the feeling of an artist

back from where my soul belongs ...

People who know me well must know where I have been even without me writing the name of the destination I came back from.

Yes it is Dahab my favorite spot the place where I feel best and where my soul belongs.

I wrote a post about Dahab at the beginning of 2006 and here I am writing another one at the end of 2006.

Usually people get bored after visiting the same place many times, but for me this does not apply for Dahab, the more I go to Dahab the more I love it.

I've been visiting Dahab since June 2002 and somehow I don't get enough. I feel that the real me feels his best in Dahab, I adore simple life and Dahab is the simplest place ever. I am fond of nature and Dahab has a unique wonderful nature. I like to get to know another cultures and Dahab has so many cultures since it has so many foreigners. So you can imagine how happy I am when I am there.

It's the third time for me to visit Dahab in 2006.

So here's what I did in Dahab.

I got on the bus heading to Dahab at 01:00 AM Wednesday morning and I reached Dahab at 09:30 AM. It's a shame that there is only one bus company that has regular trips to Dahab.

The company is called "East Delta" the bus was really miserable, the seat numbers were not clear and some seats had 2 numbers!!! The bus is not isolated well, we were like freezing inside.

Anyways we reached Dahab after such a long trip! we went to the Penguin hotel (my favorite in Dahab) and as usual we did not find our room ready! we sat on beach for a while and did some shopping then we went to the room.

We changed and had a little breakfast then went out, we rented bikes and headed to a place called Lagoona beach. look at the pic:



we stayed there for a while, took some photos then rode our bikes back to Dahab. we rode our bikes in Dahab streets for a while and took some photos at the "el-assala" (west side of Dahab) shore, then we returned the bikes to the place we rented them then headed back to the hotel.




We changed then went out to have dinner at Dahab's best sea food restaurant called "Arooset el Bahr" (The mermaid). after that we stayed at the balcony. look at the pic:




It's a wonderful place at night where you can lie down and look at the stars! really wonderful.

After that we went to the hotel, we were very tired because we did not sleep well the day before. we slept like babies.

In the morning we went on a jeep safari trip in the desert, it was my first experience with this kind of trips and I guess it won't be the last!

We were ready at 09:00 AM like we were told we should. but we had to wait until 10:00 because some people did not show up in time so we had to wait for them. They happened to be 4 persons which makes it 10 people in a Toyota land cruiser, I did not mention the driver and the guide. off course this was nothing but a greedy action of people who wanted to cram people in the car just to get more money. anyways we had an argue with the guide but we happened to settle everything up and we started the journey at 10:00 AM.

We reached "Ghazala" valley, a place where you can take photos and but some souvenirs, we took some photos and we came back to the car and continued our way.



We reached the place where we should start our hiking experience, we started hiking and climbing, some peaces were really really difficult and dangerous as well.



Then there goes the second place:



Then the third place and the most difficult:



The fourth place, the sand dunes where my camera fell in the sand :( poor Canon A520.


We had lots of fun here, we rolled all way down the mountain.

fifth place: "elmakhroom" mountain:



This mountain looks like a dinosaur head.


Then "el Haduda" sand dunes, the biggest dunes:



after that last sand dunes, we headed back to Dahab, I felt like I needed hours in the shower to get rid of the sand all over my body.

at night we went to have dinner at a chicken restaurant, it was not a good experience.

I forgot to mention that we had a bedouin lunch in the jeep safari trip.

after that we stayed in a cafe on the shore it is a cafe that I am used to stay, it is called "friends".

We stayed there until midnight then we went to the hotel and we slept.

In the morning we decided to go to "Abo Galoom" it is a very primitive place where you can stay in a tent and have tea or lunch or even spend the night. It is also known for being the place where you can have drugs without worrying about the police, no police there at all.

For us it was a bad thing, since we don't even smoke and of course we don't do any kind of drugs. anyways we just wanted to go there because we heard a lot about "Abo Galoom" and we have been going to Dahab for too long now and haven't been to "Abo Galoom" even once.

You can go to "Abo Galoom" from Dahab by taking a taxi to "blue hole" then either riding a camel to "Abo Galoom" or walking to there.

We chose the second alternative, we walked to "Abo Galum". it is a 5 kilometers walk that takes something like 80 minutes. it was really a nice walk to the "Abu Galum" area.

Here's some photos that I took on my way to "Abu Galum":



We reached there after 80 minutes of walking in a wonderful weather and fresh clean air.

The place itself was disappointing to us, there was nothing special, also the guy who rented us the tent offered us drugs which made us feel uncomfortable!

My friends went to swim while I stayed in the tent, I read for a while then the guy's daughter "Kholood" came and I gave her some candy, we really had an interesting conversation. She was so innocent she couldn't imagine how big Cairo is, her biggest dream was to go a shop which has lots of candy and everything :)




After that we went back to "Blue hole" and then Dahab.

At night we had a very wonderful experience!

We went on a desert safari with "quad bikes". for me this was the best thing about this trip.

We went to the place where we start the ride, the guy gave us a few instructions about how to drive, it was real easy, even for me the one who don't drive!

We drove the bikes on the asphalt road then started our desert safari experience. we drove for something like 20 minutes in the desert then we reached our destination, a place called "wadi connection" it means "connection valley".

it was a real wonderful place, the valley is not cold like the rest of the open areas around because it is surrounded with mountains.

There is an electricity generator there that provides power needed to light the place, the lights there are very nice, just small lamps that looks like candles.

After we reached there and stayed for something like 15 minutes, They shut down the generator, for me this made it much nicer, especially that there was no moon and we could see so much beautiful stars! we had the best dinner ever on candle lights, it was grilled chicken, best chicken I ever eaten in Dahab.



At night when we came back to the hotel I was real sad because I was leaving the day after! I wished I could be able to stay there a little more!

In the morning we packed our bags and got ready to leave, we said good bye to everyone then got into the bus (Not East Delta, this time it is a private bus) and left Dahab :(

It was one of the best times for me in Dahab!

posted by Mountaineer™ @ ٨:٣٧ م