With apologies to Egypt!

There are many reasons why people travel.

To experience different cultures by visiting far off lands and the treasures they contain, be they archaeological, artistic or natural.

To taste new foods; see different ways of living; to see local people in their local environment.

This is what holidays and travelling are about. They help to expand the mind.

I have long criticised George Dubblya, and his "fellow merkins" (albeit only those that don't have a passport and aren't related to me) who take a very insular look on the world, which for many is an "unknown" world if it is not within the US boundaries.

All that being said, we have just spent a week in the Hyatt Regency Resort in (allegedly) Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. I say allegedly, because it could have been anywhere in the world. Well anywhere in the world that is warm in February and has fantastic snorkeling!

We didn't venture out of the resort to do or see anything local, and the only locals we spoke to were Hyatt employees, each of whom would say "my pleasure" when asked to do anything.

So whilst a fantastic holiday, please don't ask me anything about the area or the people or anything other than the hotel!

Groundhog day?

Having seen Ray yesterday, we made an early decision not to see Gym today, and as a consequence I decided that I would only have two pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast, instead of the usual three(Admittedly in addition to fruit & yoghurt, orange juice, a Spanish omelette, and fresh bread!), as I don't want to put on too much weight.

I had thought that all the exercise that I'd been getting snorkeling would be sufficient to counteract any minimal increase in the amount of food I was eating, but a 'certain person' soon put me right on that count.

First she implied that floating on the surface of the sea, in what must be one of the most buoyant areas of the world, was unlikely to burn off more than a handful of calories, and then she took issue with my reference to "...minimal increase"!

Anyway after another day of such "exercise" we decided that we would dine slightly "up market" in the 'Cascades' open air Restaurant. I had thought that eating in Egypt would be reasonably "cheap" in comparison with the UK, but our meal was almost £90 for the two of us, and I even had to cook my own steak on a hot stone slab!

However, it was a lovely meal, and a lovely setting, so it was worth it. So good in fact that we booked a table for tomorrow night as well!

When one pays this much for a meal in a country where we are told that the average monthly wage is only £30, it puts things into perspective somewhat.

For the 'average' Egyptian - according to the Egyptian Gazette, which I have been receiving daily - even basic Egyptian foodstuffs are becoming too expensive. A traditional lunch-time meal, which sounded a bit like a freshly made 'Pot Noodle' was becoming too expensive to buy - because it had increased in price to 4 Egyptian pounds - or 40 UK pence!

Maybe I'll only have one pancake tomorrow!

Adventures under an azure sky

Apparently there are no weathermen in Sharm el Sheikh, because the weather varies so little.

Today, the sky was once again the colour of azure. How do I know? The following photographic evidence and a Dulux colour chart prove my point.



For those interested in buying the colour it is Azure Sky 2 from the 'Fresh Blues' Dulux range, available at all good stockists.

Today, was broadly similar to the previous days, with snorkeling being the main focus.

Whilst, I had snorkeled yesterday, there were times - especially when looking down at the seabed some sixty feet below me - when I didn't feel as confident as I would have liked.

But did I panic? Of course I did... if only a little.

However, today I was determined to stay out longer and remain calm, despite the somewhat choppy seas.

Perhaps a little morbidly I had already considered that one of life's great ironies is that somebody who gets into difficulties at sea, fears sinking to the bottom (i.e. drowning) and yet, if they do drown, their body floats to the top!

Today, I was calmness personified, and swam for about an hour taking in the wonders of the undersea world of the Red Sea.

Two major finds were had. Firstly. I got to meet Ray! He had tried to cover himself in sand and remained fairly motionless, but his blue spots shone through.

Secondly, we saw (admittedly because another snorkeler pointed it out to us) a lionfish!

Now I am sure that Confucius would have had a saying along the lines of "...it is a wise man who knows what he doesn't know and who doesn't try to touch a lionfish unless he truly knows that it is safe to do so!"

But I didn't read up on Confucius this morning and in fact, tried to touch every fish I saw. Fortunately I was unsuccessful on every attempt. Especially fortunate in relation to the lionfish as the Internet (which doesn't work very well underwater!) states: -

"...Lion-fish have venomous fin spines that can produce painful puncture wounds. Fatalities, however, are rare."

