RED SEA ADVENTURE: EXCERPT Chapter 2 TWMH

This is a taster of Chapter 2-- Red Sea Adventure-- from my new book Travels with My Hat.  Seeking winter sunshine, I had gone back to Hurghada, a small  fishing village with one hotel in 1964. I wondered if it was still there...

...‘I want to find the Funduq Sheraton,’ I told my taxi-driver, a young man wearing designer stubble and a David Beckham 7 football shirt.

 ‘Road closed.’ His brow knitted in the rear vision mirror.

‘Izmi Hurghada thirty years ago!’ I tapped my chest with a certain pride since I had clearly graced Hurghada before he was born. But he was right. The old road was blocked by a rusty, corrugated iron fence plastered with posters advertising an ‘Eid Concert’ at the Ministry of Sound and other extravaganzas for the imminent Muslim feast of sacrifice.

‘Funduq Sheraton!’ he suddenly exclaimed, pulling up beside a crumbling circular building surrounded by leaning lamp posts and dusty trees. Grey, shabby and clearly unloved, I recognised it as the old Red Sea Tours Hotel, a large Marriott which had risen beside it being one of 160 new hotels since my visit all those years ago.

Hurghada’s long main street was still known as Sharia Sheraton, even though a new Sheraton had re-located to Soma Bay, far away from bungee jumping, kite-surfing, glass-bottom boat rides, submarine tours and other entertainments for holidaymakers flocking to the popular Red Sea resort. Wherever I looked there were hotels, cafes and shops selling tourist tat, but a sign, Harrads Hurghada, captured my attention.

On the pavement outside, glass water pipes, brass trays, wooden animals, leather pouffes, and camel backpacks were displayed beside baskets of karkady—the  dried red hibiscus flowers that Egyptians make into tea. As I raised my camera to take a picture, an intense looking man who clearly hadn’t shaved for days, got up from a dirty white plastic chair. ‘Everything inside 1GBP,’ he said, holding up a finger.

Going into his shop, I picked up a fish from a display of onyx marine life. ‘Fish 4 GBP,’ he quickly corrected himself.  Removing the stopper, I sniffed one of the half-filled, urine-coloured flagons of perfume lining a shelf. ‘Perfume 10GBP for100 grams.’ He cleared his throat. Then all of a sudden he flew into a rage.

 ‘Tourist just lookin’. No buy anythin!’  Flecks of spit appeared in the corners of his mouth as he shouted.  ‘ Every tourist fuggin Russhin. Old woman wantin sex. Fuggin rubbish. Only lookin! Pay nothin! Russhin Fuggin! Fuggin! Fuggin! Oh Allah! What we do?’

 He clasped his hands together and concerned my presence might bring on a seizure, I left him shouting to continue my walk along the Sharia Sheraton.            

 Every second shop I passed was stuffed with souvenirs. In the window of a leather-ware store, a lizard skin handbag, including the head, half-chewed away by insects, was marked 145 Egyptian pounds. I wanted to buy a plain white T-shirt, but everything had either a shark or a pyramid on it…

                 

I NEVER TRAVEL WITHOUT:

My small pillow. You can`t buy one. They`re considered dangerous to infants. It`s a tiny pillow I took off a Philippine Airlines flight. With this soft little cushion, I can sleep anywhere. And have done so. In hotels when the pillows were hard as concrete. On a customs bench in Morocco. Deck class sailing down the Red Sea. It goes wherever I go. I`ve lost two on my travels. One left behind on a coach trip to Paris. A second blew into the Bay of Bengal, when I stood up from my deck chair to escape a tropical squall. I found replacements on other airlines. I don`t feel bad about taking 3 little pillows in a lifetime`s flying.

The second item I make sure is packed is my personal cake of soap in a plastic container. This is Roger & Gallet which comes in a variety of heavenly perfumes - tea-rose and gardenia are my favourites which bring a scent of home. Especially when the bathroom is horrid.

