In Egypt the first bit of haggling we did was when we tried getting a cab from Sharm airport to our hotel (Oriental Resort). Even though it was only £10 we later on found out we got ripped off. Not much was done apart from checking out our local surroundings and absorbing a few rays of sunshine.
Cynthia decided to have a bath in the evening. On seeing the bath tub filled up with light yellow coloured water, I thought it best to go for a shower instead.
The hotel (Laguna Vista) next to ours had a much prettier swimming pool than ours. Lounged about briefly before we were eventually got kicked out by this mean security guard. This didn’t stop us from coming back after dinner to take some photos of the place. It looked even more stunning in the evening.
Our plans for Cairo went down the drain as the price of the flight ticket was a lot more than we had anticipated (five times the price we were expecting). The evening was spent sniffing various essences and drinking herbal tea as one of the shopkeepers tried to persuade us into buying pricey poof juice from his shop. Luckily we managed to escape his skilled persuasive selling technique.
Juicelog Fri 310306: Overdid the sunbathing yesterday and had to resort to using yoghurt to ease the pain. Felt like retching from the stinky smell of the yoghurt.
Replaced our Cairo trip with a trip down to Sharm El-Maya (aka Old Market). We thought that allowing 4.5 hours would be plenty for our shopping trip but how wrong we were. The market wasn’t that big but we seriously underestimated the amount of time we would be spending in each shop. Bartering for a bargain took a long time as the shopkeepers more often than not held their ground. Every shopkeeper tried to drag us into their store and most of them sold very similar goods (tourist tit tat, papaya paintings, essence, shisha pipes) towards the late evening we had to start ignoring most of them (by not establishing eye contact or simply by not responding) unless we wanted to view the goods being sold in their shop.
Was looking forward to clubbing it with the Italian animators at La Dolce Vita but changed my mind when I found out the party no longer took place in the desert due to the police interference last year.
From the brief conversations we had with the waiters we found out that they had to work really hard (8 weeks on, 2 weeks off) for very little money (about £500 a month). Most of the staff that worked in Sharm were male (there were no females that worked at our hotel). Gave a tip to our favourite waiter (Mohamid) as it was his last night tonight. I liked him because he was quite cute especially the way he pronounced “Juicy”.
Juicelog Sun 020406: Attempted to go snorkelling today but I think there was a problem with our snorkels as we both found it hard to breath under water. It was either this or we both got too claustrophobic when attempting to breath under water. Met these crazy folk at the bar (Daddy Ouzo, Jessica Rabbit and Claire).
One of the highlights for me this holiday was quad biking out in the dessert. It was the first time I’ve ever done this and I would like to try this again. It was a very liberating experience. The only downside of quad biking in a big group (in a single line) is that riding behind other people means that end up with loads of dust in your face. The camel ride was too painful and we had to do a U-turn after 5 minutes of humping it. Cynthia liked it and ventured out on her own after we got dropped off to catch the sunset. On returning from her camel ride, she told me about an incident off seeing this young girl not speaking which she felt exemplified women’s status within the Bedouwin desert.
Had a mini Michael Jackson moment tonight when a tiny bit of skin starting to peel away from my forehead and nose. Daddy Ouzo took me and Cynthia to the Camel Bar in Na’ama Bay. This bar was exactly the type of bar I like (open roof top), funky music and subdued lighting. Went crazy on the shisha pipes sucking all the apple and cherry tobacco. Daddy O’s 14yo son Elliott (who I’ve nicknamed Missy) swung by to pounce some money of his dad.
Juicelog Mon 030406: After yoga and aqua-gym we went to Sharm El-Maya again as we had unfinished retail business to tend to. Managed to spend most of my holiday money today in a shorter space of shopping time. Started to count down the remaining hours of sunshine remaining as we’re nearing the end of our holiday.
Saw some fit Italian totty today which has been a rare sight as most people at their a lot of families and oldies at the resort. Went to Laguna beach bar tonight and was once again amazed by the high standard of the hotel’s ability to create the right atmosphere and setting.
Most of the people that attend the aerobics class are middle aged lycra wearing German women. At the start of the lesson we have pumping house to get his moving frantically. Usually at the end of the lesson we wind down the class with slower music (usually hip hop and RNB). As we were winding down today this hip hop track came on and one of the lines was “I’m gonna kill all you motherfucking bitches”.
Decided to go as nude as possible on the beach as I wanted to ensure that my booty was tanned as well. As soon as my bum was exposed we received fewer people approaching us trying to sell us stuff.
Juicelog Wed 050406: Final day of our holiday which was spent rushing about trying to cram everything into our suitcases as well as squeezing in the last couple of hours of sun. As much as I’m gonna be missing all the exercise, the all inclusive meals, the friendly waiters and the rays of Sharm I’m looking forward to coming back to gay ol’ Londres.
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