to shell the mountain of beans for the meat/bean sauce. She had to leave before dinner was ready and so Djalma made her a vegetarian version for her to eat before she went off to do a night dive. Soon enough Clare and Lil arrived with beer and pudding, by now dinner was almost ready and it was good to have more help shelling the bean – the skins were so tough that it would've been quite unpleasant to eat them with their skins on. Everyone helped themselves to the different dishes on the hob and we all sat outside in the enclosed garden drinking beer, laughing, talking and sweating, it was a lovely, fun, relaxed evening, my favourite in Dahab so far.
Djalma and I had a date to climb Mt Sinai, courtesy of Careca and Elke (thank you!) and so headed off early to get the bus to the bottom of the mountain. It was slightly cooler there but climbing up kept us more than warm and so we didn't need the fleeces we'd brought with us until we got to the top and had stopped. Our guide up the mountain was shocking, a short skinny Bedouin with almost no English to speak of, he charged off (doing this climb every day had made him super fit) and lost Amy and her new friend in the first three minutes not realising until a good twenty minutes later. He sent someone back down to look for them which was hopeless because he had no idea who he had lost, while waiting for them to catch up, hopefully, they rode by high up on a couple of camels and so we started off again. We stopped several times to rest, much needed – although you have to be relatively fit for diving it's not an energetic sport by any means, we made it very slowly up the seven hundred odd steps to the summit very slowly keeping our place in the enormous queue to get to the top. I've no idea how somebody calculated the number of steps, in some places it was moderately safe rocks to step on and in others more like a bumpy ramp, but we made it and found a spot near the edge to lie and wait for the sun to rise. We were absolutely shattered and tried to cuddle up together to keep warm, the sky was light well before we saw the sun, which appeared about fifteen minutes after the true sunrise, hidden by low-lying clouds and a heavy mist.
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| From 10 Dahab |
During the time that we were cuddled up Djalma overhead an annoyingly loud and talkative Brazilian who was commenting on everyone that she saw, at one point she commented on us 'oh, look at those two lying together, oh, but look where they are – so close to the edge, no I'm better off here. Hmm, look at his hair, that can't have seen water in at least four days.' she had fallen victim to the assumption that no-one else can understand you, so you can what you like as loud as you like, oops.
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| From 10 Dahab |
Day Forty-four - Dahab, Egypt
Thursday 15th July 2010
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
Today was the big day – the last two dives of our course to complete the PADI training and become PADI certified Open Water Divers. We started the morning at the dive centre before getting in a taxi and going to the dive site which was about a ten minute drive further along the coast. It was a stunning location, we left our bags in the restaurant by the shore, got into our gear and got stuck into the water. Five minutes into the dive Matt spotted a big green sea turtle, it was huge! He was resting on the bottom of the sea bed, 20m down eating sea grass, it was mesmerising and so exciting, we hovered (practising our super amazing hovering skills) for a good five minutes just watching him eat, he didn't seem the least bit perturbed at his four rapt spectators. I would've have been happy even if we'd had to finish our dive there and then, a massive green sea turtle, we were so lucky to see one, but our dive didn't finish and we carried on around Moray Garden. We didn't see any eels but the plant and fish life was amazing.
Forty-two minutes later we got out of the water, still disbelieving that we'd seen a turtle, at this point my burning desire to see a Napelonfish was completely forgotten. We sat down, ordered lunch and got stuck into our final exam. We all passed, although I was a bit worried that I wouldn't get enough right answers and celebrated with our fourth and final dive in Golden Blocks, which was right next to the first site, Moray Garden. It was a beautiful swim, the coral was stunning, as always and we saw some honeycombed pufferfish, I made sure to keep my distance while getting a good look. We were back out of the water in forty-five minutes, drying off and packing away our equipment for the short drive back to Planet dive where the final paperwork awaited us. It took a good long while to sort everything out but turtle talk got us through the tedium. Finally we were presented with our temporary certificates, our cards ordered and details logged.
We walked back along the front sharing a beer, elated from completing our course and began talking about our next step. We loved it so much that we decided to do the advanced course that evening. It was on the proviso that we take it slowly, I felt that I had already overcome or at least partially overcome my fear of the deep blue sea and things racing out from the deep to eat me or my toes and the thought of more of the unknown so soon did make me feel a bit overwhelmed.
We got back to Matt's place and spent a while talking to Kiki (Matt's flatmate) and then Linda and Matt showed up and we talked to them chatting about different things, enjoying having passed our course. We headed back into town after de-salting to meet Amy for a beer and some food to further celebrate our course. We met in Funny Mummy and bumped into Clare and Lil the divers and spent a lovely time drinking beer, talking, chasing away cats from our food and wolfing down hamburgers and chips – very welcome after five days of relatively light food. The excitement and the (single) beer proved a bit too much and I was falling asleep embarrassingly early so we headed back to Matt's house for some kip. A flipping lovely day.
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
Today was the big day – the last two dives of our course to complete the PADI training and become PADI certified Open Water Divers. We started the morning at the dive centre before getting in a taxi and going to the dive site which was about a ten minute drive further along the coast. It was a stunning location, we left our bags in the restaurant by the shore, got into our gear and got stuck into the water. Five minutes into the dive Matt spotted a big green sea turtle, it was huge! He was resting on the bottom of the sea bed, 20m down eating sea grass, it was mesmerising and so exciting, we hovered (practising our super amazing hovering skills) for a good five minutes just watching him eat, he didn't seem the least bit perturbed at his four rapt spectators. I would've have been happy even if we'd had to finish our dive there and then, a massive green sea turtle, we were so lucky to see one, but our dive didn't finish and we carried on around Moray Garden. We didn't see any eels but the plant and fish life was amazing.
Forty-two minutes later we got out of the water, still disbelieving that we'd seen a turtle, at this point my burning desire to see a Napelonfish was completely forgotten. We sat down, ordered lunch and got stuck into our final exam. We all passed, although I was a bit worried that I wouldn't get enough right answers and celebrated with our fourth and final dive in Golden Blocks, which was right next to the first site, Moray Garden. It was a beautiful swim, the coral was stunning, as always and we saw some honeycombed pufferfish, I made sure to keep my distance while getting a good look. We were back out of the water in forty-five minutes, drying off and packing away our equipment for the short drive back to Planet dive where the final paperwork awaited us. It took a good long while to sort everything out but turtle talk got us through the tedium. Finally we were presented with our temporary certificates, our cards ordered and details logged.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We walked back along the front sharing a beer, elated from completing our course and began talking about our next step. We loved it so much that we decided to do the advanced course that evening. It was on the proviso that we take it slowly, I felt that I had already overcome or at least partially overcome my fear of the deep blue sea and things racing out from the deep to eat me or my toes and the thought of more of the unknown so soon did make me feel a bit overwhelmed.
We got back to Matt's place and spent a while talking to Kiki (Matt's flatmate) and then Linda and Matt showed up and we talked to them chatting about different things, enjoying having passed our course. We headed back into town after de-salting to meet Amy for a beer and some food to further celebrate our course. We met in Funny Mummy and bumped into Clare and Lil the divers and spent a lovely time drinking beer, talking, chasing away cats from our food and wolfing down hamburgers and chips – very welcome after five days of relatively light food. The excitement and the (single) beer proved a bit too much and I was falling asleep embarrassingly early so we headed back to Matt's house for some kip. A flipping lovely day.
Day Forty-three - Dahab, Egypt
Wednesday 14th July 2010
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
It was yet another gorgeous day, we had mango for breakfast on the way to school and then stuffed down the muffins once we arrived not realising that we wouldn't have the knowledge review time to digest them, we were going straight into the water. I felt a fair bit queasy and on a couple of occasions I thought I was about to see my breakfast again. We did Confined Water 4 and I managed to keep my breakfast down, thank God, I don't want to experience the sensation of vomiting under water. We raced through the skills coming out of the water fairly early, our hovering a vast improvement on recent days – it's hard to believe we are the same students as two days ago.
We had a good long lunch, this time with Matt, back at the same falafel joint – damn his falafels were good. Despite the long lunch we were back to the grind before long, this time to do Open Water 2. What an amazing dive, we started out with a couple of skills including the CESA which is a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent, I found it quite difficult going too slow instead of too fast and almost running out of air but I made it to the surface and then the fun started. We swam round Lighthouse which was full of coral swimming with plant life, we stayed fairly near the bottom which was the same golden sand as the rest of the beach, it was so amazing to be there and just be able to watch the little fish swim in shoals around coral pinnacles, one thing that was super cool was the Red Sea anemonefish which look very similar to Clownfish (Nemo) and live in these yellow/green anemones darting in and out, one of them was a little curious and followed my movements with it's eyes while I hovered watching it, it was such an amazing feeling I felt like introducing myself – if only I could speak fish. Floating around in the sea were shoals of tiny blue and tinier silver fish, just near the surfaces, all with stunning group instinct moving like one organism instead of hundreds of individuals. We also saw ginger/red fish, a unicornfish, spiderfish, lionfish and big lipped clams nestled in salad coral and loads more especially butterflyfish.
