Travel – Egypt – Days 8, 9

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Day 8 (Feb 16, 2019)

Day 7 is about relaxing, reading (a lot), and writing (I managed to catch up with my writing about all the previous days). Day 8 started with a flight to Sharm El-Sheikh where I am about to spend 2 days. This part of the trip is about enjoying the Red Sea and the desert. The idea is to focus primarely on reading, swiming, and relaxing. I am at the South-East part of the Sinai Peninsula.

The landscape is amazing. These are the mountain ranges that were made famous by Moses. They look spectacular from above.

My hotel is the Cyrene Grand. It’s a luxury, all-inclusive hotel. It’s beautiful. However, the experience here was dissapointing in many ways. More about that later. In general, Sharm El-Sheikh isn’t for me. It’s a tourist-trap type of destination, a resort town. There are many, really big resorts here, the type that feel like theme parks, full of neon lights, full of tourists who are only interested in the cycle of eating, drinking, pool, drinking, repeat. They could have been at any destination around the world, even just visiting their neighborouing town. The pattern would have been the same.

I took the opportunity to swim and relax. The hotel is located by the sea, by the coral reef.

Day 9 (Feb 17, 2019)

I snorkled along the reef in the morning. How awesome! Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to find my underwater camera when I left Seattle so no photos of the amazing coral life and the fish. There were so many! Some of them actually swam with me along the way. They were all around me. So, so, so beautiful.

In the afternoon, I am due for a “desert safari”. I know it’s a tourist trap but it’s one of the activities Dina recommended and I went along with it. They pick me. I join a random group of people who are about to do the same thing as I am. We are driven to a place outside of the town, close to the mountains. Each one of us picks up a 4-wheeler ATV and off we go…

  

They had a photographer along the way. Classic tourist trap move 🙂 I oblidged since they crew seemed like a group of hard-working, young men. That’s why there are photos of me 🙂 The last two are selfies.

   

We stopped by a Bendouin settlement. Women and children were selling bracelets. Of course I bought one 🙂 More riding. We stop at what I would say looked like a Benduin-run, open air coffee/tea place. We were offered coffee/tea while some members of the group rode camels. More riding. Next stop is a Bendouin-run, open air entertaiment complex. It’s now dark. That was for the “show” and dinner. No choice but to go along with it.

   

Finally, the “safari” is over and we are heading back.

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