To be poor is a crime

Trip Start May 09, 2005

Trip End Aug 01, 2005

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Flag of Egypt Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
Sunday, June 5, 2005

Yes, in Sharm it is indeed a crime to be poor. Dahab is pretty small in relation to the number of tourists who make it a destination while in Egypt. And for someone like me who needs constant stimulation, it can get old on some days. So Anwar and I decided to spend the day in Sharm, a 1.25 hour bus ride to the south. You may know the name as the site of previous talks from the Israeli and Palestinian camps. Dahab is to Sharm as Reno is to Las Vegas (I guess studying for my GREs did pay off in my analogy section). Everything is on a much larger scale and is the prime destination for largely Italian and Swiss tourists.

In any case, we took the 12:30 bus and arrived safely in Sharm with the destination in mind being the beach. We were horribly stared at as apparently a white woman with an Egyptian man is not as common in Sharm as it is in Dahab. The first taxi Anwar was able to flag down doubled the price once he figured out that I was to be riding with Anwar as well

A bazaar in Sharm

. Yep, regardless of him being a local...the price went up because of me. So we did the sensible thing and hopped into the microbuses that travel up and down the main road with the sliding door wide open while passengers hop on and off while the van slows down slightly. So I was sandwiched in with about 10 Egyptian men for the 2 minute ride to the main strip of Sharm.

Unlike Dahab where the shore is lined with restaurants and dive hang outs, Sharm's shore is lined with 5 star resorts: Hilton, Swiss Inn, Novotel, etc. Thus, all beach front property is for guests of the respective hotels. Hmmmm. So Anwar asked where the public beach was and we walked the 10 minutes there to find out that the public beach cost 30 EGP each to go to. Guess it's not really quite so public after all then! I told the man this was ridiculous and he then mentioned he'd let me go on for free but Anwar would have to pay. This outright prejudice made me sick: let the white girl go for free but make the Egyptian pay. So I told him to shove the 30 pounds and I wouldn't even consider his offer.

So we decided to go ahead with the REAL reason Tracy had wanted to go to Sharm: the Hard Rock Cafe. Although I think it's debatable what "American" food is (I'm asked this all of the time), I'd say that the Hard Rock represents what I might consider American food

Anwar at Hard Rock

. I wanted Anwar to try a bit of it and I REALLY wanted to dive into the brownie and ice cream sundae they have there. In any case, we had a lovely meal of potato skins (which Anwar loved, and he happily ate the bacon that came on them as Muslims don't eat pork and thus he rarely gets to eat it even though he's Christian). I opted for the cheeseburger which was wonderful and Anwar played it safe with a lamb sandwich. One observation I have made after eating Egyptian food for the past month is that food in America is quite sweet...no wonder over 50% of us are obese with all of the sugar that is added to everything. Another observation, the Hard Rock staff opted to only deal with me in English rather than with Anwar, a fellow Egyptian. I thought this was strange.

So after the meal we just walked around with our swollen bellies and had tea. I am always talking about how many Russians there are in Sinai and the proof I've wanted to offer all of you slapped me in the face. It presented itself with an ugly monstrosity of a disco called 'Back in the USSR' and had plenty of cheesy Russian signia all over it. I was happy when we got our bus and made it safely back 'home' to Dahab. So all in all, do not go to Sharm if you are on any kind of budget. It's only for package tourists who have plenty to spend and want to see the cheesy side of Egypt which includes neon light palm trees and horrid replicas of the pyramids.