Despite the Cold, It's Always Warm in Sharm

Initially, I felt pretty stupid flying halfway around the world just to go to a beach surrounded by miles and miles of endless desert.  I felt even more stupid lugging around an entire suitcase filled with our scuba gear for the past two weeks.  However, once we arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh, I felt pretty damn smart.  To say the least, the place was awesome.  It was miles beyond the Four Seasons that we stayed at in St. Louis (and at a comparable price).

We had booked a basic room, but the hotel upgraded us up to this spacious deluxe room.

We didn't even have to request the upgrade.

The hotel is actually built on a steep hill, so there can be some walking to do.  Alternatively, a funicular can be used to transport folks from the main facilities such as the lobby, main restaurants, fitness center, and spa to the pool and beach down at the bottom.  As expected for a hotel of this caliber, the service was impeccable.  Housekeeping cleaned our rooms and replaced the towels at least twice a day.  The cabana boys were always available to setup new chaises for us no matter how many times we played musical chairs to escape the direct sunlight.  I could definitely see how this resort is rated the top hotel in all of Egypt.

From our balcony, we got a great view of the Red Sea and Tiran Island.

At 10 AM on our first morning there, we met with the Sinai Blues Diving Center located on The Four Seasons Hotel's beach.  We had decided to dive with them out of simple convenience.  Their fast boats left straight from the hotel's docks.  That way we could enjoy the diving and still maximize our time with the hotel's amenities.  After filling out the necessary paperwork, we did a checkout dive in their house reef.  The water was much colder than we had expected (it was still winter/spring in Sharm).

Because of the cold water temperature, we wore shorties over our 3 mm full wet suits.

Being extra buoyant from the two wet-suits and all the fat I have gained on the trip, I ended up having to wear a weight belt in addition to fully packing my integrated weight pockets.

We were a bit rusty starting off, especially when the initial shock of cold water hit us.  However, we acclimated quickly, and relaxed enough to enjoy their very nice house reef.  In addition to the usual reef suspects, we saw multiple lionfish, stingrays, two huge Napoleon fish (humpback wrasse), and a little black nudibranch with blue spots.  I was an oxygen whore, so the dive lasted only 35 minutes.  I was really glad that The Wife thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Does a nudibranch taste like escargot?

A stingray relaxes beneath some rocks...

...only a few feet away from the docks.

Since we had gorged ourselves earlier at the breakfast buffet, we skipped lunch and laid out by the pool for the next two hours.  We returned to the pier for our second dive of the day.  We took a rigid inflatable boat (i.e. zodiac) to Gordon's Reef within the Straits of Tiran.  The journey took under 15 minutes because we were flying along on the crests of the waves.  However, it was a cold and bumpy ride, not unlike being on a roller-coaster on a rainy, windy day.

We were joined by a novice English diver named Kyle who had been out with a different Sinai Blues instructor for the past few days.  He recanted an experience the previous year when he was diving in Greece with a horrible instructor who ignored him.  Kyle ran out of air 20 meters underwater.  This nearly fatal experience had made him wary of diving centers and instructors.  Thankfully, he only had high praise for the Sinai Blues staff which helped calm our nerves for our first ocean dive off of a boat.

Once again we had a great time.  Our guide, Ligia, was very good at keeping a good pace, fast enough so that we could explore much of the reef, but slow enough so that we never felt that we were ever lagging behind too far.  With her 8 years of experience diving in Sharm, she easily pointed out small critters that I would have never noticed.

In 1981, the Lovilla wrecked in the Straits of Tiran spilling barrels throughout Gordon's reef.

We encountered many large blue clams interspersed throughout the reef.

We swam through a group of innocuous purple jellyfish.

The coral was more pervasive on Gordon's reef, but we didn't see any large marine life.

By 2:30 PM, we were back at the hotel.  Instead of having to break down and wash our equipment, the diving center staff took care of everything.  We definitely preferred their full service pampering on our vacation.  We decided to walk to the nearby Soho Square to see if there was anything interesting there.  Nope.  Just a bunch of restaurants and souvenir shops.  There are also many pharmacies peddling erectile dysfunction medications.  Apparently, no prescription is needed, but the prices are pretty much the same as you would find back in the States.  We were stuck trailing behind a bald, middle-aged man with a "hair sweater" rocking a bright red Speedo.  The Wife couldn't stop laughing uncontrollably.  I didn't know whether to be embarrassed for him or for her.

