Trip to Cairo

Two years ago I spent a holiday in Egypt. The general neighborhood was in Hurghada. From that location, in one of the days, we went in an extra trip to Cairo – the main goal was visiting the famous Egyptology Museum. As it is costumed in Egypt we went in a caravan of buses, 20 from what I remember. This is the only way you could travel in Egypt. Is a form of giving a sense of trust to the tourists after a few years ago was a terrorist attack. From what I know if it was to happen again there will be no effect, but however as a tourist it gives you an extraordinary safety feeling. For how many times in life did ever happen to you to be escorted by several army cars and police and everybody and everyone to stop whenever you want to pass?

Coming back to my trip … I left in the morning from the hotel, when it was nearly light, with the breakfast at package (2 oranges, 2 small bananas and 2 boiled eggs and some croissants with nuts and cream and a box of juice) and after we gathered other tourists from their hotels we entered on the highway which goes to Cairo. They call it a highway but actually is a wide road with only two lanes, but it was very good. On the right side of the road there was the Red Sea (we had the luck to see the dolphins a few times) and on the left side there were hotel near another hotel and so on. At that time the area was in touristic development and it was building without stop. Let me say again, they were building during night, when it was cool… During day there was no worker on the streets or somewhere else. I was looking surprised at the countless hotels, one bigger than the other one, and I was asking myself from where would they get all the tourists to populate them? The guide told me not to worry… demand and supply.

As we went further on, getting closer to Cairo, the guide started telling us all kind of histories and she started presenting us the life Egypt behind the hotels… actually something that a tourist never gets to see. Cairo is the largest capital from the Arab world, the biggest city in Africa and nobody knows how large the population is. Some say there is around 16 million people, others say 20 million. However it would be the number, add another 3-4 million of tourists annually and the result just terrifies you. In the city the buses cannot stay together so they plan to meet at a point at the edge of the city for the road to Hurghada.

For more read the next post: Life in Egypt

Discover Cairo – Life in Egypt behind the hotels

The city doesn’t have a general sewerage (sewer and water). The buildings of the wealthy people have their own systems; the same for the businesses and hotels. These represent less than 30% from the total of the constructions. The rest … to the potty with them. What happens with the potty? It empties in the back of the house. Many houses have a small shop to the ground floor and at the upper floors people live there. The potty is tossed from the window.

The city doesn’t have a sanitation service. One from the city hall. And there is no garbage hole, somewhere at the edge of the city. There is only for the wealthy man, small businesses, or the ones which pick the garbage and toss it on wastelands. So what are poor people doing with the garbage? The same thing they do with the potty. They toss them behind their houses. When the situation gets insupportable someone tosses a cigarette or a match and in a few hours the garbage space is “cleaned”. In this way we found out why there was smoke between two houses and people were staying calmly only two steps away from the burning garbage.

The poor people’s houses are made from bricks of clay dried in the sun. Almost 10 years ago it rained in Cairo and it rained for a couple of hours. The city was drowned by the waters for two weeks until the water evaporated, because there are no channels. The shops and the houses were flooded, every one of them being built at the same level as the ground and without a base. Bricks were just placed on the ground.

But all this is not something a tourist will see. The route a bus has in the city has no connection with these areas. We gave to the driver 1 Euro from each one of us so that he could take us there after the guide told us all that. It was his salary for one month. The car was going slowly and we were shockingly looking on the window – we weren’t able to photograph anything because it was devastating what we were seeing. We were looking at them as calves but the poor ones were looking at us as they were looking at some aliens. They rarely had the opportunity to see a car on the narrow streets, on which not once we were close to kick some exposed “merchandise” in front of the houses. We didn’t went off the bus and we also didn’t open the windows … or else we would’ve died gazed.

The guide was saying that she had the opportunity to see a dead camel in the Nile … after a week when she came back in the city with another group, the camel was still there.

For more read the next post: “City of the Dead”

“City of the dead”

Now a very  macabre information: from the many millions of the population, a couple of thousand of them  – some say there are like 100.000, other say triple that number – live in two of the graveyards of the city, at the east side of the city.

These two graveyards are known under the name of “City of The Dead”. In the old cemeteries, where noble families buried their dead 100 years ago, people live. Big families live their life there. They fight for survival in those conditions which are worse than fights in the in jungle. Nobody knows how many kids are born there or how many people are dying of starvation, diseases or criminal acts from their brothers of suffering.

They don’t have id papers or properties. The first ones which hidden there were the criminals and the robbers. Then poor people came from the country side hoping they will get a better life in the capital, abandoning their dirty huts in the desert. At the beginning, the authorities didn’t know, then they ignored them and today they allow tourists to enter in the City of the Dead on their own responsibility. They just pretend they don’t know and they don’t see anything. We refused to visit that place knowing that the main activity is robbery, in the day light.

