So, why Dahab was a cool part of our Egypt travel?
1. It is a relaxed city, city of simple and good leisure. It has everything you need for a good, just-do-what-you-want rest. We walked along boulevard on the edge of the sea, with dozens of cafes and restaurants, each of them having a front-man, promising you everything you want in his place :) We lied on the cushions, smoking shisha, and talking for hours. We had breakfast on the roof of the café, with breeze blowing from the sea across us. We bought necklaces from a Bedouin woman once in the morning. We went to an Aussie party to a club (where smoked shisha again and where only Tom and a couple of songs were Australian :)
2. Food! Food is so good there :)
The first dinner we ate in the street restaurant, with literally mountains of different seafood that our gentlemen negotiated. Continued with many possible variations of meet (which I requested almost every time we had meals :) We (me and Geta) discovered sahleb, which is a wonderful hot drink made of milk, sugar, coconut, nuts and some other awesome things and is best on a chilly evening. Egypt in general is not as good in desserts (at least for my taste), but sahleb brings it up :)
3. Active rest - oh we did it 150%!!! I loved it, let me describe.
We did quad biking! Basically it is when you go on 4 weels bikes to the desert, which was mountains and sand dunes around Dahab. It was the first time in my life when I drove an motor vehicle!!! I had an instructor, but drove myself later (and often tried to go faster than I should and than I could manage, so I was slowed down all the time :)
We drove through mountains, and it was my first real time in mountains!!! We stopped in a former bedouin place, and I run, run to the pick of a small cliff, to see more of mountains. No need of words :)
On the way out of the mountains - it was such a feeling of craziness and happiness and excitement that I wanted to laugh and scream loud. Imagine a picture of a blond first-time quad-bike driver silly smiling to everything around - you'd wonder what's the matter :)))
And the matter was - imagine, you drive, fast, on a road, between bottoms of mountains, and it's no sound except yours and 4 other people. And it's sun, wind, and then mountains open, and you see a cake of a blue-blue sky, of the shining in the waves sea, and it's yours, and you ride towards everything, and you have much more ahead!!!
It's like you find inside more unleashed energy you'd expect of yourself. And it feels good :)
4. SNORKELING! Oh, that was the highlight of the Red Sea.
There is a coral reef just in Dahab water, and we went there, as it was no time to go to Blue Hole (which is one of most famous of not the most, snorkeling-diving places on the Red Sea).
I was filled with excitement - it was my first snorkeling experience, too :)
After several manipulations with my mask and instructions from Tom I looked through the glass into the water, and even if it was a sandy wave, slowly getting deeper, with almost empty water, it has already promised a wonderful experience. And so it came. We slowly floated to the reef, passed some groups of divers, disappearing on the bottom, and then, then… I saw a rising mass in front of me, and it was another world.
Purple, yellow, white, pink, green, blue stone flowers of corals, rainbow painted fish, swimming around, so close, and so gorgeous! It was one of most beautiful things I saw in my life; it was different; it was the whole small world under a couple of meters of water. I was so amazed, that I wanted to scream, but then remembered that it's not the best occasino till my lungs with water :)
It was so real, and I was a part of it: slowly moving, I saw that fish is not afraid of me; many of them swam around, and 2 big, colorful and flat fish were floating with me. It was sunny down there, no waves, and clean water seemed like this world's thick air.
I loved the edge of the reef most. You can see there the hole: flatter surface of the reef, close to the top; the down-side of the coral hill, where most of fish lives; and a sand bottom, disappearing further forward and down in deepening blue - which gave even more wonder and reality to that piece of coral reef.
I walked from the water to the beach with a big smile on my face :)
I know I'll do snorkeling again! It was so-so-so nice…
And then we left Dahab, moving back to Basata for another day.
Looking through the car window at the white hotel buildings, many construction sites, Laguna, surrounding the city mountains of Dahab, I felt so satisfied, so full with good emotions. We took much of what that place could give us, and I think there is much more and for everyone :)
They were great days in Dahab.
