Egypt - The Trip
Part I - the trip
Dahab is the 'back-packer' version of Sharm El Shiek, a city built along the coast of Red Sea, not more than a few hundred meters. One side of the street is full of cafes and restaurants facing Saudi Arabia acrossed the Red Sea - just imagine lying there with sunny blue sky and sound of the water, smoking shisha, drinking fresh mango juice, reading a book or writing journals. Daytime, the city is a bit lazy. Partly because tourists went away for different activities. Those who stayed just enjoy the slow pace and the sunshine. During the night, the party is ON. People are back for nice dinners and some chilling-out with shisha and Arabic music.
On the other side of the street, there are shops and hotels lined up. I loved to look at the shops one by one each time passing by. All the lamps, jewleries, paintings look so Arabic (equals to exotic) to me. I am totally in love with the art. Dahab is a bit touristy and a bit westernized. However, definitely chilled.
Sinai is a very incredible area, with desert, mountains and sea at the same time. When I was on a quad bike dashing through the sand, I saw the most peaceful view of the Red Sea with sailing boats on it and white resorts along its coast, as well as mountains and deserts all around. Sinai is also very interesting because of the christianity touch. No wonder it attracted some 250 Nigerian missionaries coming to visit the monasterary and climb the Mt. Sinai.
After a relaxing 4 days in Dahab, Aron and me went back to Cairo again. Gara's the best guide for Cairo. I loved those street side Egyptian food, be it grilled meat or vegetarian breakfast. What adds to the 'taste' is sitting in between 2 cars, under a tree, on plastic chairs with 6 cats around you and bits of leftovers on the plastic table. The experience itself was a mixture of yummy food, get squashed because of the space and chilled out in the middle of a chaotic city.
I also loved to bum around in the street side cafe, with a cup of tea and shisha, watching cats, cars and people going crazy on the street. If you look around, you can see all sorts of people. Those amazed me the most are the businessmen sitting down with a tea and a shisha in the middle of the day in between the erands they are running.
The peak of all those experiences was sitting at a cafe opened 24/7 since 200 years back, at midnight, still crowded as hell especially with locals intending to sell all sorts of craps to you: from a plastic helicopter toy to tatoos on the back of my hand. After ignoring most of them, I bought a beautiful side table for my bedroom - black with detailed Arabic pattern. Can't wait to put it up and show off to my friends visiting me.
Bargaining is another hell of an experience visiting Egypt. Guess it's because this was the first time I looked obviously like a foreigner. After observing Gara, I got the key to master bargaining:
- If I take a cab, I either set the price before I get on. Or I throw the money at the drive, open the door and jump off.
- If I am picking up souveniors at the market, I need to be unattached and ready to walk away. The shop owner usually chases you and sell it to you anyway.
On the very last day in Cairo, we checked out the Pyramids and Sphinx, visited the most important mosque - Sayidnaa Al Hussein and went on a boat trip on the Nile in the night. I loved the mosque experience the most. The beauty and magnificance of the architecture and interior design made me more curious about the religion and its faithful followers.
Dahab is the 'back-packer' version of Sharm El Shiek, a city built along the coast of Red Sea, not more than a few hundred meters. One side of the street is full of cafes and restaurants facing Saudi Arabia acrossed the Red Sea - just imagine lying there with sunny blue sky and sound of the water, smoking shisha, drinking fresh mango juice, reading a book or writing journals. Daytime, the city is a bit lazy. Partly because tourists went away for different activities. Those who stayed just enjoy the slow pace and the sunshine. During the night, the party is ON. People are back for nice dinners and some chilling-out with shisha and Arabic music.
On the other side of the street, there are shops and hotels lined up. I loved to look at the shops one by one each time passing by. All the lamps, jewleries, paintings look so Arabic (equals to exotic) to me. I am totally in love with the art. Dahab is a bit touristy and a bit westernized. However, definitely chilled.
Sinai is a very incredible area, with desert, mountains and sea at the same time. When I was on a quad bike dashing through the sand, I saw the most peaceful view of the Red Sea with sailing boats on it and white resorts along its coast, as well as mountains and deserts all around. Sinai is also very interesting because of the christianity touch. No wonder it attracted some 250 Nigerian missionaries coming to visit the monasterary and climb the Mt. Sinai.
After a relaxing 4 days in Dahab, Aron and me went back to Cairo again. Gara's the best guide for Cairo. I loved those street side Egyptian food, be it grilled meat or vegetarian breakfast. What adds to the 'taste' is sitting in between 2 cars, under a tree, on plastic chairs with 6 cats around you and bits of leftovers on the plastic table. The experience itself was a mixture of yummy food, get squashed because of the space and chilled out in the middle of a chaotic city.
I also loved to bum around in the street side cafe, with a cup of tea and shisha, watching cats, cars and people going crazy on the street. If you look around, you can see all sorts of people. Those amazed me the most are the businessmen sitting down with a tea and a shisha in the middle of the day in between the erands they are running.
The peak of all those experiences was sitting at a cafe opened 24/7 since 200 years back, at midnight, still crowded as hell especially with locals intending to sell all sorts of craps to you: from a plastic helicopter toy to tatoos on the back of my hand. After ignoring most of them, I bought a beautiful side table for my bedroom - black with detailed Arabic pattern. Can't wait to put it up and show off to my friends visiting me.
Bargaining is another hell of an experience visiting Egypt. Guess it's because this was the first time I looked obviously like a foreigner. After observing Gara, I got the key to master bargaining:
- If I take a cab, I either set the price before I get on. Or I throw the money at the drive, open the door and jump off.
- If I am picking up souveniors at the market, I need to be unattached and ready to walk away. The shop owner usually chases you and sell it to you anyway.
On the very last day in Cairo, we checked out the Pyramids and Sphinx, visited the most important mosque - Sayidnaa Al Hussein and went on a boat trip on the Nile in the night. I loved the mosque experience the most. The beauty and magnificance of the architecture and interior design made me more curious about the religion and its faithful followers.
posted by Jingwei @ 12:05 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Jingwei,
It’s funny that you came from Sweden to Egypt and me from Iceland to Egypt, but we still didn’t meet. Maybe we can meet in Sweden in April during the Scandi chill-out :)
By the way, I was also amazed with the with Sayyidina Husein’s mosque, it’s the only place in Egypt that I came more than once...
Well, hope to see you soon dear!
With smile,
ali
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