Saturday, June 7, 2003 (Bus from Luxor to Hurghada - Egypt)
Good-bye to Pharonic Egypt but this country has
something for all tastes. Next up, sun sand and sea. Tagging along for the ride.
Egyptian
time is no different to
African
time. Three stars?! I don't think so!
Snorkelling on a full stomach. Taking in Hurghada. Thank you Ehab
(Bob).
Day 87. This morning, we leave pharonic Egypt
behind us as we now travel away from all the historic and archaeological sites
to head for Hurghada. Our time spent allowing our minds to roam freely through
history as we mingled with the pharaohs in the various pyramids and temples has
become yet another major highlight to our
trip.
Egypt has four distinct kinds
of tourism on offer: Historic tourism (pharonic temples and pyramids); Nature
tourism (desert safaris); Religious tourism (Islamic Cairo and the rich cultural
history that accompanies it); and finally Fun tourism (sea, sand, snorkelling
and diving). With so much to offer, it’s a crying shame that the numbers
of tourists in Egypt has nose dived in recent
years.
We will arrive in Hurghada at
around noontime to commence our sand, sea, snorkelling and diving activities,
which will start in Hurghada but continue in Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab in a day
or two. We will pick up the historic thread again in Petra, Jordan but for now
it’s time for some rest and relaxation on the beach and under the
water.
A particularly nice surprise
awaited us this morning as Ehab buckled finally under the pressure and has
decided to join us after all for an impromptu two-day holiday in Hurghada. He
will join us not as a guide but as a very good friend. Our bus pulling away from
the depot this morning signified the formal end to his duties as a guide for us
and we handed him his envelope with tip and thank you letter. As a true
professional, he initially wanted to refuse it claiming that he was our friend
and not our guide but after my insistence, he put it into his pocket without
opening it. His tip was significant in size and I know he will
‘complain’ about the size of it (for positive reasons) later after
he opens it. It will be a joy to watch his gratification. We’ve come to
know Ehab very well over the past several days and a better friend than he has
been to us will be difficult to find
again.
Our three-hour bus ride from
Luxor to Hurghada took no less than five hours. On the outside, the coach looked
luxurious enough but, alas, it was a facade. We both hate long bus rides and
this one was particularly loathsome since the promised air-conditioning was
rendered useless due to the fact that the main door didn’t have a latch
and the driver kept his window wide open to prevent the pressure from passing
trucks from blowing it open. Half of the seats were also falling apart and my
backrest kept slowly reclining to the fully reclined position after about thirty
seconds. We’ve become pretty hardened to adversity now and the two of us
took the whole thing in our
stride.
We checked into our
three-star hotel but had to immediately request towels, soap, toilet tissue,
etc. for both our room and Ehab’s room. I’m not sure if the lack of
these items in the room was a mere oversight or policy on the part of the hotel
management to try to save money. I took the liberty of requesting the supplies
on Ehab’s behalf since he is so mild mannered and shy that we would never
do so himself.
First order of the
afternoon was to grab a bite to eat at Hurghada’s KFC. We then tested the
temperature of the sea at the nearest beach and decided that it was just warm
enough to warrant going back to the hotel to change into our swim clothes to
take a dip at the public beach. Since I have my snorkel and mask with me, Ehab
and I took turns in admiring the underwater environment which was surprisingly
varied and interesting given that we were just a few meters from the shore on a
heavily trodden public beach.
After
an hour or so at the beach, we went back to the hotel to shower and freshen up
before heading out into town to take in the atmosphere. Hurghada is a bustling
place and is a very new town. Almost every building that stands here is less
than five years old. Several years ago, you would have been hard pressed to find
it on the map but it has grown at a phenomenal rate in recent years to
accommodate the German and Eastern European package tourist trade. Many of the
signs at the numerous and very touristy bazaars are posted in Russian and
sometimes German in addition to Arabic. The tourists that flock here are none
too interested in the Pharonic history of Egypt but flock here instead for the
sun, sand and marine life. We walked around for an hour or so and Ehab bought
himself a snorkel and mask as well as a new pair of shorts. He didn’t
bring any with him and actually borrowed our scissors to cut off the legs of the
trousers he was wearing so that he could at least go snorkelling. He enjoyed
himself immensely today and it is clear that he was in desperate need of a
holiday.
As predicted, Ehab was
extremely grateful after opening his envelope. We was, of course, grateful for
the money we had tipped him but what was particularly pleasing was the fact that
he was more pleased with the wording in our thank you letter. He said he was
going to frame it even.
We have
arranged a snorkelling day-trip tomorrow by boat to one of the Red Sea Islands
that is most famous for its superb snorkelling location. It will be a fun day
out and we are all looking forward to it. We will have our underwater camera at
the ready and we will surely return with a memory card full of great underwater
pictures to show for the day.
Posted: Sat
- June 7, 2003 at 08:30 AM