Day Seven

Karaoke is a entertaining thing to watch I have to admit - I was in stitches of laughter but the amount of Russian songs were amazing. So the last night was amazing but leaving new friends was a bit rubbish but what can you do.

So another day and we were up at the crack of dawn to catch the last few rays of sunshine before getting packed and ready to go. Personally I hate the last day of an amazing holiday - it depresses me; but the old saying comes to mind 'nice to go away, nice to come home' - in this case when I get home I can guarantee I will want to go back again.

So I thought leaving the resort would be hard but leaving the sun, sand and bikinis was even harder.

The thought of going back to school is killing me but it has to be done. Arriving at the airport and it is in shambles - this place couldn't organise a good party in a brewery. (I hope you noticed I used a more polite expression than the one normally associated with this saying). To top it all off the flight had an hour delay but no matter the holiday was amazing and I have made a lot of new friends that I will keep in touch with.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my holiday as much as I enjoyed blogging about it.

Day Six

Last night was truly amazing and the traditional Egyptian dances were incredible. The only way you can appreciate this is by seeing it. So being the type of person I am I decided to video it so that I could share it with you. I do warn you that this was all shot in a live environment so there was no tripod or control over who was where and when - so some parts may have people walking past and talking in the background but there is nothing I could do about this. The atmosphere can be seen and heard in this video, and their passion is shown in their dancing...anyway enjoy.

Today was the laziest day out of the lot so far - this relaxation stuff is really making me tired! We got up, went to the pool and stayed there for quite some time which is how a holiday should be. However laying doing nothing has given me a chance to look and think that Egypt is in my top three favourite places in the world that I have visited. I have been to a lot of places but the top three have to be; New York, Egypt (Sharm El Sheikh) and San Francisco. This is from a vast list that consists of Los Angeles, Barcelona, Madrid, Puerto Banus, Scotland, Ireland and Portugal...plenty of holiday practice I hear you say?

Tonight is the seafood buffet and this will be followed by a karaoke - no I will not be singing because I am terrible so I plan to sit and watch. Let the good times roll.

Day Five

Last night we went to visit the most famous man in this resort - his name is Ali Baba. Yes that is his real name and he sells the most amazing oils, ointments, perfumes and aftershaves I have ever smelt. All of the products are natural and contain no alcohol which also makes them last longer. He sells a variety from Chanel to Davidoff. Incredible!

Also on the way back we got offered to get our names written in Arabic on a papyrus (paper) bookmarker. Here I learnt that the Egyptians invented paper and how it has been used in many different forms.

Anyway onto Day Five and another visit to Mr Ali Baba was in order to get some of his tanning oil that is supposed to make you tan faster than a camel running a marathon! Nothing makes me tan - I'm Scottish so what do you expect. In my opinion it just makes you look like you're about to enter the Mr Egypt body building contest 2010 but I'll give it a go and see how I get on.

Well after another long hard day of sizzling in the sun it is time to get ready for the traditional Egyptain night with food and entertainment. I am looking forward to seeing how their culture differs from ours. With food and dancing no doubt it should be another amazing night.

Only two days left... depressing.

Day Four

Well the Egyptian restaurant went down a treat - the staff were amazing and the food was even better. The chef cooks the food on a small stove with different spices and flavours around him. You can smell the food from outside but sitting inside you experience the atmosphere - truly amazing!

But today is another rainy day...NOT!!! It's blue sky, scorching hot and I can feel the dry desert wind blowing.

It was all fun and games today as there was an Olympic games day on the beach. This consisted of volleyball, club dance which is interesting to say the least and round two begins at half past three after feeding time at the zoo. If you thought round one was good wait till you hear about round two which involved, flipping Russian tourist (they were aggressive!). One player from each team had to sit on a LiLo inflatable. The objective was to flip the other team off - rules: no kicking, punching or spitting was allowed. But did the other team listen to that ? No chance...