It was magnificent, Djalma made a video and when I managed to prise the camera off him I took some photos, it being really difficult to stay still and not just get a streaky blue picture, my hovering went out the window and I had to take big breaths to raise myself up or exhale deeply for the opposite, it was just incredible and made all the mask flooding worth it.
We had to get out of the sea eventually and after rinsing our gear and putting it away we went up to the classroom for some theory – back to the RDP, uuurgh, I was still completely unable to get it. We finished the lesson and went with Matt to Funny Mummy where a Scottish friend of his was visiting, Clare – really nice and very funny. The restaurant was right on the seafront, all the seats were on the floor with an abundance of cushions to make it comfortable and decorated with Dahab chic – old water bottled with the top cut off, filled part way with sand and a candle in the middle – surprisingly beautiful. We stayed there for a good while, drinking tea or beer and eating. The walk back to Matt's was long, right across the other side of town but we made it – eventually and when we did get back went straight to bed for some much needed sleep.
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
It was yet another gorgeous day, we had mango for breakfast on the way to school and then stuffed down the muffins once we arrived not realising that we wouldn't have the knowledge review time to digest them, we were going straight into the water. I felt a fair bit queasy and on a couple of occasions I thought I was about to see my breakfast again. We did Confined Water 4 and I managed to keep my breakfast down, thank God, I don't want to experience the sensation of vomiting under water. We raced through the skills coming out of the water fairly early, our hovering a vast improvement on recent days – it's hard to believe we are the same students as two days ago.
We had a good long lunch, this time with Matt, back at the same falafel joint – damn his falafels were good. Despite the long lunch we were back to the grind before long, this time to do Open Water 2. What an amazing dive, we started out with a couple of skills including the CESA which is a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent, I found it quite difficult going too slow instead of too fast and almost running out of air but I made it to the surface and then the fun started. We swam round Lighthouse which was full of coral swimming with plant life, we stayed fairly near the bottom which was the same golden sand as the rest of the beach, it was so amazing to be there and just be able to watch the little fish swim in shoals around coral pinnacles, one thing that was super cool was the Red Sea anemonefish which look very similar to Clownfish (Nemo) and live in these yellow/green anemones darting in and out, one of them was a little curious and followed my movements with it's eyes while I hovered watching it, it was such an amazing feeling I felt like introducing myself – if only I could speak fish. Floating around in the sea were shoals of tiny blue and tinier silver fish, just near the surfaces, all with stunning group instinct moving like one organism instead of hundreds of individuals. We also saw ginger/red fish, a unicornfish, spiderfish, lionfish and big lipped clams nestled in salad coral and loads more especially butterflyfish.
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| From 10 Dahab |
It was magnificent, Djalma made a video and when I managed to prise the camera off him I took some photos, it being really difficult to stay still and not just get a streaky blue picture, my hovering went out the window and I had to take big breaths to raise myself up or exhale deeply for the opposite, it was just incredible and made all the mask flooding worth it.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We had to get out of the sea eventually and after rinsing our gear and putting it away we went up to the classroom for some theory – back to the RDP, uuurgh, I was still completely unable to get it. We finished the lesson and went with Matt to Funny Mummy where a Scottish friend of his was visiting, Clare – really nice and very funny. The restaurant was right on the seafront, all the seats were on the floor with an abundance of cushions to make it comfortable and decorated with Dahab chic – old water bottled with the top cut off, filled part way with sand and a candle in the middle – surprisingly beautiful. We stayed there for a good while, drinking tea or beer and eating. The walk back to Matt's was long, right across the other side of town but we made it – eventually and when we did get back went straight to bed for some much needed sleep.
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| From 10 Dahab |
Day Forty-two - Dahab, Egypt
Tuesday 13th July 2010
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
We were up at 8am and had watermelon and mango for breakfast followed by some greasy muffins at the centre – the fruit lasted the walk to school but by the time we got there we were hungry again. We had the knowledge review for Chapter 3 and the quiz – I got one question wrong ruining my perfect score so far. Getting suited up we decided to change my wetsuit, my on-going problem with a too small wetsuit (it was too short, too tight and so restricted my movements after taking ages to get on) was solved, changing to a short wetsuit which actually fit me, although I did need Djalma to zip me in while I held my breath.
After our briefing we got back in the water to do Confined Water 3 and practise more skills the most difficult of which was neutral buoyancy – neither floating nor sinking just hovering in the water – much more difficult than it sounds. Several times in the previous sessions we had all, at one point or another, gone pinging to the surface - drawn up like we were attached to big rubber bands, and not realising it until it was too late. Today's practice buoyancy wasn't half bad at all though and Matt was very impressed saying that we had come a long way, especially me and Amy, we went straight into a floating position rather than our fins resting on the sand with our bodies moving up and down without touching the sand, mind you I think that having fatter legs made keeping our fins on the sand impossible without someone holding them down so we didn't have much choice except to float freely.
Buoyed up, pardon the pun, by our success we broke for lunch and went to get a falafel with Amy, sitting down in the shade another Australian joined us, this one was a blogger for Lonely Planet and had been travelling for a fair old while. We kind of swapped stories but basically listened to him talking about his recent time in Pakistan which sounded so amazing, hassle free, cheap and beautiful that before he had finished talking we were all so excited and dying to go there, it's definitely on our list of places to go now.
Back to Planet dive and three hours of near uninterrupted PADI DVD viewing pleasure, basically a recital of everything we had already read in our books but a course requirement. Three numb bottoms got up, six legs creaking and made their way back home to get dinner and rest. After saying goodbye to Amy we made our way bake to Matt's house along the seafront again, there was a stunning sunset over the rooftops, rays of light blasting out between low fluffy clouds, absolutely stunning.
Back at Matt's we had a banana and chatted to him and Linda, his girlfriend. Feeling shattered and just about ready to jump into bed he pulled out an RDP, a Recreational Dive Planner, it's a piece of card with depths and times on it so you can work out how many dives you can fit in over a period of time when taking into account theoretical amounts of nitrogen in your blood, oh shit. I struggled to wake up and take in all the information, numbers swimming in front of my eyes and my brain refusing to compute the information Matt was giving us. Nevertheless we managed, Djalma doing a much better job than me, to understand enough to provide answers to tomorrows questions in the knowledge review and then we hit the sack big style, out like lights.
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
We were up at 8am and had watermelon and mango for breakfast followed by some greasy muffins at the centre – the fruit lasted the walk to school but by the time we got there we were hungry again. We had the knowledge review for Chapter 3 and the quiz – I got one question wrong ruining my perfect score so far. Getting suited up we decided to change my wetsuit, my on-going problem with a too small wetsuit (it was too short, too tight and so restricted my movements after taking ages to get on) was solved, changing to a short wetsuit which actually fit me, although I did need Djalma to zip me in while I held my breath.
After our briefing we got back in the water to do Confined Water 3 and practise more skills the most difficult of which was neutral buoyancy – neither floating nor sinking just hovering in the water – much more difficult than it sounds. Several times in the previous sessions we had all, at one point or another, gone pinging to the surface - drawn up like we were attached to big rubber bands, and not realising it until it was too late. Today's practice buoyancy wasn't half bad at all though and Matt was very impressed saying that we had come a long way, especially me and Amy, we went straight into a floating position rather than our fins resting on the sand with our bodies moving up and down without touching the sand, mind you I think that having fatter legs made keeping our fins on the sand impossible without someone holding them down so we didn't have much choice except to float freely.
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| From 10 Dahab |
Buoyed up, pardon the pun, by our success we broke for lunch and went to get a falafel with Amy, sitting down in the shade another Australian joined us, this one was a blogger for Lonely Planet and had been travelling for a fair old while. We kind of swapped stories but basically listened to him talking about his recent time in Pakistan which sounded so amazing, hassle free, cheap and beautiful that before he had finished talking we were all so excited and dying to go there, it's definitely on our list of places to go now.
Back to Planet dive and three hours of near uninterrupted PADI DVD viewing pleasure, basically a recital of everything we had already read in our books but a course requirement. Three numb bottoms got up, six legs creaking and made their way back home to get dinner and rest. After saying goodbye to Amy we made our way bake to Matt's house along the seafront again, there was a stunning sunset over the rooftops, rays of light blasting out between low fluffy clouds, absolutely stunning.
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| From 10 Dahab |
Back at Matt's we had a banana and chatted to him and Linda, his girlfriend. Feeling shattered and just about ready to jump into bed he pulled out an RDP, a Recreational Dive Planner, it's a piece of card with depths and times on it so you can work out how many dives you can fit in over a period of time when taking into account theoretical amounts of nitrogen in your blood, oh shit. I struggled to wake up and take in all the information, numbers swimming in front of my eyes and my brain refusing to compute the information Matt was giving us. Nevertheless we managed, Djalma doing a much better job than me, to understand enough to provide answers to tomorrows questions in the knowledge review and then we hit the sack big style, out like lights.