What about Levitra?

That evening we ate at the hotel's Waha restaurant, overlooking the swimming pool.  They had a special where one of the chefs from the Four Season in Thailand was cooking her native dishes.  The food was very tasty, but it was also the most we have ever spent on Thai food.

Thai chicken and crab cake
with a cucumber chili sauce

Spicy chicken soup with coconut milk

Spicy prawn soup with lemongrass
and kaffir lime leaves

Chicken with green curry

Thai taro custard

Fried sea bass with three flavors sauce

Later that night, we sat on our balcony overlooking the Red Sea while enjoying tea on a moonless night.

The next morning, we met at 9 AM for a quick RIB ride to Ras Ghamila.  This site is known for it's large fan corals.  We saw a sea turtle in the distance swimming out to sea.  There was also a huge sea cucumber that dumped a huge load of "poop" as we swam by it and a black nudibranch that looked like a stick.

Posing on our last dive together.

After the dive, we hired a cab for 45 Egyptian pounds to take us to Naama Bay.  I finally understood why so many posts on TripAdvisor rip on Egyptian vendors.  Unlike most of the shopkeepers we have encountered throughout the country, these guys are beyond obnoxious.  They hassled us incessantly to come into their stores.  When we politely refused, they demanded that we 'show them respect' as visitors to their country and peruse their wares.  I must have overlooked that requirement to shop when I applied for my Egyptian visa.  Sadly, most of these guys sold cheap, piece of crap souvenirs and knock-offs likely made in China.  There were no shortage of hotels in this area.  I would hate to stay at one of them and get hassled every 10 feet as soon as you leave the premises.  We did find one nice store called Aladdin (yeah, not very creative) that actually sold higher quality crafts, glassware, and cotton scarves.  The best part is the proprietor left us alone while we shopped.  We rewarded him with several purchases.

The Wife was on a special mission to find a Coptic cross for her charm bracelet.  Unfortunately, every jewelry store we checked only carried ankhs.  However, she was happy to finally find a Starbucks so that she could add Sharm el-Sheik and Egypt mugs to her collection.

Arabic for over-priced coffee and scones.

Afterwards, we made a beeline to McDonald's to see what exciting local variations they have on American fast-food.  Unfortunately, the menu was almost identical to that back in the U.S.

The uninspiring McArabia chicken is composed
of grilled chicken patties stuffed into flatbread
with a yogurt sauce.

With McDonald's fatty, high calorie food, will this
towel be big enough for most of their customers?

The Kit Kat Mcflurry  was pretty, darn 
good on a warm, sunny afternoon.

Back at our hotel, we hit the fitness center for an hour.  I decided to do a night dive on the house reef at 7 PM.  The Wife passed on this chance, which was her loss.  By far, this was the best dive of the trip.  The reef was teeming with life, albeit most of it quietly resting.  The coral that was hidden during the daytime, unfurled in the darkness.  However, they retracted when the beams of our flashlights fell on them.  The reef was teeming with sea urchins which glowed a vibrant purple as our flashlights closed in on them.  We encountered many parrotfish hiding in the crevasses and larger fish sleeping under the rocks.  The small reef shrimp and crabs were more active, scurrying about in the darkness.  At one point two of the stingrays glided around us as we carefully kept our distance.  Likewise, we did have to be careful with the large population of lionfish.  Ligia explained that they can be attracted to our flashlights and may start following us around.  The most amazing thing we encountered was a large colony of "jellyfish" stacked together in a line that stretched at least 15 feet long.  As this mass floated by, we could observe their bioluminescence up close.

Watch where you touch.  There's no shortage of lionfish in the house reef.

After the dive, The Wife and I settled on dinner at the buffet restaurant Arabesque.  Usually they serve typical Middle Eastern fare, but that night they cooked international food.  The food was a huge disappointment, our only bad experience at the Four Seasons.  At $50/person, we expected way better quality.

On our third day in Sharm el-Sheikh, we did absolutely nothing.  No diving, no sightseeing, and no shopping.  We spent the entire day by the pool admiring the bright red tans that all the Europeans vacationers were getting.

Unlike the other guests, we enjoyed the pool from the shade of the umbrellas.

We didn't pass up a chance at eating at Il Frantoio, the hotel's signature restaurant.  The food was so good that we regretted that we had not gone here every night during our stay.