And I was worried about drowning!!!!

Walk like an Egyptian....blog like an Egyptian

Researching Egyptian culture before we left home I referred to one of the most up to date pieces of research that I could find, namely the Bangles hit (?) from 1985 - Walk like an Egyptian.

All the old paintings on the tombs

They do the sand dance don't you know

If they move too quick (oh whey oh)

They're falling down like a domino

All the bazaar men by the Nile

They got the money on a bet

Gold crocodiles (oh whey oh)

They snap their teeth on your cigarette

Foreign types with the hookah pipes say

Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh

Walk like an Egyptian

Having been here for 3 days now, most of the Egyptians that I've seen, actually walk quite normally.

Whilst 'normal' is a relative term, (and I have plenty of relatives who aren't!) in comparison to most of the holidaymakers at this resort hotel - normal is the way that they walk.

The rest of us, walk somewhat gingerly, not being used to this summer sun, in February, and suffering somewhat from sunburn.

However, give George Dublya and his cronies a few more years to speed up global warming and we'll all be walking like Egyptians!

Has anybody seen Ray?

Despite having only been in Sharm el Sheikh for 2 full days, we have already developed a structure for each day.

1. Exercise
2. Eat
3. Beach, Snorkel, Beach, Snorkel etc etc
4. Spa
5. Eat
6. Sleep

First thing in the morning we pay a visit to the gym. This is clearly not driven by any great fondness for physical activity, but more in hope that a week of hotel food (and drink) won't leave us the size of a proverbial brick out-house, or whatever the Egyptian equivalent is!

My time on the treadmill is spent watching the calorie counter to see how many calories I will soon be able to replace at breakfast. Today it was only 216!

216 calories was not enough - especially in view of the fact that there are two breakfast chefs who make omelette's and pancakes to order, the former who has all the style of a cocktail waiter, and throws the fresh omelette from the pan, over his head, to the plate.

I convince myself that neither, nor both of the omellete (singular) or pancakes (plural), can equate to 216 calories.

Others - mentioning no names - are more restrained.

After breakfast we head down to the beach - not for long - just 5 hours or so, sunbathing, snorkeling and drinking the odd glass of beer.

Today, whilst hot. it was a bit breezy, but despite this we both saw another amazing array of fish.

The coral shelf is only about 50 feet from shore before it drops away to a depth of about 60 feet.

Today's special "find" - although not by me - was a blue spotted (sting)ray. I thought that my good friend and associate was shouting "...I've found Ray, I've found Ray", and, not knowing either who Ray was, or what he was doing at the bottom of the Red Sea, I was initially somewhat confused. "...I'll show you where he is," she said, pointing out across the reef. "...Go and see if you can find him."

Now, the reef is quite big and the Red Sea somewhat bigger. The tide was quite strong, and my swimming quite weak. Add to this the fact that Ray, is only 14 inches across, and you can imagine that this task was almost mission impossible (cue music). No, it was mission impossible, as I "f,f,f,failed..."

What made it even more frustrating was that having swum back 100 yards against the tide to hand back the snorkel (we were sharing!) "Marina" only went and found Ray again!

Not that I'm competitive but tomorrow I'm going in search of a Great White Shark!

It's a little bit monotonous!

This holiday is somewhat monotonous - the sky is constantly blue, it never rains, it's always hot (but not too hot), the hotel is excellent, and the snorkeling is absolutely fantastic. (In fact the snorkeling is better than the Barrier Reef, Fiji & Madeira.)

A few photos may demonstrate how awful this place is to encourage others to avoid it in the future - thereby keeping it relatively quiet for when we want to return again.

Back to the snorkeling - whilst invisible from the surface, despite the crystal clear sea, on our first session of snorkeling we immediately found ourselves just above at least 1,000 bright blue, striped, split tailed "Bigeye Jackfish".

It was just like swimming in the middle of an aquarium - but we were in the middle of the Red Sea!

More of this monotony tomorrow!