(no subject)
When we were in Egypt last summer, we spent the last three or four days on the Red Sea. It was the most beautiful ocean I've ever seen. We went snorkeling in front of our hotel, the Movenpick, and when we were about 100 meters out we were able to dive down over coral and swim with schools of fish. The Movenpick was this huge resort, where everyone stayed in white duplex condos (actually they may have been quadplex condos, if there are such a thing). Because of this, they had a shuttle service that drove us from the beach back to our condos.
We went into town one night for dinner. It was one of the tackiest beach towns youve ever seen, but in a good way. This area was a European hot spot, and all around us we could here the sounds of french, swedish, spanish, arabic, and a trillion and a half other languages combining to fill the warm night air. It was clearly a vacationing spot for young people in love, and everywhere we looked we saw couples holding hands (or holding each other up as they walked from one bar to the next). On our way home Grace, Jeff, and I split from my parents so that we could buy my father a Father's Day gift. We went into this shopping mall and found the most ridiculous Egyptian coffee cup they had. The mall was bustling with people, and I remember loving the layout. It was open to the outside, but once you were inside it was just like being inside city center. I just loved that it was indoors, but at the same time wasnt at all.
The reason I am telling you all of this is because these locations were bombed today. My hotel, the Movenpick, was bombed at one of those shuttle stops, killing six people. The Old Market, the mall we went into, Had a car bomb explode outside it, and a large chunk of it is missing now. There was a third explosion at the hotel next to the Movenpick, in which a person drove a car into the lobby of the hotel and then set off a car bomb. In total, eighty-three people have died, with at least sixty of them being egyptians. Over two hundred people were injured. I am writing this today because I am afraid that these bombings might have scared people out of traveling there. I know that most of you have never heard of Sharm el-Sheikh before, and had no plans of ever visiting there for that reason. But all I am asking of you, is that with all of these terrorist attacks happening recently, don't let them scare you out of traveling. Tourism is one of Egypt's top industries. There is so much to see there. They are trying to scare foreigners out of their country. Don't let them. By not visiting we are giving them what they want, more power over us.
We went into town one night for dinner. It was one of the tackiest beach towns youve ever seen, but in a good way. This area was a European hot spot, and all around us we could here the sounds of french, swedish, spanish, arabic, and a trillion and a half other languages combining to fill the warm night air. It was clearly a vacationing spot for young people in love, and everywhere we looked we saw couples holding hands (or holding each other up as they walked from one bar to the next). On our way home Grace, Jeff, and I split from my parents so that we could buy my father a Father's Day gift. We went into this shopping mall and found the most ridiculous Egyptian coffee cup they had. The mall was bustling with people, and I remember loving the layout. It was open to the outside, but once you were inside it was just like being inside city center. I just loved that it was indoors, but at the same time wasnt at all.
The reason I am telling you all of this is because these locations were bombed today. My hotel, the Movenpick, was bombed at one of those shuttle stops, killing six people. The Old Market, the mall we went into, Had a car bomb explode outside it, and a large chunk of it is missing now. There was a third explosion at the hotel next to the Movenpick, in which a person drove a car into the lobby of the hotel and then set off a car bomb. In total, eighty-three people have died, with at least sixty of them being egyptians. Over two hundred people were injured. I am writing this today because I am afraid that these bombings might have scared people out of traveling there. I know that most of you have never heard of Sharm el-Sheikh before, and had no plans of ever visiting there for that reason. But all I am asking of you, is that with all of these terrorist attacks happening recently, don't let them scare you out of traveling. Tourism is one of Egypt's top industries. There is so much to see there. They are trying to scare foreigners out of their country. Don't let them. By not visiting we are giving them what they want, more power over us.