Adventures of a Texan

Day 5 - Are you for Scuba?

I began the day with a light breakfast as I headed out the door to find a scuba shop to go diving with. I got my Scuba certification back in 1996 prior to going with 'The Waltons' to Hawai'i to meet up with Jeff, one of the main influences in my joining the Marines. But, I never travel with my certification card. So, I had to find a shop that was willing to trust me and let me do a non-intro-to-scuba dive. i found one called SUBEX, a Swiss scuba company that has been in business the longest in Sharm. That is a good warm fuzzy feeling. So, I planned a dive for later that afternoon in Naama Bay (Red Sea).

With a few hours to kill, I laid out in the sun for a bit, did some great snorkeling and just roamed the beach. Oh, the water temp was very cool for them at 23 C or about 75 F. For having been used to the Pacific, I though the temperature was perfect and very warm. I also met up with Amy, and we went on a glass bottom boat ride throughout the bay. It was great to go on a boat again. I truly think that in my other life, I was an old English Sailor in Her Majesty's Royal Navy...or maybe that is due to me playing the captain in HMS Pinafore in high school.

Scuba time came and it was great. It took a little getting used to seeing as I haven't been diving in 5 years, but the skills quickly came back after about 5 minutes. Sting rays, dog fish, 'cat' fish (not the bayou kind), and fish of all sorts of color and size. Oh, and the coral was great too. Very colorful. Sorry. No camera. No pictures.

Amy and I met up for dinner at the hotel and then headed out to town to see some music. We found a traditional 3 piece group with a stringed lute-ish thing, a tambourine, and a drum. They were really great. i even embarrassed myself, my country, and Amy by getting up an dancing. I was horrible, but fortunately, I was the only one. We finished the night with a boardwalk stroll and then back to watch movies in the hotel. Old School, with Will Ferrell was on.

Day 4 - Sharm El-'Shake'?

Upon arriving into town, we were hounded by taxi drivers at the front door of the bus. So, we ended up making a deal with one of them just to take us into town. Not having planned for a place to stay, we then had the task set upon us to find a hotel. At 7 am, the town was very silent. We hiked around for about 30 minutes when we came across a place I had seen on Hotels.com, the Sharm Cliff Resort. Supposed to be a 4* place, we haggled for a double room, with half board (breakfast and dinner), for $50 a night. They even had a private beach.

Well, after a non-sleeping bus ride, we took up the offer for breakfast then, we crashed for 6 hours. Upon awaking, we walked into town along the board walk. Then...all of a sudden... we saw it! It was like a neon angel, burning brightly through the haze of a catalytic convertor free country. "Hard Rock Cafe":http://www.hardrockcafe.com/locations/cafes/Cafes.aspx?Lc=SHAR.

Why is this so important? Two words. Burgers & Shakes. Seems trivial to you, but in the Czech Republic, neither exists in a good form. Sure, McDonald's is around in Prague, but can you call that a good burger. And, milkshakes in Europe tend to take on the form of, I kid you not, milk that has been 'shaked' (with a little flavoring). So, we hopped inside, got seated and treated ourselves to big burgers and thick creamy milkshakes (I had a regular hamburger with a strawberry shake).

'And the Lord saw that it was good.'

The remainder of the evening was spent roaming the boardwalk on the beach and looking in at the various resorts with their musical acts and fancy buffets going on.

Tales of a bus ride to the Sinai

So, when we last left our hero, he was riding in a bus from Cairo to Sharm El-Sheikh in the comfort of an 'East Delta' Bus....

At the beginning of the ride, the driver decided to blast his personal copy of an Imam for one hour as the ride was getting underway. loud. distortion. old cassette.

As the ride continued, we seem to make stops every hour for passport checks at some random, in-the-middle-of-no-where checkpoints throughout the Sinai Peninsula. As the sun began to rise, we could actually see the town of Sharm up ahead. Alas, one last checkpoint to go through. The guy who came onnboard seemed to have a stick up his ... and was taking forever. He ended up taking three people off of the bus at which time the K-9 team came. Long story short (too late), the K-9 team found a brick and a half of some kind of drug and hauled off a few of the former passengers. Whew! Glad that is over.

Day 3 - cairo, me oh my-oh

Unfortunately, some of the food from around the block has caught up with me. So, I slept until noon at which time, I tried to go out for a lunch, but the most I could handle was fruit juice. Only half a glass. So, Amy and I went back to the hotel and I took a nap. Eventually, we headed towards the bus station and got tickets for the over night bus to Sharm El-Sheikh (shake). One the way back to the hotel, I met up with Eli for dinner and tried to down a salad. However, it was drenched in oil, and what I think to be a saline wash. Needless to say...it didn't fly. Amy met up with us after going to a lecture at the university.