To be continued
1. It is a relaxed city, city of simple and good leisure. It has everything you need for a good, just-do-what-you-want rest. We walked along boulevard on the edge of the sea, with dozens of cafes and restaurants, each of them having a front-man, promising you everything you want in his place :) We lied on the cushions, smoking shisha, and talking for hours. We had breakfast on the roof of the café, with breeze blowing from the sea across us. We bought necklaces from a Bedouin woman once in the morning. We went to an Aussie party to a club (where smoked shisha again and where only Tom and a couple of songs were Australian :)
2. Food! Food is so good there :)
The first dinner we ate in the street restaurant, with literally mountains of different seafood that our gentlemen negotiated. Continued with many possible variations of meet (which I requested almost every time we had meals :) We (me and Geta) discovered sahleb, which is a wonderful hot drink made of milk, sugar, coconut, nuts and some other awesome things and is best on a chilly evening. Egypt in general is not as good in desserts (at least for my taste), but sahleb brings it up :) 3. Active rest - oh we did it 150%!!! I loved it, let me describe.
We did quad biking! Basically it is when you go on 4 weels bikes to the desert, which was mountains and sand dunes around Dahab. It was the first time in my life when I drove an motor vehicle!!! I had an instructor, but drove myself later (and often tried to go faster than I should and than I could manage, so I was slowed down all the time :)
We drove through mountains, and it was my first real time in mountains!!! We stopped in a former bedouin place, and I run, run to the pick of a small cliff, to see more of mountains. No need of words :)
On the way out of the mountains - it was such a feeling of craziness and happiness and excitement that I wanted to laugh and scream loud. Imagine a picture of a blond first-time quad-bike driver silly smiling to everything around - you'd wonder what's the matter :)))
And the matter was - imagine, you drive, fast, on a road, between bottoms of mountains, and it's no sound except yours and 4 other people. And it's sun, wind, and then mountains open, and you see a cake of a blue-blue sky, of the shining in the waves sea, and it's yours, and you ride towards everything, and you have much more ahead!!!
It's like you find inside more unleashed energy you'd expect of yourself. And it feels good :)
4. SNORKELING! Oh, that was the highlight of the Red Sea.
There is a coral reef just in Dahab water, and we went there, as it was no time to go to Blue Hole (which is one of most famous of not the most, snorkeling-diving places on the Red Sea).
I was filled with excitement - it was my first snorkeling experience, too :)
After several manipulations with my mask and instructions from Tom I looked through the glass into the water, and even if it was a sandy wave, slowly getting deeper, with almost empty water, it has already promised a wonderful experience. And so it came. We slowly floated to the reef, passed some groups of divers, disappearing on the bottom, and then, then… I saw a rising mass in front of me, and it was another world.
Purple, yellow, white, pink, green, blue stone flowers of corals, rainbow painted fish, swimming around, so close, and so gorgeous! It was one of most beautiful things I saw in my life; it was different; it was the whole small world under a couple of meters of water. I was so amazed, that I wanted to scream, but then remembered that it's not the best occasino till my lungs with water :)
It was so real, and I was a part of it: slowly moving, I saw that fish is not afraid of me; many of them swam around, and 2 big, colorful and flat fish were floating with me. It was sunny down there, no waves, and clean water seemed like this world's thick air.
I loved the edge of the reef most. You can see there the hole: flatter surface of the reef, close to the top; the down-side of the coral hill, where most of fish lives; and a sand bottom, disappearing further forward and down in deepening blue - which gave even more wonder and reality to that piece of coral reef.I walked from the water to the beach with a big smile on my face :)
I know I'll do snorkeling again! It was so-so-so nice…
And then we left Dahab, moving back to Basata for another day.
Looking through the car window at the white hotel buildings, many construction sites, Laguna, surrounding the city mountains of Dahab, I felt so satisfied, so full with good emotions. We took much of what that place could give us, and I think there is much more and for everyone :)
They were great days in Dahab.
To be continued
It's not the same now - to write about Dahab as I'd have written a week ago.
