Ananda Camp was wonderful but the daily dose of falafel got really tiring quickly. On the last day of the course, the boys and I went to Zaman Castle for delicious slow food.
Touted as the best food along the coast!!!
Boys with their scrabble buddies Dalia & Rex and Henny, the owner of the castle (who is looking for a massage therapist to work at the castle....... boy was I tempted!!!) Dalia had some amazing stories: she actually went and visited all the places in the EAT, PRAY, LOVE book!! How cool is that?
Don't think Henny is too into kids.............. Stephan was not allowed into the pool as he was deemed to be too young!
After the meal, we started on a new adventure! We rented a little car to drive to St Katherine's Monastry. Roads in this part of Egypt are really deserted and it is basically straight roads through the desert! The police stops along the way are kindda intimidating though; I forgot to get an International Drivers license so was driving with a Singaporean license and was petrified that they would hold us at the police post. All the worries were unfounded and we breezed through with no problems (especially after meeting up with Amr who holds a military special ID that got us through everywhere!!!)
Mt Moses was really amazing. We did the 3 1/2hr climb up and slept up in the mountains under the stars, much as Moses might have done after seeing the burning bush!!! I am not sure if God spoke to us when we were up there, but it was beautiful. The climb up was a little tough especially on Nic & Steph. I forgot Nicolas' inhaler and he had altitude sickness which made the end of the climb extremely difficult. The poor boy was puking and shitting his guts out. Anyways, without going into the ghastly details, we survived the night, saw the sunset and sunrise and did the trek down the mountain. Stephan was truely amazing though..... he climbed all the way and hardly complained. Everyone was sooooooo proud of him! Mathieu, usual Mr GungHo complained that the mountain was too easy and wanted to take short-cuts. Silly mummy that I am, I listened to him and got into some horrible scratches with the mountain sliding from under our feet!
I learnt a great lesson from this trip..... whilst downloading the beautiful wonderful photos from the mountain, I accidently deleted 100s of photos without saving em. I started on my usual rant & rave and Amr stopped me............ "DETACHMENT", he said........ even from photos. And you know what, I breathed deeply and let it pass. I still wish I had some of those beautiful shots I took (and they were pretty good!!), but heh, the memories will always be there and guess what, I was there with friends with cameras and they took great shots too!!! :)
Now, the last part of the trip was DAHAB, and it was here that we really fell in love with Egypt. We spent 5-6 days here but it felt like we were living there for months........ and we could have; we'd wake-up, go for a swim in the sea, have breakfast, sit by the pool or a cafe to read, have lunch with friends, go shopping, visit land with Amr, chat with Lucy, hang-out at the internet cafe, chill @ 7 heaven with the divers, went diving (even learnt to free dive), water the plants with Sam............. It was SOOOO nice. Leaving was really difficult after that!!!
Sam from Fightin Kangaroo and the boys
Being invited home to Mohammed's (from 7 heaven) place in Cairo was such a treat!!! Mama was soooo nice to us and fed us like kings!!!
Posts
7 comments:
Enjoyed reading about your egypt trip. Are my eyes playing tricks on me or what? Noticed on the slow food menu, there was a 'C-Food Orgy'??
haha......... ya and I think they were working towards tantric food.... :)
HI there..could you recommend places to stay in Dahab?
Recommended places to stay in Dahab :
a. 7 Heaven. Divers hang-out there (good dive center), good cafe, internet WIFI, nice people..........
b. Fightin Kangaroo next door is great too. (But some of the rooms could do with a cleaning.)
If you want to go up-market, the Hilton Dahab has relatively cheap rooms for a 5star hote but it is quite far away.
many thanks!! im thinking of going on the thai massage course..i was going to travel alone with my son who will be 18 months..if they can find someone who will babysit during the massage instruction. Am i crazy do you think??
Are you thinking of doing Itzhak's Thai massage course in Taba? It's wonderful.
I brought my kids and had them run around and play next to the massage shala whilst we were working. This was ok cos my boys are quite a bit older and the people at Ananda camp were great about taking care of the boys (cooks, cleaners etc.... would play with them). I am not sure it would work for an 18mth old though. There are very few women who work in Egypt so I did not manage to find a proper sitter for my kids. If you are really interested, I can try asking a couple of my Egyptian friends to see if they can find someone for you. Send me dates, locations and other requirements and I'll ask around.
Hi there..yes that is the course i was hoping to do..i actually thought it was a beginners but it is advanced. I have completed a course in Ireland but have not had much practical experience. I would love to go if at all possible. Amr from the camp said he would check for a sitter also. the course begins on 5th June for 7 days!
Post a Comment