Dahab, Egypt

It was nearly midnight by the time we reached Dahab. We checked into our hotel, exhausted from the plane trip and subsequent taxi ride that had brought us here. Though we were tired we felt the coastline calling to us, and figured a quiet cup of tea and a leisurely stroll would help us relax before bedtime.

Walking out towards the water I felt an immediate sense of relief. After two and a half weeks in the hot desert sun, it felt so good to be by the water again. The darkness of the night was punctured by the dim and colorful lights of the restaurants that lined the stone pedestrian pathway. A cool, relaxing breeze drifted in from the water and the mellow sounds of jazzy flutes lilted out from nearby speakers to massage the last remnants of stress and over stimulation from my brain.

Scrap everything I've said about Egypt when it comes to this place. Dahab is different. There are no ruins here, no great architectural masterpieces. The closest thing to a historical monument this area has is the mighty Mt. Sinai where Moses was given the Ten Commandments. And though there are some hucksters here trying to hustle you into their restaurant or souvenir shop, for the most part everyone in Dahab is too busy relaxing and enjoying life to be all that aggressive.

The tourism industry in this area has evolved around scuba diving, which is of course why we came here. Clear back when I took my first PADI Open Water course in Honduras my instructor Joel had entertained us all with his stories about the diving in the Red Sea. My exotic fantasy about Egypt combined with the beautiful undersea pictures he painted with his words made this a place I had to visit.

The most infamous dive site in Dahab is the Blue Hole, which has the dubious honor of having the most fatalities of any dive site in the world. This tunnel of water descends an astonishing 130 meters deep into the sea, and the endless blue that surrounds one when immersed in it makes it hard to get your bearings, much less know which way is up.

One look at the Wikipedia article on the Blue Hole is enough to scare anyone out of the water and onto the nearest patch of dry desert. But the truth of the matter is most of these fatalities are from Tech-Divers, a special breed of undersea adventurer who use mixed gasses to descend to levels that make most recreational divers shudder at the very thought.

For recreational divers, the Blue Hole is just an exit point from a long drift dive along a nearby reef shelf called El Bells. This dive, though rather deep, is slow and easy with a beautiful wall of coral which serves the double purpose of helping with orientation, and give you something interesting to look at while you're diving.

Other nearby sites include the fantastic Ras Abu Gulum, a much less busy area which is only reachable by an hour long camel ride from Dahab. Besides the wide expanse of the sea, the only thing out there are a few Bedouin tents and couple of squat toilets. An afternoon in Ras Abu Gulum is enough to make Dahab seem noisy and bustling. The diving is pristine at these sites, and though there are not as many fish, turtles, or other large sea creatures, the corals are among some of the most diverse and beautiful I've ever seen.

Dahab also allows easy access to the marine park of Ras Mohammed, where hammerhead sharks are often spotted, and the wreck of the SS Thistlegorm. Though I didn't get to see any sharks, I took the opportunity to make a once in a lifetime wreck dive.

The Thistlegorm is a WWII boat that lies 30 meters below the water's surface on a sandy bottom. It was discovered by undersea explorer Jacques Costeau in the 1950's, but he kept the location a secret and it was only re-discovered again recently in the mid 1990's. Since then it has become one of the Red Sea's most popular dive site due to the length of the ship and the diversity of it's intact cargo. Rotting away inside the enormous belly of it's hull are British BSA motorcycles, army jeeps, and dozens of rifles. I don't normally enjoy wreck dives all that much, as these kinds of sites are normally silty with poor visibility. But if one is an experienced enough diver, exploring the SS Thistlegorm is well worth the time and money.

As inevitably happens when we visit diving meccas, we stayed longer than we had anticipated. A full three weeks in fact. These three weeks represent the single longest amount of time we've spent in any single place on our entire journey. We probably would have stayed longer if we hadn't already overstayed our visas. Coming to Dahab saved Egypt from being a complete let down for us. And actually gave us a reason to want to come back.

The Thing About Egypt...

I'd been waiting my entire life to come to Egypt. I mean really, who hasn't dreamed about visiting the land of the Pharaoh's? Who hasn't romanticized standing on the edge of a sand dune, gazing across the desert landscape into the eyes of the enigmatic Sphinx? Or pictured themselves puzzling over hieroglyphics at the temples of Luxor or Karnak? Egypt is more than just a destination for tourism, it is a pilgrimage site where we as a society go to explore our collective fascination with the mysteries of the ancient world. Unfortunately, it is a lousy place to travel.

First let's start with something positive. Egypt has some rather stunning history, and fabulous monuments. The ancient pharaoh's propensity for burying vast amounts of treasure along with them inside their tombs has lead to some of the most dramatic archeological finds in history. In addition Egypt's hot and dry desert climate has preserved monuments like the Great Pyramid and the temples at Abu Simbel in a way that the humid jungles in Guatemala and Cambodia do not.

