Exotic Tel Aviv

for more Tel Aviv pix... http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhui_02/sets/72157604836293866/

Sorry that I've been M.I.A. for the past few weeks. I'm way behind on my posts! I got caught up in Turkey where I was on overnight buses for several days then to Doha where I was too lazy to get off the couch to post! Once you fall behind for two weeks, its hard to catch up, but I'll make an effort to catch up this week.

Also, my plans have changed a bit… First of all, I can’t go to my primary destination… TIBET! I had to cut Tibet and Nepal out of my trip because of the recent violence, which will only get worse as the Olympics get closer. Usually I’m not afraid of that stuff but this time is different. I didn’t want to get turned away at the Tibetan border or get stuck in there. My plan was to travel over land from India through Nepal and into Tibet. The worst thing that could happen is to be turned away at the border and have to go back overland to India… especially with the limited time I have. So Tibet is out of the question, can’t go to Europe/Russia because its too expensive (damn that appreciating Euro), and can’t go to Africa because that’s also too expensive. So, I just decided to cut out a month of my trip. Long story short… spontaneous traveling doesn't always work out perfectly.

Well, when I last left off I was in Jordan and heading to Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv has a special place in my heart, because Israel was my first taste of the middle east (in 2004). Both times I stayed with Shai (THANKS SHAI!!), which was great because I really get to see the local side of Israel. As with any country, the local life is always much better than the tourist life. I titled this post “Exotic Tel Aviv”, because most Americans think of Israel as this crazy place where bombs are going off every 5 minutes and “Zohan” roams the streets with an uzi (actually they second part is true). With that picture in mind… it might be kind of disappointing to hear that I participated in such crazy activities as bowling, renting movies, shopping, and people watching at cafes. Actually most of my time was spent eating and sleeping… here is just an excerpt from my first day’s activities…

9am - wake up and have croissants and cappucino's at the coffee shop next door.

10am-1pm - play with the cat

1pm - lunch at the other coffee shop next door.

2pm-6pm - sleep

6pm - sit in front of computer and catch up on sports news

7pm - Shai and Yafit come home and we eat again.

I wish I had more fun stories from Tel Aviv… but unfortunately that’s it. I did enjoy a lot of great food! Tel Aviv has some great restaurants… including my favorite, Dr. Shoukshouka. Last time I was in Israel, Shai took me to Dr. Shoukshouka and I ended up going back twice by myself! We only went once this time… but that was enough to satisfy my craving. FYI shoukshouka is a dish of tomato and herbs with a giant egg yolk unbroken and uncooked in the middle. Aside from shoukshouka, it was nice to trade in shewarma and felafal for pasta, croissants, and salads. Shai and Yafit turned my stay a mini food-fest... and we sampled the best Italian and Arabic food that Tel Aviv has to offer... we also had some time to try some awesome treats like Moroccan-French fusion... which was very New American-esque to me. Well... for an amateur/wannabe foodie like myself, Tel Aviv definitely hit the spot (as you can see by all the pictures of food and shopping for food in my Tel Aviv pix).

I would have to mention for anyone interested in visiting Israel that it has changed a lot since my last trip. The main difference I noticed was TOURISTS! I actually saw other tourists on this trip… last time I came the only people I saw were a busload of JAPs (Jewish American Princess) on their birthright Israel tour. This time there were tons of tourists in Tel Aviv… which made me think about WHY there were no tourists last time… which made me realize that it was much more dangerous last in 2004 … which brought me to the conclusion that I was kind of stupid for going at that time… SORRY MOM AND DAD!

Life on the Road... and some horror stories

I guess I'll start off with the underwear update. As I predicted, 5 pairs has been more than enough. I could easily last 2 weeks with that supply. I've realized that my longest underwear extension is about 3 days... I remember traveling in China during college when it was more like 5 days... but I'm soooooo over that grungy phase. Three days max for me and usually its more like 1-2 days, because I wash my clothes pretty regularly. Although, nothing ever seems to get really clean. Even though I try to wash everything as often as possible... my bag just kinda smells like funk. Not just any funk, but funk that's been fermenting in a closed bag for 5-6 weeks. And my "whites" are more like earthy tones now.

