“Welcome back to Egypt” Slap #2

Resort holiday, for a change

Despite getting in after midnight, I was  up around 0700.  I went for the very good buffet breakfast downstairs before exploring the resort.

I don’t normally stay in such luxury, but there is a story behind this one.  This time last year, I had to accept a cold damp room in a homestay with no running water, in Nagaland, India. This was during a big festival when my pre-booked hotel overbooked purposely to make money.

Fortunately, the respectable website makemytrip.com, the Indian equivalent of Expedia etc, gave me compensation of USD150 credit on top of the refund.

The credit, I’ve now used for this flash resort in Sharm el Sheikh. Not my usual standard. Big faceless resorts can lack character and are quite impersonal. But no complaints!

I probably would have enjoyed somewhere like Dahab better with more down-to-earth accommodation.  But the late night arrival into Sharm would mean extra inconvenience with transport.

Most people in Sharm and the resort are Ukrainian.  Four years ago, a bomb was snuck on a flight departing from here, killing everyone on board. Since then the Russian and British government slapped a ban on flights to here.  The Brits only lifted their ban couple of days before I arrived.  There are some continental Europeans and Arabs too.

Most hotel staff speak Russian in addition to English!

Diving Research

I had done my pricing research online for diving here.  But I didn’t want to pre-book or pre-pay in case of illness.  The hotel had a free shuttle at 1000 to Naama Bay, so I went there to do some on-the-ground pricing.

The price for two dives, inclusive of all equipment and lunch/drinks varied from USD60 to USD115!  I didn’t like the feel of the cheapest place, as it was untidy and the person-in-charge was only available by phone at that time.  The cheapest one that I was comfortable with was USD88.

“Welcome back to Egypt” Slap #2

Naama Bay was deserted in the late morning.  Determined not to pay resort prices for water and drinks, I hunted for a shop or a minimarket.  I found a friendly ma-and-pa style store and got what I wanted.  It seemed a little pricey but still heaps cheaper than last night’s airport price.  I later found a glitzy minimarket where prices were about half!   This is often a lesson I tell to other people … if you shop and a family-owned business, they have every incentive to cheat you whereas at a chain-store, the employee only works there and will normally charge you whatever is in their system.  Another “Welcome back to Egypt” slap in the face to the visitor!

I found my way back uphill to my hotel via Genena City, a partially occupied mall.  There’s a few failed developments around, partially due to the loss of the Russian and British markets.

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Diving sorted

Desert Rose Diving located in my hotel quoted the top-dollar price of USD115 as well, but discounted it down to USD85 immediately.  It was all too easy being on-site, so I decided to go with them after some consideration.

Initially I only wanted to do two dives (one day), with the possibility of a second day.  But because all arrangements have to be finalised by 1600 the day prior, meaning I wouldn’t have time to book my second day’s dive tomorrow as I’d be at seat diving.

With some hesitation, I committed to two days of diving, which you can read about here:

• Tomorrow at Tiran and
• Day after at Ras Mohammed.

Malaysians don’t need a visa for visiting the whole of Egypt.  Some nationalities get visa-free for the Sinai area but need to pay for a USD25 visa for the main part of the country.  Diving often requires a visa for the main part of Egypt.  Desert Rose seemed confidently comfortable with my lack-of-visa (only a small stamp).  That was another reason to go with them.

Relaxation

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the facilities of the resort, especially the pool and the gym.  It had two large-ish pools, a kiddy pool and a warm pool in the fitness/spa area.

While there are some beaches in Sharm, eg. in Naama Bay, a lot of the area is cliff.  Stella de Mare has some sandy beaches on the cliff with a walkout floating jetty for access to the sea.  I remember this was similar to another resort here some 15 years ago.  The sea here is super salty and I thought there was no way I could sink or drown here!

I couldn’t face the buffet dinner and opted to dine at one of the ala carte outlets.  The food was just divine!

Later in the evening, there was a belly dancer poolside.  The entertainment varied nightly and some were presented by very talented Russian (or Ukrainian) troupes.  It was interesting to note that the European-looking belly dancer one night was svelte while the Middle Eastern one had more wobbly bits to shake in her belly, bum and bust.  In the western world, she would have been fat-shamed!  The former danced in heels and the latter bare-footed.

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VOIP ban

VOIP services are banned in Egypt, so Skype and WhatsApp calling services don’t work reliably.  A VPN was necessary.  I was glad that the VPN worked as I had some documents to sign “in front of” (on Skype) my lawyer back in Auckland!