A One Camel Town

Friday: December 17, 2010

Hello there! I’m currently in the middle of the desert, otherwise known as St. Catherine, Egypt. We left beautiful Sharm El-Sheikh at around 10:30am and drove north through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula to reach our hotel, The Plaza at St. Catherine. There isn’t much in the town, however, 2,000 visitors come to St. Catherine every day. Since it is not connected to the Nile River, there are deep wells drilled to supply the town with water.

In the middle of no where

Prior to our arrival at our hotel, Professor Ghaly and Zach, our tour guide, advised us that this hotel was not on the same level as our previous hotels…and they were right. The Plaza is one of two hotels in St. Catherine and is considered the better of the two…but I’m still going to sleep in my clothes tonight. There was a buffet dinner at the hotel and a bunch of us did some shopping at the little shops in the hotel courtyard. One item that was a must have was a flashlight for our trip up Mount Sinai.

While I say that I’m going to sleep in my clothes, I probably will only sleep for an hour since we are leaving for Mount Sinai (Mountain Moses)—a five-minute drive from the hotel—at 2 am. Tomorrow, we hike up Mt. Sinai and travel back to Africa/Cairo for the final leg of the mini term. Talk to you soon!

Sharm El-Sheikh: You are in our hearts, always in our hearts

Thursday: December 16, 2010

Another beautiful day in Sharm El-Sheikh! Sunny, warm, and relaxing...what more can I ask for? Tonight is the last night we will be in this great resort town and I'm returning to Naama Bay for dinner and shopping. Tomorrow morning (10:30am) we will be heading to St. Catherine for a quick stay. At St. Catherine, we will wake up at 2am and climb Mt. Sinai...I'm very excited.

Update (11:16 Egypt Time)


Instead of heading back to Naama Bay for the second night in a row, we ate dinner at the hotel (I had some stir fry chicken--we'll see if my stomach likes this) and took a taxi to the Old Market "Old Sharm." It was not as modern as Naama Bay and felt more like the Luxor Market. I bought a few things and haggled for each of them. It was sort of run down, actually. It cost 25 pounds for all of us in the taxi to get there and another 25 pounds to return to the hotel. When I got back to the hotel, I got the new password for the free internet (it changes every night) and hopped on.

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I doubt there will be free internet there, so I'll probably see you all next time in Cairo on Saturday. Keep those comments coming! I want to answer your questions!

Sharm El-Sheikh: Great is the night and it smiles at you

Wednesday: December 15, 2010

It may be winter in the United States and Egypt, but it doesn’t feel like that here in Sharm El-Sheikh at the Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort.

Today I sat by two different pools, one of which had free Internet. Unlike Hurghada, there is no breeze here and it is very hot and sunny out. I like all the touring we did during the first few weeks of this trip, but I can’t complain about relaxing, reading, and napping by the pool. The pool with the free Internet is freezing while the pool without the Internet is heated, go figure.

Today a bunch of us ate lunch at Acapulco Joes, a Mexican restaurant at the hotel. Melanie and I split a serving of chicken fajitas (I caved and ate some chicken but there was so much food!). After, we returned to the heated pool, read, and soon fell asleep.

Mom: Don & Odett now work @ Pizza Hut Sharm

After the buffet dinner in the hotel dining room, some of us took a taxi to Naama Bay, about a 10-minute drive from our hotel. We fit 5 of us into a cab and it only cost us 25 pounds (5 pounds each=less than a dollar each, wow). Naama Bay is a nicer version of the Luxor market and it was also much bigger. The nightlife at Naama Bay is awesome and there are tons of shops. There are lots of hookah bars and touristy shops lining 3 or 4 streets. There was also a McDonalds (which I didn’t have), a Pizza Hut (which was huge), Hard Rock Café, TGI Fridays, and a Baskin Robbins! I shared an Oreo Cookies and Cream milkshake with Melanie and it was the best 30 pounds I’ve spent in a week. A lot of people went to a nightclub, but I was too tired/not in the mood to spend 100 pounds to get in. Four of us took a taxi for 25 pounds back to the hotel around 1am.

Tomorrow, more relaxing and more Naama Bay nightlife. Unfortunately, it is also the last day in Sharm El Sheikh as we then travel to St. Catherine and climb Mt. Sinai (where my mom works).

Once again, the Internet situation will be sketchy until I return to Cairo on Saturday the 18th. Keep those comments coming!

And yes, Little Chief Tunis, it was real and it was alive.

R&R&Reading in Hurghada

Monday: December 13, 2010

Today was another relaxing day in Hurghada! A bunch of people went on a snorkeling trip today, which left a few of us at the resort. I was by myself most of the day on the beach and cranked out my book! When I got back to the room, I couldn’t believe that I finished the book before 2:30pm. It was warmer and less breezy today than yesterday and I definitely got some color today…I should have put some sunscreen on.

A side note about Hurghada: It is a pretty new resort area and apparently it has developed greatly in the last 10 years. There is a lot of construction going on around the city, though it is not noticeable from the resort area.

Overall, the lack of (cheap) Internet service, a daily newspaper, and lots of English-speaking TV stations (we get CNN international here—but its not that interesting) is kind of frustrating since I really don’t know what is going on in the news. I’ve seen the big stories (hostage situation in France, suicide bombing in Sweeden, a violent storm in Israel) but who knows what’s going on in local news. It is nice, however, not to have my blackberry on me—it’s a nice break from being connected to social media.

Tomorrow morning we leave Hurghada and the continent of Africa as we travel to the other side of the Red Sea, Sharm El-Sheikh (yes, it is officially in Asia…very cool).

Keep those questions and comments coming! I’ll answer it all! Talk to you soon!

The Red Sea Isn't Red

Sunday: December 12, 2010

It’s official: The Read Sea isn’t red…but it sure is beautiful! Snow in the United States? The Minnesota Metrodome collapsing? 12 degree Fahrenheit wind chills in New York this week? All this while I was relaxing on the beach at our resort. It was a little breezy today which made it a tad cold to be at the beach, but it was sunny and relaxing nonetheless.

I continued reading “Moneyball” on my kindle today and I’m 20% through it, so hopefully I can read some more tomorrow. The breakfast and dinner buffet here is pretty good. They have a cheese carving and omlet stations in the morning and a pasta bar in the evening. Lunch is not included, but Melanie, Shelby, Cellie, and I went to the beach restaurant where they got cheeseburgers and I, unwilling to test my stomach, got a personal pizza.

Other than relaxing on the beach, I’ve been lounging around and enjoying the sea (the water is a little cold though). Later in the evening, a bunch of us left the resort to check out the shops in the area. Professor Ghaly says that the big market is a taxicab trip and none of us were willing to travel that far so we walked across the street. It’s funny how all the vendors said “No Hassle! No Hassel!” when we know they are trying to hassle. Because all the vendors said this phrase to us while we were walking around, none of us went into any stores…we just weren’t in the mood for it, I guess. We made a u-turn back to the resort and went to the restaurant and got hot chocolates. Relaxing, beautiful, pleasant, and very chill…can’t ask for more.

The internet is a lot of money here and no internet cafes are in sight…very annoying. Talk to you soon!