Eat!! In Egypt

If India was my Pray part of the voyage and New Zealand and Moorea with Peter was the Love part then Egypt All Inclusive just Has to be the Eat part!!

Having arrived in the UK on March 21^st , Peter, the children and I flew out 2 days later for a 2 week family all inclusive holiday in Egypt. The sun did its very best to shine through the early morning mist as we left the country but with an outside temperature of minus numbers we were glad of the superb heating system of the new Mini bus!

Our arrival in Sharm El Sheik was greeted by sun, not the overwhelming intense sun of the Pacific but defiantly warmer than the UK sun. A quick Taxi ride, that reduced itself in price with every new offer we received as we walked from departures took us to our hotel and taught us Lesson 1 in Egypt – never take the first offer you receive as there are at least 4 other guys around who will do it cheaper!

The Three Corners Hotel in Palmyra is huge, as are most of the tourist built resorts near the coast and is spread out over what must be 5 acres of desert.

The grounds are immaculate and artistically designed with bridges, arches, walkways,

hidden corners, numerous pools that drift from area to area and two pools that are even heated. 

 

There are slides that defy gravity,

allowing you to hurl yourself from the highest roof top down an open tube that dips and rises, curves and twists until.........

it empties you into the small pool with a splash that can reach the bushes if you are good enough!

 

 There is a pool bar,

table tennis table under shaded canopies,

 a dart board in the sun, 

 

organised activities available all day 

and evening and then there is the food!

Each morning as the guests sleep an army of chefs and cooks chop and sizzle, 

carving and moulding the days extravaganza into creation. 

While the pool boys clean out the pools,

towel boys lay out the complimentary towels, 

in various ways,

gardeners brush, sweep, clip and clear, 

inside the hot kitchen master-pieces are made.

At 7am the doors are flung open, boys in immaculate dress and with beaming smiles greet you. 

Tables await, laid with red and while table cloths, condiments and napkins wrapped around shining cutlery.

As the guest your only duty is to walk along the four cold counters gazing at the glazed croissants, the Danish pastries, chocolate dribbled coverings on mouth watering delicacies all catching the morning light. 

There is freshly sliced cheese, hams and meats. Salads and fruit await as does piles of butter, jams, marmalades and hot fresh toast.

A separate hot counter displays crispy topped creamed potatoes which lie next to a huge tray of grilled tomatoes topped with mozzarella cheese, over sized harricot beans swim in a home made tomato sauce, sliced sausage and scrambled eggs await the meat eaters. Teas, coffees, cold and hot milk lie along one wall, cereals, yoghurt, muslies along another. 

Fresh juice of mango, pineapple and a strawberry syrup turn slowly in their chilled dispensers.

At the far end of the room , next to a mountainous assortment of bread rolls, wait two immaculately dressed smiling chefs who will mix and cook your personal requirements into an omelet or a combination of ingredients that resemble an omelet while you wait. 

Eggs are mixed with the range of ingredients chosen from the display, a hot plate sizzles as the mixture is poured into a tight circle while spatulas guide and mould the perfectly round combination into your breakfast, which is then scooped up and deposited onto your plate with a flourish and a smile.

The dining area spreads out around the central display, seats can also be found outside in the morning sun, waiters hover discreetly, clearing plates as they empty, allowing seconds or even thirds to be obtained on clean plates with out the guilt of accumulated dishes. Glasses are refilled or removed, favourite drinks remembered and served with pride and a wink.

These boys work 12 hours a day for about £80 a month. Their lively hood is dependant upon tips from satisfied customers. Yet at no time do you feel duty bound or pressurised into tipping. Their service is attentive and superb whether there is a tip waiting at the end or simply a pleasant Thank You as we leave.

Lunch is served in the same way with shredded salads, hummus, sliced eggs, feta, peppers, dressings and cheeses replacing the croissants. 

   

Jacket potatoes, steamed vegetables, fish, rice, and meats await in the hot counter. Pizza and chips wait for those who desire. Beer is now available as is wine spirits and fruit juice.

