Said goodbye to Jane, her friend, and Jeff an Aussie (not austrailish) that I met in Cairo. Kinda cool that I meet people that I've met before. That's the thing about travelling, everyone tends to go to the same places, so if you stick to touristic routes then you're bound to meet up with some old friends at some point.
Because I'm writing this a month after the fact I have no clue what the weather is like today. I do know that the storm we had last week was the worst weather since I got here, and I'm recalling that the weather was quite pleasant for the majority of my stay. Worst case you get a bout of wind in the afternoon which calms back down when the sun skulks away behind the hills.
Speaking of doing this a month later, let me say up front that this month in Dahab has been both relaxing and frustrating at the same time. I didn't do much as you'll see from reading. I did relax more than anything else, and I learned to play backgammon (taoula in arabic). The egyptian mentality does not mesh well with my american upbringing. They call you "my friend" everytime they turn around, but they don't mean it like I would mean it. I guess that's my extreme idealism coming through. Perhaps I still have more to learn from them *sigh*. They also seem to always be pulling at you in some way. Not necessarily physically, but emotionally; it's very tiring. When my egyptian friend sits next to me he sits more on top of me -- again this concept of everything is ours. It's not my personal space, it's our space. Anyhoo, onwards...
I took my pants to be laundered. I can wash most of my clothes out in the sink just fine, but my pants were a bit of a pain so I figured I could spare the 2EL for a semi-pro cleaning (that's about US$0.60 for the love of pete!). I was relaxing with some guys I just met in one of the restaurants and lost my key (doh!). I only have one key, it's the key to the lock on my door. I keep it on my swiss army knife. I think the loss of the knife worried me more than the loss of the key. I looked for it for about half an hour before coming across someone who knew someone who had it and was looking for me. Nice :o) Of all things I can say about Egypt I must say that its people are honest.
Well, tonight I said goodbye to more friends. Kiffi and Michelle and Tracy and Alison are leaving tomorrow AM. It's not so bad as it sounds. Karen and Jon are still here, and Josie (english chick) turned up again. Good training in making short, temporary relationships.
This morning I made the trek back to Caravan Camel to speak with my friend Abdul (the rock raker) and see how the small cafe they put into the camp was coming along. While there I stumbled upon Renee, an american from San Francisco who was looking for the laundry and the bank. Being a Dahab veteran I knew where both of these places were so I shared the knowledge with her. Nice girl, but looks a bit lost in Dahab. I found out a couple days later that she couldn't handle the culture shock and headed out for points more western post-haste.
Right, so after the bank and the laundry I followed her to meet another Dahab veteran named Rachael, from Wyoming of all places. They had arranged with the owner of Moon Beach cafe to cook some fish, rice, bread, stuff, and things in their kitchen. Nice folks. The owner's name is Reda, and the cooks are Akrm and Mohommad (I call him Waliet as a joke -- they're so sensitive when you get their name wrong ;oP). Speaking of names, turns out that Craig is difficult for them to pronounce. Closest they can come is Kreig, which to my ear is not close at all ;o) I was discussing it with Arkm and we came up with Nafaa as an egyptian name for me -- it means cave or tunnel. Now my other friend Ahmed laughs at me and calls me Nafaa.
Realization: I don't belong here.
Kiffi and Michelle were still here today. I found that out at around 9pm as I went to dinner in Blue Moon (doh!). Turns out Michelle is feeling ill so they decided to extend their stay in dahab a day or two more. Later that night I met a couple of nice folks that were working in a kabutz in Israel. Anna is german and Enja is danish. We played a bit of backgammon and then I said goodbye as they are leaving tomorrow AM :o( It was kinda cool meeting them as I am both german and danish, among other things. Kinda nice being a mut ;o)
I laundered my hat today for 1.50EL. It was quite filthy and turned out really well.
Kinda bummin after saying goodbye to so many folks, so I headed down to the Sphinx bar. It's a cool place to hang out at night. They have two nice pool tables with free use for anyone buying anything. Their beer is reasonably priced, and they play a nice assortment of music. I met a couple from finland and offerred to take their beers from them because they were clearly finnish (heh, I thought it was funnier than they did -- go figure ;oP) A group of aussies were fixin to depart early in the morning so were going to pull an all-nighter. That sounded good to me so I went to the beach with them and kicked back as they had a nice jam session. We had total 3 guitars, a drum, and a harmonica. Ok, so I didn't play anything, but it was nice listening to them as they were quite talented. I decided to beat the sun back to bed and hit the pillow around 6am.
FYI: Egyptian brandy is better used as engine cleaner.
Today I endured the worst shower of my life. It was not only a dribble, but a cold dribble! Time to shop for a new camp (grrrr).
I met an egyptian shop keeper named Galel today. He's 23 years old and magnoon (that's arabic for crazy). I walk by his shop and he'll come out to the street and shout "20 years I've been looking for you my friend, where've you been??" Poor guy lives in that shop. Literally, he sleeps there and has to stay there all day and closes only at midnight. Sheesh. Gets paid nothing for his trouble, but at least he can do anything he wants as long as he is available to customers, to which I say "Where are the customers??". Poor fella.
