Here's the scene at the bus station loading area. We joked that this was our bus, and silently hoped that it wasn't. It wasn't.
Here's our bus. They loaded everyone on board according to pre-determined seat assignments. The driver had a complete list with everyone's names.
As we boarded a young man was handing out little blue styrofoam boxes. We assumed he was selling something so we kind of avoided him, but it turned out this was your little box lunch. Included was a juice box, a bit of pound cake, and something featuring pate which none of us opened. Amazingly, it came free of charge and the young man didn't ask for a tip. That's one for the record book!
Moving back to the night before...
As we boarded a young man was handing out little blue styrofoam boxes. We assumed he was selling something so we kind of avoided him, but it turned out this was your little box lunch. Included was a juice box, a bit of pound cake, and something featuring pate which none of us opened. Amazingly, it came free of charge and the young man didn't ask for a tip. That's one for the record book!
Moving back to the night before...
after our snorkel trip we were in the mood for some more seafood. Our guide said that the Star Fish restaurant was his favorite, so we gave it a try. Jacob wanted shrimp (no surprise there!) and was pleased that they were only slightly smaller than the columns of Karnak.
We selected our fish from a big display on ice near the front door. Since the pricing was by weight, I was most thankful that Jacob does not like lobster. I wanted sea bass but that fish must have been a ten pounder. I settled for something much smaller which was from the Red Sea but had a name unknown to me. This would be a good restaurant for you if you are accompanied by someone speaking Arabic, as the waiter wasn't really interested in explaining anything to us in English (those demanding Americans again!)
Back to the bus trip...
Back to the bus trip...we loaded into our "first class" bus and headed north along the western coast of the Red Sea toward Suez. There were a few interesting sights (sprinkled between vast deserts of boredom) including this small wind farm. Note the new construction in the background. We imagine in a matter of years that there will be quite a few more resorts along the coast.
The bus wasn't bad in terms of physical space. The agony came in the form of the passengers in front and behind Nancy and Jacob, who shouted into their cell phones non-stop, and the very active little kids in front of Jim and Craig.
This pipeline (we assume for oil) ran along the coastline for many miles.
Here's a view of the unassuming entrance of the fantastic reststop, which was definitely the highlight of the trip.
Inside the large covered area (roof was straw) was a great number of tables and chairs and other interesting features, such as this hookah bar. The hookah pipes are behind Craig. We saw much bigger pipes than these during our trip.
Here's more construction as we near Suez.
Still more construction, with an oil tanker just off the coast.
The road suddenly took a series of sharp curves, and we saw a huge future resort tucked into the cove. The curved brown buildings blend in with the hills behind.
Here's another oil tanker off the coast.
Providing electricity to the desolute, remote areas along the coast must be quite a chore. It doesn't look like these power towers are built for the long term, as they seem to be perched precariously on the mounds.
We all got a bit tickled by the end of the trip, entertained by the insanity of the two guys screaming in their cell phones and the little kids jumping around.
This is a great shot of traffic in Cairo, just a huge slowly flowing mass of vehicles. Craig's Egyptian girlfriend can be seen at the far left.
The helpful lady at the front desk of our hotel in Cairo suggested we go to Christo's, and even drew us a little map on the hotel business card. We got a little bit turned around on the way there (it seemes like nothing in Egypt is right around the corner, and "it's a five minute walk" can mean anything less than 100 miles) but we finally tracked it down. The bread oven was in operation outside the restaurant. We'll have to track down the recipe for this traditional pita bread, but we saw the ladies forming the dough into flat discs, letting them rise in the meal (it wasn't corn meal, but a rough ground flour of some type) then transferring them into the oven for baking. When they baked they puffed up, and we saw this puffed pita bread being sold all over Egypt. In between the two layers of bread there was just air, so when you gave it a squeeze it went flat again. And yes, the two women bread bakers asked for a tip, which we gladly provided, since they shared some of their fresh baked bread with us and weren't chasing after us. We discovered that, fresh from the oven, the air inside the puffed up bread is super hot!
The bus wasn't bad in terms of physical space. The agony came in the form of the passengers in front and behind Nancy and Jacob, who shouted into their cell phones non-stop, and the very active little kids in front of Jim and Craig.
This pipeline (we assume for oil) ran along the coastline for many miles.
Here's a view of the unassuming entrance of the fantastic reststop, which was definitely the highlight of the trip.
Inside the large covered area (roof was straw) was a great number of tables and chairs and other interesting features, such as this hookah bar. The hookah pipes are behind Craig. We saw much bigger pipes than these during our trip.
Here's more construction as we near Suez.
Still more construction, with an oil tanker just off the coast.
The road suddenly took a series of sharp curves, and we saw a huge future resort tucked into the cove. The curved brown buildings blend in with the hills behind.
Here's another oil tanker off the coast.
Providing electricity to the desolute, remote areas along the coast must be quite a chore. It doesn't look like these power towers are built for the long term, as they seem to be perched precariously on the mounds.
We all got a bit tickled by the end of the trip, entertained by the insanity of the two guys screaming in their cell phones and the little kids jumping around.
This is a great shot of traffic in Cairo, just a huge slowly flowing mass of vehicles. Craig's Egyptian girlfriend can be seen at the far left.
The helpful lady at the front desk of our hotel in Cairo suggested we go to Christo's, and even drew us a little map on the hotel business card. We got a little bit turned around on the way there (it seemes like nothing in Egypt is right around the corner, and "it's a five minute walk" can mean anything less than 100 miles) but we finally tracked it down. The bread oven was in operation outside the restaurant. We'll have to track down the recipe for this traditional pita bread, but we saw the ladies forming the dough into flat discs, letting them rise in the meal (it wasn't corn meal, but a rough ground flour of some type) then transferring them into the oven for baking. When they baked they puffed up, and we saw this puffed pita bread being sold all over Egypt. In between the two layers of bread there was just air, so when you gave it a squeeze it went flat again. And yes, the two women bread bakers asked for a tip, which we gladly provided, since they shared some of their fresh baked bread with us and weren't chasing after us. We discovered that, fresh from the oven, the air inside the puffed up bread is super hot!
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