Bread

Amuse bouche of salmon carpaccio

Oven-baked fennel cake, cranberry-braised endive, and prawns

Seafood saffron risotto

Duck ravioli with a mixed mushroom ragu and sage sauce

Ricotta pesto stuffed gnocchi, caramelized prawns, and pistachios

Handmade pappardelle with lobster,
scallops, and green pea veloute

 Eggplant wrapped sea bass with sun dried
tomatoes, savoy cabbage, and cauliflower sauce

For our last day in Egypt, we had planned on an excursion to Mount Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery.  In retrospect, the trip sounded a lot better on paper.  Who wouldn't want to retrace the steps that Moses once took to receive the Ten Commandants?  Who wouldn't want to visit the offshoots of the Burning Bush?  Who wouldn't want to hike up a mountain for two or three hours in the frigid darkness just to catch the morning sunrise?  Who wouldn't want to leave the plush amenities of their hotel to spend hours on a bus staring at the endless desert?  And who wouldn't pass up getting kidnapped by local Bedouins who have been snatching tourists over the past several months to force the Egyptian government to release their imprisoned tribal members?

Once we arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh, it was a no-brainer that we needed to cancel this trip.  Instead, we just spent the day lounging by the pool again.  The Four Seasons was great at giving us a late checkout time of 5 PM.  Later on, we learned that two Brazilian tourists were kidnapped around the St. Catherine's Monastery that same day.  As per the norm, they were later released unharmed.  I guess we chose wisely.

At 8 PM, we boarded our flight for the long, multi-stage trip back to the United States.  Looking back at our last 17 days, we were both pleasantly surprised how wonderful our trip to Egypt and Jordan turned out.

The Big Valley - Visiting the West Bank of Luxor

 Today would be our last day of sightseeing.  We leisurely left the Hilton hotel at 9:30 AM and rode for half an hour to the west bank of Luxor.  The first stop was the Valley of the Kings, the final resting place for many New Kingdom pharaohs.  Some of the more well known kings such as Hatshepsut, Ramses II, and of course Tutankhamen were buried here.  One reason for picking this area is that the mountain that looms over the valley resembles a pyramid, a sacred shape that dates back to the creation of the world in Egyptian mythology.  Furthermore, unlike the Great Pyramids of Giza which are essentially giant "rob me" signs, the isolated Valley of the Kings offered a more secret location to protect their treasures from thieves.  Nevertheless, all of the tombs were robbed in antiquity except for Tutankhamen's (his was saved due to sheer luck and obscurity).  In fact, the thefts were so pervasive that a later pharaoh removed most of the mummies and hid them in a royal cache on the opposite side of the mountain near Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple.

The parking lot is about the closest you can get to taking pictures in the Valley of the Kings.

The entrance ticket allows for access to three of the tombs.  Unfortunately some of them are closed periodically for excavations or restorations.  Unfortunately, these included the tomb of Seti I's, one of the larger and more popular crypts.  It has been shut down indefinitely to preserve it for future generations.  Mahmoud said that we can visit it virtually on the Internet, but that's just not quite the same.  There is something personally gratifying knowing that you are contributing to the slow destruction of a great work of antiquity that has survived for over 3000 years.  Another tomb highly recommended was that of Horemheb.  But that too was closed because of a nearby excavation.  I was starting to feel a bit ripped off.  Given that many of the tombs that we had planned to see were not open, we just asked Mahmoud for his recommendations.

Mahmoud's first choice was the Tomb of Ramses IX (KV 6).  During the early Christian period, it had been used as a chapel.  Five feet from the entrance were crosses and graffiti from these worshipers.  Compared to those of other tombs that we would soon see, the paintings were akin to a 'starving artist' show.  I think my six year-old could do a better job painting those figures.  Despite there being a large sarcophagus inside, the tomb was pretty short and unimpressive.

The next was the tomb of Ramses III (KV 11).  This one was much better.  It was originally constructed by his father, Setnakhte, but abandoned because it was encroaching too closely to a neighboring tomb (KV10).  Ramses III had no qualms about using it for himself.  Thankfully so, because it is richly decorated.  There are large murals of gods and goddesses carved with fine details.   Near the entrance, two small rooms jut off from the main passageway.  Illustrations of routine workers (cooks, craftsmen, etc.) decorate those walls.  At the end of the tomb, the eight-pillared burial chamber is gated off.  It had suffered severe flood damage and is strewn with rubble.  The tomb's sarcophagus is hundreds of miles away in the Louvre, having been sold to the King of France in the 19th century.