Day Forty-one - Dahab Egypt
Monday 12th July 2010
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
Time for our second day of diving, we were woken up by the breeze, well I was – it was billowing through my sleeping sack and hitting my face in the most refreshing way, but not all all relaxing!
We headed back to Planet Dive where to start the day we were doing the basic fitness test, swimming 200m and treading water for ten minutes – it damn near killed me, not least because we were swimming over deep blue water and I didn't have a clue yet what was living in there (now I know and it's mainly all good), so imagining hungry Moray eels heading for my toes I did the best I could to doggy paddle/breast stroke my way to the buoy and back, well behind the others – Djalma saw that I was struggling on his return journey and slowed down to talk to me all the way back for which I was eternally grateful – at least then the eels would have more toes to chose from.
We got out of the water having caught the sun on the bits we hadn't applied sun cream to, we sat down on the terrace in the shade and were briefed on Confined Water 2 and quizzed on the first and second chapter of the book. Back into the salty Red Sea under the bright blue sky and under the water, we practised a long list of skills, going so slowly that we didn't finish until after 3p.m. I think it's safe to say that everyone's favourite skills was flooding and then removing their mask underwater, keeping it off for 30 seconds while remembering to breathe and above all not to PANIC!! Famished, we gratefully got out of the water and got fed, after falafel – we couldn't justify anything more expensive than a few bounds (L.E pounds), we went back to the centre and a lovely surprise. Instead of doing Confined Water 3, Matt had decided that we needed to know what we were doing all this for and so took us out for Open Water 1 which was amazing. We swan round, up and down (our buoyancy not being all too great) checking out all the fish and coral in Bannerfish Bay, right next to where we doing our training. We saw so many different fish including a Scorpion fish and so many different things just a few metres under the surface that it did a lot to make up for the difficult morning. Mind you I was still a bit sceptical that this course was for me, I still hadn't quite recovered from the mornings anxious swim.
We walked back along the seafront to Matt's place, Saudi Arabia in the distance across the sea and the sun going down over the rooftops, it was gorgeous. We had bananas and watermelon for dinner, read Chapter 3 for homework and slept like babies.
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
Time for our second day of diving, we were woken up by the breeze, well I was – it was billowing through my sleeping sack and hitting my face in the most refreshing way, but not all all relaxing!
We headed back to Planet Dive where to start the day we were doing the basic fitness test, swimming 200m and treading water for ten minutes – it damn near killed me, not least because we were swimming over deep blue water and I didn't have a clue yet what was living in there (now I know and it's mainly all good), so imagining hungry Moray eels heading for my toes I did the best I could to doggy paddle/breast stroke my way to the buoy and back, well behind the others – Djalma saw that I was struggling on his return journey and slowed down to talk to me all the way back for which I was eternally grateful – at least then the eels would have more toes to chose from.
We got out of the water having caught the sun on the bits we hadn't applied sun cream to, we sat down on the terrace in the shade and were briefed on Confined Water 2 and quizzed on the first and second chapter of the book. Back into the salty Red Sea under the bright blue sky and under the water, we practised a long list of skills, going so slowly that we didn't finish until after 3p.m. I think it's safe to say that everyone's favourite skills was flooding and then removing their mask underwater, keeping it off for 30 seconds while remembering to breathe and above all not to PANIC!! Famished, we gratefully got out of the water and got fed, after falafel – we couldn't justify anything more expensive than a few bounds (L.E pounds), we went back to the centre and a lovely surprise. Instead of doing Confined Water 3, Matt had decided that we needed to know what we were doing all this for and so took us out for Open Water 1 which was amazing. We swan round, up and down (our buoyancy not being all too great) checking out all the fish and coral in Bannerfish Bay, right next to where we doing our training. We saw so many different fish including a Scorpion fish and so many different things just a few metres under the surface that it did a lot to make up for the difficult morning. Mind you I was still a bit sceptical that this course was for me, I still hadn't quite recovered from the mornings anxious swim.
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| From 10 Dahab |
We walked back along the seafront to Matt's place, Saudi Arabia in the distance across the sea and the sun going down over the rooftops, it was gorgeous. We had bananas and watermelon for dinner, read Chapter 3 for homework and slept like babies.
Day Forty - Dahab, Egypt
Sunday 11th July 2010
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
After our near twelve hour bus journey finished, we got off at the station and waited around wondering what to do - it turned out that the the same bus was continuing on to Dahab so we got back on and arrived in the little town around midday.
We had some Koshary for lunch at a little place on the main strip and then talked to Matt, our host and PADI instructor, to let him know we were on our way. Dahab is a small city sandwiched between the desert, mountains and the Red Sea and is the right kind of touristy (in my opinion) everything is small (I haven't seen any building above three storeys high), people are friendly and relaxed, lots of signs are in English as well as Arabic and there aren't any big nasty resorts ruining the coastline. We met Matt and he took us straight to the diving centre, Planet Dive. We filled in all the paperwork, tried to pay but our credit cards were playing up so we left that for another day and got stuck straight into our course. Amy Lamb a young Ozzie was doing the course with us, a lovely chatty dreaded girl who favoured the natural look – making me feel much better about my own hirsute legs! Matt briefed us on what we would be doing in the water – basically lots of basic skills like getting back the regulator if it pops out of your mouth and changing from your reg to snorkel underwater. He gave us two chapters to read for homework – two hundred odd pages to digest in one evening and then spit back out the following day when the knowledge was required! It was good in a challenging rather than fun way and because we did the 'confined' dive in open water we saw some fish!
After diving we went back to his place on the other side of town, a small two bed place he shares with his Egyptian/American flatmate, Kiki and her small friendly dog Siren (who loves to have her tummy scratched – assuming the position as soon as you scratch her ears), our place was the living room. We unloaded our stuff behind the door, had a chat and basically hit the books until we fell asleep. We arranged the mattresses/couches so they were in front of the door making the most of the breeze coming through. It was a bloody hot evening and despite wanting to sleep naked we got inside our sleeping bags and fell asleep almost instantly.
SPONSORED BY: Nettinho e Keite, Biriba e Dre, Maracy e Aparicio, Claire and Andrew Foreman, Alf and Sarah and my Nan!
After our near twelve hour bus journey finished, we got off at the station and waited around wondering what to do - it turned out that the the same bus was continuing on to Dahab so we got back on and arrived in the little town around midday.
We had some Koshary for lunch at a little place on the main strip and then talked to Matt, our host and PADI instructor, to let him know we were on our way. Dahab is a small city sandwiched between the desert, mountains and the Red Sea and is the right kind of touristy (in my opinion) everything is small (I haven't seen any building above three storeys high), people are friendly and relaxed, lots of signs are in English as well as Arabic and there aren't any big nasty resorts ruining the coastline. We met Matt and he took us straight to the diving centre, Planet Dive. We filled in all the paperwork, tried to pay but our credit cards were playing up so we left that for another day and got stuck straight into our course. Amy Lamb a young Ozzie was doing the course with us, a lovely chatty dreaded girl who favoured the natural look – making me feel much better about my own hirsute legs! Matt briefed us on what we would be doing in the water – basically lots of basic skills like getting back the regulator if it pops out of your mouth and changing from your reg to snorkel underwater. He gave us two chapters to read for homework – two hundred odd pages to digest in one evening and then spit back out the following day when the knowledge was required! It was good in a challenging rather than fun way and because we did the 'confined' dive in open water we saw some fish!
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| From 10 Dahab |
After diving we went back to his place on the other side of town, a small two bed place he shares with his Egyptian/American flatmate, Kiki and her small friendly dog Siren (who loves to have her tummy scratched – assuming the position as soon as you scratch her ears), our place was the living room. We unloaded our stuff behind the door, had a chat and basically hit the books until we fell asleep. We arranged the mattresses/couches so they were in front of the door making the most of the breeze coming through. It was a bloody hot evening and despite wanting to sleep naked we got inside our sleeping bags and fell asleep almost instantly.
Day Thirty-nine - Hurghada to Dahab, Egypt
Saturday 10th July 2010
After a night so warm, despite the air-conditioning, that I slept on top of the covers, we woke up around 11am, got up and waited for Julia and her kids to do the same. She appeared from the room looking tousled and sleepy and we sat and talked for a good hour about travelling, Russians in Egypt and general cultural awareness in Muslim countries. Although our travelling life was not for her she was much more open minded than her husband, who last night was really interested on impressing the absolute truth that Islam was the only religion – in a very nice way of course but when Djalma started talking philosophically about different religions and beliefs it didn't go down too well, it was a relief when D finally decided he was ready for bed – I had no desire to offend our host when he had so generously put us up in his own home let alone his own bed just because we had different opinions.