These stunning pieces of architecture, along with the countries relative closeness to mainland Europe, helped to make Egypt the original tourist destination. Long before air travel opened the world up to mass tourism, people were brought here by the lure of ancient history and exotic culture.

Unfortunately tourism in Egypt has become a victim of it's own success, because no matter how neglected these sites become, or how difficult and bureaucratic travel here is made, people will still come. After all, it's the pyramids, right?.

And believe me, when you first see them in person, approaching from a distance, the pyramids are impressive. But nothing could match the disappointment I felt when I got close enough to see the ring of empty water bottles and other rubbish that encircled the base of these magnificent tombs. Nothing perhaps, but the irritation I felt at being unable to walk even five feet without being harassed by someone who wanted me to take their picture for a fee, or sell me water at horrendously inflated prices.

Now don't get me wrong, I know every world monument has it's touts, but Egypt is the only place I've ever traveled where they are allowed into the monument sites themselves. Places like Tikal and Angkor wisely keep the harassment outside, at the entrance to sites. Once you push your way past the throngs of pitchmen you are allowed to explore these places in relative peace. Egypt however has no such rules. And let me tell you, it's hard to contemplate the wonder of these buildings when someone is shouting in your face to try to sell you a tacky wooden statue of a cat.

It seems like no one here cares about anything. That there's no sense of pride in a job well done. As long as it's done, that's all that matters. The Egyptian Museum, the building that houses all of the country's most precious artifacts, is a jumble of displays with seemingly little order or relative information. Any text that does attempt to explain what you're looking at is likely to be typewritten on a faded, yellowing piece of paper that hasn't been touched in thirty years. It's great to see amulets and sarcophagus that are thousands of years old, but the lack of information here makes what could otherwise be a rich experience, shallow. I learned more about ancient Egypt in one afternoon at London's British Museum than in my whole trip to Egypt.

Then of course, there's the heat.

It would be a dull and obvious statement to say that Egypt is hot, especially in the summertime. But it's hard to precisely explain how mind-numbingly, lethargy-inducingly, patience-shorteningly hot it really is. Amanda and I often found ourselves noting that an evening felt cool only to check her thermometer and realize it was still above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. That's how bloody hot it was.

This unrelenting heat led to the sad fact that we spent nearly all our time we weren't exploring sites, holed up in our hotel with the air conditioning on the highest setting. It is with great shame that I admit that on more than one occasion we found ourselves eating at McDonald's because it was the only air conditioned restaurant we could find.

Upon arrival in Egypt any westerner will find themselves set upon by throngs of touts. I'm no stranger to enthusiastic sales people, having endured the tuk-tuk drivers of Bangkok and DVD hawkers in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. But the Egyptians have an exceptionally irritating way of pitching their sales. The following is a characteristic example of an interaction

Tout: “Excuse me my friend, carriage ride?”
Tourist (Politely): “No thank you.”
Tout (Angrily): “Why not?”
Tourist (Still Politely): “Thank you, but I'm just out for a walk.”
Tout (Following the tourist down the street): “Maybe later?”
Tourist (Growing Irritated But Trying to Remain Kind): “Probably not, sorry.”
Tout (Shouting now): “Why don't you want to ride in my carriage?”

At this point in the interaction the tourist may be lucky enough that the tout will leave them alone. However it is important to note that this is often not the case at all, and they will frequently be further pursued. It is also important to emphasise that even if the tout in the above example does leave them alone, then the helpless tourist will immediately be subjected to a nearly identical interaction with the next carriage driver, taxi jock, or junk souvenir peddler on the street, ad infinitum. Even when you find someone who seems to be on the up-and-up, to finally be willing to help you, to be willing to give you directions to where you want to go, or help you in some other way, look out. More than likely they're going to lead you to their perfume shop, or demand baksheesh, or some other such petty and frustrating trick. In Egypt that everyone has their own agenda in mind.

In their defense though, it must be noted that the desperate in-your-face style of salesmanship the Egyptians favor is a direct reflection of their poor economic standing. With nearly 20% unemployment and little in the way of viable natural resources the Egyptians should be given some leeway. And though as a traveler here it often seems that everyone feels entitled to a piece of your good fortune, it is remarkable how low the violent crime rate really is. In Egypt you're certain to be cheated on an almost daily basis, but nearly no one is ever robbed, even in a big city like Cairo. Take that New York.

You might get the impression from what I've written that we never had a good time in Egypt. This however, isn't entirely true. There were still several highlights such as our camping trip out to the western desert, or seeing the beautiful and mysterious temples at Abu Simble. But the overall experience of coming here was frustrating, exhausting, and ultimately defeating. I'd been waiting my whole life to go to Egypt, and in a way, I'm glad I did. Because now that I've been there, I'll never have to go back again.