The only down-side of that tomb was the guard who started following us around closely and pointing out obvious depictions of gods.  He would proudly say, "That is good, huh?" as if he had painted it.  We didn't want to be rude and tell him to piss off and give us some space.  But as we were leaving, he had the audacity to demand a tip.  I gave him one Egyptian pound to be polite.

Mahmoud's third recommendation was the tomb of Ramses IV (KV 2).  In turns of quality of illustrations, it was pretty similar to the previous KV 11.  There were examples of some unfinished walls, as the tomb was not completed by the time the pharaoh's mummy was laid to rest.  I was tempted to tip the guard for this place mainly because he left us alone.

For 50 Egyptian pounds per person, we also chose to visit Ramses VI's tomb (KV 9) which had been restored over the last several years.  Ramses V had originally built this crypt, but his brother and successor eventually usurped and enlarged it.  The restoration was really well done as the colors were even more vibrant than the other tombs we had seen.  Unlike the other three tombs, the walls were not shielded by Plexiglas which helped appreciate the illustrations even more.  We saw some odd images such as birds with human heads, bound soldiers with their head chopped off, etc.  Painted on the walls of the tomb are the Book of Gates, Book of Night, Book of Day, etc.  These contained the spells that would help the pharaohs pass the tests in the Afterlife.  At the end of the tomb lies Ramses IV's broken casket and sarcophagus.  We were basically the only ones in the tomb.  So once again, the guard inside annoyingly shadowed us from a few steps behind.  It's not as if we were going to jump over the ropes and run off with a stone sarcophagus that weighs tons!

Our next destination was going to be the Valley of the Queens.  However, we asked our driver to stop at some alabaster shops.  I wanted to find some canoptic jars carved out of alabaster (like what the pharaoh's had).  At the first shop, we got the typical spiel on how they make their alabaster, granite, and other stone items.  Whatever.  It took a few shops to find something similar to what I was looking for.  I had to settle for a miniature set that looked nothing as intricate as what the pharaoh's would have had, but it would at least fit in my luggage.  Compared to other materials that are used to make canoptic jars for tourists, alabaster is much harder to create fine details.  It's not as if I could fit my mummified colon, let alone just my appendix inside the miniature jars.  But at least the material was authentic.

The Valley of the Queens is really mistranslated and actually means something like 'Place of Beautiful'.  In ancient times, it was known as the 'Place of the Children of the Pharaohs' because princes were interred there as well as queens.  Three tombs were open for us to visit.  Two were for princes, and one was for a queen.  We spent a minute in the first one as it was in such a bad state that the walls were essentially blackened out.  None of the illustrations were really visible enough to be interesting.  On the other hand, the next one nearby had the most vivid original colors we saw all day.  In fact, they rivaled those of the restored temple of Ramses VI.  In my opinion, it was one of the best tombs that we saw all day.  The third tomb of Ramses III's nine-year old son Amenhikhopeshef was notable because it contains a fetal skeleton displayed inside.  When Amenhikhopeshef's mother heard of his death, she miscarried her baby who was later interred in the tomb.  The most notable tomb in the Valley of the Queens is that of Nefertari, the favorite wife of Ramses II.  It was restored by the Getty Foundation and now is considered one of the most beautiful temples to see.  Unfortunately, it is closed to the general public.  However, $4-5K will get you like 15 minutes there.  Hmmm...on second thought, that blackened out tomb looks a lot better now.

Compared to the artwork in the temples of Abydos and Dendera which we had visited yesterday, the illustrations in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens were equal or even better.  The authorities have definitely taken much greater care in preserving these more popular monuments.  However, I just had a harder time being as enthusiastic about the tombs.  In the Valley of the Kings, the greater density of tourists and the Plexiglas that protected the walls definitely detracted from the ambiance.  I really hate the rule that prevents guides from accompanying us inside the tombs and explaining the illustrations.  In each tomb there is a wealth of religious symbolism and imagery (Books of the Dead, Heavens, Night, Day, etc) that really require a well-informed guide or scholar to explain.  However, maybe I was just being prejudiced.  Maybe I wasn't as excited about the these tombs because they are so convenient to visit.  Just like our experience visiting Machu Picchu via the Inca Trail, the journey getting there sometimes makes a place that much more special.

