Friday 16 January 2009

Lazy days continued

Today has been hot and quite humid and I havent done very much but sit and read. We had a lovely day yesterday, it was breezy and very sunny and we walked along the shore to the south of our hotel fro a couple of miles. We found that the hotels peter out after a bit and those that are there look really nice but very quiet, some are actually closed and at least one was only partly built and no work seemed to be happening on it.

We walked to a large circular concrete construction and saw from the information board it was called shade, we watched some divers going in the water, all kitted up in wet suits, it looks such a performance but apparently this is a fantastic place to dive, the reef is wonderful and very extensive.


We ate at our new friend Ahmeds place, a kebab, stuff off the spit and some salads. While eating we were entertained by his very small daughter being thrown about by one of the other guys there, tossed up into the air and squeeling with delight. Like Jordanians, Eygyptians seem to be very fond of children and everyone seems to keep an eye out for them.

Later in the evening we repaired to the tented area in front of our hotel, slowly drinking a beer and talking to some Australians who were approximatly our age (rare) and we bid farewell to our American fellow traveler Jenny, who was off on an overnight bus journey to Cairo.

Tessa

I went snorkeling today, there is a place called Lighthouse at the other end of the bay with easy and very direct access to the coral reef so for about 8 pounds I hired a wetsuit (very fetching as you can see in one of the pics below) and snorkle gear and had a couple of hours with the multi coloured, striped and iredescent fish - also fascinating to see the divers below in the sharply deepening reef with their silver lines of air bubbles rising up - all rather exciting in a small way.

We leave Dahab tomorrow (with some regrets, we are living very comfortably and quite cheaply and need never come home!) but about noon we will go off to catch a bus to Sharm el Sheik and then a ferry across the Red Sea to Hurghaba, from there we hope to catch an overnight bus to Aswan, although may have to spend a night at Hurgaba depeding on the bus times. We hope for an easier ferry journey (no international border is involved, both ends are Eqypt) but will let you know from Upper Egypt!

And just get on a Easyjet flight and get yourselves to Dahab - thoroughly recommended, yes there is the "mixture of hippy and beduoin ambience" and all that but its a great place especially in the quiet time as now.

Brian

4 comments:

brianlj said...

Chucking children about? Juggling with juniors? I think Lucy'd object, but do you think Joni would let me have a go? :)

It sounds a bit Goa-ish there -- very laid back. Is there any work there apart from in hotels or servicing the tourist trade?

Very nice wet-suit, Brian! Very fetching. I believe you can get them in a range of sizes, yes? ;)

Are any of your fellow travellers doing a blog?

Off to Sharm el Sheik tomorrow. Stay off the camels and make sure your moneybelt is tight!

Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Gosh - a gap year indeed! I have just caught up with the journey so far and am wondering how its possible to go anywhere without a handbag of at least 10Kg! So how is it working out guys? In fact I did a 4 day trip in Europe and my bag was 17Kg!!
I decided to be an anonymous commentator - that way I will give you a puzzle of working out who this is!

Brian and Tess said...

the bag situation is fine, hardly anyone believes Tess can manage with hers but we are doing it!

Anonymous said...

Hello Brian and Tessa!

We will try to follow up your adventures as often as possible!
Please leave us some french words for your french readers! :-))

take care

Thomas on behalf of Chantal and Bruno