Aimless wanderings in the Egyptian heartland. Part Seven- A Goa by the Red Sea
The bus to Sharm el Sheikh goes to Port Suez and then after crossing the Suez Canal follows the coastline to reach Sharm el Sheikh…
Taking it was an unwise decision. I reached Sharm at 2 am; the bus stand of Sharm is a small tea-shop that overcharges for every bloody thing… a tea costs 7 Egyptian Pound… I felt like punching that grinning waiter who duped me… but anyway, the confines of the teashop saved me from the chill outside. And that ordeal lasted for 2 hours, when I got a bus to Dahab… the same bus that was coming from Ismailiya… as I said it was an unwise decision.
The decision, however, gave me an opportunity to see the resort town of Sharm in the night… when the bright lights were in their full glamour. The bright lights reconfirmed my impression about the place… it is a plastic town… without a soul, as if erected to worship hedonism. I had been there thrice… and somehow every time its plastic-ness became more and more pronounced.
Dahab is an hour drive from Sharm… and the route is magical… the terrain of Sinai has always been referred to as a natural wonder… the hills at a distant seem to change colors at different times of the day… in the night they seemed to be hill of silver, ghostly and surreal. While looking outside, I was enticed and frightened by the thought of just abandoning the bus and walking down the road. Sinai, surely, has many secrets inside its surreal shape… once I tried to unlock those secrets, when I did a camel trek through the hills of Sinai… the travelogue of which beckons me to be finished- somewhere in this blog.
Dahab is an exact opposite to Sharm… its Bohemian, it's unplanned and it's bold & beautiful. Once someone asked me as to what was my favorite place in Sinai… I scratched my head, for I had visited so many beautiful places… Aswan, Siwa, Dakhla, White Desert etc. but pat came my reply… it is Sinai… there is an air of freedom and unbridled pleasure in Sinai, which is so conspicuous by its absence in rest of Egypt. Dahab is Sinai at its best. No wonder it is often referred to as the Goa of the Red Sea.
I reached the Dahab bus stand at 5 in the morning… it was chilly and the town lights seemed to be some kilometers away. One needs to take a cab to get to the town… but at these unearthly hours, there was none. There were not many people who arrived at Dahab at this hour… there were two locals who had their houses close by. Then there was a European couple and another man who was a Turk and I.
All we could get at this hour was a pick up van with open body. The couple sat in the front, with the driver and I and the Turkish man at the back… the cold winds blew against us, nearly killing us. The Turk who had been living in Dahab for last few years was a SCUBA trainer… seeing my predicament, he offered me a cigarette… I smiled and declined. I have seen chillier climes in Himalayas and elsewhere.
The driver took me to a small place called Auski camp… the name was a bit strange… but as I later discovered; it used to be a backpacker haunt for Australian and New Zealanders initially…. And therefore the name from Australians and Kiwis stuck to it. I took a small room for thirty odd pounds… the place seemed fine for me… as I was too tired, I just slept… and started dreaming about roaming in Dahab the next day.
I woke up well past the morning… with a severe hunger pang… the last meal I had was a bowl full of Kushri in Ismailiya… it was about time to hunt down for some food… which was not very much away.
Between the beach front and the Auski Camp, there was a small Bedouin camp-like restaurant. It served a wide variety of eateries including a Bedouin breakfast…Bedouin bread, eggs, cheese, honey, marmalade and more than a cupful of sweet black tea... it was heavenly. Thoroughly refreshed, I was ready to savour the delights of relaxed Dahab.
Dahab is a truly bohemian… I have met many people who just swoon over the reference of this beautiful place… the corals are not the best of Sinai… but somehow everything else is beautiful about this place… the atmosphere… you can enjoy at whatever budget you are aiming for… people are friendly… they exude genuine warmth…
I just roamed through the streets of this place, nothing less and nothing more… met few people – a British couple, a Korean group... I had my lunch with the Korean group… a lot of sea food and lemonade… on the seafront, with a cool breeze hitting my face.
It was a day to go for Christmas; everything was decked up for the great time ahead… I was here at the opportune moment. Lot of happy faces, festive faces around… earlier I had thought of moving away from Dahab after a day of hedonism… but then I said that I will move only tomorrow. I waded through the turquoise waters of the place… which splashed against my legs and soul and heart… it was a beautiful day spent. I saw a vacant beach chair… lay down on it and had one of the sweetest sleeps of my life. Cairo had been hard on my slumbers, giving me sleepless nights… these jaunts had been a blessing- nice sleep, a lungful of pure air, good food, meeting people who don’t know me and whom I don’t know…. It is all bliss.
For a circuit, I had planned to take a speed boat from Sharm El Sheikh to Hurgadha… but upon enquiring I realized that not only it is very expensive, a proposition, but also quite cumbersome and not suiting to my itinerary. I asked myself, what I want to do… I wanted to reach to the Nile… preferably Luxor and then plan something else… there was a bus from Dahab to Luxor but it was only late in the evening, which would had meant that I spend another entire day in Dahab…not my cup of tea. It was a strange predicament that led me do unusual things leading to unusual destination… with the thrill of it.
The night at the Auski was fun… I joined a group of American backpackers and we chatted for hours together. I went to sleep at 3 and woke up at 8 and was still feeling refreshed, contrary to Cairo when even 9 hours of sleep never made me look fresh. I had seen the destination I had been dreaming for last two years…
I packed my bag, paid the bill and left for the bus stand… a new day waited for me, with a new set of adventure… a new set of experience and a very off beat destination… that most have not even heard off. Including me.
