I'm in Egypt

Tuesday - December 4, 2007

I made it to Egypt and to my hotel about 4 a.m. On first impressions, I have a great hotel – The Rock Hotel - with a pool outside my patio doors….it’s an inexpensive one. In fact, it’s only a three star hotel with cigarette burns on the edge of the tub and so far away from the main tourist drag that it’s not on the tourist map, but fine and the people are so friendly. I have my own personal ‘attendant’ in that he takes care of me and my room, so anything I need he helps me with. His name is Mohamed. (What else?)

Everything is written in Arabic here so I wouldn’t have a chance in hell of driving and following road signs (except for street signs in the tourist area), but it’s all so neat. Tonight my tour guide comes back to give me my options on going to Cairo, riding camels and doing the Bedouin thing….I can hardly wait. I’m just resting and relaxing today as I’m tired after the trip.

One of the very conspicuous things I’ve noticed so far is that there are no women working anywhere in the hotel, shops, bars, etc. It’s very strange only having men to deal with. It’s all part of the culture here that woman are rarely seen and definitely not heard.

My breakfast is included in my package and I had an interesting one partly of N. American food and partly Egyptian….with a little European thrown in: A croissant, small omelette, tiny folded crepes (they call them pancakes), sliced sausages that looked more like diagonally cut wieners than a breakfast sausage, hash browns with some interesting herbs in them, and some kind of refried beans with herbs or spices in them, and a very strange red-coloured juice that comes from a plant grown in the desert. I think I’ll avoid it tomorrow…the taste wasn’t strong, but different and although I’m not a big sweetener fan, it could have used something to give it a boost to be more palatable.

I missed lunch altogether, but had supper in the pub attached to the hotel, although it’s not it’s run privately. It had a Mexican menu and I had the strangest chicken cassedia served with sour cream and finely chopped tomato and lettuce, but not even close to being salsa, nor being Mexican!

Cats are prevalent here too, wondering around the pool side and of course begging at the patio doors. It reminds me of the resorts in Mexico.


Everywhere is desert sand, so it’s quite surprising to see plenty of green foliage on the hotel grounds everywhere. I was particularly struck by bushes bursting with beautifully coloured flowers like twists of paper, along with other flowering shrubs and trees. Of course there are palm trees, but a different shape than I’ve seen before.

Right next door is a diving college- a group of Italians were in the bar, fretting over an exam they were about to write. I was there trying to use the free Wireless Internet, but my computer battery was too low and I didn’t have the right plug adapter. Tonight I met the Irish pub owner, a friendly chap who has lived here for the past 12 years, having come because of the superb diving in the Red Sea. He’s offered to take me out diving, but he’s altogether too friendly for my liking, so I’ll be declining. I do look forward to going out on a glass bottomed boat to see the amazing multi-colour coral and fish. Being in amongst them isn’t really my thing, though I know some of you would give your eye teeth to be here scuba diving and snorkelling.

The tourist industry is relatively new here, having grown a great deal over the last dozen years. The streets are wide and new...great for driving on...the traffic seems swift here and the drivers toot their horns everywhere; you're never sure where to look.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I’m going with the tour group for a trip around Sharm el Sheikh (Sheikh is pronounced ‘shake’) to get an overview of the place, then I’ll be more confident about getting around. One has been warned that the taxi drivers try to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists and jack up the prices, but I’m prepared for them.

There is amazing security here, at least in the tourist areas. We were told that this is a high priority here as Sharm depends solely on tourism and they take good care of their visitors. The police are highly visible and there are security gates of one kind or another at the entrance with guards to every hotel, along with a security door to pass through to actually enter the hotel lobby. Good thing as the lock systems on the room and patio doors aren’t the best….though we are warned to put our valuables in the hotel safe at the reception desk when we’re not in our rooms. When I go out I leave my laptop there. If they want the rest of my stuff (clothes) they can have it, as I’m ready for some new things anyway. I carry my other valuables with me (purse, camera, passport, etc.)

The money here is amazing in that everything sounds like it costs so much…my lunch was 37 Egyptian pounds, but this translates to about $5.00 Canadian.

I was in this very cool perfume shop this afternoon….I didn’t realize that was their speciality here….the owners served me Egyptian tea in this incredible shop that looked a little like a cozy sitting room for intimate conversations – yes I was a little concerned that they may have spiked it with something as two men attended me, but I soon realized that I was worth more to them to be kept conscious so that they could introduce me to the rest of their family members who all owned various shops in the area. I was whisked into a travel agency, café, gift shop, ‘supermarket' (really little convenience stores), Internet Café and papyrus shop, all owned by various brothers, cousins, etc.

This was about the time I realized only men waited on customers and owned shops here, and I felt a little less intimidated, so I let him plaster some kind of cleansing cream on my face and sat their sipping tea like royalty, enjoying their entertaining conversation. Of course, I bought a little perfume and got an exquisite glass bottle to use after it’s transported home. (More pics to come of the interior.)

I haven’t even been here 24 hours and already I’m loving it. Wednesday I go to Cairo to see the relics of the ancient civilizations…..