Worst horror story so far... not so bad, but it might make you gag. I'm alway very careless with my sunglasses... I hang them on my collar when not wearing them and they always drop when I lean over. Well, when I was in the Wadi Rum desert using the squatty outhouse... I leaned over to flush (translation: flushing = turning on near by faucet and washing the "stuff" down into the hole) and my glassed dropped into the squatty hole. I didn't know what to do... I definitely didn't want to stick my hand in there and get them out, but I was in the middle of the desert where the sun just beats down on you like a heat lamp in an interrogation room. I ended up reaching into the hole, which thankfully was mostly liquid based with minimal solids, and retrieved my glasses. I spent the next 30 minutes gagging while I washed off my glasses a combination of water, purel, and baby wipes. I've been wearing them for over a week now and still no pink eye... so I guess everything turned out okay. The only hazard is that every time I stop to take a photo, I automatically take off my sunglasses to look at the LCD screen and put them in my mouth. Either I have the strongest stomach in the world or purel is magic, cuz I have yet to get sick even though I spend half the day sticking outhouse remains in my mouth.

The best part of traveling is meeting people along the way. Its a lot easier to meet people as a single traveler... cuz you dont' have any other choice! I try to meet people or talk to strangers at every stop I can, sometimes for 5 minutes and sometimes for a few days (I even met two dudes from Brea... which is right next door to my parents in Yorba Linda... crazy). I naturally just start talking to anyone that speaks English and looks interesting and most people are responsive. Its a chicken-egg scenario... I'm not sure if traveling makes you more open or if travelers are just naturally more outgoing people. The most interesting people I've met are Stephanie and Bailey... a mother daughter combo that are spending a year on the road together. Bailey does her high school courses online... while working in the Wadi Rum desert. What an amazing life experience that must be for her, I'm definitely envious. People always tell me that I've traveled a lot for my age, but how great would it be to take a life changing trip like this... in high school. That's an education that definitely can't be found in the classroom.

As for my accommodations... I've come to the realization that I'm an "upper budget" traveler... as the lonely planet describes me. That means that I do hostels or cheap hotels, but I must have a clean shower and toilet, preferably my own. My definition of clean is simple... (1) I want to feel cleaner when I get out of the shower than when I got in, (2) the toilet must look cleaner than the one at the restaurant down the street, and (3) slightly dirty sheets are okay... but no obvious odor allowed. Gone are the days where I found the cheapest hostel in the LP ... now I usually look for the more expensive options in the budget range... sometimes I might even bump it up to the mid range. Yup, I'm definitely moving up in the world...

I have also realized that there are several distinct types of travelers... and all travelers fall into at least one or more of these categories.

"Fresh from College"
- usually prefers the lowest of the budget accommodations
- won't spend money on a real dinner, but can somehow find money for beer and other extra-curricular activities.
- can usually smell this person from across the room and they seem to go out of there way to NOT shower or wash their clothes.
- fortunately I'm not at the right time of the year or place in the world to find too many of these guys. BUT, I imagine that summertime in India will be full of these smelly, soul searching hippies.

"Know-it-All"
- Thinks they know everything about the world or the particular area that you are in.
- Thinks that the locals are all stupid and inefficient and complains all the time
- Spends a lot of time telling other travelers how great he/she is and dishing out unwanted advice.
- Only eats at local joints, because he/she is too cool for tourist traps.

"Shoulda-Spent-The-Money-For-A-Tour"
- This traveler didn't spend the money on a tour, because it was too pricey or he/she thought it would be more adventurous to do it solo. Unfortunately, he/she spends the entire time complaining about poor service, delays, and inconveniences.
- Always seems to deserve (not just want) 5 star service for hostel prices.
- Always thinks that locals are ripping him/her off
- Always has an opinion about world events... usually expresses that opinion by starting off with criticizing the particular world event and telling how the "right" way to do it is.

"Rugged Adventurer"
- Wants to climb, scale, hike the entire world.
- Wears only dri-fit, cool-max, or UV protected clothing.
- Always wants to push it to the max, dude!
- Wakes up at annoyingly early hours and is always annoyingly perky and positive.