Went to the bank today for my first withdrawl. I got out US$200 which is about 670EL. That should go quite a long ways as I only pay 5EL per night and try to stay under 20EL for my daily meals. We'll see...
There is a dive shop/restaurant/camp up the beach called Fantasea. The noteworthy thing about Fantasea is that it shows a video nightly at 8pm on a somewhat large TV. It's not Cinerama, but it's better than nothing. Tonight's featur is The Usual Suspects -- nice :o)
After the movie I went and got a henna tatoo. The cool thing about henna tatoos is that they aren't permanent. I think that's been my problem with getting tatoos is that it's such a commitment. I chose to get a huge (and I mean HUGE) nasty looking spider on my right shin. The guy, Khaled, didn't have any sketches of spiders in his book so I described and tried to sketch as he sketched and finally nailed the pic. It turned out quite nicely as the black contrats so well with my glow-in-the-dark complexion. Oh, and another FYI, they PLUCK the hair from the area to be tatooed! Now a patch on my leg is silky smooth. Friggin ow! The henna takes an hour to dry, at which time you scrape off the residue and the image remains. They say it lasts about 3 weeks.
Today I moved to Camelot. I got the guy to give me a deal for 5EL per night, they have a pool table (and I use that term loosely), and their showers full on rock! Karen and Jon stay here, but they are leaving today as is Josie. Bummer about Karen and Jon -- I may have to stray down to Australia sometime as every aussie I've met has been great.
I went down to Ali Baba cafe where my friend Ahmed works. This guy (egyptian) has more energy than any person I've ever seen. It's almost scarey. That afternoon I met Nick (canadian), Caroline (aussie), and Shelagh (irish). Ahmed has been married to an aussie named Melanie for about 7 months. Nice girl, seems to fit into the egyptian culture nicely.
Had one of the best showers in my life this morning, except maybe for a steamer back at Milo -- now those were nice ;o) Didn't do much other than relax today. Just enjoyin' Dahab.
Daniela (the Czech artist chick) coerced me to ride a camel with her this afternoon. Mine was named Shaelin and hers Belhan. Shaelin had a bit of a frothing problem, to which Belhan answered by biting Shaelin on the neck. Our bedowin guides thought it was funny, but consider that I was perched atop this danged thing -- quite precarious I might add. Luckily they didn't charge extra for the fighting, lets just say it was an experience.
After the camel riding we went to recover in Laura restaurant where we met a small egyptian boy that spoke about as much english as I did arabic. Between him and his brother that worked at the restaurant we were able to compile a couple pages of arabic vocabulary. It's not much, but it's a start. I'm thinkin' I should have started learning arabic a month ago. Hindsight...
Hung out with Ahmed, Shelagh, Caroline, Nick, and Mel until around 5am just Relaxin with a big "R" ;oP
Woke up around 2-ish still relaxed. Gotta love Dahab;o). Daniela was going to leave today but instead put it off 'til tomorrow. Met Mabel (dutch) and a czech girl and a slovakian guy that were hanging out with Daniela. Then went with Daniela to her camp where they were making dinner. It was quite nice to just sit back and talk with the people from Soliman camp where she was staying without the hassles of the egyptian beach. Ate all I could for only 7,50EL -- not too shabby :o) Then went down to Sphinx and hung out with a bunch of friends (Ahmed and co. and Daniela and co.) Ahmed and co. were longer winded so I ended the night with them. They're a great group of friends willing to put themselves out and relax whenever and wherever ;oP
I'm seeing an interesting trend here as I woke a bit after 3-ish. I guess it's not a bad thing as I really have nothing in particular to do except relax. Took some laundry in today. I've decided that the cost is low enougg, and the work good enough that I'm going to use the laundry service for everything now. It's only like 7EL for everything I own. Not too shabby.
Saw Daniela who was wanting a tatoo as well. Had dinner with Mabel and a group of her friends coincidentally at Friends restaurant ("enter as a guest, leave as a friend" - gack!) that were about to leave then went with both Mabel and Daniela for tatoos. I'm getting on quite well with Khaled (the tatoo guy). He mainly does art on t-shirts, drums, you name it and he paints it. He's really quite good.
Finally, and very late, I went for a haircut and shave. The guy did an excellent job. The most notable part, well there are a couple... The first is that the barber shops are open all night and do their best business at like 3am (weird). The other is that they use this thread and twist it in such a way that when they put it next to your skin the very fine hairs get twisted in it and they are able to yank them out -- ouch! but it does make for a very close shave.
Got my laundry back and noticed that instead of one of my shirts I had acquired one from someone else's batch. This is not entirely bad since the shirt is arguably nicer than the one that I had lost (black, long sleeves, Gap brand, but a bit on the large side even for my taste). The sad thing is that the one I had lost is my favorite shirt ;o( *sigh* I went back to the laundry to see if I could work out a way just to get my lost shirt back. Alas it was not meant to be. I made the swap with them and went on my way.