Bombings last days brought a different feeling. No, not a fear, even though it was the most personal touch of a terror for me - the restaurant I've visited was destroyed, the bridge, the street I walked... Even if it's horrible to feel it as close - it still has been a couple of weeks of time between me and that.
The changed feeling of Dahab for me is the feeling of uneasiness. Of being powerless, as you don't know about any place, if it's safe or not. And you can't do anything, you don't understand, and you don't want to belong to the fear. And even the anger doesn't mean much, unless you enter security corps and fight it (it is it, it is not even they). We can prevent that future generations, some particluar people around us don't step onto that way, but what is the cure for those who are already on the way of the war?
And so I choose another way. If my anger is powerless, I choose to be peaceful. There is no way that terror is going to influence the way I see the world, and it can't make me fear everything around me. I don't accept it, and I keep going.
Let my good memories of Dahab, good memories of other people be stronger than images of destruction. The place will be rebuilt and alive again.
Take care, Dahab, I remember you :)
Bombings last days brought a different feeling. No, not a fear, even though it was the most personal touch of a terror for me - the restaurant I've visited was destroyed, the bridge, the street I walked... Even if it's horrible to feel it as close - it still has been a couple of weeks of time between me and that.
The changed feeling of Dahab for me is the feeling of uneasiness. Of being powerless, as you don't know about any place, if it's safe or not. And you can't do anything, you don't understand, and you don't want to belong to the fear. And even the anger doesn't mean much, unless you enter security corps and fight it (it is it, it is not even they). We can prevent that future generations, some particluar people around us don't step onto that way, but what is the cure for those who are already on the way of the war?
And so I choose another way. If my anger is powerless, I choose to be peaceful. There is no way that terror is going to influence the way I see the world, and it can't make me fear everything around me. I don't accept it, and I keep going.
Let my good memories of Dahab, good memories of other people be stronger than images of destruction. The place will be rebuilt and alive again.
Take care, Dahab, I remember you :)
Egypt: the castle. IDEAL
0 Comments Published by Svetlana Zhukova on Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 10:47 PM.
After we left Basata, instead of going straight to Dahab, we went to a castle near by. It's not actually a castle, it has been built a couple of years ago on a cliff above the sea, and it looked exactly as I imagined an ideal place for an afternoon/evening luxury chilling.
High on the rock,
With a wonderful view of the Red Sea,
Nicely built, with many cozy places and corners
Bar and light jazz music
And the pool…
Ahh… when we got there, I was just ah and oh, wanting to get it all at once. I felt like I've found a perfect place for a perfect holiday.
And so it was…
The match of our mood and the place was ideal.
I think I could even spend a honey moon, when it comes, at that place :)
We were the whole afternoon there, swimming, drinking, chilling, talking.
Looking down through clean water, looking far away to the sea…
Listening to the music, warmed by the sun…
One of my best images of Egypt vacations. Viva life!
To be continued
High on the rock,
With a wonderful view of the Red Sea,
Nicely built, with many cozy places and corners
Bar and light jazz music
And the pool…
Ahh… when we got there, I was just ah and oh, wanting to get it all at once. I felt like I've found a perfect place for a perfect holiday.
And so it was…
The match of our mood and the place was ideal.
I think I could even spend a honey moon, when it comes, at that place :)
We were the whole afternoon there, swimming, drinking, chilling, talking.
Looking down through clean water, looking far away to the sea…
Listening to the music, warmed by the sun…
One of my best images of Egypt vacations. Viva life!
