Dahab roundup

It does seem ridiculous to still be writing about Egypt. After all, I've been back in beautiful Bedminster for over a month. However, there's still so much more I could write about, and plus which, nothing much of interest has happened since my return. It's time for another round up...

The furry cup bar was attached to our resort, and certainly couldn't go without a mention. Apart from the obvious 'drinking from the furry cup' gags, it was the scene of a couple of my less comfortable experiences. Firstly, Ben and I witnessed a brawl between an English guy and an Egyptian, which ended up involving half the pub and the bar staff, right next to our table (we had scarpered by this point, of course). It ended with an Israeli woman being left semi-conscious on the floor with a cracked head, having been caught in the middle. We found out later it was only a small cut, but the amount of blood on the floor had suggested otherwise. It was pretty horrific. The Egyptian guy started it, by the way. Somehow, the pub's mural didn't seem appropriate after that...

Secondly, on another occasion Ben and I got cornered by an unbelievably appalling 'Monolouger', an obese Yorkshire lass married to a dive-master, who talked at us about life in Dahab at length, even though it became clear after a while that she had only lived there for a few months. I especially remember the explanation of her argument with an Egyptian restaurant owner, who had the gall to charge her about three English pounds for some pork chops.

"I'm not paying that...I live here. I'm not a tourist. That's an insult" she had told him.

Unfortunately, she had latched onto us just as we had picked up the menus, and continued to talk at us while we were choosing which steak to order, while we were waiting for our food, and throughout our meal. She didn't even stop when the waiter was taking our order, not that anyone was listening. By the end of our desserts, Ben and I had both turned into head nodding zombies, unable to summon any rational thought. Actually thinking about it, Ben had even given up on the head nodding, which meant all of her attention was directed at me. I had just started to plan our excuse to escape, when Ben suddenly stood up to leave. He promised me he would return. I presumed that he had gone back to our room to use the bathroom, due to his longstanding bowel issues. He never came back. An hour later, I returned to the room to find him asleep on his bed. He later admitted that he 'just had to get out of there', and had never intended to fall asleep. I have forgiven him, honest.

We met up with Mark and Wendy on a couple of occasions, most notably when we took the 10 minute taxi ride to their windsurfing resort further down the Dahab coast. They hadn't mentioned it was fancy dress...

We also spent the night of the full moon eating a 'Bedouin' meal in the mountains that surround Dahab. Check out the crazy spotlight effect of the moon on the Red Sea. What's that all about?

Finally, I have to mention our one and only night out on the lash, drinking Egyptian paint stripper, or 'whiskey'. Strangely Sam, who has never been a big dog lover, befriended one of the random strays that roam the beach on our way back to the budget guesthouse that we spent our last couple of nights.

And Ben befriended the guy who spends every night patrolling the guesthouse, and has built a musical instrument that only plays one tune.

Unfortunately, he was also incredibly dull, and seemed to see us as an excuse to practice his English.

Still, it did mean that we finally managed to see the sun rise over Saudi Arabia.

Well, I did, anyway. Notice that the random stray still hasn't left Sam's side.

When we eventually bedded down, the dog followed us to our rooms and found himself a spot just outside. Sam later returned from a trip to the shared bathroom to find the dog lying in his bed. Some recent commenters to this blog will be relieved to hear that Sam kicked him out...