After we get off the plane from Cairo we took a short bus ride to the terminal where we tried to wait for our driver to pick us up. We were told that we could not wait in the terminal and we had to wait outside on our wait we saw the guy who was to pick us up standing outside an hour earlier then we were told he would be there and mad we were happy since we didnt have to wait outside in the cold. The driver that picked us up however did not speak english at all so we just had to trust and believe we were going to the right place.
So off we go in his van/taxi towards what looks like a resort area.. however the closer we get the more war torn the area looks, there are 100s of half built beautiful buildings that all look like someone just ran out of money and stopped building them, very odd area, the streets are extemely dirty, there are ferrel dogs running wild in the streets and muslims scattered throughout the entry ways to the various shops and businesses.
As we are taking in the scenery the driver pulls off the road at some building and says.. Coffee shop? Kevin and I just look at each other and say to the guy no.. No thanks feeling that we would be much safer being at the dive shop or with someone who spoke english. Well the question of if we wanted to go to the coffee shops was not really a question, it was more like get out of my Van and go to the coffee shop. Well a coffee shop in Egypt is not really what you think of a typical coffee shop. First it is all on a patio, it 30 year old lawn chairs with two machines outside with coke in Arabic writing on the cans so we point at a can of coke and sit at a table in front of a TV that has an english show on (arabic subtitles), the show made the whole scene even more sureal that it already was. The show was some horror movie with a strange monster that reminded me of a combo of Saw and Hell Raiser merged together.
So there we sit just after dawn in a run down coffee shop drinking a coke, watching a horror movie with a bunch of Arabs all around, wild dogs digging through the trash across the street, freezing cold in a town that looks like it is fresh out of a war, all the while being sleep deprived. Seriously one of the strangest/scariest mornings of my life. I have figured out that not being able to speak to ANYONE who knows what is going on is quite discomforting.
Once our driver is done with his Shiska and coffee we get back in the Van and drive down the main street again towards what I assume is going to be the dive shop. We pass many odd things on the way. We see at least 4 various people with AK47s, we see again what looks like half built million dollar hotels that have never been completed 100s of them.
We make it to the dive shop and are told by the drive to wait, we know that the dive shop will not open for at least another hour so we have to wait outside. I am just happy to have made it.
Once we check in with the dive shop we head out on the boat, the water is beautiful. The visibilty has to be near 70 to 90 feet. The weather was great and the staff on the boat was the best I have ever experianced. They very organized and took very good care of us.
The dives were great, the first dive we got to see some Morays, a big shark and a lion fish. The second dive was called the aquarium and I would have to agree with the person who come up with that name since I have never seen that many tropical fish in one area in my life. Truely beautiful and well worth the hassle.
After the dives we get to ride on the dive shop bus who drops us off at the hotel.
We decide to walk down what seems to be a safe looking street (lots of white tourists around and every block has an armed policeman on the corner). There are gift shops all up and down the street and since Kevin has to get a Hard Rock hat we had to travel a couple of blocks to get it. As we pass the gift shops the propritors run out and try to drag us inside. I tell Kevin to keep walking and don´t talk to them. We get the hat and head back and decide to stop for something to eat, we get some awesome shiska-bobs with the coolest decorations on the plate. What they did was hollow out a tomatoe and stack a ring of an onion on top, place a candle in the bottm and make a really cool lamp.
We head back to the hotel and for some reason I decide that I want to stop and get a gift for myself, I really wanted to get a Small statue of Horus, so I walk in to a shop and the owner immediatly starts harassing me and will not let me leave I ask him for Horus and he has no idea what I am talking about and asks me to point to what I am looking for I point to a statue of Anubis and so he grabs it and stuffs it into my hand and shows me his calculator with 250 on the screen. Which equates to about 50us. I know this piece of junk comes from china so I am not about to pay that much for the WRONG statue. He asks how much I would pay and well needless to say somehow I end up an Anubis statue for 110 which is about 21us. We rush back to the hotel not talking to anyone anymore. When we get back to the hotel we realize the hotel has quite a few shops of its own so we get some gifts and stop at a tent in the back of teh hotel where an africa show is about to start so Kevin and I get another shiska-bob and a shiska(hooka pipe) and try to stay awake for the show but decide to get off to bed instead (we have to catch our cab at 4am)
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