"Beach Cruiser"
- Vacations and trips are always of the beach and/or cruise type.
- Usually doesn't care to venture out of the hotel or away from the tourist hot spots
- Usually a hot chick
- I only ran into a few of these at Sharm el Sheik... too bad.

"The Paula Abdul of Travelors"
- Thinks everything is exotic and beautiful
- Dishes out more compliments to locals than Paula Abdul on American Idol... usually sounds like, "I love this food, its so exotic..." or "I love this place is so majestic/magical/inspiring" or "I love these paintings (can be replaced with any item of tourist crap), they have so much character...they speak to me"
- Usually ends up paying hundreds of dollars for some junk at the most obvious tourist trap right in front of the most famous monuments in the region.

I'll let you comment on where I fall into... but if anyone labels me as Paula Abdul category... I'm removing your comment!!!!!

The other thing I notice about travelers is that there is a distinct difference between European and American travelers. The Euros always seems to dressed fashionably functional... for the men its capri pants, pumas, tight polo shirt (pastel colors), aviator glasses and hat... for the women its linen, pastel t-shirts, and slippers or even short heels. I can never figure out how they survive while hiking around all day. The Americans are always in baggy, unisex, functional clothing with lots of pockets and footwear is always tevas, hiking boots, or trail shoes. Its no wonder those Frenchies think Americans lack class and culture... cuz when they see us on the road, we look their poor country cousins.

Finally, the one thing that I notice everywhere I go is the interest in American politics. Sometimes I forget how important American politics and policies are to the rest of the world. People here in the Middle East know just as much, if not more, than the average American about the current state of our politics... and everyone wants to know who's going to win the election. I was anticipating more animosity or disgust, but what I seem to encounter is more frustration and disappointment. I've been asked about Hillary vs. Obama at least 20 times... by locals and other tourists from Europe and the Middle East... and their parting thoughts usually end with something like, "well, whoever wins, please... no more war... this is not good for the world." Its kinda more of a frustrated feeling of submission rather than the bold, resilient anger that I anticipated. I'll save my opinions on American politics for another time... but I was just interested to see and hear this.

A parting gift... top 10 things I miss about home.

10. Clean showers, sheets, and toilets.
9. Dryers (clothes not hair)
8. free internet (well... unlimited internet)
7. clothes other than the 2 pants and 2 t-shirts that I've been "rotating"
6. not having to pack all my belongings into a bag every other day.
5.Good old fashioned LA smog (the middle east smog is more dusty... man made smog air pollution is way better)
4. Home made food
3. My Friends and Family... of course!!!
2. The Lakers
1. Work, Responsibility, and a daily routine....NOOOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!! (that "not" was said with a humorous, borat-like accent)

Amman, Jerash, & the Dead Sea

As the title of this post would indicate... the most recent part of my trip has been a bit boring. After finishing up with Petra, I headed to Amman where I stationed myself for some sightseeing in the northern half of Jordan. Its not so much that the places were boring, I guess I'm just suffering from monument overload. Its like, if you've ever traveled across western Europe. After a month of backpacking, you don't ever want to see another church or cathedral again. The ruins in Jerash and Amman are really impressive, but after seeing Petra, Luxor, and Cairo its hard to compete.

Before the ruins, I took a day trip to the Dead Sea. I went with two guys from the hostel I was staying at. Thinking that I was a pro, because I had been to the Dead Sea a few years ago in Israel, I "wisely" advised them NOT to get any water in your mouth or eyes. Then I proceeded to jump into the water and got it all in my eyes. It wasn't like I was a complete idiot... I was floating effortlessly and relaxing on the water and then I decided to just lean back and let my hair and ears touch the water. Of course, when I got out, the water from my hair dripped into my eyes. Then came the total cheezy Mr. Bean moment when I ran around with my eyes closed, running over little kids, screaming like a girl, looking for the fresh water shower.

