We made a last minute decision to go to Hurghada, a resort town on Egypt's Red Sea coast. We couldn't book bus tickets (I got the impression they don't want you to leave Luxor) so I negotiated a taxi to drive us the 290 km across the desert to the Red Sea. A water main paralleled most of our route with pumping stations about every 6 kilometers, Water from the Nile is what allows Hurghada to exist. Along the way, I think we saw more military checkpoints than plants. The route used to be known for bandits so the checkpoints were welcomed. We saw absolutely no fauna, but lots of sand and rocks. My ears popped so we must have gone above 2,500 feet elevation. Our taxi literally sputtered the last 90 km into Hurghada.
We stayed in a resort that turned out to cater almost exclusively to Russians, Poles and Czechs. Employees repeatedly told us they had never seen an American there in the 3, 5, 8... years they had worked there. The strange thing was they only wanted to deal in US dollars. American music, TV and t-shirts are everywhere we've visited so far. It was one of those places with all you can eat buffets (extremely bland with cabbage available at every meal). The clientele knew how to work food lines. It was like a scrum with piled high plates being passed back from the serving trays. I was never able to make it to a crab station. The sun, food and booze made people happy though.
We went snorkeling from a boat. It would have cost us $10 more to scuba, but we didn't want the hassle. It turns out the Red Sea has stunning coral and abundant exotic fishes, the best we have seen on this trip so far. The water was sapphire blue. We were happy we made the excursion.
We stayed in a resort that turned out to cater almost exclusively to Russians, Poles and Czechs. Employees repeatedly told us they had never seen an American there in the 3, 5, 8... years they had worked there. The strange thing was they only wanted to deal in US dollars. American music, TV and t-shirts are everywhere we've visited so far. It was one of those places with all you can eat buffets (extremely bland with cabbage available at every meal). The clientele knew how to work food lines. It was like a scrum with piled high plates being passed back from the serving trays. I was never able to make it to a crab station. The sun, food and booze made people happy though.
We went snorkeling from a boat. It would have cost us $10 more to scuba, but we didn't want the hassle. It turns out the Red Sea has stunning coral and abundant exotic fishes, the best we have seen on this trip so far. The water was sapphire blue. We were happy we made the excursion.
You look so happy where you have water!
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