Monday, April 9, 2007

Ultimate Egypt

Oh my goodness, I'm not sure I like Egypt! I've had so many accidents here that it's just not funny! There was the falling over in the shower and banging my head on the toilet incident, dropping my phone into the Nile and then a few nights ago I was walking along the street close to the hotel when this fat Egyptian guy comes and walks beside me. I ignored him but he still pestered me and then all of a sudden he grabs one of my boobs - I freaked out and I yelled at him to F-off... He ran away so I thought I was ok - I was close to the hotel, about a minute away so I started to walk faster. Anyway he comes running after me again - it was a dark street so I started running towards the hotel as fast as I could... Not a happy experience! So, now I refuse to walk anywhere alone which makes for long, boring stays at the hotel cos if people don't want to go out then I'm stuck. Hopefully though, that is the end of my bad luck!

I did my tour through Travel Talk and to be honest, I'm not too sure what I think of the company. I did the Ultimate Egypt Nile River Cruise - 15 days - and there were alot of couples and people traveling with friends so I kind of felt a bit left out because I was traveling alone. Everyone was older too - the next age up from me was 28. I have enjoyed Egypt heaps but the whole meeting people aspect to it wasn't so great.

Egypt is such a poor country. There are people everywhere trying to sell you things that they've made. It's amazing because they are literally everywhere trying to sell stuff... We went on a motorboat cruise to go for a camel ride through the desert and we got off the boat to find that in this isolated area there was a bazaar where they were selling their handmade items. Even in restaurants, children come up to you and hassle you to buy things. You can't escape it! They follow you and ask you to look in their shops, they say 'oh I do a special price for you because you're beautiful'. It's a crazy place but absolutely amazing.

Last night I climbed Mt Sinai - ok, ok so my camel climbed Mt Sinai and I sat on top of this poor camel. I actually didn't like Mt Sinai for various reasons. Firstly, I was the last person to get on a camel and my tour guide left me behind with this scary Bedouin person who wouldn't stop touching my ankles.. it was pitch black and I couldn't see anyone from my tour and that scared me, being in a foreign country and all! Then when I finally caught up to my group we had to climb 750 stairs which weren't even stairs, more like randomly placed blocks. We reached the top of the mountain and snuggled under our sleeping bags. That was fine until I needed to go to the toilet - so I went in search of a toilet and as I was searching, I fell off a set of stairs and ended up with scratches on my legs! Guess my bad luck hasn't run out yet after all.. :( The sunrise wasn't even that great either so I was quite disappointed in the whole experience. I took forever to climb down because I was scared of slipping down the steep hills so I was last one down too! I have since decided that I am NOT an outdoorsy kind of a person at all! At least, not the climbing mountains kind of person!!!

I do however like snorkelling - I went snorkelling yesterday and was so scared until one of the girls on my tour gave me some tips on how to snorkel properly and I loved it in the end. I am going to try Scuba Diving tomorrow so I will let you know how that goes!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi simone, phew, what a exsperience you had, i am glad when you back in the UK safe, but it sounds like you had fun tho,enjoy all you can while you are young,
be carefull,
love you heaps mum
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx got your mothers day card, thanks.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anonymous said...

Hey Simone,
Sorry to tell you but i did actually laugh when i read about the shower thing! I couldn't help it. Hope you're ok though. Egypt sounded really weird. Don't think I'll be heading there soon. I've never been a fan of camels. Glad you are seeing heaps and doing a lot more with your holidays than i am. Take care. Kate

Unknown said...

OMG, what a sleaze bag!!! You are brave though, no doubt about that one. There's no way I could ever travel on my own, especially in a place like that!!! I do love Egypt though, and it has been my dream FOREVER to go there one day. Must see photos!!!

Anonymous said...

wow you did have some bad luck! its good you made it back to your hotel that night the guy was following you! something really bad may have happened! DONT walk alone at night again! i do eventually want to see you again!

i hate snorkelling! (just to let you know!) but i LOVE scuba! Carson and i did a divers four day training course in ko tao thailand, were quallified Padi divers now! you'll have a great time!