Overall the Dead Sea is a cool experience, you really can float effortlessly if you don't mind the excruciating stinging from the salt water. As soon as I got into the water, the hangnails on my fingers and blisters on my feet were totally on fire. I definitely wouldn't say that floating in the Dead Sea is relaxing. Also, I did not try it out, but I heard that you when you wipe the mud all over yourself, you can just feel the salt baking into your skin with the sun... sounds relaxing, huh? I did grab a piece of the salt crystals that form at the waters edge and here's a pix. I made sure to take a picture, cuz I'm sure that its not going to make it all the way back home in one piece. Its pretty interesting to see the salt everywhere. I read that the sea level is falling by 1/2 a meter every year because there is no more water flowing in, and so the salt content is increasing every year. You can just walk along the shallow part of the water and its covered with salt that looks kinda like coral.




Jerash is actually pretty interesting, and I think I would have been more impressed had I not JUST finished Petra and Egypt. I know it sounds corny, but the setting kinda reminds me of a scene from Gladiator or some other epic movie. Grassy fields and flowers with huge pillars, some standing some lying on the ground. Its kinda like that last scene were maximus is kinda floating through the grassy fields. I'm embarrassed that I just wrote that. The great part is that there's no security or rules, so you can run around, touch everything, and climb wherever you want. Kinda makes you feel like you're a real explorer, rather than just a tourist... but that feeling only lasts until the bus load of school kids drives up.

In Jerash, there is a great walkway and courtyard, multiple theaters, and a few temples. You can definitely spend a full day here just walking around the different sites. Also, the relatively few tourists makes it more enjoyable. I was able to walk around and take pictures without having to fight crowds of tourists. I think its interesting that Jordan doesn't market Jerash more to tourists... most people just come to see Petra and go home.




After Jerash, spent a few days in Amman. Amman has one interesting site... the Citadel. You guessed... more Roman ruins. The Citadel is on the highest hill in Amman and so you get a great view of the city. The picture of the flag pole is the world's largest free standing flag pole. Apparently Kim Jong Il has a taller one, but its supported by tie-downs.

Eats and Treats!

Yay, second post of the day! If you're reading this... there's another post right below this for Petra. After writing that boring post about Petra, I thought everyone might enjoy hearing about what I've been eating... so here's my some thoughts about food.

To start with I have my basic rotation of 3 staples - rotisserie chicken, shawarma, and hummus/felafal. As a budget and, more importantly, single traveler... I spend most of my meals in the diner-esque/casual restaurants... which in the Middle East usually means felafel/shawarma, which generally runs for about a buck in Egypt or 2-3 in Jordan. FYI, the hummus in invariably excellent... especially since it comes with healthy amount of olive oil. The shawarma in Egypt... not so great... but in Jordan its been fantastic. Different spices. Also, they serve it with a soft crepe-like bread in Jordan that is perfect. Oh, and this felafal sandwich in the picture has a runny hardboiled egg in it. In the words of Homer Simpson, "Mmmmmm.... egg... felafel... mmm".







Breakfast is pretty standard but light and easy... pita, jam, butter, and egg. This breakfast here was a deluxe breakfast with the usual suspects in addition to cheeses, salad and fuul... which is a kidney bean type of dish... sorta like chili but not as heavy and no meat involved. Breakfast, as with other meals and afternoon breaks, is accompanied with tea... usually taken with healthy amounts of sugar. I take milk with mine, but apparently that just makes me look like a gringo.





Other typical dishes, outside of the budget range are Kofta (kebab made of ground lamb) and other grilled meats. Here is Shish Tawouk... basically chicken grilled with spices, which I dont think is anything special... For 1/2 the price you can get a plate of shawarma which is twice as good!











Another budget option in Egypt was Koshari... which is basically lentils, chickpeas, different types of past, and rice... all mixed together with tomato sauce on top served for $1 and add meat for an extra $0.50. Its tasty, but it reminds of something college guys would make. Basically empty out all the carbs you can find in the pantry and add "sauce".











The most unique main course that I've had is mensaf... a bedouin speciality. Its a lamb dish cooked in a yogurt based sauce. I'm not sure how you cook yogurt without it curdling... so if someone knows, please explain. Here is a pix I got from internet, cuz I didn't have my camera on this outing.



Breakfast options outside of the typical b-fast... are basically bakery items. I noticed the items at the bakery are either incredibly and overwhelmingly sweet OR kinda like Chinese desserts... lightly sweetened and mixed with nuts or some sort of bean paste.



