Journey to Dahab

Once we got back into Cairo from the Pyramids, we went back to our hostel to pick up our packs and prepared ourselves for the nine hour overnight bus trip to Dahab, which left just after midnight. The cab ride to Turgoman bus station resembled a roller coaster crossed with an elaborate death trap. It was wild, even by Cairo standards, particularly for Sumon who was riding in the front seat. At the bus station, we met Peter, a nice German med student living in Cairo and learning Arabic. It's a good thing we met him, as his language skills came in handy. Had we not met Peter, we would have missed our bus, or gotten on the wrong one! Peter had been to Dahab once before, and basically knew everything there was to know about the place, so he was basically the perfect tour guide. Thus, we creatively nicknamed him The German Tour Guide. Also on the bus was Ben from Albany, NY who had been living in Israel and traveling through Egypt before returning to Israel to live and work on a kibbutz. Another really nice guy, Ben rounded out our Fab Four.

We reached Dahab in the morning, and fell in love with the place very quickly. We decided to stay at the hostel that Peter recommended, called BishBishi, which turned out to be a nice, open-air resort. We took a cab ride from the Dahab bus station to BishBishi, and by "took a cab ride," we mean "hopped into the back of a pickup truck and traveled hillbilly style." Sumon had always wanted to do that, so he was happy. Our rooms weren't quite ready yet, so the friendly staff sat us down in the cafe and made us Egyptian tea. Egyptian tea is actually just a broken Lipton bag, but what makes it unique is the insanely sweet Egyptian sugar. It isn't nearly as fine as the sugar back home, and it's really concentrated. Our teeth are rotting just from thinking about it. We also met Peter's friends Johannes and Tania, who were already at the resort. Our four were now six. Seven when we met Adrienne, Johannes' girlfriend, later that night.

Once we got settled in our room, we met up with our new friends at a cafe on the beautiful beach on which all of Dahab sits. Much of our time in Dahab was spent this way. It's a wonderful resort town that hosts many foreign visitors to Egypt, without being too "touristy." It's beyond relaxing, which is a stark contrast to the chaotic hustle and bustle of Cairo (though we greatly enjoyed that as well). There's a lot to do in Dahab. We got to try snorkeling and diving which were great fun, though Sumon had some trouble with the breathing apparatus and couldn't really dive (Sumon says: hey, I'll give it another shot sometime). We also climbed Mout Sinai, which is deserving of its own post. Nights were spent with our new friends as well, out to dinner at nice restaurants near the beach.

Our stay in Dahab was marred at the end, however. On our last day, Snow fell ill due possibly to some bad dairy from the night before, which was bad enough, but then we had to fight with the management over forty Pounds. We had paid for the first night when we got there, but they said that we didn't. That's right folks, more scammers in Egypt, even in Dahab. Forty Pounds is only about US $8, but it's the principle of the thing, really. We didn't win this one, unfortunately, even with the help of The German Tour Guide, whom we recruited to help mediate. Still, we didn't let that ruin the great time we had up to that point. We just know that if (when?) we get to Dahab again, we won't stay at BishBishi, and neither should you!

And now: Pictures!
Chilling on the beach






Snow enjoying a can of Sprite in the nice courtyard at BishBishi







Smoking Shisha on the beach. Settle down you narcs, it's just tobacco in there, along with strawberry flavor, molasses, and some other innocent ingredients.










Getting ready for our diving lesson. We look awesome in our wetsuits!

















Some views of the beach. That body of water is the Red Sea, and that land mass in the distance is Saudi Arabia.











Snow in the room at BishBishi
Our Pyramid tickets