From those people paid criminals are picked, though however fascinated of Egypt we were we didn’t desire the supreme sacrifice. In the graveyard there was neither water nor electricity. Anyway they wouldn’t have had money to pay for it. However many of them don’t have that even at that houses at the surface. Everybody dresses all in black, both women and men cover their faces, but not because of the religion… It’s said that when they learn how to walk children learn how to hold the knife in their hand, not to eat, but to fight.

I don’t even what to know how life is there.

Makadi Bay Resort

The Makadi Bay resort  is superb, a lot more beautiful than Hurghada, even though it’s farther, around 35-40 km’s of  Hurghada, but it’s not as busy, you get a feeling of space, privacy.

As well, the Makadi Bay is famous for snorkel and diving, and I for one adore this kind of activities, thus it’s a mall underwater paradise for exploration.

It’s sensational to dive in such a place, and it must be tried… it’s a fantastic sensation of freedom, you feel light, close to the gods, when you dive. You see with your own eyes these wonderful beings, in their own living environment, you touch them, admire them …

Another plus of Makady Bay is it’s beach.

The beach is very wide, sandy, and the water is warm, even at the beginning of January you could bathe without any problems.

Wrapping that up, visit Makadi Bay, it’s special, something else than Hurghada: aerated, new buildings, sandy beach, quality hotels, corals, diving, adventure in the desert, sensational sunsets and a lot of adrenaline.

Egypt is a poor country, and poverty is a phenomena that hits you from the very first moments in which you make contact with their civilization.

It’s incredible how a country with such resources, with such a past,  such an opulent history and an ancient civilization that was so advanced, now struggles in a abject poverty… hard to imagine.

On the other hand there’s an “Egypt” for tourists that sells very well, an opulent “Egypt”, idyllic and without worries, and there’s another “Egypt”, the one that belongs to the workers, which struggle to buy a bowl of cheap food… This comparison is scary.

I’ve been marked by the difference in livelihood. Amongst the tourists there were some that seemed unhappy with certain services, of course … there’s always the “unhappy-tourist” category … and there were some negative comments.

But seeing in what poverty the people struggled, I was becoming terrified… I couldn’t be unhappy with anything, even though some of my friends had some commentaries to make about certain services!! God, for those people our hotel was probably a opulent “palace”, where they served chosen goods, at which they wouldn’t even dream of!!!

Thus going on a trip, in a poor country, with extremely poor and simple people you have to be content with what’s given to you, because for them it’s enormous.

That is the risk here, once you leave the hotel you get hit by poverty, misery, the struggle to survive… At least that’s how I saw Egypt:  extreme luxury combined with degrading poverty.

Vacation Trips

Besides the vacation trips which you definitely need to acquire, namely, the impressive Luxor, the Krnak temple which is fabulous, Hatseput’s temple, Valley of the Kings, the pyramids – which if you don’t visit … you came to Egypt for nothing (but of which I’ll be talking another time), locally you can take on the Jeep-Safari or ATV safari trips or camels and go through the desert at a Bedouin village, the outing is sensational and you’ll have a blast.

Besides the fabulous diving which you can practice and where you`ll see a huge palette of underwater livelihood, I recommend you a submarine trip, it’s super funny.

Another particular thing is windsurfing. And this means adrenaline at its maximum. So, you got how to spend your time, regardless of age, options, what’s important is that you want to do something else than the well known “all-inclusive”.

Red Sea Diving

As well, the Makadi Bay is famous for snorkel and diving, and I for one adore this kind of activities, thus it’s a mall underwater paradise for exploration.

It’s sensational to dive in such a place, and it must be tried… it’s a fantastic sensation of freedom, you feel light, close to the gods, when you dive. You see with your own eyes these wonderful beings, in their own living environment, you touch them, admire them …

Besides the fabulous diving which you can practice and where you`ll see a huge palette of underwater livelihood, I recommend you a submarine trip, it’s super funny.

Of course the multicolored corals, but which you mustn’t touch … are a “must see”.

If you are afraid of diving, you can take the submarine thus you`ll see the corals as well.

It’s very funny on the submarine, because it’s something very small and at first glance it looks like a toy “cauldron” painted in yellow… it seems funny because it floats, let alone dive… But look, the small screaming-yellow submarine dives, besides the ship-crew makes a kind of underwater animation.

You must see the underwater life; get a grip to do “something else”, because Egypt means adventure.

Another particular thing is windsurfing. And this means adrenaline at its maximum. So, you got how to spend your time, regardless of age, options, what’s important is that you want to do something else than the well known “all-inclusive”.

Safari Trips

Locally you can take on the Jeep-Safari or ATV safari trips (or camels) and go through the desert at a Bedouin village, the outing is sensational and you’ll have a blast.

Don’t forget your sunglasses for protection as well buy from there some special scarves, with which you cover your head and protect yourself from the sand. Covered in those scarves you will become yourself small Bedouins in search of adventure.

