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Like the many other posts that we have done in the past this post is long over due. It has been nearly a month since we have returned from Egypt and I hope I haven’t forgotten any crucial details of the trip. Egypt is intense even in the more off the beaten path areas, but it is a rewarding experience – especially in hindsight! I found that a lot of the things Stacey and I experienced in Egypt, and especially Cairo, were trying and hard to appreciate in the moment. However, I have had vivid dreams of Egypt since our return and I am convinced it is an experience that sticks with you the rest of your life.

We flew into Sharm el Sheikh on the 19th of January on an early flight out of Geneva. We landed around lunchtime and had an escort meet us at the gate to expedite our entry into the country. Meaning that he “knew” people at the airport and got us through the long tourist visa line and passport control and into our hotel in less than 20 minutes. On our way there we learned that it had rained the Sunday before we arrived and apparently that is the equivalent of a blizzard in East Tennessee. There is no infrastructure for rain and so there was a lot of flooding and damage to buildings in the area, but thankfully our hotel was hardly affected by the rain and wind. We made it!

Sharm el Sheikh is built up around tourism and is hardly Egyptian by any stretch of the imagination. We spent our first afternoon walking around the old market (which is definitely Egyptian!) looking for a restaurant that apparently doesn’t exist. So, in our hungry desperation we settled on Hardee’s, which was situated in a modern strip mall designed for tourists. We just embraced it for what it was. The next day we spent our time on the beach soaking up the Egyptian sun and even took a plunge into the Red Sea to check out the fish and coral reefs that the area is known for. We soon learned why, as it was like nothing I have seen before in my life. A multitude of colors swimming all around us, with hundreds of varieties of coral hiding even more varieties of fish. Probably one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, making me think that snorkeling in more locations around the globe is definitely in our future!

On our third day we set off for Cairo via a Superjet bus. Man…did we stick out like two sore thumbs. Amazingly we were treated like everyone else and had an enjoyable bus ride (complete with Egyptian snacks and strange Arabic movies) until we hit traffic outside of Cairo, which resulted in an incident that required us to take a taxi from a small bus station way outside of town. Our bus driver, who was probably traveling a little too fast in the gridlock, slammed on his brakes and the bus attendant flew from the 5th row of seats to the front windshield and cracked the shatter proof glass. He popped up and said he was completely fine, though everyone on the bus was sure he was delirious from the concussion he surely suffered. Anyway, we were dropped off at this slightly ghetto bus station and found a seedy looking cab to take us to our hotel. We made it to our hotel an hour later after many minutes of trying to explain the name of our hotel to our drive, who apparently only knew enough English to lure unsuspecting tourists into his cab. We asked the front desk where to find some food and he suggested a pizza place around the corner. We ventured in and found ourselves in the middle of a little boy’s birthday party, complete with a frightening loud puppet show. The employees were very welcoming and super friendly, and the mother of the birthday boy even welcomed us and introduced us to the guest of honor. This was just one of many encounters we had with fantastically nice Egyptians, and definitely a highlight of our stay in Cairo.

The next day we took a tour to the Pyramids, and not wanting to deal with hagglers at the front of the entrance I arranged this trip in advance. It was an efficient trip and our tour guide was nice enough, but took us for a ride when she suggested we take a camel around the Pyramids. In short, we paid too much and she was in on the take, but that is how things are in Egypt. The camel ride was pretty fun and allowed us to see the Pyramids from all sides (and our oh so friendly camel guy took tons of cheesy pics of us riding along… the poor fellow should have known from looking at us that we’re not big tippers!). 

That afternoon we walked a few miles from our hotel to the Cairo Metro and rode that across town trying to get a feel for Cairo and to get a glimpse of the Nile River. Let’s just say that Cairo is not a pedestrian friendly city. You have to say a prayer before crossing an intersection, which are on average the length of a football field, and then you have sidewalks that were made back in the 50′s and forgotten about. We found a “local” section of the city and I managed to order some food off of an Arabic menu from a local equivalent to an Egyptian fast-food restaurant. We got some strange looks, but most people were very nice. We passed an Arabic patisserie on our way back to the hotel and managed once again to point and sign what we wanted (okay, okay, the guys inside spoke perfect English). It was delicious!

The next morning around dark thirty we took a taxi to the bus station to go back to Sharm el Sheikh to conclude our trip. We caught our bus and had an uneventful trip back and made it to our hotel around 4 in the afternoon. We found a Lebanese restaurant on the beach for an early dinner and retired to our room to process the experience of our trip to Cairo and back.

The next day we went mountain biking with a German guide who has lived near Sharm for 10 years and is well acquainted with the area and the local Bedouin people. We went on a 15 mile trip through Ras Mohammad National Park, which is world-famous for its diving and snorkeling. Then we jumped in the icy water to cool off from our ride and saw coral and fish even more spectacular than we had seen on our first snorkeling excursion. We were swimming in some very clear, very deep water over a beautiful coral reef with thousands of fishes. All I can say is wow, God made some crazy cool stuff! We lunched by the Red Sea and had some Bedouin tea to warm us up from our chilly swim. We biked back to our starting point, which was great fun until we hit a wall of wind that pretty much sent us biking backwards. Needless to say, the last stretch was pretty challenging and as both Stacey and I were feeling out of shape with our super-fit German guide, Klaus, making good headway ahead of us. We concluded our day at the same restaurant as the night before and watched the sun set over the bay. A truly fantastic day.

The next day was supposed to be a relaxing day on the beach and it started out that way, but later resulted in me getting a stomach bug and spending the whole day in bed praying that I would be well enough to go back home the next day. Stacey took care of me and got some help in the form of a nurse, a doctor, two IVs, and lots of pills to rehydrate me and take care of my nausea. The next day I felt much better and made it to the airport and home thanks to my caring wife.

Overall Egypt was an experience that was at times overwhelming, exhilarating, exhausting, and inspiring. I don’t think I’m ready to head back tomorrow, but soon… of course there are still a lot of other places to see first!!

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