Our next stop was Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple.  This was the site back in 1997 where Islamic terrorists massacred 58 foreign tourists and 4 Egyptians.  That was not going to happen today.  Mainly since there weren't even close to 50 people there.  At most, they would have whacked 30, and many would have been local children selling their junk.  Sadly, these kids probably haven't seen the insides of a school in years.

Luckily, no blood was shed at Hatshepsut's Temple on the day we visited.

The complex is actually comprised of three mortuary temples.  The first was built by Mentuhotep II, an 11th Dynasty pharaoh.  His collapsed temple is currently under excavation.  Above it once stood Tuthmosis III's temple which is a complete loss.

The excavation of Mentuhotep II's temple so far has yielded a pair of small white sphinx statues.

A large bird statue guards
the ramp to the temple.

Despite being vandalized twice in antiquity by the pharaohs Tuthmosis III and Akhenaten, Hatshepsut's temple now stands restored.  There are three multi-pillared terraces accessed by a modern ramp.  The middle one has the most interesting illustrations.

The Punt Colonnade on the southern side of the middle terrace shows scenes of Hatshepsut's big accomplishment--her trade mission to Punt (Somalia).  The Egyptians swapped metal tools and other goods for rare items like ivory, ebony, animal skins, and myrrh trees.  Interestingly, the Queen of Punt is depicted as being morbidly obese (i.e. normal-sized in the Southern U.S.).

Workers load the boats with trade goods.

Egyptologist can tell that a sea route (not the Nile) was taken 
because of the depictions of oceanic critters such as this sea tortoise

The trade mission brought back trees which
were planted back in Egypt.

Unfortunately, somebody forgot to water them

On the northern wing of the temple is the Birth Colonnade.  A series of illustrations depict the god Amun-Re sneaking into the sleeping chambers of Hatshepsut's mother and impregnating her with his holy seed.  Before the god leaves, he reveals that this unborn daughter will someday rule Egypt.  With this depiction of a divine birth, Hatshepsut was trying to legitimize her claim to the throne that she had usurped from her nephew, Tuthmosis III.

The upper terrace of the temple is notable for several statues of
Hatshepsut, arms crossed carrying the crook and flail of the pharaoh.

In the Anubis Chapel, the god receives sacrifices from Hatshepsut.  
Sadly, most of the images of her had been destroyed by Tuthmosis III.

The image of Tuthmosis III offering wine to Sokaris, a sun god,
remains untouched.  The ceiling above represents the starry sky

The doorway to the sanctuary on the upper terrace

Many of the columns on the third terrace were destroyed by Tuthmosis III.

We weren't too impressed with the upper terrace of the temple.  Unlike the second floor, there are few interesting wall carvings.  We were actually okay with that because it was starting to get too hot for us to care anymore.  That was the exact moment that we got temple'd out.  Almost perfect timing, but we had one more monument to see.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Colossi of Memnon, two large quartzite statues that remain from Amenhotep III's mortuary temple.  During it's time, the structure was even larger in area than Karnak Temple.  Unfortunately, it has now been reduced to ruins thanks to an earthquake in 27 B.C.  After that happened, the statue began emitting a peculiar sound early in the morning.  Henceforth, Greek and Roman tourists (including the Emperor Hadrian) traveled from miles away to see this phenomenon.  They dubbed it the statue of Memnon, an Ethiopian king of Trojan War fame.  This mythological hero was said to have sung to his mother the Dawn every morning.  In the 3rd century A.D., the Roman emperor Septimus Severus had the statue repaired inadvertently ending the singing.  Currently, the site is under 'excavation'.  But like practically every other archaeological dig in Egypt, there is no activity.

The Colossi of Memnon

We headed back to the Hilton to wait for our flight late that night.  We said our goodbyes to Mahmoud.  Although he is much more quiet than our previous guide Sam, he's a really great guy who really explained ancient Egyptian history and lore well.  He never pressured us to visit any tourist stores, and he was also a good source of advice to make sure we didn't get ripped off.  But most of all, he was a guy who we were comfortable talking and joking with.

We went back to the Olives restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner.

A veggie burger made with almonds and chickpeas

Seafood penne

We lounged by the pool for the next three hours enjoying some really good Movenpick ice cream (espresso and maple walnut, mango and blackberry).  We flew out to Cairo at 8:15 PM and arrived at Sharm El-Sheik around midnight.