We, Amy and I, then started back to the hotel to pack and then headed off to the bus station. East Delta Bus company. Man. And I thought Greyhound was a tough ride. The first hour of the ride, the driver decided to play the Islamic "call to prayer" via cassette, very loudly.

Day 2 cont'd

After posting the earlier Day two post, I went back to the hotel and met another one of the guests. Her name is Amy and she is an Egyptologist studying in Bristol, UK. But, she is here to do some research for her dissertation. So, later that evening, we met up with Eli and headed out to the bazaar. Talk about unabashed salesmen. Scarves, silver, spices, chess sets, camel bone stuff, wallets, jewels...endless list. We went to Fishawy, one of the most famous sheesh places in Cairo. It is said to have never closed in the last 200 years.

Afterwards, we went back to Zamalek and went walking around the island for about an hour. The night ended around midnight or so and we went to bed. Until tomorrow...

Day 2 - Pyramids

Yes, one of the 7 wonders of the world. In fact, the only one still in existence. But before I got to the pyramids, I had to make a phone call. Where? Germany. To whom? Potential investors. I could hardly sleep last night, I think primarily due to eating so late. I think I finally found sleep at about 5 am. Then up at 7:45. I had to get ready for the day then head out and find a phone card to use at the hotel to call Germany. The cafes that I knew of didn't have a fast enough upload to use Skype. After finding a card, I went back to my hotel to find that the only phone I could use was the lobby phone. Not quite ideal for a one hour call.

So, I hopped a cab 5 blocks away to the Marriot to take advantage of the business center. Ouch! That place is expensive. But, I got to make a call and use the internet. So, work was done for the morning. It only took four hours. On my way out, I ran into a cabbie that I decided to hire for a ride out to Giza. That is where the three closest, and largest pyramids are to Cairo. Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus. I rode a horse around the pyramids and got some decent pictures. They really are big. As simple as that sounds, it holds true. After having read that they were originally covered with a polished limestone and then raped of there outer covering, I can somewhat visualize how they must have looked. Like the Las Vegas 'Luxor' hotel (I will be in the real Luxor soon) with shimmering sides and a radiance to light the night on a full moon.

Well, now I am back having lunch in a cafe. Not too many restaurants around. until next time....

Cairo, Day one

In case you haven't heard, I am in Egypt now. I flew in this morning. Apparently, all major flights come in in the middle of the night. Mine, 2:15 am. However, you have to stand in line to get a visa for $15, then wait in a huge line to get stamped on your passport. All said and done, I finally left the airport at 3:45 am.

The cab was about to fall completely apart and I am sure I paid too much. But, at 4 am, I just wanted to go to bed. Finally go to the hotel, the May Fair hotel, in Zamelek. It is supposed to be one of the nicer expat communities in Cairo. There are embassies everywhere.

Woke up and met my old roommie from Cairo, Eli Williams. We went around to a few cafes in the area and had a good talk. Saw his flat in Zamelek real quick before he had to start studying for tests tomorrow. Then, I went to the Egyptian Museum. That place is cool! Thank goodness I have my ISIC card (Int'l Student ID) because it is going to save me tons. I also hired a guide and it was definitely worth it. All of the pharaohs, tombs, carcofigi (sp?), and hieroglyphs were awesome. having the guide really helped with the history and a much better understanding of everything. Then I went across the street to a papyrus store. he actually made some papyrus paper in front of me.

now, I am at a cafe in Zamelek getting some work done. I always have time for Sproutit. Tomorrow...pyramids.

Prague Update - Spring Edition

Yes, it is I. The adventurer of the world. Man of mystery and ambiguity. Those last descriptors only exist because I forget to write you and fill you in. So, my mistake. Time to change that. Here we go!

It's been too long

While my posts have never been very long in length, I used to do them somewhat regularly. I notice, however, that I haven't written in a while. Well, aside from being sick for about a week, I went to Vienna for three days last week. I met up with some friends from my old university, PLNU, and met some new friends at Wollzelle. While my time was somewhat limited with the longer than usual train ride, due to the flooding, I enjoyed every minute of it. My favorite cafes were serving the best pastries with a twist. It is 'erdbeer zeit' or Strawberry Time. Imagine a strudel made with a creamy cheese filling, then adding strawberries to it and sipping a Viennese classic, a melange (half espresso, half steamed milk - I like mine with 2 sugars). Well, I am preparing for a good Easter weekend. Going to a seder tomorrow. Ciao.

Still laggin'

Ok. So, i am still lagging a bit. I tried to get up and get soem work done. Not very productive.
Well, tried to take a nap. Now I am going for a jog. It is a nice day and the it warmed up to 40 F.