To be continued
Today, when I was walking on the street, a guy stopped and said, that I have beautiful eyes. Gosh, I think this is spring coming :)
We headed off to Sinai at 2 am, so slept in the mini-bus. It was an interesting moment - when we stopped at the hotel, and guys left to exchange money, several civilian men looked into the open door of a bus, asking in arabic what we are doing and why standing on the street so late. Luckily another aiesecer who was in the bus, helped to manage this - as he told later, they were national security agents, just dressed as civilians…
On the way to Sinai, we crossed Suez canal (I heard so much and wanted to see it, but we went through the tunnel, so it was my imagination that drew an important mark between Africa and Eurasia continents :)
We passed many security check-points, as Sinai actually is a kind of less-inhabited military zone, that separates Israel from Egypt. It was fine - waking up several times, I saw an endless desert around. It was actually a mysterious feeling - early in the morning, when we stopped, it was pretty cold, no sun yet, a bit of fog, and just dunes and rocks and dried couple of bushes for a long-long way around…
In this surrealistic landscape I finally got the thought, that I'm in Egypt, in Sinai desert :) Yo-ho! Another great time and place this year.
And then it was a sunrise, our first sunrise in Egypt.
We were actually going to Dahab that morning - along the coast of the Red Sea gulf, on the east of Sinai, we passed Taba, a town from where it takes about 5 km to reach Israel, and Saudi Arabia is just another coast you see form the road. It was so magnificent - morning sun, blue sky, mountains, and shining of the sea in between the rocks.
Lots of construction is going on that seaside - counting for increase in tourists I guess. But some resorts are really unattractive, with just stone hotels and rocky small beaches. So choose carefully if you plan to attend those places :)
On the way to Dahab we drove near Basata, Tom wanted to show us the place, small resort where we were supposed to come back after a couple of days in Dahab. But suddenly the realization came, that we actually want to stay in Basata right now, that we needed quietness and piece and relaxation right now. So we drove to Basata straight, and didn't regret a minute.
IT'S a HEAVEN, seriously.
Imagine:
Blue sky
Yellow sand
Blinking reflection of the sun in the waves of cleanest and most blue water
It is all in the small valley with palm trees and mountains around
You lie on traditionally made cushions in a spacey cane hut, sun is on your face and warm breeze mildly touches your skin…
I can't tell all the deepness of my happiness when we got there. I was lying, as a plant, simply absorbing all positive emotions, and smiling to the sky. After all weeks of lovely, but gloomy winter time in Rotterdam, this was what I wanted - sound of the sea, warmth, and a week of holidays ahead.
This is us when we just got to Basata
And this is Basata, where we spent that day, a night, and half of next day. What we did? Exactly what we wanted - NOTHING! :)
Slept,
Met sunset
Ate: they have cool home-cooked mini pizza's; and usual way to cook is that you cook for yourself, just taking any food from the kitchen and signing how much of what you took, to pay at the end. This actually helps to create an almost idyllic atmosphere - no servants and masters, there are no money relations involved, everyone is chilled and friendly.
Dinner can be cooked for you if you want (no meat, just vegetables and fish - happy vegetarians :), and all people then eat dinner together, sitting in groups around low tables and talking about everything. Feeling of a community - there is no one around, just people who live in and maintain Basata, and a couple of dozens of tourists occupying huts.
We actually had a cool talk in the evening about religion, and purpose of it, and differences. We were - a Christian (Geta), a Muslim (Shady), and 2 atheists - me and Tom. It was interesting to listen to perspectives, challenge them - and being challenged yourself.
This is what I like in my life now - I can talk to smart people around, and actually there are much more of them than you might think!
What's else about Basata
It got a small school, where an english teacher employed by an owner of Basata, Sherif, for his children (who has a europen education and a german wife) teaches others as well. It was interesting to see children arranging their table, speaking mixture of english and arabic, being cute as all children are.
It was a Bedouin woman coming to the main lodge-hut, and selling her bijouterie, small things for women, like necklace, bracelets etc.
In Basata this traditional life of the desert and small village is mixed with ecolodge resort, producing all together peaceful, relaxing and one of best places I've ever been to.
Yes, and this is more of Basata :)
The next day we were alreday rested, a bit tanned, relaxed, chiiled and happy. Generally happiness and cilling mood were our constants in Egypt :)
So next midday, we left to Dahab...
