Arrival in Dahab, Egypt (April 3)

So we finally finished our time in India and looking back, what a time it was. Our India visa ran out on Apr 3 and so we searched around for what flights we could get out of Delhi that day and came up with the idea of flying to Sharm-el-Sheikh on the Sinai peninsula of Egypt (with a stopover in Amman Jordan). We just didn't feel up to dealing with the craziness of Cairo (immediately after India) and thought the Sinai with its location on the Red Sea might be just the ticket (pardon the pun).


The exit from Sharm-el-Sheikh's airport to get a taxi to the bus station should have been a simple, normal process and relatively uneventful - NOPE! We had various taxi drivers move us in and out of 3 or 4 different taxis, load our bags, agree on price only to apparently cause a commotion resulting in other taxi drivers yelling and arguing in Arabic only to start over again. It was insane! We just wanted to go to the bus station and grab a bus to Dahab...simple, NOPE! They of course wnated to drive us all the way to Dahab - about 1 hour by car.

To make a long story short, we took a taxi to Dahab (north of Sharm). Because a drive that should take 1 hour only took 40 minutes, Lori was thankful that the highway is divided, four lane, newly paved...it felt a little more like flying than driving! So we arrived safely in the small town of Dahab which is like a mini paradise on the Red Sea (The Gulf of Aqaba to be exact). What a contrast from India and a great place to recuperate. Modern bathroom, balcony overlooking the sea, gorgeous clear water,


....no dirt or trash or cows or cowsh**, no zillions of honking horns...its a world away from India yet only 8 hrs by plane. We can feel the stress slowly ebbing from our bones. Looking back on all the experiences in India you wouldn't want to trade them for the world, and yet how much more of that you could have continued to take and still appreciate well you're not so sure - its different for everyone. We heard that you either love or hate India - we found you loved and hated it depending on where you were and what you were experiencing.

Dahab can't be much more than 10 or 20 thousand people with lots of small hotels/resorts along the waterfront, and a nice pedestrian area. It's really well done and very relaxing. The locals you talk to are mostly people who have fled Cairo and want to live this kind of life here.




Since arriving we have done a day of snorkelling and have now also completed the first day of the PADI scuba diving course (yeah, Lori did decide to join in). The clarity of the water is out of this world and the coral is very dense and varied. Nothing spectacular in the way of fish....yet but we hope for more. The water is cold tho...21 and so full 7mm wet suit is a necessity. We're just too early in the year. Diving is done simply by walking in from the shore...pretty darn easy.

This is the desert so it's kind of strange walking from a shoreline that is arid with no greenery as far as the eye can see and then stepping into this brilliantly coloured world full of life just below the water's surface.

There are many other things to do here besides in the water...such as heading inland to Mt Sinai which is only an hour or so away as well as exploring desert-like canyons on day-hikes or overnight camel safari rides led by local Bedouin people. So perhaps we will be here for awhile. It is great to have the time and a place in which to say that. We don't have any photos yet to show you the thousand meter or so high hills - jagged, brown and desert-like, making such a contrast with the deep blue sea, the best we have right now is the one below with a new resort in Dahab being constructed in the foreground.