Dessert items are like the bakery goods... but more on the overwhelmingly sweet side. My absolute favorite, which I only found at one place in Egypt is Sahlab. In Israel its more of a drink... but in Egypt its more pasty/congealed/gelatinous... sounds gross, but oh soooo good. I'm sure that you when you eat it... it just goes straight to your heart and starts to clog all the major arteries in your body. ummmm fat and sugar... what a combo! Its got coconut and some other good stuff in there. Another one I tried, but already forgot the name, is here... it was sorta like baklava...



Finally, desperate times call for desperate measures. When I get sick of eating the usual 3 and get tired of eating at sit down restaurants by myself... its hamburger time. Local burgers usually are marinated, with unknown spices. Also, FYI, local McD's are actually better than at home. Still horse-meat-esque, but larger portions of mystery goodness.




All that sounds pretty heavy, but needless to say, I'm losing weight on the trip from all the walking and hiking... and there go many meals where odwalla bars are my main sustenance.

Sitting Above Petra

The first thing you realize when you come to Petra is the sheer quantity and quality of the building, tombs, ruins, etc. Like many of the sites in Luxor, when I arrived in Petra I was surprised to find that the site was more than just the main highlights that are shown on all the postcards. When you visit monuments in Europe (like the Coloseum) you undoubtedly walk away with the "that's it?" or the "I thought it would be bigger" feeling. Petra on the other hand seems to go on forever, and I could have easily spent 3-4 days exploring the different trails and viewpoints. More importantly, I find the category of "ruins" to a bit of misnomer. When I first saw Petra (or the Valley of the Kings, Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple... etc), I was amazed at the quality of the condition of the "ruins". The details are all still there and it doesn't take much imagination to see why this was voted one of the new 7 wonders. I think that when most people visit palatine hill or the old city in Rome, they sit there with the pop-up book, looking back and forth between the ruins and the book, thinking "wow this is what it looked like thousands of years ago". Whereas with Petra you just walk through and you can see exactly what it looked like thousands of years ago. I think the best way to describe it is, "wow!". These pictures here show some of the detail of the buildings and the amazing color of the surrounding rock formations.

Just a quick replay of my two days at Petra. Started off walking through the Siq. From the pictures, I thought it was just a short walkway, but it was actually over 1 km long. The Siq sorta like a gorge that is paved at the bottom where the river bed dried out. I overheard some guides (I was too cheap to pay for my own) saying that the Siq was created by a river, but I read that it was actually created by tectonic plate movement. When you reach the end of the Siq, you pass through a narrow section that leads to the Treasury. The Lonely Planet described it as a fascinating walkway that helps to build the anticipation of your first viewing of the Treasury. While, I think that is a bit melodramatic, I would have to agree with the overall feeling.

After I visited the Treasury, I climbed up to visit many of the tombs and the various Roman ruins. It seems like there is a Roman Theatre in every city in Jordan! I only spent a half day during my first day at Petra, because the heat was just overwhelming. Turned out to be a good and bad idea... the next day was much cooler, BUT I ended up spending 9 hours walking up and down hills to see what the main sites that I wanted to check out. Below is a picture of the main tombs.

During the second day, I walked through the entire site and went straight to the monastery, which is a 30-45 min walk uphill (after trekking the entire length of Petra). The monastery has many of the same visual and architectual features as the Treasury, but the great part about it is the uphill trek scares away most of the visitors, so its not as crowded.

After the monastery, I spent the rest of the morning visiting more of the tombs and random ruins and just taking pictures of the scenery. At the end of the day, I decided to make a second climb up to see the Treasury again... this time from above. After climbing up stairs for 25 min, I managed to get lost for a half hour. That's the great part about traveling in the Middle East - there are many interesting viewpoints, trails, and sites that are off the main paths... that kinda give you that feeling of exploration. The only problem is that these "off the beaten path" trails are not very well marked. After getting lost and resting for a while, I finally followed the trail of litter and footsteps to the main lookout point over Petra (which is the picture at the very top of this post). Just call me Macgyver for my ingenuity... or maybe Hansel and Grettel? The view from up top was awesome and it was especially relaxing to just be by myself staring down at all the tourists. I ended up propping myself up on the rock with the best viewpoint and taking a nap (surprising how comfy rocks are!) until a pair of german tourists woke up me to steal my viewing spot.