Our stomachs growling we arranged to come back later in the evening and went out to find some food, we had another mango juice and a big bowl of koshary – much more than we needed, our appetites reduced in the heat. We walked along the main road and picked up some toothpaste – we'd been without it for the whole of the second cruise, and other bits and bobs from a friendly Egyptian lady in a little toiletries/chemists shop. We then headed over to the nearest public beach. The ticket guy tried to sell us tickets to the beach for ten bounds but the real price was two – cheeky bugger, we paid the correct price and headed into the much crowded beach. It was gorgeous, the sand was full of dead coral and not the most comfortable to sit on but the sea was gorgeous, the water was a clear green melting into sapphire blue and quite unlike any other beach Djalma or I had seen before, gorgeous. I spent time writing in my notebook while Djalma made friends with some guys who showed him the coral bits under the water.
We headed back to Mahmoud's and Julia's house to have a shower, collect our washing (hooray for automatic machines), pick up our bags and say goodbye. We bumped into Mahmoud on the way down the stairs and thanked him for his generous hospitality telling him truthfully that staying with his family had been one of the nicest experiences we'd had in Egypt. We headed to the bus station with plenty of time to spare to try and get places on the bus to Sharm El Sheikh – a bit hit and miss. We killed some time smoking a sheesha, drinking mango juice, eating falafel and thinking about our lovely day. The bus arrived but was full up as it had come from another city, we paid extra to get seats at the back usually reserved for the conductor. The bus was airconditioned and there was plenty of leg room but I can safely say say that it was one of the most uncomfortable journeys I have ever been on. The air-conditioning was freezing and when the bus first stopped a couple of hours later Djalma jumped out and got our fleeces and scarves from the hold under the bus. I think we both eventually got to sleep quite late in the morning, the 800km drive taking us from 11pm until 10.30am or nearabout.
After a night so warm, despite the air-conditioning, that I slept on top of the covers, we woke up around 11am, got up and waited for Julia and her kids to do the same. She appeared from the room looking tousled and sleepy and we sat and talked for a good hour about travelling, Russians in Egypt and general cultural awareness in Muslim countries. Although our travelling life was not for her she was much more open minded than her husband, who last night was really interested on impressing the absolute truth that Islam was the only religion – in a very nice way of course but when Djalma started talking philosophically about different religions and beliefs it didn't go down too well, it was a relief when D finally decided he was ready for bed – I had no desire to offend our host when he had so generously put us up in his own home let alone his own bed just because we had different opinions.
Our stomachs growling we arranged to come back later in the evening and went out to find some food, we had another mango juice and a big bowl of koshary – much more than we needed, our appetites reduced in the heat. We walked along the main road and picked up some toothpaste – we'd been without it for the whole of the second cruise, and other bits and bobs from a friendly Egyptian lady in a little toiletries/chemists shop. We then headed over to the nearest public beach. The ticket guy tried to sell us tickets to the beach for ten bounds but the real price was two – cheeky bugger, we paid the correct price and headed into the much crowded beach. It was gorgeous, the sand was full of dead coral and not the most comfortable to sit on but the sea was gorgeous, the water was a clear green melting into sapphire blue and quite unlike any other beach Djalma or I had seen before, gorgeous. I spent time writing in my notebook while Djalma made friends with some guys who showed him the coral bits under the water.
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| From Hurghada, Egypt |
We headed back to Mahmoud's and Julia's house to have a shower, collect our washing (hooray for automatic machines), pick up our bags and say goodbye. We bumped into Mahmoud on the way down the stairs and thanked him for his generous hospitality telling him truthfully that staying with his family had been one of the nicest experiences we'd had in Egypt. We headed to the bus station with plenty of time to spare to try and get places on the bus to Sharm El Sheikh – a bit hit and miss. We killed some time smoking a sheesha, drinking mango juice, eating falafel and thinking about our lovely day. The bus arrived but was full up as it had come from another city, we paid extra to get seats at the back usually reserved for the conductor. The bus was airconditioned and there was plenty of leg room but I can safely say say that it was one of the most uncomfortable journeys I have ever been on. The air-conditioning was freezing and when the bus first stopped a couple of hours later Djalma jumped out and got our fleeces and scarves from the hold under the bus. I think we both eventually got to sleep quite late in the morning, the 800km drive taking us from 11pm until 10.30am or nearabout.
Day Thirty-eight - Abu Simbel to Aswan to Hurghada, Egypt
Friday 9th July 2010
We spent most of today on buses. We left the ship at 5.30am to get the 6am bus to Aswan where we arrived at 10.30. Four and a half hours on a cramped bus with no air-conditioning, fortunately it was so early that it wasn't really uncomfortable just a bit warm and sweaty. We killed a few hours in Aswan in an internet café before getting our next bus at 3.30pm to Hurghada which is on the Red Sea coast, we arrived at 1am.
The bus dropped us off near the centre of town as the bus station was a good 4km out, we had decided that we would sleep on the beach as our ferry to Sharm El Sheikh would leave at 8am and we would need to buy tickets two hours in advance of the sailing time. We got a mango juice, much cheaper here than anywhere else so far and started looking for ATMs to withdraw some money for the next few days. Apparently we were in the wrong part of town for banks and in asking directions we ended up meeting Mahmoud, who ended up driving us to a trusted ATM and waited while Djalma withdrew the money. When he found out that we were planning to sleep on the beach he offered us a place on the deck of his yacht which was in dry dock. We accepted his generous offer but when we found out that the ferry wasn't running (it happens more often than not), he took us to the us station to check the bus times and took us back to his place so we could sleep there instead. It was totally out of the blue and so different to what we have experienced in Egypt so far, very heart warming.
We arrived at his house at around 2am, his Belgian wife Julia and his two young children Ahmed, two and a half and his baby brother, eight months old were waiting for him and welcomed us into their home. I was so tired from all the time on the buses even though I had slept most of the time, I struggled to keep my eyes open, but the baby was gorgeous and smiled a wet, toothless, chubby grin almost constantly. We sat and talked for about two hours his mother and brother who lived above them coming down for something to eat at 3am, it was too late for me but they made us so welcome that it made me feel a bit rude refusing the food. After a much needed shower (they all seem to be much needed these days) we went to bed. Mahmoud and Julia slept in their children's room, giving up their bed in their air-conditioned room for us.
We spent most of today on buses. We left the ship at 5.30am to get the 6am bus to Aswan where we arrived at 10.30. Four and a half hours on a cramped bus with no air-conditioning, fortunately it was so early that it wasn't really uncomfortable just a bit warm and sweaty. We killed a few hours in Aswan in an internet café before getting our next bus at 3.30pm to Hurghada which is on the Red Sea coast, we arrived at 1am.
The bus dropped us off near the centre of town as the bus station was a good 4km out, we had decided that we would sleep on the beach as our ferry to Sharm El Sheikh would leave at 8am and we would need to buy tickets two hours in advance of the sailing time. We got a mango juice, much cheaper here than anywhere else so far and started looking for ATMs to withdraw some money for the next few days. Apparently we were in the wrong part of town for banks and in asking directions we ended up meeting Mahmoud, who ended up driving us to a trusted ATM and waited while Djalma withdrew the money. When he found out that we were planning to sleep on the beach he offered us a place on the deck of his yacht which was in dry dock. We accepted his generous offer but when we found out that the ferry wasn't running (it happens more often than not), he took us to the us station to check the bus times and took us back to his place so we could sleep there instead. It was totally out of the blue and so different to what we have experienced in Egypt so far, very heart warming.
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| From Hurghada, Egypt |
We arrived at his house at around 2am, his Belgian wife Julia and his two young children Ahmed, two and a half and his baby brother, eight months old were waiting for him and welcomed us into their home. I was so tired from all the time on the buses even though I had slept most of the time, I struggled to keep my eyes open, but the baby was gorgeous and smiled a wet, toothless, chubby grin almost constantly. We sat and talked for about two hours his mother and brother who lived above them coming down for something to eat at 3am, it was too late for me but they made us so welcome that it made me feel a bit rude refusing the food. After a much needed shower (they all seem to be much needed these days) we went to bed. Mahmoud and Julia slept in their children's room, giving up their bed in their air-conditioned room for us.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Day Thirty-seven - Abu Simbel, Lake Nasser, Egypt SPONSORED BY MÃE E PAI
Thursday 8th July 2010
A very slow morning, Djalma was feeling shitty – in every sense of the word, he was up several times in the night making use of the white throne in the bathroom. We went back to our bedroom after breakfast and spent all morning sleeping and watching rubbish films trying to keep his farts under the covers – the burps weren't that much better – it's a good thing I love him, the man is a wind machine of monumental and persistent stinkiness. I had lunch by myself, several people coming up to ask after him, very sweet. Back to the bedroom to continue rubbing his tummy and scratching his back, making sure he took his medicine, generally being sympathetic and a good wife to my poorly man.
We went up for afternoon tea where I indulged a little too much in some delicious fried dough things that we had last night on the Egyptian buffet, oops. Fattie! Djalma managed to wolf down a couple of plates worth of finger food and went back down to our room while I went to yet another temple of Ramses II.
