End of Egyptian tour

Well I'm back in Cairo and today is the last day of the tour. This basically means we get a free breakfast then are free to go. I've spent the last couple of days in Hurghada which is an Egyptian-style resort town on the Red Sea. It's still run-down in places and dirty and you've got hawkers trying to scam money out of you at every opportunity but the water looks fantastic. I tried wading into the water on the first day and instead of sand it's small stones and it was really painful on the feet. I then used the swimming pool instead. The best thing we did there was go snorkelling. We got on a boat that took us out to three different snorkelling sites. The coral wasn't as good as the Great Barrier Reef (less colourful) but the fish were everywhere. We were shown pictures before we got in the water of 5 fish we shouldn't touch as they are dangerous. They were ugly looking fish but we figured it's safest just to not touch any fish at all. At least the jellyfish don't sting.

There are a lot of boats out on the water and the people in charge are a little out of control. One of the boats had thrown down it's anchor directly onto a coral reef. Nevermind it takes years and years for coral to grow. They don't care. That was a bit annoying. Too many cowboys out there I reckon. I could go on about dumb tourists standing on the coral and seeing boats empty out their toilets while people are swimming but it just annoys me so I'll stop now. Perhaps a little regulation in that area would be a good thing. Otherwise they'll destroy the place completely.

Overall the snorkelling was a lot of fun. Yesterday was boring however. Got up early to find an internet cafe as we had a little spare time in the morning. Arrived at the first one to find it was closed. A guy from a store nearby said it would open later and that I should visit his shop instead because I had promised him the day before. He knew very well that I hadn't but he figured it was worth a go. You just gotta laugh with guys like that and keep walking. Another wanted to shake my hand (and then try to drag me into his store) but I refused and just kept walking again as he asked whether I was a man or a baby. They are as dodgy as all hell but I try to keep in mind that it's because they are living in a third world country and need the money.
The second internet cafe I tried spent 15 mins trying to get a connection to the internet before I walked out. Oh well. Then we had to get on a bus back to Cairo that took about 8 hours. Very boring. Since 1996 when a terrorist group shot up some tourists, the Egyptians have been in damage control regarding tourism as it's so important to their economy. So when travelling large distances in a bus you have to join a bus convoy with a police car in front and at the back. So we were in a convoy of about 30 buses yesterday all flying along at breakneck speed. They all try to overtake each other and cars coming along in the other direction frequently have to pull right over to the edge of the road to get out of the way of overtaking buses. Sometimes I found it was best not to look out the front of the bus and just concentrate on my book or discman.

Today we are planning on visiting another bazaar for some shopping. My concern with this is that I've got a bad feeling that another stomach upset is on it's way. My guts are rumbling big time. By now pretty much everyone from the tour has had problems with gastro at some stage or another. Can't drink the water because it's got bugs. Can't eat lettuce or salads because they wash it in water... it's a never-ending list. Also the beer is never cold. Now that's just wrong! You'd think we were in England! That's enough complaining from me. All these things just highlight how good we have it back home and how strong the Egyptians stomachs are. The next two nights are at a 5 star resort near the pyramids and tonight we'll be doing a night horse-ride quite close to the pyramids which should be fun. I'll be calling my horse Pharoah-Lap. hehe.