At some point prior to this, probably a week ago, I met a british guy named Steve and another brit named Sarah -- not travelling together. They rounded out our group nicely with Ahmed & Mel, Nick, Shelagh (who became an item with Steve), Caroline, and Benny (aka Ehab, an egyptian that is way too funny and a good friend of mine -- "hi").
- Steve's Fridge Jokes:
- Q - What's white, weighs 1000 pounds and sits in a tree?
A - A fridge in a tree. Q - What's blue and white, weighs 1000 pounds and sits in a tree?
A - A fridge in a denim jacket in a tree. Q - What's sits in a tree, if it falls on you will kill you but you can't see it?
A - A fridge in a tree in a combat jacket.Right, so the sad point I was getting at was that tonight is a going away party for Steve, who is leaving tomorrow. I said goodbye to Mabel earlier in the evening after the live band at Nessima (not so great, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick), and then spent the rest of the night with Steve, etc. Needless to say, the night was late...
I woke at 4-ish to find a note under my door from Mabel saying that she wasn't leaving until 1:30 in case I wanted to hang out -- c'est la vie. Turns out Steve missed his bus and didn't need to get back so soon after all (Shelagh is here, nuf sed). Headed for Blue Moon for some egyptian tea and breakfast -- nice that you can order breakfast anytime of the day or night ;oP Went after that to Sphinx to play some pool, then to Fantasea to watch Resevoir Dogs, then all the way back to Penguin clear at the other end of the beach for some relaxation with Steve, etc. The nights are getting later, as are the mornings.
Began my day with pool. All things being equal that's not an entirely bad way to begin your day, especially with a free table at my camp. The table is outside so it's not high quality or anything, and they only have one cue and no chalk, so that might say something as to the quality of play available -- but hey, it's free ;o)
I was drug down the beach to go snorkeling, since I hadn't done anything touristy yet except for that one hellish camel ride, but the farther down the beach we got the worse the wind and waves got. It was actually quite remarkable. By the time we got down to the place we intended to go in the waves were amazing. Needless to say we went back and finished the day with backgammon and relaxation. Groundhog Day is the film de jour -- a classic in any nation. Khaled (the painter, tatoo guy) has taken up my language lessons. What a nice guy. My arabic still sucks, but it gives me something to do.
Woohoo, woke by noon today! ;o)
Started my day out with breakfast and backgammon. Breakfast consisted of beans, falafel, pita bread, salad, chips (big french fries), a fried egg, and egyptian tea. Pretty danged healthy and less than 5EL. Not too friggin shabby :oP
The wind and waves mean no snorkeling, but I'm not too disappointed. I'll get to it when I get to it. I mean really, it's not like the red sea is going anywhere. It's been here this long I'm sure it'll be here for another week or so ;o) I think the deal is that I'll have to go in the AM sometime. Not only does the tide go out at around 1pm, leaving the reef way too shallow to swim over, but the wind and waves tend to pick up by the afternoon -- or so the early birds tell me.
That's pretty much it for today. Played tons of backgammon, then ate at a restaurant called Sharks. They serve massive portions for a very reasonable price. The notable thing about this restaurant is their ice cream (yes, I'm still not really doing dairy, but still...). They have awesome ice cream at low prices and have cornered the Dahab market on it. After dinner I was completely stuffed, so only backgammon and relaxation remained. In fact, I believe tonight I relaxed more than I ever have to date. I was impressed ;o)
Happy Birthday Caldwell and Happy VD, errr, Valentine's Day that is ;oPWell, back to waking at a reasonable hour... up at the crack of 2pm. This day was pretty danged much like yesterday with the notable exclusion of the vile ice cream and the inclusion of Braham Stoker's Dracula (love that flick). I'm thinking that I'll travel to Amsterdam for queen's day (29 April, big celebration, blah, blah, blah) then fly from there to Delhi, India. Y'all should know me well enough by now to know that those plans are tentative at best. India is supposed to be amazing and very cheap so I'm thinking that sounds good to me. We'll see what happens. I'm definately headed for Amsterdam tho.
Tonight we're having the second going away party for Steve. I'm dubious that he'll actually make it out of time this time -- lets hope not, aye, but in the off chance that he actually escapes we'd better all relax and make the most of the night ;o)
I snorkeled today (piss off Sarah, I did too!). Ok, so my mask leaked and I didn't go out far, but dang it it counts. The water is crystal freakin clear, and the fish are fearless -- well at least until you try to grab them ;oP Later that evening the police came through and rounded up all of the locals for a night in jail. They can legally hold anyone for up to 24 hours for no apparant reason so they use that to check everyone's papers to make sure that they have the proper permits to work where they're working and have no illegal substances on them. Interesting system. Afterwards we all headed up to Penguin for a bit of relaxation