As evening aproaches people dress for dinner. Once more foods in rich sauces await near kettles of various soups. 

There are salad that can be made into starters or side dishes, rices, oriental potatoes, veal, turkey, beef, fish all displayed and replenished by the army of smartly dresses attendants and chefs.

Desserts are now the highlight of the evening with filigree nets of sugar spun into designs of sail boats and decorative curves. 

 

Chocolate carvings adorn plates of cakes, bowls of mousse, trays of pastries. Fresh fruit is piled high, coffee lies steaming to one side.

Three course meals have become the norm over the past week and diets will be resumed after the feast has ended.

Egypt has proved to be a country of quite diversity. Fellow guests come from Poland, Russia, Swansea, Leeds, France, Spain and Belgium to name a few. The languages spoken around us have us guessing for hours a persons country yet most of the staff speak more than two languages, Arabic and English are fluent with everyone we have met and most can speak French, German and Spanish!

Over the years Arabic people have accumulated some unfavourable publicity around the world but our experience so far has been rewarded by overwhelming hospitality , service of outstanding quality and smiles that beam across faces like the sun shine overhead. 

Admittedly everyone we have met so far has either been an employee of the Hotel, a shop keeper or someone else who would wish to part us from our money but that is the same the world over.

Our only not quite as favourable experience had been with the diving!!

Diving in the Red Sea is suppose to be one of THE things to do in ones life time (if you are a diver that is!). We booked our 4 days of diving plus an introduction dive for Cian and a refresher dive for Jec through George a charming young man who chatted for hours negotiating prices and terms as we sat by the pool one day. (Our first price was easily beaten by George!)

On Wednesday at the designated time we stepped into a mini bus along with 2 other people from the hotel who were going snorkelling on the same boat. We stopped at 3 other hotels waiting patiently in the sun drenched bus as others. Who were not so accurate in their time keeping, were ushered from their rooms to join the patiently waiting excursion!

At the docks 60 or 70 people jostled their way around a counter, while Arabic boys yelled instructions and tried to arrange the milling crowd. “Divers this way. Do you have your fins? OK then go there first!” We milled along with the growing crowd, fins were found, swapped for bigger sizes, matched and miss matched before we were hustled down to the equipment room. 

Here two boys looked at us and assigned wetsuits and BCDs, regulators and weight belts (without the weights) into boxes for us. Their eyes and estimations were not as accurate as they should or if they had taken their time could have been and I questioned the Large BCD jacket thrown into my box!! They had no small so an extra small was put in instead. 

A wet suit was handed to Peter and his doubt with regards to it fitting was voiced, “No Problem” we were told, “There are spares on the boat!”. A wet suit that looked too big for me was added to my box and we were off! We felt rushed and very unsure of what the end result of all this rushed estimation would be. We walked to the boat and lined up with the huge crowd awaiting the security check out of the country and onto the Red Sea.  

Ten boats bobbed on the jetty beyond the gates, people roamed everywhere, masks, life jackets, snorkels and dive equipment bumped along next to bags, hats and sun screen until we found our boat and stepped aboard.

The boat itself was wonderful. Clean, well furnished, and nicely set out. Large seats with soft cushions awaited on the upper decks, a high roof sheltered large areas from the direct sun. People settled, applied their sun blocks and waited until our final passengers had cleared the security checks and were aboard.

As we slowly left the jetty the boat briefing was given, clear and informative, covering all aspects of the boat and the routine of the day.

Our instructor came over to meet us, he explained the plan for the day and with a much more relaxed attitude we settled back and enjoyed the ride out to the first dive site.

Kitting up was completed, with a bit of alterations on Peters part as the wet suit that Peter had had his doubts about did indeed prove to be too small – by about a foot!! 

A short suit was found amongst the spare suits and he was fine! 

I was handed two suits, one shorty and the large full suit I had been given from the store. Both were too big but I figured they would do. 

Weights of enormous proportions were issued, 8KG for me and 12KG for Peter, In Moorea I had dived with 3KG and 2 suits, but the salt content of the Red Sea makes buoyancy a problem and with belts we could barley walk in we approached the edge of the boat.

