My Egyptian Experience

When I was a child at primary school, we were taught about Ancient Egypt, from that moment I was captivated. Egypt has such a unique and striking history that it's difficult not to be in awe. Many years later as an adult I was hurrying to catch a bus to work when a double decker cruised by, it had an advertisement splashed on the side; Egypt from £250. Wait what? That majestic place could be reached for such a low price? I went and did my research and low and behold the bus ad spoke the truth! I couldn't pass the opportunity up and very soon was booked for a visit in January.

The day I flew to Egypt is one I shant forget because I had taken a short leave from work and spent three months in Jamaica and I completely forgot that flights from Jamaica arrive the next day in England, so as I got home weary from one flight I had to be up again at the crack of Dawn! I basically didn't get any sleep...awful!

I flew with Easyjet with my sister, I think I slept most of the flight. We landed and were greeted by the tour guide we had booked with, his name was Zizo and he runs Sharm Life Day tours.

CAIRO

In case you're unaware, the tourist area in Egypt is Sharm El-Sheik and it's an 8 hour ride to Cairo! We had to leave at about 1am to get to Cairo for around 8am. Luckily we were the first pick up so we got to choose the best seat in the mini bus, the coach was a different story. Tip: Egypt was FREEZING at night and I didn't have on long sleeves :( bring a cardigan or light jacket) We made a toilet stop, please be aware that you have to pay ;) I slept most of the way and once we got to Cairo we were whisked off in the taxi that was waiting for us to visit the Egyptian Museum. We were given a tour and had time to marvel at some of the artefacts.

After the museum we had a brief cruise on the Nile to get lunch (which was included as well as entrance fees to the museum etc)

We were dropped off by the boat and went in to the buffet where you were able to select what you want. After that we went to see the Sphinx and the Pyramids, there were loads of camels around. The Sphinx was amazing with the pyramids in the background! I was shocked to see that it was all located next to a busy road! Not the impression you usually get from pictures! The tour guide kept urging us to do things and using the phrase 'For once in your life' :D what he meant to say was once in a lifetime and we found it hilarious! We went inside one of the smaller pyramids for free (shhh) where we weren't aloud to take any photos, I can respect that because camera flashes damage the delicate artwork that is thousands of years old. It was very cramped inside and very steep. You had to crouch all the way down and the room at the end was reached by a ladder. I'm so glad we got to venture inside, it was really cool!

Lastly was the papyrus making, that was fun! The pictures were beautiful and if it was up to me I would have taken them all!

TOUR OF THE TOWN

On our tour Zizo took us downtown. There were lots of feral cats! That was strange, I'm used to stray dogs but cats? They were everywhere! Zizo took us to a cambio where we changed some money, then we had a little walk around. We bought some glass ornaments filled with glass. Sellers kept trying to get our attention to buy things and they would call out 'Tesco' and 'Primark!' We realised that it was their way of saying what they had was cheap! Tesco and Primark are stores in the United Kingdom and Egypt gets a lot of British visitors. After that we went to a Mosque and a Church. Inside was beautiful.

One of the cats inside the church:

NAAMA BAY

We went to do some shopping in Naama Bay one night, it was literally down the road to where we stayed, the hotel was in a great location. When we got there there was one guy who was saying a lot of London slang and claimed that he's been. He told us he wanted us to see his shop and write a review but really he wanted us to buy something. Everything was fine until he realised we didn't want to buy anything, then all of a sudden he no speak de English and was acting like he didn't understand. Let me tell you that was a VERY UNCOMFORTABLE experience and I bought something just to be able to leave. In another shop the guy was very friendly until he realised he wasn't going to make a sale then he was very frosty and the smile vanished. It seemed as if every store you stepped in you had to buy something whereas we are used to browsing first then going back for what you want. I did buy some things in Naama Bay though.

When the Egyptians saw us they would call us 'My colour' so I think they were identifying themselves as black? I'm not sure what they meant but it felt nice and inclusive (to me :)

One guy was walking with us but I don't think he spoke to much English. He was asking me for my name so I told him 'Bomboclaat' a Jamaican bad word, it was hilarious when he tried to repeat it! I know I know we are too naughty! But it was funny, I think I did tell him my name in the end, see, I'm not that mean!

BEDOUIN

We visited a Bedouin tribe in the dessert and had a grilled chicken dinner. I really liked the food. They put on a show for us and we had to do a bit of climbing on some rocks. There was an option to smoke the Shisha and they had different scents, I think ours was apple. There was also meant to be star gazing but we couldn't because it was cloudy. I was really disappointed because I've never been star gazing. I rode a camel which was strange to say the least! I believe it had one hump and I was sort of sliding to one side, the camel even turned its head to look at me at one point like 'What are you doing?' lol Tip: remember to bring money to tip the Bedouins!

QUAD BIKE

Quad biking in the dessert was so awesome! I cant even put how exhilarating it was into words. You are advised to bring a scarf to wrap around your head because the sand can cut your hair! Don't worry if you can't tie it like me, they will help you. When we got to the Echo place (I forget the name!) we were each encouraged to shout our name so that we could hear it echo back. I really enjoyed this trip! There was a little Bedouin boy who didn't speak English but he followed Zizo our tour guide (they are used to him), every time Zizo said Sharm (a shortened version of Sharm-El-Sheik) the boy would add on 'El-Sheik' dwl! I was spraying some perfume when the boy came up to me and wanted some, so I sprayed him, he seemed delighted! I was using some strawberry lip balm and he wanted that too but I didn't give it because I wasn't sure if he thought it was edible, still, he went home smelling of Gucci Guilty hahaha. Anyway I really enjoyed this trip, if you're ever in Sharm (El-Sheik :) you must do it!

BOAT TO RAS MOHAMMED

This was such a calm and lovely day out. We had to pay to rent the wetsuits and flippers for snorkelling out in the sea. It was really nice on the boat, we saw a cruise ship too. Lunch was included on this tour as well. Since I'm not a strong swimmer and this was in the middle of the sea, I was glad they had a nice strong guy with a rubber ring to hold on to so I could snorkel. There were lots of fish and the water was great. I don't remember the day being especially hot. I love water activities so I always try to do something on holiday. The Egyptians had a hard time pronouncing my name so they wouldn't address me at all, only my sister which I found funny. A woman we got talking too said they couldn't pronounce her husbands name, Neil, either.

TUBING

Since we had booked a certain amount of tours we were allowed a free one. How cool is that? We chose the inflatable tub (don't trust the banana boat meself lol) as expected it was fun, and really cool to get a free excursion.

All in all I loved my trip to Egypt and would definitely go again!

#Egypt #SharmElSheik #FalconNaamaStar #NaamaBay #SharmLife #SharmLifeTours #Cairo #CairoTours #AncientEgypt