ON THE evening prior to leaving the boat Ahmed held a group meeting to ensure that we filled in the necessary pro forma for the tour company and for us to find out how we check out and settle our bills etc.We ended up with two envelopes, one to tip the general boat crew and one to tip the tour rep Ahmed, but we had heard that Ahmed's wife had become pregnant and the group wished to mark the occasion by having a whip round of 5 LE's per person to give for the child to be. It was up to each individual to determine how much tip they gave in the envelopes.
Ahmed asked us on to the stage to teach us an Egyptian dance. We copied his example which was akin to the dance you did to the birdie song only with an Egyptian musician trying to strangle a chicken with a lute, most of us were trying this dance whilst passing crew joined in with beaming smiles of pride as they passed by for what seemed like a week. We dined and then most of us went and settled out bills.
"Allahu Akbar......................." you know the time, and we were not leaving for another 6 hours. We had a leisurely few hours on the boat waiting for the bus. We ate breakfast and received a packed lunch for the journey.
We all went onto the deck one last time waiting for our allotted departure time. Whilst there we had a reprise of the holiday so far, Swales had amused us when he told us he had heard that there were blind Dolphins in the Nile, we urged him on one occasion to ask Ahmed if there were , and he assured Swales there were not, but every now and then someone would bang the table and another would say, "One of those blind Dolphins just hit the boat." Now, whilst Swales complained about getting up so early, we were hard pressed to ever find him awake, and even as we waited for the bus he had dozed off. I showed the group the contents of my hand luggage which contained a toilet roll, what have you got that for Bob said Gary (of Marion and Gary), I replied "five hours on a coach with 17 other people who haven't managed to walk past a toilet for 7 days and one toilet on that bus, I may need a palm tree or a sand dune, and once being a boy scout I am coming prepared",
We were suddenly summoned to the reception as the bus had arrived, we met our travel rep there, we each identified our cases and the crew trundled them through 3 other boats and on to the river bank. Once on the bus our new rep told us about the journey.
We were to travel from Luxor for 2 and a half hours and then stop for refreshments at an oasis, after 20 minutes carry on for about an hour and a half to Hurgada to drop 2 passengers off and then on to our destination El Gouna. We were familiar with Egyptian time estimations so we decided that meant a 5 hour journey.
The bus left Luxor firstly following the Nile and then we did a left hand turn along a canal from the Nile which was clearly being used for irrigation. We were now heading for the eastern desert across which lay our destination. There were 18 of us on the bus, 16 from our group and 2 we were dropping in Hurgada. It meant we could all have 2 seats each if we wished. We either read or listened to ipods, or slept during the trip. as we drove on we came to the Police check points at which there were locals mingling with the traffic. Most of the locals in the traditional Galabia with head dress. Many with horse and cart carrying a very widely cultivated plant the papyrus. We saw pick-up trucks with four cows abreast on the back, on the banks of the canal there were farmers, tilling the ground and what can only be described as shacks where people lived. the locals had been burning the dead grass along the banks which were scorched, and in many of the villages there were street markets which would never have complied with British health, Safety and hygiene regulations.
After almost 3 hours we arrived at the oasis. Most of us got off the bus even if it was just to stretch our legs but it was so hot I got back on and preferred it in the air conditioning. Remember the toilet role I put it in my hand luggage in case we needed tissues for any reason, well whilst I was waiting for the bus to resume the journey, Gary (of Gary and Marion) dashed over and said "Can I borrow the emergency bog roll.....?" with a bit of a surprised look on his face as though something had suddenly cropped up. We saw him scurrying toward the conveniences, poor Gary had a bad stomach nearly all the time. When he returned he said: "Bob you are a life saver that was good thinking there wasn't even a palm leaf in there!"
Back on the road, we were passing miles of desert and beginning to enter a mountain range and when we emerged at the other side the signs were telling us Hurgada and the red sea wasn't far away. Our first call was Hurgada itself which looked very fabricated but a high standard and clean and tidy. We entered a complex and dropped the two passengers off.
Onwards to El Gouna and 20 minutes later we were rolling up outside the hotel.
Our luggage was placed on the pavement and we went into reception. We each needed a passport, a return aircraft ticket for the rep to copy, and the vouchers supplied by the tour company. we each filled in the forms we needed to and queued for a room key and an arm band.
Once sorted we went outside identified our baggage and the porter set off to our rooms. We were somewhat stunned because we were walking away from the reception and away from what we presumed to be The Three Corner ocean view hotel. In fact we walked a good 3 hundred yards to another reception in a building which was called Hotel Du Pont, owned by the same group. We went along with it, we were led to our room and baggage duly dropped. Our room was a suite, it had two three quarter beds, a central television/video/radio console on a swivel top which meant the telly could be viewed from the bed or swivelled to be viewed from the Couch occasional chair and coffee table. There were two French windows outside of which was the road into the complex and across from it was a marina with some of the biggest yachts we have ever seen. There was a spacious bathroom and a suite of built in wardrobes. There was also a fridge where I could put my insulin.
