Swimming with Fishies!
It's a bit tricky to get excited about a surprise birthday party in public. Even more so when it's a surprise holiday! Somehow, despite the travel agent's fairly monumental error of sending confirmation to the victim surprisee, the surprise was delivered fairly intact. Now, at last, the beans can be spilled.
nicnac wanted a surprise party for Jim, and found a great offer for an all-inclusive week in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The word was put out, holidays booked, and despite several close calls (some involving much alcohol...), Jim was so unsuspecting that even seeing me at the airport (I don't do camouflage) didn't cause the penny to drop. When we were five, then six, and finally ten, he got it, and all chances of a romantic week were gone!
So as not to make you too jealous, it was pretty grim the day we left, especially up north. I gather it got worse during the week. It was 27c when we landed at sunset.
Mostly it was chillin' by the pool, hanging out by the guitarist with his canned music, and, umm, lazing by the pool. I thought of what I'd left behind when I took this.
There were some more active moments in the week. A day's snorkeling was excellent fun, 'cos we hired a boat just for ourselves on Jim's birthday! I enjoyed that so much that I bought goggles and a snorkel, to have a go off the hotel's beach. Even on the roughest days, it was excellent fun - especially when 'Whole lotta Love' was played for the beach aquarobics - man, those fishes can dance! The first steps to scuba, methinks.
We also did some more traditional holiday activities. Camel-riding just had to be done (complete with sing-song), followed by a Bedouin dinner and some planet-gazing in the desert. Then there was the mad frenzy of quad-biking across the disused firing range at sunset - can't beat being a potential target to get the adrenalin pumping!
Just to be a little cultured, there was a long trip into the middle of nowhere, (through some fantastic mountain scenery) to see the burning bush that spoke to Moses, and the monastery built around it. Since Napoleon had bricked up the main door, it was a scrum to get in the tiny side gate. We'd been practicing scrum-downs with the Russians at dinner, so it was no major obstacle to get in, but it was rather busy inside, with lots of chattering tourists pilgrims paying their respects... And the bush itself? Well, it's actually a kind of bramble. The kind of plant that survives at altitude in a desert, while every leaf that grows within tip-toe reach gets pulled off for a souvenir...
Then we got taken shopping, but not to the little tat-stalls by the beach. To the tourist-trap shop we'd all ridiculed as we drove past it earlier. Oh well, as we were there, I bought some Karkady, only slightly fumbling the haggle.
Finally, we hit the nearby 5-star hotel's Thai restaurant, and then Narma Bay for a little night-life.
Would I go to Sharm again? Indeed, and especially in a group - can't beat free food and drink at almost any hour of the day, but you'll need 'safety' in numbers to outwit the Russians at dinner, at the bar, or even on the dance-floor.
And then there's the fishies...
Photos to follow, once I find the other card.
nicnac wanted a surprise party for Jim, and found a great offer for an all-inclusive week in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The word was put out, holidays booked, and despite several close calls (some involving much alcohol...), Jim was so unsuspecting that even seeing me at the airport (I don't do camouflage) didn't cause the penny to drop. When we were five, then six, and finally ten, he got it, and all chances of a romantic week were gone!
So as not to make you too jealous, it was pretty grim the day we left, especially up north. I gather it got worse during the week. It was 27c when we landed at sunset.
Mostly it was chillin' by the pool, hanging out by the guitarist with his canned music, and, umm, lazing by the pool. I thought of what I'd left behind when I took this.
There were some more active moments in the week. A day's snorkeling was excellent fun, 'cos we hired a boat just for ourselves on Jim's birthday! I enjoyed that so much that I bought goggles and a snorkel, to have a go off the hotel's beach. Even on the roughest days, it was excellent fun - especially when 'Whole lotta Love' was played for the beach aquarobics - man, those fishes can dance! The first steps to scuba, methinks.
We also did some more traditional holiday activities. Camel-riding just had to be done (complete with sing-song), followed by a Bedouin dinner and some planet-gazing in the desert. Then there was the mad frenzy of quad-biking across the disused firing range at sunset - can't beat being a potential target to get the adrenalin pumping!
Just to be a little cultured, there was a long trip into the middle of nowhere, (through some fantastic mountain scenery) to see the burning bush that spoke to Moses, and the monastery built around it. Since Napoleon had bricked up the main door, it was a scrum to get in the tiny side gate. We'd been practicing scrum-downs with the Russians at dinner, so it was no major obstacle to get in, but it was rather busy inside, with lots of chattering tourists pilgrims paying their respects... And the bush itself? Well, it's actually a kind of bramble. The kind of plant that survives at altitude in a desert, while every leaf that grows within tip-toe reach gets pulled off for a souvenir...
Then we got taken shopping, but not to the little tat-stalls by the beach. To the tourist-trap shop we'd all ridiculed as we drove past it earlier. Oh well, as we were there, I bought some Karkady, only slightly fumbling the haggle.
Finally, we hit the nearby 5-star hotel's Thai restaurant, and then Narma Bay for a little night-life.
Would I go to Sharm again? Indeed, and especially in a group - can't beat free food and drink at almost any hour of the day, but you'll need 'safety' in numbers to outwit the Russians at dinner, at the bar, or even on the dance-floor.
And then there's the fishies...
Photos to follow, once I find the other card.