The best part was on the way down. I found what I thought was a new path way and I was proud of myself for uncovering this new trail... but when I got to the bottom, I realized that it was the same trail that I took up. Yes... I am directionally challenged. The funny part was that I ran into a group of tourists at the bottom that couldn't figure out how to get up... and they asked me for directions!?! I told them to simply walk up the stairs until there were no more paved steps... then look for the trail of litter.

By the end of the day, I remembered how hard it is to hike/walk for 9 hours. My legs were sore for 3 days... maybe I'm just outta shape. Also, sorry the pictures are not so great, I was battling the sunlight and tried to use a photo editor to color correct them... I think I went a lover overboard.

Well... sorry this post wasn't so interesting!

At home with my Bedouin Peeps (Wadi Rum, Jordan)

Well... with the title of this blog being what it is, its only appropriate that I spend at least one night out in the desert with the bedouins (or Jordanians posing as bedouins). I spent the first night of my Jordan trip out in the Wadi Rum desert with a bedouin guide in a bedouin tent. The wadi rum desert is famous because of its Lawrence of Arabia connection. The desert itself is beautiful, especially under the early morning or late afternoon lighting. As the sun sets or rises... the deep red color of the sand and the rock formations really comes out. Its truly one of a kind scenery. Here is a quick recap of my day in the desert.

9am: Arrive in Aqaba, Jordan... via boat from Egypt. Like all boat-people, I got stuck at the border for an hour with visa issues, but finally got through. Some slick cab driver actually got my visa processed for me, hoping that I would dish out $45 to have him drive me to the desert. I still dont know how he got it done... I was waiting at the docks for 30 min while the border patrol wasn't doing squat, then he drove me to some random building, took my passport in while I waited, then came out with a stamped visa. Of course the visa is in Arabic... for all I know it could say, "Arrest this retard when he tries to leave the country"


10:30am: Get to the bus station and find out that the next bus leaves at 12:30. Another cabbie offers me a ride for $30 this time. I leave in search of food while i think about it. The felafel guy tries to sell me a felafel sandwich for $35. I tell him to @%&$ himself and go the chicken place next door. For $3, I get a half rotisserie chicken with a huge pita... granted it was served sans silverware and on a nasty looking plate... but it was ooohhhhh so tasty.


11am: Get back to the bus station to find out that the bus is now leaving at 1pm... if full. I wait around for another half hour. The cabbie that offered me the $30 ride... gets desparate and offers a $20 ride. I bite, cuz the other options are looking bleek. Good thing too, cuz I later found out that the bus actually drops off 5 miles from the desert town... and you have to hitch a ride from the station.


1pm: I'm at Rum Village... looking at options for my night. I decide to forgo any hiking to sample the 4 hour camel ride out to the tent/camp.


1pm-4pm: Turns out the camel ride was only 3 hours, which was good... cuz riding a camel SUCKS. Its like having a fat, hairy dude with mucus dripping his mouth wedged between your legs. Ya, its funny for 5 min, then its just painful. Not to mention that camels are the most unruly beasts ever. Our ride started when all the camels ran off. My guide chased after two, while I chased after the other two. We rode out with 4 camels... one for me, one for him, and two others that we literally had to drag the entire way. All 4 stopped to eat whenever they wanted, even if my guide smacked the crap out of them. They pooped when they felt like it... and most importantly they just stopped completely during the middle of the ride.


4pm-6pm: Hung out in the desert, made new friends... very interesting peeps... and watched the sun go down.


6pm-8pm: Dinner around the fire and dancing with our bedouin hosts. Somehow I was only 1 of the few that were coerced into dancing around the fire... in what could only be described as the bedouin version of the chicken dance.


8pm: Fall asleep under the stars... before going back to my tent . It was one of those nights where the stars light up the entire sky. In my life... I think there are 3-4 nights that I can totally recall the sky and the stars and this is definitely one of them. Unbelievable...


Next morning 6am: Watch the sun come up. Everything turns a beautiful deep red under the mornng light. Not just red, but a million (literally...i counted all of them) shades of red. It was kinda cool to come from the red sea where I was staring at water that was a million shades of blue/green to the desert that is such a crazy deep red. I definitely can't imagine a better week for any nature lover or photography enthusiast.


