Adventure Chronicles™

03.06.01 - By the Sea
Hurghada, Egypt - The Red Sea

We've spent the last few days in Hurgadah, which is a smallish resort town on the coast of the Red Sea, which by the way, isn't at all red. Beautiful blue-green water and white sand beaches, although the beaches were smaller than we expected.

It's been nice to relax after all the hustle and bustle in Cairo and Luxor. When we arrived, we (okay I - Lisa) decided that I needed a little luxury, so we checked into a regular hotel. Towels, toilet paper, a shower curtain, and a balcony which overlooked the Red Sea. Very nice! We spent our first afternoon on the beach, just relaxing. The water seemed cold that day, so we didn't go for a swim. There were a ton of jelly fish washed up on the beach, which also worried us a little.

We braved the water on Monday and enjoyed a day of swimming, more sun, and a walk around town (no bad jelly fish encounters). We were hoping to take the local bus back from downtown, but mistakenly jumped on a bus bound for the next town. It was pretty amusing, because the whole bus (locals) jumped in to try and help us get to where we were going, and the bus driver felt sorry for us and didn't charge us for the ride. Egyptians have been incredibly friendly to us, and I am impressed by how willing they are to help foreigners.

We have encountered very few Americans since we came here, so people are usually surpised when we tell them we are from America. They usually guess Holland or Germany. Must be Jay's height and my fair skin.

On Tuesday, we went on an all day snorkel trip. This is the windy season in Hurgadah, so it was a bumpy boat ride, but the scenery was beautiful and the water comfortably warm. We went snorkeling in two locations. Saw lots of beautiful tropical fish and coral, and Jay was even lucky enough to see a five foot mantaray, which is rare in this area. I, of course, missed the mantaray. I had a bout of sea-sickness in the afternoon, but managed to get a grip on my stomach and finish the day without incident. While on the boat, we met a woman from New Jersey - one of the few Americans we've encoutered so far. She's already been to many of the countries we are going to, so she gave us lots of good tips on places to stay, etc.

We decided we didn't want to pay for the luxury hotel anymore and moved to a backpacker hotel called Hotel California. Very wise decision, since the hotel manager (Nubi) was very friendly and kept us laughing constantly, and the other guests were friendly as well. Nubi had a friend, Radwan, and the two of them together were very amusing. Now I understand why Jay said backpacker hotels were a necessity. It is definitely the way to meet other travellers and share stories.

Wednesday was pretty uneventful, just relaxed and got ready to travel to Nairobi. But, Jay did brave a local barber shop for a haircut. They shaved his head in no time, but then the barber pulled out something that looked like dental floss and used it to trim his eyebrows, get all the hair off his ears as well as the tops of his cheeks. I have never seen anything like it. I was watching Jay as he was doing it and he seemed pretty calm, so I figured this was some miracle hair removal technique. But, after we left the shop, Jay said it was the most painful thing he's ever had done. Guess he was putting on his brave face for the locals. :)

Today we are taking a bus back to Cairo and flying to Nairobi this evening. We've really enjoyed our time in Egypt and would recommend it to anyone. Interesting history and sites, with people and culture that is absoluty non-western.

Want to contact Jay and Lisa?

william.gibson@airtreks.com