Taking it was an unwise decision. I reached Sharm at 2 am; the bus stand of Sharm is a small tea-shop that overcharges for every bloody thing… a tea costs 7 Egyptian Pound… I felt like punching that grinning waiter who duped me… but anyway, the confines of the teashop saved me from the chill outside. And that ordeal lasted for 2 hours, when I got a bus to Dahab… the same bus that was coming from Ismailiya… as I said it was an unwise decision.
The decision, however, gave me an opportunity to see the resort town of Sharm in the night… when the bright lights were in their full glamour. The bright lights reconfirmed my impression about the place… it is a plastic town… without a soul, as if erected to worship hedonism. I had been there thrice… and somehow every time its plastic-ness became more and more pronounced.
Dahab is an hour drive from Sharm… and the route is magical… the terrain of Sinai has always been referred to as a natural wonder… the hills at a distant seem to change colors at different times of the day… in the night they seemed to be hill of silver, ghostly and surreal. While looking outside, I was enticed and frightened by the thought of just abandoning the bus and walking down the road. Sinai, surely, has many secrets inside its surreal shape… once I tried to unlock those secrets, when I did a camel trek through the hills of Sinai… the travelogue of which beckons me to be finished- somewhere in this blog.
Dahab is an exact opposite to Sharm… its Bohemian, it's unplanned and it's bold & beautiful. Once someone asked me as to what was my favorite place in Sinai… I scratched my head, for I had visited so many beautiful places… Aswan, Siwa, Dakhla, White Desert etc. but pat came my reply… it is Sinai… there is an air of freedom and unbridled pleasure in Sinai, which is so conspicuous by its absence in rest of Egypt. Dahab is Sinai at its best. No wonder it is often referred to as the Goa of the Red Sea.
I reached the Dahab bus stand at 5 in the morning… it was chilly and the town lights seemed to be some kilometers away. One needs to take a cab to get to the town… but at these unearthly hours, there was none. There were not many people who arrived at Dahab at this hour… there were two locals who had their houses close by. Then there was a European couple and another man who was a Turk and I.
All we could get at this hour was a pick up van with open body. The couple sat in the front, with the driver and I and the Turkish man at the back… the cold winds blew against us, nearly killing us. The Turk who had been living in Dahab for last few years was a SCUBA trainer… seeing my predicament, he offered me a cigarette… I smiled and declined. I have seen chillier climes in Himalayas and elsewhere.
The driver took me to a small place called Auski camp… the name was a bit strange… but as I later discovered; it used to be a backpacker haunt for Australian and New Zealanders initially…. And therefore the name from Australians and Kiwis stuck to it. I took a small room for thirty odd pounds… the place seemed fine for me… as I was too tired, I just slept… and started dreaming about roaming in Dahab the next day.
I woke up well past the morning… with a severe hunger pang… the last meal I had was a bowl full of Kushri in Ismailiya… it was about time to hunt down for some food… which was not very much away.
Between the beach front and the Auski Camp, there was a small Bedouin camp-like restaurant. It served a wide variety of eateries including a Bedouin breakfast…Bedouin bread, eggs, cheese, honey, marmalade and more than a cupful of sweet black tea... it was heavenly. Thoroughly refreshed, I was ready to savour the delights of relaxed Dahab.
Dahab is a truly bohemian… I have met many people who just swoon over the reference of this beautiful place… the corals are not the best of Sinai… but somehow everything else is beautiful about this place… the atmosphere… you can enjoy at whatever budget you are aiming for… people are friendly… they exude genuine warmth…
I just roamed through the streets of this place, nothing less and nothing more… met few people – a British couple, a Korean group... I had my lunch with the Korean group… a lot of sea food and lemonade… on the seafront, with a cool breeze hitting my face.
It was a day to go for Christmas; everything was decked up for the great time ahead… I was here at the opportune moment. Lot of happy faces, festive faces around… earlier I had thought of moving away from Dahab after a day of hedonism… but then I said that I will move only tomorrow. I waded through the turquoise waters of the place… which splashed against my legs and soul and heart… it was a beautiful day spent. I saw a vacant beach chair… lay down on it and had one of the sweetest sleeps of my life. Cairo had been hard on my slumbers, giving me sleepless nights… these jaunts had been a blessing- nice sleep, a lungful of pure air, good food, meeting people who don’t know me and whom I don’t know…. It is all bliss.
For a circuit, I had planned to take a speed boat from Sharm El Sheikh to Hurgadha… but upon enquiring I realized that not only it is very expensive, a proposition, but also quite cumbersome and not suiting to my itinerary. I asked myself, what I want to do… I wanted to reach to the Nile… preferably Luxor and then plan something else… there was a bus from Dahab to Luxor but it was only late in the evening, which would had meant that I spend another entire day in Dahab…not my cup of tea. It was a strange predicament that led me do unusual things leading to unusual destination… with the thrill of it.
The night at the Auski was fun… I joined a group of American backpackers and we chatted for hours together. I went to sleep at 3 and woke up at 8 and was still feeling refreshed, contrary to Cairo when even 9 hours of sleep never made me look fresh. I had seen the destination I had been dreaming for last two years…
I packed my bag, paid the bill and left for the bus stand… a new day waited for me, with a new set of adventure… a new set of experience and a very off beat destination… that most have not even heard off. Including me.
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