I have really wondered what this guy must have been like, he was so active and must ave thought so much of himself; the four seated figures outside the temple, cut into the mountain, are all of him from young to old showing him at different stages in his life (his cheeks are definitely fatter in the older statue), the ten standing statues in the first section are also of him, but dead – feet together and arms folded across his chest, the walls covered with engravings of him victorious in battle. He lived until he was 92 years old and in that time he declared himself a God, not just a son of the gods, which is what all the Pharaohs were. The man was his own biggest fan, even in his chief wife, Nefertari's, temple, just next door, of the six statues out the front, four of them are of him and the temple itself is about a third of the size – mind you – at least she got one.
It was amazing to walk round his temple, the size and decoration was incredible, especially in the smaller rooms going off from the main halls which were empty and eerily quiet, it gave me goosebumps just to be in there by myself – I didn't stay long. On the way back to the ship I tried to buy some water but was told it was twenty bounds for a big bottle of water, almost ten times what it should be, outrageous – it also really pissed me off, greedy bums.
A very slow morning, Djalma was feeling shitty – in every sense of the word, he was up several times in the night making use of the white throne in the bathroom. We went back to our bedroom after breakfast and spent all morning sleeping and watching rubbish films trying to keep his farts under the covers – the burps weren't that much better – it's a good thing I love him, the man is a wind machine of monumental and persistent stinkiness. I had lunch by myself, several people coming up to ask after him, very sweet. Back to the bedroom to continue rubbing his tummy and scratching his back, making sure he took his medicine, generally being sympathetic and a good wife to my poorly man.
We went up for afternoon tea where I indulged a little too much in some delicious fried dough things that we had last night on the Egyptian buffet, oops. Fattie! Djalma managed to wolf down a couple of plates worth of finger food and went back down to our room while I went to yet another temple of Ramses II.
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| From Abu Simbel, 65km North of Sudan, Lake Nasser, Egypt |
I have really wondered what this guy must have been like, he was so active and must ave thought so much of himself; the four seated figures outside the temple, cut into the mountain, are all of him from young to old showing him at different stages in his life (his cheeks are definitely fatter in the older statue), the ten standing statues in the first section are also of him, but dead – feet together and arms folded across his chest, the walls covered with engravings of him victorious in battle. He lived until he was 92 years old and in that time he declared himself a God, not just a son of the gods, which is what all the Pharaohs were. The man was his own biggest fan, even in his chief wife, Nefertari's, temple, just next door, of the six statues out the front, four of them are of him and the temple itself is about a third of the size – mind you – at least she got one.
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| From Abu Simbel, 65km North of Sudan, Lake Nasser, Egypt |
It was amazing to walk round his temple, the size and decoration was incredible, especially in the smaller rooms going off from the main halls which were empty and eerily quiet, it gave me goosebumps just to be in there by myself – I didn't stay long. On the way back to the ship I tried to buy some water but was told it was twenty bounds for a big bottle of water, almost ten times what it should be, outrageous – it also really pissed me off, greedy bums.
Day Thirty-six - Wadi El Sebua, Lake Nasser, Egypt SPONSORED BY MÃE E PAI
Wednesday 7th July 2010
Temple Shmemple. We decided to forgo the pleasure of the second tour of the day and slept for most of the afternoon, right through until 6.30 in the evening. The morning tour was good but mainly because of the location. Lake Nasser is beautiful, we are travelling through rocky desert, triangular shaped hills looking like chocolate mousse on a vanilla sponge base dusted with cocoa powder, it is incredible to think that this huge lake, the largest artificial lake in the world, is not more than half a century old. It covers a huge area although I do think that a four day cruise stretches out the attractions of the area. Nearly everything we have seen so far seems to have been commissioned by bloody Ramses II, I've had enough of the randy old goat, one of the temples this morning was built by, surprise surprise, Ramses II. I guess it was interesting but having seen so many temples, tombs, hieroglyphics and columns, it didn't seem so special. The island, Wadi El Sebua, it was on however, was gorgeous, it was sandy desert stretching away into small rocky hills and dunes, dry green bushes near the edge of the water, the ground white and squidgy when we went to get back on the motorboat to take us back to our ship.
I disappeared into our cabin for most of the day while Djalma stayed on the top deck near the swimming pool talking to all the other guests on board. We watched action films on the flat screen TV in our bedroom and slept when they got boring. We rolled out for dinner but decided to stay and watch the sun set over the Lake before disappearing into the restaurant to gorge on the Egyptian buffet. The food was gorgeous, I stocked up on vegetables in an effort to offset my binge on the desert section, most things were fried or soaked in honey or both, I could have easily eaten everything again although I might have just popped. We went back to our room to let it all hang out while we watched The Wicker Man with Nicolas Cage, Djalma went up to watch the match between Spain and Germany (1-0) coming back down in half time to get updates on the film. We ended up watching The Marsh afterwards, changing to Chains of Gold with John Travolta afterwards when it got too scary.
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| From Wadi El Sebua, Lake Nasser, Egypt |
Temple Shmemple. We decided to forgo the pleasure of the second tour of the day and slept for most of the afternoon, right through until 6.30 in the evening. The morning tour was good but mainly because of the location. Lake Nasser is beautiful, we are travelling through rocky desert, triangular shaped hills looking like chocolate mousse on a vanilla sponge base dusted with cocoa powder, it is incredible to think that this huge lake, the largest artificial lake in the world, is not more than half a century old. It covers a huge area although I do think that a four day cruise stretches out the attractions of the area. Nearly everything we have seen so far seems to have been commissioned by bloody Ramses II, I've had enough of the randy old goat, one of the temples this morning was built by, surprise surprise, Ramses II. I guess it was interesting but having seen so many temples, tombs, hieroglyphics and columns, it didn't seem so special. The island, Wadi El Sebua, it was on however, was gorgeous, it was sandy desert stretching away into small rocky hills and dunes, dry green bushes near the edge of the water, the ground white and squidgy when we went to get back on the motorboat to take us back to our ship.
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| From Wadi El Sebua, Lake Nasser, Egypt |
I disappeared into our cabin for most of the day while Djalma stayed on the top deck near the swimming pool talking to all the other guests on board. We watched action films on the flat screen TV in our bedroom and slept when they got boring. We rolled out for dinner but decided to stay and watch the sun set over the Lake before disappearing into the restaurant to gorge on the Egyptian buffet. The food was gorgeous, I stocked up on vegetables in an effort to offset my binge on the desert section, most things were fried or soaked in honey or both, I could have easily eaten everything again although I might have just popped. We went back to our room to let it all hang out while we watched The Wicker Man with Nicolas Cage, Djalma went up to watch the match between Spain and Germany (1-0) coming back down in half time to get updates on the film. We ended up watching The Marsh afterwards, changing to Chains of Gold with John Travolta afterwards when it got too scary.
Day Thirty-five - Aswan to New Kalabsha Island, Lake Nasser, Egypt SPONSORED BY MÃE E PAI
Tuesday 6th July2010
I didn't get to sleep until after 3am, so getting up when our wake-up call came through at 7am was really difficult. We pulled on yesterdays clothes and headed downstairs for breakfast. The cruise ship is definitely a step in the right direction, I think we appreciate it more after the Nile Plaza, especially the food and the service (and the bedroom is much bigger). Breakfast was excellent, lots of fresh fruit, cooked food, cheeses, salad, olives and different types of bread all to be washed down with fresh tea or coffee. I had some crispy flaky croissants with the brown bean stuff (although I think I was the only one to touch it) and cucumber followed by watermelon and mango yoghurt, helped down by three cups of tea.
After getting ready, and being called by reception to be told that the motorboat to Kalabsha Island was leaving, we headed over to the Island with the rest of the tour group. Kalabsha Island is the new home to several different temples and religious buildings as well as some graffitied rocks which pre-date the Greek/Roman Temples by three thousand years. Our tour guide, Mahmoud, was excellent and really brought the carvings and pictures to life; explaining the different offerings, the significance of different gods, how Ramses the second saw himself – in several pictures he is twice the size of his enemies, the only one in battle and multitasking by wrapping the reigns of his chariot round his waist while shooting his enemies with a bow and arrow, single handedly defeating his enemies – and the number of children he fathered, over two hundred kids from thirty-five wives and mistresses – how did he have the time?
We walked round the site, following our guide soaking up the information from him and a great big Scott, Colin whose passion was Ancient Egyptian history. We had considerably less free time than with Nabil the Doofah, but the excursion was much more interesting although fun may be pushing it. We got back on the motorboat for the ten second ride back to the M/S Prince Abbas and then into the air-conditioned reception where orange and hibiscus juice and cold wet flannels for our hot faces waited for us, now there's 5* for you. Djalma went up to the swimming pool on the top deck while I played with photos from the last five days.
Lunch called, Italian style, it was gorgeous, tomatoes and mozzarella drizzled with basil dressing, lots of different salads, beef, chicken cacciatore, cannelloni, fish, roasted vegetables, followed by melon, watermelon, cherries, bananas and several different deserts. FTB (Fit To Burst) we left for the comfort and privacy of our cabin and let our big bellies hang out while we watched an old fat Steven Seagle effortlessly kick ass on screen.
