Hurghada
Trip Start
May 07, 2005
1
59
117
Trip End
Ongoing
Hurghada,
Egypt
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Dave
The bus to Hurghada was nice, at least by Egyptian bus standards. It was crowded but some of the people got off at earlier stops. I am pretty sure at least a few of the people getting off at Safaga were taking the Haj (holy trip to Mecca). They had a wonderful peaceful aura about them and were almost oblivious to everything. I think that many people never leave their town except for the Haj so it must be a tremendous experience for them.
The scenery was nice. Deserty with cliffs rising above us. The sunset was especially nice because it made the rising moon an amazing purple orange color.
When we disembarked in Hurghada we fought our way through the taxi drivers to find a bench and make a plan. We figured out where we were and decided to take an arabaya (a cross between a bus and a taxi). One was loading up so we hopped in. I tried to pay 1 pound for each of us but they insisted on 2 pounds. We argued for a bit but arabaya prices are sort of fixed, meaning they can ask for more but are licensed and have to take less if you insist. They seem to carry tourists much more often than in Luxor (where I never saw a tourist take one) so I guess Hurghada has a higher tourist price.
We didn't know how to describe our destination to the driver and ended up getting out early so we got to walk Sharia Sheraton (Sheraton Street although I never saw the Sheraton). I had picked out three hotels next to each other to check out and had reservations in one of them but we were tired enough to just go with the reservation.
Blanket Swans
They had the most extreme example of nicer-on-the-outside that I have seen. It was called the Royal Hotel and had an internet cafe downstairs (rare in Egypt) as well as a restaurant (not so rare). The lobby was very nice with leather couches and a pool table and marble reception, doorman, and security guard. The room, however was very basic. The toilet was noisy and the shower didn't have a curtain. They claimed it had a king sized bed but it was really a queen. Still, the price wasn't bad and the location was good. In hindsight I wish I had checked out the other two hotels but it was okay.The plan was to spend some time on the beach but we didn't really have a chance. We walked down and sat in a chair for five minutes before they closed it off but that's about it. We spent most of our time sleeping late and trying to buy plane tickets.
We wanted to have our plane tickets from Cairo to Bangkok. It was a bit early but we thought it would be best to get it out of the way while we were thinking of it. We thought it would be easy. We did the research and found that EgyptAir had the best price and there was an Office in Hurghada. We took a cab there and learned that their credit card reader was broken. He point down the road for a cash machine that turned out to be about a mile away. Once at the cash machine we realized that our bank wouldn't let us take out enough money to buy tickets, and even with theft being very rare in Egypt I didn't feel comfortable walking around with as much cash as three years salary for government jobs.
Ferry to Sharm al-Sheik
Instead we called EgyptAir in Sharm al-Sheik and asked if they had a working credit card reader. They said yes so we decided to buy it there.Hurghada is very different from Luxor and Cairo. In those cities the tourists mostly stick to the tour groups and see the incredibly famous sights without wandering about town very much. Hurghada is a beach resort town with many Europeans and Russians. That means that shopkeepers can demand much higher prices but it also meant that it was easier to communicate in English.
One of the most annoying questions that people ask is "Where are you from?" Or sometimes they will just start guessing -- "England? Sweden?" At first (in Cairo) I thought it was friendly. Later (in Luxor) I thought it was an annoying "opening line" for a tout. In Hurghada I realized that they also decide how much to charge you based on where you are from. I was looking for flip flops. One shopkeeper thought I was Russian and immediately dropped his price to 25 pounds. Other shopkeepers would not go below 45 pounds. Everybody has their own advice about how to answer Where are you from? I tried saying "Austin" but most people hear "Austria". My favorite answer is "Today I am from Egypt" but I often answer "Luxor". Usually people respond with an incredulous, "Luxor, Egypt?" One driver asked, "Luxor Egypt or Luxombourg?" I actually "beat" one tout. The previous day when I walked by he shouted "Hi Mr. Long Hair" (my long hair is a quite a spectacle everywhere in Egypt). I just flashed a smile.
Hurghada Beach
The next day I walked by and he said, "Hello, again, Mr. Long Hair". I smiled again and somehow he roped me into a conversation (I don't know how. My only excuse is that the tout is a professional at getting people to stop). I told him I was from Austin which really confused him because he thought he knew is geography. I told him it is between Europe and Asia and we speak English. ("British English or American English?" -- "American English"). He asked if we used the Euro and I said we used something called the Dallar. Eventually he got bored of talking to me and said something to politely dismiss me. I kept talking and he again he tried to get rid of me. I felt I won some small victotry by having a tout wanted me to go away.We discovered our favorite restaurant in Egypt. It is a fish place called El Joker and we liked it even more than Fish Market in Cairo. It is similar to Sea Island in quality (a half step up from Long John Silvers) but instead of hush puppies and cole slaw you get hummus and broiled eggplant. The first time we got fish and chips. The second time we got brave and ordered crab. It was very cheap by American standards but not very good. There was a juice bar across the street. Strangely the most popular flavor is sugar cane. I had some and it just tasted like sugar with a bit of something innocuous like grass thrown in. At least I got to see a sugar cane juicer.
I almost went scuba diving. It was a good price, 35 Euro for two dives including equipment, lunch, and water. I decided not to go because Kim couldn't go. We did end up going diving in Nuweiba (but that's another story).
On our last day we got up early to catch the ferry to Sharm al-Sheik. It was a beautiful ride. The Red Sea is absoultely gorgeous but we'll write more about that later.