We were unpacking the clothing we needed to hang up when there was a knock at the door. Laurence and Tony came in, "Lets have a look at your room then." said Laurence. "This is nice and big, Dave and Pete are very unhappy with theirs they want to change they don't have a balcony, and they like to have a balcony so they can enjoy a pre-dinner drink." he continued. They then left, we carried on unpacking. Another knock at the door. Gary and Mike said. "Don't unpack this is ridiculous we are not where we thought we would be, this isn't 5 star accommodation we are off for a change are you coming?" "Come and have a look guys ours seems fine." I replied, and they agreed but left intent on some changes.
A little bit later the phone rang, it was Laurence, "Bob we are at the bar behind the reception we booked in at, why don't you and Ange come and join us?" "OK" I said "Oh and Dave and Pete have move into 3276, can you tell them where we are please." I agreed, Ange still wanted to unpack and freshen up so we agreed to meet in a bit. Off I went to see Dave and Pete, and then went to the meeting place. When we met up, we discussed Dave and Pete's room move. When at the reception a lady was overheard complaining that she was not where she wanted to be. her room was near us and her friends were near Dave and Pete's room. Laurence suggested a swap, but open mouth and insert foot David, said "oh they couldn't possibly want our room its at the back of beyond and vile they'll hate it." and Laurence quickly replied "Dave do you want to move from this room or not?" Fortunately, the lady requiring the change just wanted to be near her friends and she accepted.
Gary (of Gary and Marion) said Bob I am going to the bar what do you want, Pete had already arrived and had a drink for him and Dave, "Don't drink the whisky Bob its camel pee". I had a taste, he was being conservative about its taste so I got a Gin and tonic. The good thing being this was free. The bad thing I am sure I was weak. The other bad thing it was full sugar tonic so I needed a drink with diet coke, I'd would work that out later
We were there in good time for dinner and we decided we would each do our own thing and meet up afterwards in the grounds of the hotel near the bar. We met and had a great night unwinding after the journey, tomorrow we had no need to get up except for breakfast. which was from 0700 until 1000.
We never fully met up for meal times except on special occasions we ended up going either in smaller groups or individually but at breakfast we saw each other the most.
Dave and I were the only two of the group who went to the welcome meeting. We discovered that there were two buses one which was free and took us to the Hotel's beach quite a way away, then there was the Marina line which would take us to El Gouna town centre. It would be 5LE's per person return and that allowed us to use the shuttle boat. Also there were the Tuk Tuks these were little three wheeler taxis, like the ones used in India seen in a James Bond film. They were 5 LE's each per trip.
Ange caught me up after the meeting and we decided we would explore. We had a long walk around where we were stopping. Gary, Mike, Marion, Gary, Etti, Swales, Carol and Kevin got on the beach bus and disappeared for the day. Pete and Dave found sun beds and collapsed for the day.
The food, we were assured, was cleaned and cooked in mineral water and the ice cubes and salads were safe to eat. It didn't stop Etti, Gary, Gary,Mike, Swales and Jeremy from getting upset tums.
Tuesday was Laurence's birthday. We booked the Belgian restaurant, which was owned by the Three Corner Beach View Hotel, but we had a discount of 30LE's per person roughly £3, The rest we would have to pay for however the inclusive booze was free.
We met in a local bar called 'Peanuts' inclusive booze too. We arranged 16 chairs and managed to get the waitress to serve us I had opted for Vodka and diet coke. Ooodles of vodka, Gin and beer was consumed, and off we went to the restaurant.
The waiter gave us a drinks menu each and a food menu, we told him to bring red wine, white wine and Rose, and he was asking how many glasses. Laurence said "We don't want glasses we want bottles.", "but we have it on draught." said the waiter. "Then" said Laurence "You had better come up with a solution because with the amount we drink your waiters will not have time to serve any food." So we ended up having red, white and Rose wine out of empty pop bottles several bottles at that, not exactly haute cuisine but effective.
As for the food, well it attracted a mixed point of view. Ange and I had Lobster soup, we both had steak with chips and veg, and we both had crepe Suzette. We both thought it was delicious, but others were disappointed. We left there and went back to peanuts to end the night.
The beach gang were not impressed and determined not to go again. Dave and Pete felt their proximity to a toilet would play a major bearing on where they spent the next day, Laurence and Tony were doing their own thing and me and Ange thought we would find somewhere to sit or lie and read our books. Swales wondered if the blind Dolphins were in the red sea rather than the Nile. We retired wondering what tomorrow would bring as we were all still getting to know El Gouna........
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