In the desert, sandstorms come out of nowhere and you must be prepared for anything, that’s why the safari equipment is a sports one. The desert is a hostile environment and you can expect anything over there.

It’s very adventurous and you`ll have superb memories from the Jeep Safari, it’s a moment of exploration in which you get to know the sand dunes from the adventurer’s perspective, but the road is sinuous and jerky, so … be careful!

The ATV’s are relatively unstable, and they need to be driven carefully, not to mention the camels, they’re not easy but definitely sensational.

The entire excursion is being filmed by an operator, thus you have the occasion to buy the DVD… You’ll have a blast from it.

With the ATV, Jeep, or camel you reach a Bedouin village where you will be able to see the local traditions, enjoy dinner and admire the sunset up on a sand dune.

Some Bedouins will dance for you (everybody is expecting the women to dance, but the men will dance, because the women won’t expose themselves) in the dark … at torch light.

Coming back to the hotel will be done late at night, on a long and ticklish track, and a bit scary… but it’s worth it, it’s special!! Your one day stroll is really adventurous!

Around two years ago we arrived in Makadi bay, it was a cold winter… Anyways, Egypt is a touristic destination all year round, it’s always warm there, in Hurghada the winter is around 20-25 degrees. In conclusion we chose Egypt as a winter destination.

We’ve chosen a hotel from Makadi Bay – Le Meridien 5 stars and we were eagerly waiting to leave. The airport was overcrowded, the plane was full of tourists that were searching for sun; after a flight that took a few hours, and we were in Egypt … warmth, sun and dunes.

A bus transported us to our hotel, which was pretty far from the airport and of Hurghada, in a quiet place, ventilated and where you could only see vast and endless sands.

The buss-trip till there is excellent, because the highway is wide and the infrastructure is very well built. Also the safety is very high, the busses were escorted (at least in the winter of 2008 when we were there) and there’s a permanent control (probably because of the fear of bombing attempts).

Le Meridien hotel 5* was ok, it was stretching on a vast surface, and it had a huge pool, there were many different bodies for the building, a garden with luxurious plants, terraces, beach and its own pontoon, but over there all the hotels are generally huge, thanks to the desert being vast, they have the possibility to build.

Good accommodation, good food, but what we loved most was the optional trips and the fact that we managed to visit some places that are absolutely fabulous, filled with history, myth and symbolic                .

There are a lot of Russian tourists, after all Russians invested a lot in this area, I’m referring to the hotels, and the Russian girls, superbly dressed, after the last trend from Paris, opulence, delight … this are 5 star hotels!!!

In the hotels there’s a swarm of male workers (including room cleaning, it’s done by males), haven’t seen too many local females, maybe at the reception.

They all speak fluently German, English, Russian, French; they’re very smart and have a fantastic ability to manage a foreign language. They are workers and they do their best to make the tourists happy. That’s why we have to appreciate this, because Egypt means knowledge, exploration, adventure, not just an “all-inclusive” good or less good.

El Gouna Red Sea

EL Gouna Red Sea trip costs 45$/person through the travel agency and it lasts from 8:30 AM until 5:30 PM.

The road until El Gouna was made with the travel agency’s bus. When we reached at the resort we visited the aquarium – it was much smaller than I expected – with different kinds of fish (like 20 of them) from the Red Sea. The visit lasted around 30 minutes.

After visiting the aquarium, we headed to a restaurant, placed in front of the marine, where there were boats. There we could go at the bathroom and serve tea or juices (with money) … Here we stood another 30 minutes.

Then we went in the motor boats and did a small ride on the resort’s canals – it was like a small Venice. The resort is a state in a state – it has a landlord, called Suarez, which owns the entire land. Long time ago when there was only desert, the owner bought the land with 0.5 pounds (0.3 RON)/km₂ and by time he transformed the place into an expensive luxury resort. It has self government, self television and radio. Soon they want to make their own currency. A nice resort with hotels and from what I’ve seen from outside, I would recommend Movenpick and Steinberger (an exclusivist hotel for Germans and the ones which love to golf). On the resort’s canals, on one side, there were these amazing yachts, which can be rented for only 300 Euro/hour, and on both side you could see luxury villas, costing approximately  400.000$ one villa, with 5 rooms, without the land (the land is not sold).

After the 1 hour ride, we went on a ship, sailing on the sea, planning to stop only two times: for snorkeling and fishing . If you hurry a little bit when you go on the ship, then you have a chance to catch a place up on the main deck and you could stay for the entire ride sun-bathing. On the ship, we also served the lunch which was pretty tasty, but I guess that happened because of the sea breeze.

After 4 hours we came back to El Gouna resort, from where they took us by boats to the same marina. From here we went by foot for 5 minutes until the bus we came and then we went back home, to our hotels in Hurghada.