Hi This time I might thank you for visiting before I begin, just in case I loose you half way through this negative draggle. That said, I’ll try to be as positive as I can in describing Egypt. I’ll start by saying that I have new memories to follow me through life which I would never have had if we didn’t pass through this country and that there have been moments of happiness all over the place. It’s just between those moments that this country makes you want to scream at times. In all countries we have visited, and in most of the countries to which we are headed, you expect to, and always meet people who want to take advantage of you and trick you out of as much money as they can. But! In all these places, you generally meet more nice people than the con artists whom are after your life savings. That has not been our experience in Egypt. From the word go we sensed their negative attitude when as soon as we entered Egyptian waters, the army would let us swim around the boat, but not to look at the corals ten meters away. Presumably to give the dive operators the chance to take your money. Then, if you go to a reef with other dive boats on it, they will usually try to dob you in to the authorities for something you haven’t even done to try to keep private boats away so they have to pay the dive boats to see the reefs. And boy, are there a lot of dive boats. In Hurghada alone there are more than 2000 dive boats taking tourists out to the reefs every day. We never saw any of the reefs they visited as we didn’t want the head ache. But as I’ve read, most of them anchor on the reefs and use the local islands as rubbish dumps. The positive outcome to not visiting the same reefs the dive operators visit, was that we found our own un spoilt reefs with the help of our satellite navigation and were awe-struck by what we found. It was the best diving Mike or I had ever experienced. The feeling we got was one of a young child walking into a church for the first time. Just amazing. It soon became apparent that the dive boats suffocating the reefs weren’t the only negative aspect of Egyptian waters. Egyptians seem to have a nack of cashing in on everything. Almost EVERY single town a long the coast was a resort town. A resort town being a town built around a resort. And if it wasn’t a resort town, it was a town with a hell of a lot of resorts being built there. So everything along the coast is expensive and as soon as you set your foot on land someone is already trying to steel your shoe. Lets skip a few chapters of average food, expensive beer and about thirty five million flies buzzing in unison. Let’s skip forward to Suez. By the time we reached the canal, we knew that the chances of going through the canal without getting ripped off where about as likely as John Howard getting his eye brows shaved off in a drunken game of truth or dare. So we just took it into the budget, and yes, as predicted, our agent ‘Feelix Yacht Agents’ managed to steal about $400.00 from right under our noses. We didn’t really have much of a problem with this as every boat that goes through gets ripped off, except for the fact that Feelix, like all the other con artists we run into, smile at you while they’re reaching around and steeling your wallet. Once through the first half of the Suez we stopped at Ismalia, from whence we traveled to Cairo to see the pyramids. Frankly, the only thing I have to say about that was: I did it once. Got the photo. Never have to do it again. I’ll just say in short the reason being, if you don’t pay a native to follow you or lead you, you will be so hassled by other Egyptians that they will ruin any hope of having a good time. Mike almost punched a guy out at the pyramids because he wouldn’t leave us alone. And the hundred or so tourist police at the pyramids aren’t actually there to help tourists. They are there to stop you from climbing on the pyramids and to beg money from you. The other reason the pyramids was such a bad experience was that Cairo is a sh*t hole. Excuse the language. I might be a tad critical here, but it was actually quite depressing to see these truly wonderous monuments, from a civilization (seemingly) far superior to our own, get looted by the country that owns them. Too explain; Some explorer (in the name of science of coarse!) broke into a pyramid. Something which has survived six thousand years of wind and weather. Something to which 110’000 people through three generations helped to build then took their own lives to protect. This “explorer” took out all the treasure, sold it to museums around the world. Took the pharaos body, not only from his burial chamber, but even out from its casket and put him on display where ignorant tourists can gaulk at him for a price. Bet Touton Kamen or Ramses II didn’t see that one coming! Lets see if I can’t punch out something positive in the next few lines. I’ll step back to Ismalia. We left Port Suez on the same morning as nine other boats. We made it first, a good two hours before anyone else got here (also managing to overtake two tanker ships on the way up the canal). Once we got here, we couldn’t believe we were still in Egypt! No one came to hassle us when we docked. The other boats already here were ordering pizza from the local kiosk at $4aus delivered to the boat. No one asked for a tip, a present, or bakshish! The local taxi drivers didn’t ask for five times the agreed on amount because we are caucasion. In asking the port master what the price was, he sort of checked with us what was OK to pay, then suggested $20US a night with free electricity and free water (which is a bargain). The only people who have tried to get a bribe or a tip in this quiet little town of Ismalia, with it’s tree-lined streets, are the customs officials. But I think that’s a job requirement in any country when you apply as a customs official… How to say “present for me?” or “Bakshish for master?” After the first trip to Cairo I vowed never to go back there. I had to break that vow, as Amy, and old friend from Sydney was traveling through. But I’m really glad I did break it. I went in at around lunch time and stayed in the same hotel over night. We went round to the markets, drank tea, ate good Shawarma, and because Amy had had such a great time in Egypt she really put a positive spin on things. Among other things she took a trek through the desert, spent three nights on a Feluca (traditional fishing boat) drifting down the nile and during the whole adventure had a guide so no one hassled them. You can read about her crazy adventures at www.planetranger.com/amy. If you’re going to see Egypt, which I don’t recommend, there are so many better places to go. But if! Do it the way she did it. She had a great time. Well, at the moment I’m sitting on the boat in Ismalia. So this is where we are up to now. We leave Egypt tomorrow (which is not a bad thing) and head to Turkey. So I’ll summarise this text once we are all safely away from Egypt. Thanks again for visiting and for making it all the way through this text. Enjoy the pictures!