a long journey to Sinai

After visiting many of the beautiful ancient sites in Luxor (Valley of the Kings, Temple of Luxor, Karnak Temple, Medinet Habu, etc), we departed on a long journey to Sinai (see the map on the left). The public bus slowly took us through the Nile valley and across the eastern dessert with absolutely no hurry - quite a contrast to the taxis in Cairo!Not long after the sun disappeared below horizon, the bus made an unexpected stop in the middle of nowhere and all the Egyptians just ditched the bus and flocked to this roadside eatery (see the picture below). the driver didn't even kill the engine. Ten minutes later we finally realized they are breaking the fast. what a sight! Other than that the bus ride was pretty uneventful except the red moon rising above the dessert after sunset. that's just beautiful! when the bus reached the coast we were surprised to find out how different it is here, roads are much wider, buildings newer, and for the first time we rode in a taxi that does not look so beat up. Almost feels like we are in a different country!

we arrived in the coast city Hurgada with about an hour and half of delay, starving and exhausted (now we have our own fast to break!). Since we are on the coast, I decided not to waste the opportunity and had some nice seafood tagin (egyptian claypot) it was so yum and a good reward for the day's long road trip. the next morning we took the ferry for Sinai Peninsula, after 2 hours of bumpy ride and some puking (only me), we are finally in Sharm el-sheikh!

there's not much to say about Sharm el-sheikh. we don't feel quite fit in as the place is what you can call Vegas on the red sea coast, only that Vegas has MUCH nicer buffet and more things to see and do. Here even the palm trees are plastic! it's full of tourists on package tour and everything is so overpriced. we knew about it but well, they have world class dive sites. we spent a couple nights here so Pascal can dive, then fled the place for the Dahab, where true relaxation awaits us.