To be continued
On the way to Sinai, we crossed Suez canal (I heard so much and wanted to see it, but we went through the tunnel, so it was my imagination that drew an important mark between Africa and Eurasia continents :)
We passed many security check-points, as Sinai actually is a kind of less-inhabited military zone, that separates Israel from Egypt. It was fine - waking up several times, I saw an endless desert around. It was actually a mysterious feeling - early in the morning, when we stopped, it was pretty cold, no sun yet, a bit of fog, and just dunes and rocks and dried couple of bushes for a long-long way around…
In this surrealistic landscape I finally got the thought, that I'm in Egypt, in Sinai desert :) Yo-ho! Another great time and place this year.
And then it was a sunrise, our first sunrise in Egypt.
We were actually going to Dahab that morning - along the coast of the Red Sea gulf, on the east of Sinai, we passed Taba, a town from where it takes about 5 km to reach Israel, and Saudi Arabia is just another coast you see form the road. It was so magnificent - morning sun, blue sky, mountains, and shining of the sea in between the rocks.
Lots of construction is going on that seaside - counting for increase in tourists I guess. But some resorts are really unattractive, with just stone hotels and rocky small beaches. So choose carefully if you plan to attend those places :)
On the way to Dahab we drove near Basata, Tom wanted to show us the place, small resort where we were supposed to come back after a couple of days in Dahab. But suddenly the realization came, that we actually want to stay in Basata right now, that we needed quietness and piece and relaxation right now. So we drove to Basata straight, and didn't regret a minute.
IT'S a HEAVEN, seriously.
Imagine:
Blue sky
Yellow sand
Blinking reflection of the sun in the waves of cleanest and most blue water
It is all in the small valley with palm trees and mountains around
You lie on traditionally made cushions in a spacey cane hut, sun is on your face and warm breeze mildly touches your skin…
I can't tell all the deepness of my happiness when we got there. I was lying, as a plant, simply absorbing all positive emotions, and smiling to the sky. After all weeks of lovely, but gloomy winter time in Rotterdam, this was what I wanted - sound of the sea, warmth, and a week of holidays ahead.
This is us when we just got to Basata
And this is Basata, where we spent that day, a night, and half of next day. What we did? Exactly what we wanted - NOTHING! :)
Slept,
Met sunset
Ate: they have cool home-cooked mini pizza's; and usual way to cook is that you cook for yourself, just taking any food from the kitchen and signing how much of what you took, to pay at the end. This actually helps to create an almost idyllic atmosphere - no servants and masters, there are no money relations involved, everyone is chilled and friendly.
Dinner can be cooked for you if you want (no meat, just vegetables and fish - happy vegetarians :), and all people then eat dinner together, sitting in groups around low tables and talking about everything. Feeling of a community - there is no one around, just people who live in and maintain Basata, and a couple of dozens of tourists occupying huts. We actually had a cool talk in the evening about religion, and purpose of it, and differences. We were - a Christian (Geta), a Muslim (Shady), and 2 atheists - me and Tom. It was interesting to listen to perspectives, challenge them - and being challenged yourself.
This is what I like in my life now - I can talk to smart people around, and actually there are much more of them than you might think!
What's else about Basata
It got a small school, where an english teacher employed by an owner of Basata, Sherif, for his children (who has a europen education and a german wife) teaches others as well. It was interesting to see children arranging their table, speaking mixture of english and arabic, being cute as all children are. It was a Bedouin woman coming to the main lodge-hut, and selling her bijouterie, small things for women, like necklace, bracelets etc.
In Basata this traditional life of the desert and small village is mixed with ecolodge resort, producing all together peaceful, relaxing and one of best places I've ever been to.
Yes, and this is more of Basata :)
The next day we were alreday rested, a bit tanned, relaxed, chiiled and happy. Generally happiness and cilling mood were our constants in Egypt :)
So next midday, we left to Dahab...
To be continued
Where to start?
It was just GREAT.
We (me, Geta, Tom) headed for a week-long vacations in Egypt at the beginning of April (1-9 March to be precise).