The initial shock of 15 degree water did not wear off as I expected it too. Water poured into the over large wet suit chilling me to the bone. 

Determined to overcome what at the time I felt was just my bodies need to readjust to cooler water I sank below the surface with Peter, Leanne and our instructor and began the dive.

The visibility was bad, 10m at the most. Cold water continued to rush into my suit chilling me more and more. 

 My mask filled with water repeatedly and while the camera man clicked away with his camera to make a 'memorable souvenir', I struggled on.

Within 20 minutes I was shivering so badly I was unable to concentrate on the things around me, after 30 minutes I had stopped breathing correctly, my breaths were a mixture of shivering gasps and held breath as I tried to control the shaking of my limbs.

I reached out to touch Peter but the cold water that rushed through the wet suit shocked me once more and I returned to simple hugging my body to reserve what little heat I had left.

After 40 minutes the dive was over, I reached the surface with relief and then hysteria. Tears began to fall, I couldn't move my hands, my feet felt numb.

I removed my equipment in the water unable to pass it up to the boat forcing Jec and Cian to reached down to take it from me. 

As I climbed out of the water the wetsuit emptied the last molecule of heat I had left onto the deck and I began to shake uncontrollably. 

Tears now poured from my eyes, my breath came in ragged convulsions, the wet suits were stripped from my body by hands I could not see and I was placed in the sun. 

A cup of hot water was handed to me but I was shaking too much to hold it.

Being cold is one thing, re-heating a excessively chilled body is something else. Pain coursed through my fingers, muscles jerked uncontrollably, lungs searched for breath fighting for a rythym against the convulsions of my chest. 

Never have I been so so cold!

By the time I could walk 20 minutes had passed. 

Cian by now had done his dive and loved it.

Jec had had problems with his ears again and had aborted the dive. His short diving career was over. 

I tried to locate my equipment as I had no idea where my stuff had gone and neither did anyone else. 

Bits were located and reassemble but my mask was missing and was never found. I sat in the sun and tried to forget about everything!

At the next dive site I refused to go in without some better fitting wet suits. We had paid for 8 dives each over four days and I was determined to do them but with equipment that fitted! 

Cians wet suit was removed from him and handed to me. It fitted better but was still not tight. One of the small snorkelling instructors handed me his suit. It fitted like a glove even though it was frayed around the edges and torn on the leg. I entered the water again. This time the cold hit my face and hands but my torso remained relativity dry.

Once more the visibility was poor but I was able to look around. Soft living coral surrounded me swaying in the current. Fish similar to Moorea swam past as we floated with the current. 

A spotted Ray hid quietly behind an outcrop and the biggest Giant Moray Peter had ever seen swam across a patch of reef and then peeped his head out of a hole in true Moray style.

I was cold but it was bearable. Having upgraded my diving experiences from the Med to the Canaries, then to Asia and finally to the Pacific , this diving was definitely a step back in the comfort zone of diving. But I had done it. I had dived the Red Sea and as I climbed aboard after the 40 minute drift dive I was cold but able to speak, able to move and happy with what I had seen.

Back at the hotel however Peter went straight to see George! Rushed service and poor fitting equipment had nearly ruined our day. If we had been doing just one day of diving I would probably have never returned again. We changed the date of our second day of dives electing to have a day of sun and heat between each dive day to try to forget the painful cold of the water. George agreed and said he would sort out better fitting equipment for us ready for the following dives.

I sat for 15 minutes in a piping hot bath that evening, letting the heat infuse its way through my body. We dined slightly subdued in the Great Dining Room, smells and delights of the previous days failing to arouse us from our fatigue. We were in bed by 9pm, in warm beds, with quilts and soft pillows and as we drifted off to sleep I tried very hard to forget the frightening experience of heat depletion, the panic of not being able to breath properly and the bitter bitter cold of the Red Sea!!

I dive in 29C water wearing a 5mm full suit plus a short 3mm! I will complete my diving here but then I plan to upgrade to Bali next year!!