I didn't get to sleep until after 3am, so getting up when our wake-up call came through at 7am was really difficult. We pulled on yesterdays clothes and headed downstairs for breakfast. The cruise ship is definitely a step in the right direction, I think we appreciate it more after the Nile Plaza, especially the food and the service (and the bedroom is much bigger). Breakfast was excellent, lots of fresh fruit, cooked food, cheeses, salad, olives and different types of bread all to be washed down with fresh tea or coffee. I had some crispy flaky croissants with the brown bean stuff (although I think I was the only one to touch it) and cucumber followed by watermelon and mango yoghurt, helped down by three cups of tea.
After getting ready, and being called by reception to be told that the motorboat to Kalabsha Island was leaving, we headed over to the Island with the rest of the tour group. Kalabsha Island is the new home to several different temples and religious buildings as well as some graffitied rocks which pre-date the Greek/Roman Temples by three thousand years. Our tour guide, Mahmoud, was excellent and really brought the carvings and pictures to life; explaining the different offerings, the significance of different gods, how Ramses the second saw himself – in several pictures he is twice the size of his enemies, the only one in battle and multitasking by wrapping the reigns of his chariot round his waist while shooting his enemies with a bow and arrow, single handedly defeating his enemies – and the number of children he fathered, over two hundred kids from thirty-five wives and mistresses – how did he have the time?
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| From New Kalabsha Island, Lake Nasser, Egypt |
We walked round the site, following our guide soaking up the information from him and a great big Scott, Colin whose passion was Ancient Egyptian history. We had considerably less free time than with Nabil the Doofah, but the excursion was much more interesting although fun may be pushing it. We got back on the motorboat for the ten second ride back to the M/S Prince Abbas and then into the air-conditioned reception where orange and hibiscus juice and cold wet flannels for our hot faces waited for us, now there's 5* for you. Djalma went up to the swimming pool on the top deck while I played with photos from the last five days.
Lunch called, Italian style, it was gorgeous, tomatoes and mozzarella drizzled with basil dressing, lots of different salads, beef, chicken cacciatore, cannelloni, fish, roasted vegetables, followed by melon, watermelon, cherries, bananas and several different deserts. FTB (Fit To Burst) we left for the comfort and privacy of our cabin and let our big bellies hang out while we watched an old fat Steven Seagle effortlessly kick ass on screen.
Day Thirty-four - Aswan, Egypt SPONSORED BY MÃE E PAI
Monday 5th July 2010
I can safely say that I really don't like Egyptians, save for a few that Djalma has spoken to in cafés, they are by and large, greedy, deceitful, begging arseholes and I really resent giving them our money for anything.
I'll explain: Trying to get falafels near the train station, for breakfast this morning was a mission, one we failed at miserably and bitterly. We stopped at one place, the price was five bounds, his neighbours price was ten bounds, although Djalma was sure that he didn't understand what we wanted, so we went to the small shop that we visited on the first day (and paid the correct price - ½ a bound). No such luck this time though, we ordered the falafel without asking the price, because we knew it, ad when it came to paying instead of it being one bound, SURPRISE!, 'five bound' the cashiers hand outstretched impatiently waiting for the “correct money”. A lot of hoohah later, we walked away empty handed feeling extremely pissed off (and hungry).
Amazing, they would rather not do any business than make a sale at a fair price, it was so much hassle and so bloody enraging that Djalma, after asking if it was okay, returned to argue again and told them to fuck off, flipping the birdie just in case they didn't quite get message verbally, I got my tuppence worth by adding that they deserved it (so there!). I did think that they deserved it, the closed, stony faces, the demanding expectant attitude and the total disinclination to listen – if they couldn't charge the equivalent of five times the price to tourists they didn't want any money at all. If tourists do accept the grossly inflated price (it was roughly US50¢ instead of US10¢) whether it be because they accept or tolerate the double pricing or through ignorance to the Arabic language, then fair enough, but if a customer does know, because the price is plain and clear on the walls for all, who understand, to read and doesn't accept it, surely it is better to sell for the real price than stand there and lie, insisting that the prices are old and when that fails just carry on insisting that the price is something that it isn't – as Djalma said 'just because we are tourists, it doesn't mean we are stupid or rich'. The dude was a total cockjob and in the end we were happier without the falafel or paying him for it, getting a big bag of broken chilli pepper crisps from an old man next door.
We went back to the train station and got on our train to the High Dam where our boat was waiting for us, hoping that ere would be people as lovely, warm and funny as Katherine and Steven.
We got off the train to join the throng of people waiting for the ferry to Sudan, it crazy to think we were that far South, and bumped into one of the French guys who was going overland to S. Africa by motorbike. We couldn't see any taxis, only people trying to sell Sudanese currency, so we started walking the 3.8km to the other side, we didn't get more than about ten metres before a car stopped and a friendly guy took us straight to the boat in, what he told us, was the managers car (seeing wasn't believing – the car seats were covered with multi coloured furry material).
We were booked on the M/S Prince Abbas another 5* cruise ship. It was a biggie and actually 5*, the grand reception room was decked out in marble with fancy winding staircases down to the restaurant. It was impressive, in a good way, the staff actually smiled and looked like they enjoyed doing their jobs, a big difference from the Nile Plaza and our room was huge by comparison. After being shown to a twin room (I still don't get it - we are plainly not brother and sister) we were reinstalled in a different room, the bed so big it was square, possibly even wider then it was long and towels with a bit of fluff in them and, joy of joys, good shampoo, conditioner and body cream (heaven!). We put all our clothes in the wardrobe, a pleasure not to be living out of our rucksacks for a few days, lay down on the enormous bed and slept until lunch.
Lunch was excellent, we thought the buffet at the N.P. Had been good but wasn't a patch on P.A, everything was delicious, hot and perfectly cooked. We headed back to our room and flopped on the bed, the beans from lunch making themselves known while we watched T.V and slept some more.
After afternoon tea, with lots of little finger food things and iced coffee I sat and played with photos while Djalma splashed about in the pool on the fifth deck. Dinner time came round and we eagerly headed back down to the restaurant like little piggies to eat. More salad buffet stuff but this time the main course was ordered at the table and came out piping hot, I can't remember what D had but I had fish with noodles and greens, the fish was coated in something that tasted similar to KFCs secret recipe batter (sounds disgusting) it was gorgeous. Desert followed, plenty of fresh fruit, watermelon, cantaloupe melon and ripe cherries with lots of little deserts in tiny portions so you can have a taste of everything without being porky (something now of considerable importance having discovered a whopping 3kg increase when I stepped on the scales at Shayr's house).
The Silence of the Lambs was on T.V so we watched it, with the lights on, lying in bed enjoying the air conditioning despite the tension and the face biting scenes not doing much to aid the digestion of dinner at all. Djalma fell asleep watching old football matches not feeling too well possibly from a little bit of seasickness, I managed to fall asleep around 3am after reading about the following days visit.
I can safely say that I really don't like Egyptians, save for a few that Djalma has spoken to in cafés, they are by and large, greedy, deceitful, begging arseholes and I really resent giving them our money for anything.
I'll explain: Trying to get falafels near the train station, for breakfast this morning was a mission, one we failed at miserably and bitterly. We stopped at one place, the price was five bounds, his neighbours price was ten bounds, although Djalma was sure that he didn't understand what we wanted, so we went to the small shop that we visited on the first day (and paid the correct price - ½ a bound). No such luck this time though, we ordered the falafel without asking the price, because we knew it, ad when it came to paying instead of it being one bound, SURPRISE!, 'five bound' the cashiers hand outstretched impatiently waiting for the “correct money”. A lot of hoohah later, we walked away empty handed feeling extremely pissed off (and hungry).
Amazing, they would rather not do any business than make a sale at a fair price, it was so much hassle and so bloody enraging that Djalma, after asking if it was okay, returned to argue again and told them to fuck off, flipping the birdie just in case they didn't quite get message verbally, I got my tuppence worth by adding that they deserved it (so there!). I did think that they deserved it, the closed, stony faces, the demanding expectant attitude and the total disinclination to listen – if they couldn't charge the equivalent of five times the price to tourists they didn't want any money at all. If tourists do accept the grossly inflated price (it was roughly US50¢ instead of US10¢) whether it be because they accept or tolerate the double pricing or through ignorance to the Arabic language, then fair enough, but if a customer does know, because the price is plain and clear on the walls for all, who understand, to read and doesn't accept it, surely it is better to sell for the real price than stand there and lie, insisting that the prices are old and when that fails just carry on insisting that the price is something that it isn't – as Djalma said 'just because we are tourists, it doesn't mean we are stupid or rich'. The dude was a total cockjob and in the end we were happier without the falafel or paying him for it, getting a big bag of broken chilli pepper crisps from an old man next door.
We went back to the train station and got on our train to the High Dam where our boat was waiting for us, hoping that ere would be people as lovely, warm and funny as Katherine and Steven.