I was always dreaming of coming to Egypt once. The mystery of one of oldest civilizations, relaxing water of the Red Sea, and of course pyramids were the things that magnate me towards this country. Reading all those myths about Egypt, historical books, I was imaging how it would be - to come to Egypt and see it with my own eyes. As other lands, Egypt is so different from Russia, has different culture, and so significant for the world's history, that it was a must-to-come-place on my list. And a bit of savings, and Tom's passion to come back to the country made this magic happen for me this year.
And I can say - YES, I've been to Egypt!
I'm happy :)
About vacation itself
Cairo - Basata - Dahab - Basata - Cairo.
Key learning point: have someone who knows the place and puts the program for you.
Tom was our gift for this trip, making all our wishes realized. He lived in Egypt for a year, and for sure knew what foreigners like us would like to see and to do on the holiday, plus what we should see - which was sometimes different :) - to get a feeling of the country. Of course, his sincere desire to show us Egypt at its best and make the best holidays of our lives paid off.
I hereby declare: I had the best holidays of my life so far in Egypt! :)
So, how it actually was there? I'll start from the start.
We arrived to Schiphol airport at 6 in the morning to get to know that our flight (hello, Alitalia!) got cancelled. So instead of flying to Milan and landing then in Cairo in the afternoon, we flew to Frankfurt, and then landed in Cairo in the evening.
Another learning point: be flexible to change your plans if conditions change, and it will be fine :)
The first impression of Egypt was in the airport - new terminal is super cool, much better than many others I saw. And warm welcome by around 10 Egyptian aiesecers who came to meet Tom (and me and Geta who came with Tom :) We packed ourselves into cars, and headed straight to the city, to take a boat called felucca (this is a traditional Egyptian boat people take to spend spare time).
Imagine: nice warm evening, city lights around, you float on the boat along Nile, and only flopping of the sail, Egyptian music, conversation and laughers of welcoming people around you. I was absorbing positive emotions, smiling to myself :)
The evening continued with our first dinner in Cairo, which happened to be in the street café, on the edge of the center of the city, and it was the greatest kebab and kofte and something else I've ever tried :) Some more Egyptian aiesecers/alumni joined, some left, and soon we headed to one of best cafes on Nile - Sequoia for those who knows - for couple of hours, to smoke shesha (shisha, hookah, waterpipe).
Imagine, a guy brings you in about 40 flavors, and you can smell and choose whatever you want. Shesha in general is very traditional in Egypt. Basically it is flavored tobacco, which you smoke through the long pipe, and it gets to you cooled through the water. It used to be a thing for older poorer men, but now it is very commonly used by many-many people, youngsters as well. I'd even say it is a substitute for beer in Egypt - as alcohol as you'd imagine is not widely used, many people consume shisha as a social relaxing element. Girls would smoke shisha with their friends when going out, and almost in every place you have shisha in the menu. And for those in suspicion - no, it's not a drug. It's like a cigarette, but much milder, cooler and relaxes you, as it has to be smoked slowly - sometimes for an hour or so. I tried it before (however I don't smoke cigarettes), in Turkey and other places, liked it. Plus it's an ultimate element of Egyptian life that you can't ignore and should just embrace :) In my competition with myself if I can produce more smoke with shisha, I won - at the end of the trip I was puffing quite well. Favorite flavor - melon, it's mild and they say girly, but what to do, a girl - this is who I am! :)
Ok, enough of shisha stories :)
We spent nice time in the café, chatting, relaxing, and in a couple of hours a mini bus was waiting for us, so we headed to Sinai, main place of our vacation.
One of Tom's best Egyptian friends, Shady, joined us for the trip (true example of a spontaneous decision - he was ready to go after 3 hours as Tom spoke to him about our plans in Sinai :)
The first evening was perfect, in several hours we did lot's of cool stuff, and that set us to anticipate the rest. The rest appeared to be even better :)
To be continued
p.s. EGYPT PHOTOS - in my flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/91511785@N00/sets/72057594105426254/
It was just GREAT.
We (me, Geta, Tom) headed for a week-long vacations in Egypt at the beginning of April (1-9 March to be precise).
