I’m back from Dahab! I have a much better tan now, but a bit less money in my pocket! Actually, things were reasonably priced. Bottles of water are about the same in Cairo and nice dinners were about 20 LE ($3-4 US) They had really good chocolate milkshakes, too!!!

Darren (my flatmate) and I made it on our night bus and got to Dahab around 10am on Friday morning. A bit tired, but we made it. We started walking down the boardwalk to check out places to stay. We saw a few places that were alright, but nothing that really grabbed us. So we ended up walking all the way down to the far end of the strip (about a mile, maybe?) to a place he saw on his last trip.

Since this is the end of Darren’s time in Egypt, we decided to stay somewhere nice, so we got a room in a 3-star hotel. 2 nice beds, good bathroom, a fan, a view of the water, plus breakfast everyday. We each paid 40LE per night so that’s about $7 U.S. Not bad!!!

I decided to walk around to see some different stores and within an hour, I ran into a group of people we knew from Cairo!! *laugh* So silly to run into people everywhere. At first, I just saw 4 people that I recognized, but they were part of a bigger group of people who all work together – 9 of them total! I joined their gang in some serious relaxing on the beach!

Everyone in the group volunteers for an organization called Legal Aid which works with refugees, mostly from Somalia and the Sudan.

Friday, we all went snorkeling and swimming, plus we ate a lot of food! The snorkeling was great! Clear water and comfortable to be in with just a swimsuit – no wetsuit required! It was hot and we all were careful not to get too much sun!

I saw eels and lots of different fish, but I don’t know what they are. I should do some checking.

After food and resting up, we went dancing that night. This was nice just to be silly and hear all sorts of music – some Arabic, but lots of American/European stuff.

Saturday involved more sun, water, food, playing backgammon and a few games of Connect 4, plus some shopping. I bought a really nice silver ring to wear. I should take a picture sometime.

Saturday night, most of the group went to climb Mt. Sinai, but I really wasn’t up for it this trip. It was really windy, so I knew it would be quite cold, and I thought it was odd timing since it was going to be Eastern Easter on Sunday.

Sunday – guess what I did? I spent more time in the sun, in the water, reading, and shopping. Noticing a theme here? Darren and I both bought nice, soft long-sleeved white cotton shirts. They should be really comfortable.

Since there were so many of us (11 people) coming back to Cairo that night , it worked out just as cheap for us to get our own little bus as to get on a bigger bus. So we booked a 22-seater and set off! Very comfortable! Most of us could stretch out in our seats and then we had our bags in the aisle. There’s a picture posted of this…

We left about 12:30 and made it to Cairo around 7am. Much quicker than the big bus, too b/c we could drive faster and didn’t make stops to pick people up – just for bathroom breaks.

I slept a bit here in bed and then got around for a party one of my classmates and her family were having on Monday. But that’s a story for another day…