We got off the train to join the throng of people waiting for the ferry to Sudan, it crazy to think we were that far South, and bumped into one of the French guys who was going overland to S. Africa by motorbike. We couldn't see any taxis, only people trying to sell Sudanese currency, so we started walking the 3.8km to the other side, we didn't get more than about ten metres before a car stopped and a friendly guy took us straight to the boat in, what he told us, was the managers car (seeing wasn't believing – the car seats were covered with multi coloured furry material).
We were booked on the M/S Prince Abbas another 5* cruise ship. It was a biggie and actually 5*, the grand reception room was decked out in marble with fancy winding staircases down to the restaurant. It was impressive, in a good way, the staff actually smiled and looked like they enjoyed doing their jobs, a big difference from the Nile Plaza and our room was huge by comparison. After being shown to a twin room (I still don't get it - we are plainly not brother and sister) we were reinstalled in a different room, the bed so big it was square, possibly even wider then it was long and towels with a bit of fluff in them and, joy of joys, good shampoo, conditioner and body cream (heaven!). We put all our clothes in the wardrobe, a pleasure not to be living out of our rucksacks for a few days, lay down on the enormous bed and slept until lunch.
Lunch was excellent, we thought the buffet at the N.P. Had been good but wasn't a patch on P.A, everything was delicious, hot and perfectly cooked. We headed back to our room and flopped on the bed, the beans from lunch making themselves known while we watched T.V and slept some more.
After afternoon tea, with lots of little finger food things and iced coffee I sat and played with photos while Djalma splashed about in the pool on the fifth deck. Dinner time came round and we eagerly headed back down to the restaurant like little piggies to eat. More salad buffet stuff but this time the main course was ordered at the table and came out piping hot, I can't remember what D had but I had fish with noodles and greens, the fish was coated in something that tasted similar to KFCs secret recipe batter (sounds disgusting) it was gorgeous. Desert followed, plenty of fresh fruit, watermelon, cantaloupe melon and ripe cherries with lots of little deserts in tiny portions so you can have a taste of everything without being porky (something now of considerable importance having discovered a whopping 3kg increase when I stepped on the scales at Shayr's house).
The Silence of the Lambs was on T.V so we watched it, with the lights on, lying in bed enjoying the air conditioning despite the tension and the face biting scenes not doing much to aid the digestion of dinner at all. Djalma fell asleep watching old football matches not feeling too well possibly from a little bit of seasickness, I managed to fall asleep around 3am after reading about the following days visit.
Day Thirty-three - Aswan, Egypt
Sunday 4th July 2010
One of life's great pleasures is sitting in a café and puffing on an apple sheesha watching the world go by.
Another is drinking mango juice, cold and fresh on a hot day, much better than beer.
Another is watching the sun rise or set with the one you love.
Within the last hour we have managed to do all three. Today has been long, hot and good.
The sun tried for a long time to wake us up and succeeded around 8.30am. We got up quietly, our host still sound asleep in his children's bedroom. The two French couch-surfers were up and trying to get out the front door of the building which was locked, the Canadian couple were still asleep and we decided to have our breakfast of melon and dry bread with triangle cheese while the house woke up.
Alicia and Ricardo, he Canadian couple, woke up and we all sat and chatted with our host Shayr who offered to take us to a Nubian village in Aswan. We all bundled in his small red car and set off to this village, Alicia talking about the time her mother travelled with them in Indonesia for just over five weeks, the different stories had me laughing, cringing and sympathising. We walked round the village and paid to visit a “real” Nubian house, have some tea and hold baby crocodiles inside, needless to say I kept on the safe side of the camera, behind it, happy to take pictures of the baby crocodile and not have my picture taken with it. Most baby animals look cute, alligators are a scary exception, but I did touch it – I'm not THAT much of a sissy.
We ended up spending most of the day with them after Shayr dropped us off us the ferry crossing to go across to Elephantine Island, where we aimlessly wandered round stopping often to rest and talk in the shade. It was damn hot, and although I thought I was coping admirably with the heat (I didn't pass out once) Djalma kindly informed me later that I was so red I was almost purple (and therefore should spend less time in the ships air-conditioned lounge and more time outside to build my resistance to the heat). It must have been well over 40ºC so a little colour in the face was to be expected. The Island was really pretty, lots of little rustic but colourfully decorated houses together with narrow alleys running between, we vied for the space with the locals and a group of sheep/goats (I couldn't tell what they were – they looked like a curly haired blend between the two). We stopped in a small square with a tree in the middle and rested there for a while, after a time we were joined by some Nubian women, who stared and talked about my hair for a while, and some small curious children.
Our stomachs singing for some food, we slowly walked back in the direction of the landing and got the ferry back across. We all got some falafel and wandered through the quiet streets of the souq, the “no hassle” shops giving us just as much attention, and hassle, as the other shops. We ended up in McDonald's for the air-conditioning. It feels good to know that other people doing a similar thing to us have encountered the same problems, namely the two tiered pricing system. We also talked about our host and whether or not he would expect some kind of payment when we left the following day. It's been an unusual and awkward situation which has felt less like couch-surfing and more like a service, in a conversation with Djalma, Shayr said that nothing in Egypt was for free, so I'm really not sure what he will ask for but I think it will be for something rather than nothing.
I really doubt that Egyptians have fully grasped the concept of couch-surfing, the lady in Luxor used it (upfront) to get business for her hotel, and I expect that Shayr will ask for some kind of payment before we leave.
Ricardo seemed more than ready to leave, a quiet guy, I'm not sure whether he as just reserved or if he just didn't want to spend any more time with us preferring to spend it with Alicia who was very bubbly and talkative (and beautiful, I wish I sweated and travelled as well as she did), so they left us at McDonald's We left a short while after to go and check the price of a feluca ride, after worrying that we had started too early we ended up not having enough time to catch the sunset. By the time we had been passed onto the fourth and final man, been ferried across to Elephantine Island where his cute little feluca was waiting and got his boat moving (it was stuck in the mud and there was no wind), the sun was inches from the horizon and our poor little captain, Mustafah, rowed us back after we gave up. The boat needed a minimum of two people to crew it; one steer it and at least one to row – preferably two. He and Djalma rowed us back to the mainland with me steering the rudder, very cackhandedly, where we gave him five bound for his trouble mainly because he looked so disappointed and also because he never asked for anything, it was nice to give something as a small gesture of goodwill especially when so many of his countrymen are so greedy.
He was a couple of metres out before I realised that I had left my hat on board, we called him and god bless his heart he rowed back over instead of throwing it. Because he had been so down-hearted about losing the ride and so sweet about returning my hat we gave him and extra five bounds, telling he that he got it because he didn't ask for it.
We walked back into the souq, got a chunky, cold, fresh mango juice and made our way to the same café we went to the previous day. While I sat writing and smoking Djalma sat smoking talking to a Nubian guy, Osama, a real, genuine person who was very friendly.
We got a lift back to our CS house where the Canadian couple were sitting and talking to Yaqualine and her little girl Shakira, we joined them in conversation – me not so mucho, not Espaniss. A lovely day but so hot and sweaty.
One of life's great pleasures is sitting in a café and puffing on an apple sheesha watching the world go by.
Another is drinking mango juice, cold and fresh on a hot day, much better than beer.
Another is watching the sun rise or set with the one you love.
Within the last hour we have managed to do all three. Today has been long, hot and good.
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| From Philae Island, High Dam and Elephantine Island - Aswan, The Nile, Eygpt |
The sun tried for a long time to wake us up and succeeded around 8.30am. We got up quietly, our host still sound asleep in his children's bedroom. The two French couch-surfers were up and trying to get out the front door of the building which was locked, the Canadian couple were still asleep and we decided to have our breakfast of melon and dry bread with triangle cheese while the house woke up.
Alicia and Ricardo, he Canadian couple, woke up and we all sat and chatted with our host Shayr who offered to take us to a Nubian village in Aswan. We all bundled in his small red car and set off to this village, Alicia talking about the time her mother travelled with them in Indonesia for just over five weeks, the different stories had me laughing, cringing and sympathising. We walked round the village and paid to visit a “real” Nubian house, have some tea and hold baby crocodiles inside, needless to say I kept on the safe side of the camera, behind it, happy to take pictures of the baby crocodile and not have my picture taken with it. Most baby animals look cute, alligators are a scary exception, but I did touch it – I'm not THAT much of a sissy.
