Dahab

It was a pretty last minute decision really. I had enrolled in a six day night course, "the Art of Living" from the first to the sixth of March, which ended on a Friday night. The course itself was an out there hippy course centered around breathing, self-awareness, and meditation, and from it I gained much more relaxation, clarity of mind, and a much better appreciation for the "now" of things. So when Ceci told me she was going to Dahab until Monday, leaving Friday (an hour after the end of my course), I hopped on East Delta bus with her and her cousin and met up with three others. Thank you Prophet Mohamed for having a birthday going by the lunar schedule the surprises us with a four (rather than 3) day weekend. 

In the end, I only slept in Dahab one night, and stayed for two full days, (I left early with some others in our group, saving climbing Mount Sinai for another time) but I can full-heartedly say that Dahab is a place that I will absolutely come back to. The snorkeling yesterday at the blue hole was the coolest thing I have ever seen in the water, and scratching the tip of the iceberg of how much there is to see in these incredible reefs; 20 different types of colorful fish, the nooks and crannies of the reef, with fish darting around the holes, the precipice into the clear clear blue sea... 

I wrote a lot, here are some of my entries

"Dahab. The wind blowing from Saudi Arabia. Fog on the horizon. Yesterday we landed at 8 from a midnight bus ride. An immediate escape, backed by mountains, warm, strikingly clear waters. We biked South to a point, snorkeled at the blue lagoon. The teal blue rock with small bushes for darting striped fish, some sleeping by facing the strong current. A night of drunk promenades, snagged some ice cream on the way back after winning both games in pool (a surprise) before a pizza to end it. It's a place I know I will come back to. The chill vibes, the good people. A life of relaxation. For 30 pounds there is transport up to the blue hole, along with snorkeling gear. But I have to finish my coconut milkshake first." 

(The first thing I wrote)

"Written with a pen from Commerce bank

Kittens on my food, escape the Cairo stank

Saudi Arabia starin back at me

building broken glass from the Dahab Red Sea

Sinai in the future, moses in the past

Desert mountains part the sea, the present that will last

Whatever will? Let it be.

It's the music and the muses that will set us free.

Religion to confuse it,

Extremes to abuse it,

However you choose it,

There's always a way to lose it.

Positively, there's the heavy trodden path.

Good people and the life who are never looking back.

(at this point a dude who booked tours at our hotel came over, which prompted this..)

Ya momo, ente raggal kwayyis

Bil A3ribee, ente sau3bee mish rayyis.

Zahma kiteer fi'l Qahirah

Lakin fee Dahab, mafish mishkila

(hey Mohamed, you are a good man

in Arabic, you're my friend not the waiter

There's a lot of traffic in Cairo,

but in Dahab, there is no problem!)

Saudi Arabia on the Horizon

Taken from hotel Jasmine, the mountains behind us.