Thursday, March 01, 2007

Egypt

No one would describe Cairo's in such glowing terms today. With a mega-sprawling population of more than 17 million. Time, poverty, pollution, overcrowding and bureaucratic indifference have all taken a heavy toll. Yet, remarkably, more than 500 Islamic monuments of note have survived, an architectural legacy that is still without peer. Women, and men, should dress conservatively to avoid offending people in traditional areas (especially women). Traffic is heavy and chaotic but it moves. People are crossing everywhere and its hustle and bustle, with the possibility of suicide as you attempt to cross the streets.

We went to visit one of the seven wonders of the world by the Ancient Greeks, the Pyramids are the planet's original tourist attractions. Around two million stone blocks, each weighing more than two tons, went into the main pyramid. It is so amazing.

Everyone who comes to Pyramid has to run the gauntlet of camel and horse hustlers, souvenir and soft drink hawkers, agonizingly persistent shop owners and sundry beggars. If you visit, be firm in your refusals - 'No' is enough, and don't feel you have to justify yourself. I get tired eventually as they don't give up hustling.

Our holiday to Egypt was really a nice experience. We are very well taken care of by different people in Cairo and in Sharm El Sheikh. Ashraf was driving us everywhere and showing us different places in Cairo.




We also went for dinner at Egyptian Famous River Nile. Most of the 5 stars hotels are located around the River Nile. There are many restaurants on the boat to choose from and we end up in the fish restaurants as it is one of my favourite.

Day before we went to visit the Zouk, where there are small shops everywhere. As a tourist, you will be hustle every few steps you take by the shops assistant. Common question will be where are you from, please come into my shop and sign in my guest book.Once you get in, they will offer you tea and try to sell you anything in the shops. I actually get tired of that too so when they ask me where I was from, I answered that I was from Gambia.


Sharm El Sheikh


This will be our summer villa in Sharm El Sheikh. Sheikh Bakr have given us this villa everytime the kids have a school holiday. The villa is located inside the Sheraton Hotel Compound with full facilities. We had a wonderful time in Sharm as we are provided with a cook and also a personal butler, who prepares our meals daily, clean our villa, washing etc. We also had a personal driver who drives us everywhere we wanted to go. The villa has 6 sleeping rooms and all are attached with bathroom, TV, AC and Phone. The garden are very well maintained and numbers of workers are seen cutting the tress and cleaning the garden daily.




Few places in Sharm El Sheikh: Alf Leila Wa Leila(Thousand and One Night), Nama Bay and Old Sharm. The Old Sharm was a place for the local egyptian and since tourists have been scopping in slowly around there, prices went up.



The Villa Compound Sheraton Pool where we were everyday after breakfast.




Snake, Belly Dancing and African Dance Show in Sheraton

After the long day at the pool, we decided to stay in the hotel compound that day and see the show. So we took a nice walk from the villa and end up watching the show just after 21:00hrs. It was fun watching and taking parts in those shows. The kids and I was pull out to join the dance, like it or not we went over and participate. Somehow Gabriel gets tired and he stood up to play billard which his dad kept him accompany.




LAST DAY

It is 2am and we are all ready awake shower and ready to fly back home. Wasn't really looking forward to be sitting on a plane for hrs. Ahmad our driver picked us up at the hotel where we stayed for a day before we fly home. Gabriel wasn't feeling too good either as he have been vomitting a lot during th day flight from Sharm El Sheikh to Cairo and he did throw up a lot all the way back to Spain. Guess he was not sleeping well with the past 2 days before we fly home. The kids said good bye to their daddy as he will be staying back in Cairo while we fly back home.


Setting up my Salon

The whole process of taking up the course, renovating my salon, applying for a proper license from the Ministry of Health to operate the sal...