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| From Philae Island, High Dam and Elephantine Island - Aswan, The Nile, Eygpt |
We ended up spending most of the day with them after Shayr dropped us off us the ferry crossing to go across to Elephantine Island, where we aimlessly wandered round stopping often to rest and talk in the shade. It was damn hot, and although I thought I was coping admirably with the heat (I didn't pass out once) Djalma kindly informed me later that I was so red I was almost purple (and therefore should spend less time in the ships air-conditioned lounge and more time outside to build my resistance to the heat). It must have been well over 40ºC so a little colour in the face was to be expected. The Island was really pretty, lots of little rustic but colourfully decorated houses together with narrow alleys running between, we vied for the space with the locals and a group of sheep/goats (I couldn't tell what they were – they looked like a curly haired blend between the two). We stopped in a small square with a tree in the middle and rested there for a while, after a time we were joined by some Nubian women, who stared and talked about my hair for a while, and some small curious children.
 |
| From Philae Island, High Dam and Elephantine Island - Aswan, The Nile, Eygpt |
Our stomachs singing for some food, we slowly walked back in the direction of the landing and got the ferry back across. We all got some falafel and wandered through the quiet streets of the souq, the “no hassle” shops giving us just as much attention, and hassle, as the other shops. We ended up in McDonald's for the air-conditioning. It feels good to know that other people doing a similar thing to us have encountered the same problems, namely the two tiered pricing system. We also talked about our host and whether or not he would expect some kind of payment when we left the following day. It's been an unusual and awkward situation which has felt less like couch-surfing and more like a service, in a conversation with Djalma, Shayr said that nothing in Egypt was for free, so I'm really not sure what he will ask for but I think it will be for something rather than nothing.
I really doubt that Egyptians have fully grasped the concept of couch-surfing, the lady in Luxor used it (upfront) to get business for her hotel, and I expect that Shayr will ask for some kind of payment before we leave.
Ricardo seemed more than ready to leave, a quiet guy, I'm not sure whether he as just reserved or if he just didn't want to spend any more time with us preferring to spend it with Alicia who was very bubbly and talkative (and beautiful, I wish I sweated and travelled as well as she did), so they left us at McDonald's We left a short while after to go and check the price of a feluca ride, after worrying that we had started too early we ended up not having enough time to catch the sunset. By the time we had been passed onto the fourth and final man, been ferried across to Elephantine Island where his cute little feluca was waiting and got his boat moving (it was stuck in the mud and there was no wind), the sun was inches from the horizon and our poor little captain, Mustafah, rowed us back after we gave up. The boat needed a minimum of two people to crew it; one steer it and at least one to row – preferably two. He and Djalma rowed us back to the mainland with me steering the rudder, very cackhandedly, where we gave him five bound for his trouble mainly because he looked so disappointed and also because he never asked for anything, it was nice to give something as a small gesture of goodwill especially when so many of his countrymen are so greedy.
He was a couple of metres out before I realised that I had left my hat on board, we called him and god bless his heart he rowed back over instead of throwing it. Because he had been so down-hearted about losing the ride and so sweet about returning my hat we gave him and extra five bounds, telling he that he got it because he didn't ask for it.
 |
| From Philae Island, High Dam and Elephantine Island - Aswan, The Nile, Eygpt |
We walked back into the souq, got a chunky, cold, fresh mango juice and made our way to the same café we went to the previous day. While I sat writing and smoking Djalma sat smoking talking to a Nubian guy, Osama, a real, genuine person who was very friendly.
We got a lift back to our CS house where the Canadian couple were sitting and talking to Yaqualine and her little girl Shakira, we joined them in conversation – me not so mucho, not Espaniss. A lovely day but so hot and sweaty.
Day Thirty-two - Philae Island, The Nile, Egypt SPONSORED BY PAI E MÃE
Saturday 3rd July 2010
Before leaving the boat at midday we had our final tour with the turd Nabil, hmmmkay? On Philae Island, a misnomer seeing as the only thing left were some big sticks poking out the water marking the, now underwater, site of the original island. The temple on it had been relocated to a landscaped island a short distance from the original location.
We had to take a motorboat to the site which was beautiful, well the view on the water anyway the smell of petrol was not so sweet. While Nabil delivered a dry uninspiring monologuee about thehistory of the site, a worn out old cat creaked up and tried to be friendly, easing itself down in the middle of our group its meowing providing a welcome distraction from Nabil's annoying Egyptian and American accent. We wandered round the site, the most enjoyable part being at the end when we sat down on a stone wall looking out over the water, the morning shine glinting on the ripples.
We got back on the boat and hurried to pack our bags and take a last hot/cold shower before saying goodbye to Katherine and Co. Instead of leaving tips, which we had been badgered to do our whole trip, we left our passports. We got an email while in an internet café and D hurried back to the boat to get them. We had falafel for lunch, the usual business over price, we were overcharged even when given a special price, which wasn't so special when Djalma read the price on the massive wall menu and confronted the guy behind the counter, who after much hassle charged us the correct price.
We met our host, Shayr an Egyptian married to a lovely Columbian woman with two little girls, at his office. His colleague gave us a lift to Shay's house where we left our bags and then headed back out with him to town to watch the game. We felt quite uneasy because it felt less like the usual couch-surfing and more like a professional service – his friend made himself so available to take us anywhere by car it felt too much.
We sat watching the game in a smoky room with an Egyptian guy who had been to Brazil and had fallen in love or lust with a young 15 year old from Rio de Janeiro, that was weird – he was probably in his late 20s and completely unable to talk with her. He asked Djalma to speak to her from his mobile as she didn't speak Arabic or English and he didn't speak Portuguese, it was all a bit weird and I was happy to leave the room. After so long in Egypt (not that long I guess) and so many unpleasant encounters, I felt uncomfortable and suspicious of people acting friendly, a really horrible position.
Djalma and I walked along the Nile, sitting and talking about Egypt and how it is beautiful and full of history but also full of lying, greedy beggars. Even people who are selling something are begging, if it isn't with body language, pointing to their mouths asking for food or water with their eyes (only healthy looking kids have ever done this!) it's their sales technique – a technique which is so counterproductive that even though I need to buy things, I haven't because the hassle is just so intense.
We got another falafel and sat down and had a sheesha, feeling instantly relaxed and we sat, puffed and watched the world go by. After a good while of relaxing we headed back to Shayr's office where he spoke to us about the tours and cruises we had booked, it feeling more like a professional questioning to determine what services he could possibly offer us rather than a friendly chat about what we had planned for the next week. He took us back to his place with his colleague, thankfully they didn't have the channel for the WC so we were tucked up in bed soon enough trying to get to sleep under the fan pushing hot air round the room.
Before leaving the boat at midday we had our final tour with the turd Nabil, hmmmkay? On Philae Island, a misnomer seeing as the only thing left were some big sticks poking out the water marking the, now underwater, site of the original island. The temple on it had been relocated to a landscaped island a short distance from the original location.
We had to take a motorboat to the site which was beautiful, well the view on the water anyway the smell of petrol was not so sweet. While Nabil delivered a dry uninspiring monologuee about thehistory of the site, a worn out old cat creaked up and tried to be friendly, easing itself down in the middle of our group its meowing providing a welcome distraction from Nabil's annoying Egyptian and American accent. We wandered round the site, the most enjoyable part being at the end when we sat down on a stone wall looking out over the water, the morning shine glinting on the ripples.
 |
| From Philae Island, High Dam and Elephantine Island - Aswan, The Nile, Eygpt |
We got back on the boat and hurried to pack our bags and take a last hot/cold shower before saying goodbye to Katherine and Co. Instead of leaving tips, which we had been badgered to do our whole trip, we left our passports. We got an email while in an internet café and D hurried back to the boat to get them. We had falafel for lunch, the usual business over price, we were overcharged even when given a special price, which wasn't so special when Djalma read the price on the massive wall menu and confronted the guy behind the counter, who after much hassle charged us the correct price.
We met our host, Shayr an Egyptian married to a lovely Columbian woman with two little girls, at his office. His colleague gave us a lift to Shay's house where we left our bags and then headed back out with him to town to watch the game. We felt quite uneasy because it felt less like the usual couch-surfing and more like a professional service – his friend made himself so available to take us anywhere by car it felt too much.
We sat watching the game in a smoky room with an Egyptian guy who had been to Brazil and had fallen in love or lust with a young 15 year old from Rio de Janeiro, that was weird – he was probably in his late 20s and completely unable to talk with her. He asked Djalma to speak to her from his mobile as she didn't speak Arabic or English and he didn't speak Portuguese, it was all a bit weird and I was happy to leave the room. After so long in Egypt (not that long I guess) and so many unpleasant encounters, I felt uncomfortable and suspicious of people acting friendly, a really horrible position.
Djalma and I walked along the Nile, sitting and talking about Egypt and how it is beautiful and full of history but also full of lying, greedy beggars. Even people who are selling something are begging, if it isn't with body language, pointing to their mouths asking for food or water with their eyes (only healthy looking kids have ever done this!) it's their sales technique – a technique which is so counterproductive that even though I need to buy things, I haven't because the hassle is just so intense.
 |
| From Philae Island, High Dam and Elephantine Island - Aswan, The Nile, Eygpt |
We got another falafel and sat down and had a sheesha, feeling instantly relaxed and we sat, puffed and watched the world go by. After a good while of relaxing we headed back to Shayr's office where he spoke to us about the tours and cruises we had booked, it feeling more like a professional questioning to determine what services he could possibly offer us rather than a friendly chat about what we had planned for the next week. He took us back to his place with his colleague, thankfully they didn't have the channel for the WC so we were tucked up in bed soon enough trying to get to sleep under the fan pushing hot air round the room.
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