We had our final night together on the boat … it was such a great crew of people … they really made the trip.  Four people flew to Cairo for the day to visit the pyramids.  I considered it but I was a bit nervous because I thought that the Council of Arab Nations was meeting there re the Yemen war … added with the massacre in Tunis a couple of weeks earlier and I decided to give it a miss.  As it turned out they were fine and enjoyed it.  Such is life.

We all felt sorry for the crew on the boat as it was being moth balled until they could drum up more tourism.  That meant that they were out of a job.

The rest of us were piled into a mini bus …. they had allowed 9 seats for ten of us … that caused a bit of yelling until they finally worked out they had to put the luggage on the roof.  So off we went on the 5.5 hour journey back to Hurghada.  There was a lot bigger military and police presence on the journey back with everyone wearing bullet proof vests.

As it turned out Irene and Reg, the couple that we had become most friendly with were staying at our hotel as well.  It was funny how we all teamed up on the first day on the boat.  Irene and Reg and John and I were the only ones that payed the all inclusive drinks package.  This meant that we could drink as much as we liked for a certain price.  This also included mineral and still water, plus coffee … oh and the odd glass of wine.  So we sat at their table for the first meal and we had every meal with them thereafter.  The next table was Ernie and Wendy who had their adult granddaughter and her boyfriend, followed by the third table which was a mixture of gluten intolerant and pescatarian eaters.  Perfect!

Irene and Reg only had one more night at the hotel but John and I had three … about two too many.  We had had enough by now.  The weather hand’t improved … it was still too windy to bother going swimming but it had warmed up a bit.  So we spent a lot of time in the gym … we tried to go walking along the beach but we weren’t allowed into other resorts and we ended up hating walking on the road because we were hassled so much it drove us nuts.

So … the wash up on Egypt … am I glad that I went … Yes, absolutely I loved the temples and tombs and the time on the Nile.  Would I go again … no!  The main reason being that the people really aren’t my cup of tea.  I have never been hassled so much in my entire life as a traveller.  They are relentless, aggressive and nasty.  Yes I know that they are poor but they are not doing themselves any favours.  If they just left people along and let them wander into their shops they might buy some of their horrible Chinese junk.  But they just scare you off and you run the other way because you know it doesn’t matter how nice you are to them they will still end up getting the shits with you and abusing you for not buying anything.  I know that this is a very harsh point of view, but I am just being honest.

From what I have gleaned the original Egyptians, who must have been the most amazing people, have had their population diluted … overrun more like it … by the arabian nations.  You can actually clearly tell by looking at the people which ones have true Egyptian blood, and I didn’t see many of them.  They are thinner with small heads and narrow features, also straight hair.  The arabic Egyptians have round fat heads with curly hair … sounds rude I know.

I can’t remember if I have mentioned that the countryside is amazingly harsh.  Kilometre after kilometre of sand and rocks.  Also, apparently there was a coral reef along the waters off Hurgharda but they decided to cover it with sand so that the tourists wouldn’t cut their feet!!!!!!!!!!!  Anything for a buck!

Another very sad thing is that they seem to have lost their tradesmans skills.  Unlike the Moroccans who still work with leather etc, the Egyptians just sell Chinese rubbish.  Plus the workmanship in the buildings is really really bad … the tiling in the bathrooms of the hotel was hilarious.  The roads and footpaths all seem to fall apart and they don’t finish their buildings off.  One reason is that their sons build on the next story up and they leave the rio sticking up … I think that the real truth is that as long as a building isn’t finished, you don’t have to pay tax.

I usually try very hard to not view my real opinions while writing this blog … I try to keep it light.  However, I am going to finish this blog by saying that I came away from Egypt feeling that the majority of the men … I didn’t meet one woman … I hardly even laid eyes on many … lacked integrity.