It was my turn play and I flipped a 135kg (rough estimate but he was BIG) Russian. As I get on for my turn the biggest Russian person got on and tells me he's going to flip me. Well as a matter of fact he didn't. Speed was key and before he could say Egyptian Pharoh I flipped him quickly even though he did everything he was told not to - 'the bigger they come the harder they fall' as they say - I wish I could say it in Russian and Arabic. Overall our team won 6 flips to nil! After this our team won the entire day and it was a proud day for all.

This was an amazing way of meeting some new people and It was hilarious. All of the staff spoke, English, Russian, Italian and Spanish - one word to describe this, incredible.

There is one thing that amazes me about this resort. All of their electronic equipment is controlled from Cairo which is on the other side of the country. So all the information has to go there and back to be processed and this shows how much Egypt needs to develop to come into the 21st century. I find it hard to believe being a media student as I have everything I need within a few miles. This is amazing and quite unbelievable.

Another interesting fact is that Egyptians are not allowed to leave their own country to go and visit other countries without getting government permission and this takes time and money. The only way they can live in another country is by marrying someone with a different nationality. Maybe we take freedom of travel too much for granted??

Tonight we are going to visit the famous Ali Baba in the resort - a man of many smells...more later.

Day Three

Last nights fish night did not disappoint. Some of the most amazing fish I have ever tasted and the entertainment was incredible. You can see a photo of a traditional dance. This guy span around for ten minutes like this and with various other styles. It is called the El Tanoura dance. How he didn't get dizzy I do not know.

There is only one photo due to the fact I only had my phone with me and it was so hard to get a half decent picture without people walking past and people sitting in front of me. (God I miss not using a set for this stuff!!)

However, onto today - it was a little less eventful...chilling by the pool and lots of food and refreshments. Well it was until we got told that we had the option to have a room upgrade. Who would turn that down?. So off we moved to a new bigger room and it was worth it. I got a double bed instead of a single. Things were looking up.

After all the unpacking was done (again!) we went back to the pool to do nothing again but relax - it's really hard work all this relaxation stuff! I guess it is how a half-term holiday should be. Tonight we will be going to a traditional Egyptian restaurant which is highly rated in the resort. This will be the first real experience of traditional cooking and fashion. I can't wait.

Day Two

Last night being the first night here we decided to eat in the resort restaurant and if all Egyptian food tastes like that then I want to know where I sign on the dotted line. After the food we went for a walk around the resort and found a few nice shops and the amphi-theatre that the resort has. Events in the evenings start from 10pm each night. Some better than others I suspect.

Anyway onto todays antics...the dash to the sun beds began in the bid to get the best ones. Not eventful or interesting at all but it has to be done -unless you want to sit in the shade all day! The weather hasn't let me down either - it's another scorching day which will no doubt end with a few 'interesting' tan lines to prove it.

The culture here is very laid back and everyone is more than happy to help you with any problems - this may be due to the fact they all expect a tip...(mine is 'never tie your laces in a revolving door!! ha ha). I will look on the bright side and agree that it is due to their helpful nature. My main thought of the day was how amazing these people are - they can speak multiple languages, but when it comes to most of us speaking anther language we don't have nearly as much variety as we should. I admire them for this as their English is impeccable and it makes me feel lazy so the next time I go back I vow to speak some basic Arabic.

Tonights antics will involve a traditional Egyptian fish night in the ballroom. This should be amazing as I'm a massive fish lover...actually just food in general. Bon appetit! Let's see how it goes.

Day One

Well then after arriving in the dark last night I couldn't really see anything or what our surroundings were like. So here we are first thing in the morning and I have never seen anything like this before. The range of tropical colours are amazing but I do question who thought of the idea to put a resort in the middle of the desert ? Where is Moses when you need him?

The TV is telling me it's a small 31c and my eyes have seen the lagoon blue sea. I think I have just answered my above question. This is why the resort is here. The sea was full of different coloured snorkels not to mention the coral reef which is surprisingly hard to walk on, but what do you expect from rock?

First impressions are that it's a hot, sandy and tropical backdrop for a great movie - yet to be made!. A lot more to come...