E G Y P T. Think Pyramids, Sphinx, Nile and Deserts? Think again! There is a side to this land that one doesn’t often hear of! It has a long coast on the Red Sea, with some outstanding offerings for budget tourists. One of 2 fast rising hubs for the international package tourist is HURGHADA, the other being Sharm-el-Sheikh. Here is the Wiki link on Hurghada! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurghada
Pre-Go: I booked my trip through a Russian tour agent, who recommended me Hotel Alf Leila Wa Leila, a 4-star property at Hurghada. The package rates were inclusive of return air tickets (ex-Moscow), stay at the hotel and all meals as well as drinks (all soft and Egyptian hard)! Detailed analysis of the offer and comparisons later, I picked it.
Go: The flight was a charter, full of pale skinned (looking to get roasted) Russians, some with spouses and kids, others looking for them! Food was drab and bland, and Indian Airlines ki kudiyan seemed apsaras out then!
Arrive: Hurghada Airport is as small as an international airport can be, with the largest area reserved for shopping! Customs etc is a breeze – the city lives off tourism.
Feel: Think Delhi summers at 35 degrees, with a cool breeze all through and you have the weather of Hurghada. Not once do you feel the summer heat and the need for a winter!
Alf Leila Wa Leila: 12 km from the airport, after smooth passage on well-marked and good roads, we reached Alf Leila. The first sight of a yellow board had my eyebrows up, in doubt. But the interiors were a delight. If you’ve been to the lobby of the Taj at Bombay, that is the kind of décor the place flaunts. The staff wouldn’t pass TOEFL, though, but may well get a job as journo at Hindustan Times! Our room was large, airy, well-cooled and had a view of the nearest pool (the adjective, since there are 5!). The floor was marble and cool, but the tub was missing. The rest was perfection! We were given watch-like wrist bands, signifying that we were ‘all inclusive’ guests! Eat, drink and be merry – whenever, wherever, however! The girls were not included, me being famil-ian!
Pet
Pooja: The sight of 10 kinds of bread, 12 of salad, 18 of dessert, 2 of soup, 2 each of chicken and fish, 3 of veggies and 1 each of rice, noodles and pasta made us forget there would be dinner too after that lunch! Bursting at the seams, the most difficult part was smiling back at the ever-smiling and “Oh Indiaa.. U know Amitabh Bachan?’ waiters! That would remain our alert call, at every nook and corner of Egypt. Wonder if Big B knew of this before he contested from UP!
Thereafter: I shall skip the food part now, each being a long winding procession of delightful and filling content. Rather like Tabu’s acting, it had everything - looks, feel, curves, colours, emotions, but not much of spice! So sans the spice, the following paragraphs would summarise what we did those 8 full days we had there.
Water: 5 lovely pools (with excellent landscaping – including those curves in 2 bits strewn all around!) and a beach nearby. The sea was addictive, despite the high salinity. Beach chairs and umbrellas were freely available all around the pool and beach, for those ‘shady’ times! Not content, we booked (@$30 /adult) a 2-hour trip on a glass-bottomed boat to catch up with the famed corals of the area and the colourful fish flirting with the glass, when not with the corals. Still not done, we booked another full day at sea for snorkelling, by boat ($45, inclusive of gear, lunch and soft drinks). Frankly, the corals are as good at Lakshadweep, but the fish here are awesome. Well, it seems the red corals here are the reason why the Red Sea is called thus.
Sand: Don’t tell me Dubai has it too, but the desert Safari in the Sahara is one great experience. I haven’t been to Dubai, so I can’t compare. They first dress you up, all Arafat-like, then let you drive a 4-wheeled Honda bike for 25 km in the desert sun, load you on a camel for a small walk, show you some desert wells, pump in some Bedouin tea, shake a few Bedouin hands and take you back by jeep, for a 5 km ride by a go-kart kind of auto-gear ‘puggy’. Despite the sand flying in your face with the warm wind, it makes you pump out that chest, even if yours were like Barbie’s! You wind your way back watching the desert sunset, freshen up and then enjoy an evening under the starry sky with a good dinner, Egyptian dances (yeah, belly too!) and a round of hookah, before you head back home weary, but charged! They charge you $50 an adult for those 6 hours.
Luxor: It is all over the net (try https://luxorguide.com), so I’ll cut it out. It houses 2 famed Egyptian temples, the Valley of Kings (with multiple tombs of Egyptian kings), the Valley of Queens (equality of sexes!), loads of Papyrus, alabaster and onyx shops and the great Nile. A full day trip, it takes 5 hours by road one way from Hurghada. A noteworthy aspect is that all of about 50 tourist buses move as a convoy between Hurghada and Luxor (as well as Cairo), as per local rules. It is dry and hot out at Luxor, but I guess only the historically-challenged like me will find the going a little taxing. The Nile ride and the papyrus shops are a high for me-kinda-duhs, though! This jaunt costs $50 per adult and 30 for a kid.
Massage: I have a thing for massages. No, I don’t care about the masseur! After Ayurvedic (for medical and pleasure reasons) and general feel-good-Indian massages, Egyptian massages felt different. While Ayurvedic massages forced the pains away, our general massages make you feel like Gulliver, with Liliputians running a fast paced marathon on your back, especially if you are large torso-ed. At Egypt, they are in no hurry, have excellent aromatic oils and have non-calloused hands. Believe me, you realize what it means when they say ‘floating on clouds’. No hash, no booze, no sex, just a great and leisurely, but thorough massage with soothing music in the air and a warm towel covering you. Even now, it gets me all sleepy and relaxed! It costs between $ 20-40, depending on your oral (bargain) skills! We tried 3 of the 4 items they had on offer, and were left guiltless and all Wow!
Crux: If I had my way again, I would go to the same hotel and stay 2 weeks without stepping out of Hurghada. The hotel has everything you need. Freebies like pools, clean and long beach, food, drink, skin (!), kids’ programmes, sports, horse & camel rides, gym, mini golf, replicas of key Egyptian monuments (where a light and sound show is held at night, with some dances as well as horse-back daredevilry). Paid services are the massage, hookah joint with live music, tattoo art, & a museum of Egyptian history, apart from the 20-odd shops selling all kinds of souvenirs and antiques. Prices at all these are fixed, for bargaining! 50% cuts on declared rock-bottoms are common!
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