I was always dreaming of coming to Egypt once. The mystery of one of oldest civilizations, relaxing water of the Red Sea, and of course pyramids were the things that magnate me towards this country. Reading all those myths about Egypt, historical books, I was imaging how it would be - to come to Egypt and see it with my own eyes. As other lands, Egypt is so different from Russia, has different culture, and so significant for the world's history, that it was a must-to-come-place on my list. And a bit of savings, and Tom's passion to come back to the country made this magic happen for me this year.
And I can say - YES, I've been to Egypt!
I'm happy :)
About vacation itself
Cairo - Basata - Dahab - Basata - Cairo.
Key learning point: have someone who knows the place and puts the program for you.
Tom was our gift for this trip, making all our wishes realized. He lived in Egypt for a year, and for sure knew what foreigners like us would like to see and to do on the holiday, plus what we should see - which was sometimes different :) - to get a feeling of the country. Of course, his sincere desire to show us Egypt at its best and make the best holidays of our lives paid off.
I hereby declare: I had the best holidays of my life so far in Egypt! :)
So, how it actually was there? I'll start from the start.
We arrived to Schiphol airport at 6 in the morning to get to know that our flight (hello, Alitalia!) got cancelled. So instead of flying to Milan and landing then in Cairo in the afternoon, we flew to Frankfurt, and then landed in Cairo in the evening.
Another learning point: be flexible to change your plans if conditions change, and it will be fine :)
The first impression of Egypt was in the airport - new terminal is super cool, much better than many others I saw. And warm welcome by around 10 Egyptian aiesecers who came to meet Tom (and me and Geta who came with Tom :) We packed ourselves into cars, and headed straight to the city, to take a boat called felucca (this is a traditional Egyptian boat people take to spend spare time).
Imagine: nice warm evening, city lights around, you float on the boat along Nile, and only flopping of the sail, Egyptian music, conversation and laughers of welcoming people around you. I was absorbing positive emotions, smiling to myself :)
The evening continued with our first dinner in Cairo, which happened to be in the street café, on the edge of the center of the city, and it was the greatest kebab and kofte and something else I've ever tried :) Some more Egyptian aiesecers/alumni joined, some left, and soon we headed to one of best cafes on Nile - Sequoia for those who knows - for couple of hours, to smoke shesha (shisha, hookah, waterpipe).
Imagine, a guy brings you in about 40 flavors, and you can smell and choose whatever you want. Shesha in general is very traditional in Egypt. Basically it is flavored tobacco, which you smoke through the long pipe, and it gets to you cooled through the water. It used to be a thing for older poorer men, but now it is very commonly used by many-many people, youngsters as well. I'd even say it is a substitute for beer in Egypt - as alcohol as you'd imagine is not widely used, many people consume shisha as a social relaxing element. Girls would smoke shisha with their friends when going out, and almost in every place you have shisha in the menu. And for those in suspicion - no, it's not a drug. It's like a cigarette, but much milder, cooler and relaxes you, as it has to be smoked slowly - sometimes for an hour or so. I tried it before (however I don't smoke cigarettes), in Turkey and other places, liked it. Plus it's an ultimate element of Egyptian life that you can't ignore and should just embrace :) In my competition with myself if I can produce more smoke with shisha, I won - at the end of the trip I was puffing quite well. Favorite flavor - melon, it's mild and they say girly, but what to do, a girl - this is who I am! :)Ok, enough of shisha stories :)
We spent nice time in the café, chatting, relaxing, and in a couple of hours a mini bus was waiting for us, so we headed to Sinai, main place of our vacation.
One of Tom's best Egyptian friends, Shady, joined us for the trip (true example of a spontaneous decision - he was ready to go after 3 hours as Tom spoke to him about our plans in Sinai :)
The first evening was perfect, in several hours we did lot's of cool stuff, and that set us to anticipate the rest. The rest appeared to be even better :)
To be continued
p.s. EGYPT PHOTOS - in my flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/91511785@N00/sets/72057594105426254/