Next stop... Petra. I would have liked to stayed longer for some hikes and more exploration, but the desert guides and the Wadi Rum park charge a ton of money for any guides, jeeps, or camels... so it was a bit out of my budget. BUT for anyone that makes it out to Jordan to see Petra... I highly suggest 1-2 nights in the desert. Its definitely worth it.

Diving Madness... Danger is my middle name

(***quick note... if you want to read the exciting "dangerous" experience... then skip to the Day 5 - Ras Mohammed section of this post)

I'm leaving for Jordan tomorrow, and I'm sad to leave Egypt. It is definitely one of those places that I know I will come back to one day. Learning to dive here is quite truly amazing. Its kinda like learning to drive along Pacific Coast Highway along Big Sur. It sounds great, but there are 2 downsides - (1) its pretty hard to top your first experience and (2) its actually really to concentrate on learning, becuase there is so much going on around you that you are constantly distracted. Well... here's a little recap of my experience.

Day 1 - Diving lesson: "Confined Water Dive" and Open Water dive.
So... I quickly learned that the great thing about Egypt is that they don't really give a rat's ass about safety. I got there on my first day and joined a father/son combo that were on day 2. My instructor quickly went over some basic instructions and the first thing we did was jump in the water. The dive shop that I went to did not have a pool, so we did our "confined water dive" in the shallow part of the beach. The dive shop was connected to the Sofitel Hotel in Sharm which is perfect, becuase they had a private beach with magnificent 50 foot reefs right off the beach. As you can see from the dive pix on my last post... the water was amazing. We practiced safety techniques and basic skills while huge schools (hundreds not dozens) of fish swam by. I'm happy that I learned here in Egypt, because (as i said earlier) they take moderate safety precautions, but dont really care too much. They went really quickly through the lessons and it was pretty much sink or swim.

After our first lesson it was already time for our first open water dive. This is what's truly awesome about doing stuff out of the US. If I was in Hawaii, I probably would have spent the first day watching safety videos and the second day in a pool. Here... after the first 2 hours I was already 30 feet below water face to face with a giant Morey Eel. That sucker was huge!!!

Day 2, 3, 4 (more boring fish and reef descriptions)
Basically same stuff as Day 1. While the other two people in my class are going through their exercises, I spend most of my time staring at the coral and the fish trying to figure out how to describe them in words. There was one fish in particular, that I could not find on any of the charts, which had a blue and orange stripe across its eyes like a zoro mask and blue stripes on the back half of its body and the rest of was a pale color. Down in the water the lighting changes, so the bright colors really pop... making this fish look neon, kinda like a cheezy 80's Will Smith Video or a Hypercolor t-shirt. The coral is amazing colors down there too. Aside from the normal purple and blue coral you'd expect, I saw tons of neon colored lime green coral everywhere.

Of course the entire experience of being underwater is amazing. The craziest part is that you can control your position underwater by your breathing. Take a deep breath and you start to ascend... blow out the air and you start to descend. Crazy huh?

Day 5 - Guided Dive in Ras Mohammed ~ Just call me Jeff "Danger" Hui

After finishing my course, I had to put my skills to use right away. I joined a guided dive in Ras Mohammed, the national park and protected area in the Red Sea. Its considered to be arguably the top site to dive in the world. There were no other beginners, so they threw me in with a more advanced group, which I was happy with at first, but definitely caused me some problems later. Let's just say that one of the guys in my group is a dive instructor in Europe... so these dudes were a little out of my league.

As soon as we jumped in the water the first thing that we did was swim through a freaking underwater cave. I was a bit nervous to be honest... I mean its the first 5 minutes of my initial dive and I have to go through an underwater cave. I was so "new" that I didn't even know how to jump off the boat with all of my gear on and had to ask someone in my group how to jump into the water. I could see the people in my group kinda moan as the anticipated me screwing up their experience. The first dive went smoothly after the getting in the water and passing through the cave. We saw a huge trigger fish tearing up som jelly fish, passed by a spotted blue manta ray, and I even redeemed myself to my group members by spotting a crocodile fish hidden in the sand. (this is a stock photo from the internet)

Then, the second dive started... and that is where the trouble started for me. To start with, I noticed that my tank was slightly below the 200 bar, while it was usually filled to 210-220 range. I told my guide, but he didn't seem to care, so I didn't either. We started the dive by plunging straight down to 21.5 meters (even though my "limit" for my level is supposed to be 18 meters). It took me a long time, cuz I wasn't used to dropping so fast. My group had to wait while I equalized and adjusted to being 70 feet deep (70 feets seems so much more dangerous than 21.5 meters). Then we swam around a huge reef, where we saw more eels, rays, baracuda, and a lionfish. (also a stock photo)

Then we swam by the Yolanda... a sunken ship that was carrying toilet bowl. Coral was growing all over the broken bit of porcelain, and fish were swimming in and out of crazen toilets... pretty interesting sight. Then... the fun began. We hit a current that was pushing us pretty hard. I was swimming as fast as I could to keep up with the group. I still hadn't really mastered using my cheap rent-a-fins and so I was using my arms and flailing around like a 5 year old in a "mommy and me" swim class. If I could have made noise, I'm sure I would have been grunting like Maria Sharapova and screaming like a school girl. When we finally got out of the current, I started to float up at an alarming rate. I struggled to push out all of the air of my flotation device but I couldn't seem to get any air out. As my group watched me float away, I had not choice but to swim down to them. If I floated to the top I could have had some serious issues that come with ascending too fast. Luckily I'm a strong swimmer, cuz I started to ascend, the air in my flotation device expanded and I was basically trying to dive down with a damn life saver on tied to my body. By the time I got to the bottom, my guide had to hold me down while I pushed out all of the air of my flotation device. I checked the air in my tank which was already down to the 50 bar... meaning I should be getting ready to ascend. I gave my guide the signal that I was running low on air... but he didn't seem to really care too much. Our underwater conversation was like this:

Me: Tap tap tap... pointing to my guage... and giving a fist signal (meaning I was down to 50)

Guide: Blank stare and Ok signal

Me: Vigorously head shaking and again the fist

Guide: Ok signal, with a look in his eyes that read "okay, stop being such a damn baby"

My guide then inflated the emergency floater, indicating that some idiot in his group was having a crisis. We ascended to the 5 meter mark where we were supposed to readjust to the oxygen level. Meanwhile, my guide is holding my hand so I don't float away. I'm floating next to him, arm in arm, trying not to look like the total pansy. We notice that I'm now down to the 20 bar... but we need to stay at the 5 meter mark for a few more minutes before we surface... so we go through the emergency procedure that I learned on day 1. He hands me his secondary regulator (breathing hose) and we go hand in hand to the top. When we get to the top, we swim hand in hand to the boat... and when I get out I meekly thank him for saving my life and scurry to the top of the boat where the rest of the group will hopefully not find me. Unfortunately, they specifically looked for me to confirm that I had, in fact, "ran out of gas". Embarassed and humbled, I called it a day and watched my group go on the optional third dive, while I shot the shit with another diver that was also too tired to do the 3rd dive. Of course, he was 70 years old and retired... so that wasn't a real big boost to my confidence. The good news is that I have no shame, so I basically forgot about the incident by the time the entire group was back on the boat. Even though I ended my dive holding hands with another grown man, I'm still looking forward to my next dive... perhaps in Turkey!

Day 6, 7, 8 - Dahab... relaxation

Up the coast (about 60-90 min) from Sharm is a town called Dahab. Definitely more of my vibe here. Low key, backpacker kinda down... gone are the casinos, bard, and neon lights of sharm replaced with bedouin tents, tea, and a more local crowd. I also caught a cold (god I'm such a little girl) from diving ... and getting in and out of the water. I've spent the past 3 days sitting here just reading on the beach. I found a little hotel at the very end of the beach where very few people walk by... and so I basically slept, napped, and ate by the beach with minimul disturbance. I had my lunch brought to my lounge chair, where I balanced my plate on my stomach and ate while lying down... damn, I'm a slob. At night the full moon completely lights up the sky, and I can see all the way to Saudia Arab with the light of the moon. Here are some pix of Dahab...