The third item I never forget is a pareo. Also known as a sarong, a kikoye or simply a cotton wrap. This is a patterned length of cotton material, worn to great effect in Polynesia. But also in East Africa, coastal India and Dhofar in Oman. The pareo, which I wore daily when working at the Club Mediterranee in Tahiti is a multi-purpose garment. It can be worn in a variety of different styles as a wrap; used as a towel after a shower or a swim, as a sheet, when the night is hot, or stuffed with ice and placed on your head for a hang-over.

Item number four is my swimming costume. I pack this as hand-luggage with my pillow and pareo so if stuck somewhere warm, I can always swim. On two occasions, once off a flight in Singapore, another double-booked in Bombay, I was the only passenger able to enjoy a dip.

Finally, I always pack a small bottle of scotch. This used to go in hand luggage but with the 100 mill rule, it now travels in my case. Whisky acts as a reviver when you reach your new hotel room. Or in event of drama on your travels. It can be drunk neat if you haven`t water and the Scots would say it doesn`t need ice. Delayed 36 hrs at Khartoum Airport, my small flacon of whisky kept body and soul together when the only alternative was tinned mango-juice.

Images: www.copix.co.uk

WEEKEND OF ADVENTURE

The Adventure Travel Exhibition held Jan 29-31 in London attracted just as many middle-aged people as it did young ones. Good on you! What are you up for? It was all represented: rock climbing, scuba-diving, sea kayaking, desert tours, ballooning, white water rafting, mountain treks, bungee jumping, hang gliding. And more.

A wonderful lift out of reality, the ATEX was well enjoyed and hopefully some bookings were made with the sun-tanned tour operators.

I managed to speak to quite a few, including Rock and Sun who specialise in climbs in Spain, Sardinia, Morocco and Thailand. Was I too old to start climbing? Not at all I was assured. `It`s easy when you get to grips with it.` Well yes, I thought, getting a grip...

Water by Nature showed great videos of white-water rafting on the Zambesi which I could say I had done. Wahoo!

Geoff Hann of Hinterland Travel was rather off-hand that I hadn`t been to Iraq since 1981 since he`s running tours there. A very comprehensive 17 day programme covers everything from the river-port of Basra to the ancient Arab city of Hatra, north-west of Baghdad. Six departures in 2010.

I particularly enjoyed a chat with James Wilcox who runs Untamed Borders, visiting the spectacular Northern Areas of Pakistan. As some will know, I am author of a book on this vibrant country, a personal favourite and deserving the attention of adventure travellers seeking something special and unspoilt.

What I also found interesting was information on international volunteering which requires no special skills. Putting something back into a community, by helping villagers better their living conditions, is one of the fastest growing sections of the adventure holiday industry. The Habitat for Humanity website, is listed with others below.

The show covered everything. Educational advice was available on malaria and tick-bite. There were equipment stands, bookstalls and a variety of speakers including Aussie travel writer Peter Moore and Mr Travel himself, Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet.


www.coralcay.org
www.untamedborders.com
www.rockandsun.com
www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
www.hinterlandtravel.com
www.nomadtravel.co.uk
www.traveltalktours.com
www.waterbynature.com
www.walksworldwide.com

c.Christine Osborne
Image: Canoeing on the Zambesi river
Image: Glacier walk, South Island of New Zealand
Source: www.copix.co.uk

JUST DESSERTS

Best holiday news this week comes from Crete where a 26 year old Greek woman has set fire to a man`s apparatus, putting him in hospital.

The drunken Briton is alleged to have exposed himself in a bar in the popular resort of Malia. Waving his penis at the woman, he tried to force her to fondle it prompting her to pour a glass of Sambucca (reputed for its high alcohol content) over it and set it alight.

Oh, well done! Serves him right. Women have been used and humiliated since the dawn of creation so lets hope this incident teaches all such jerks a lesson.

Mind you, I don`t think Malia does itself any favours in granting liquor licenses to 63 bars and more than 18 nightclubs.

But it is totally unacceptable when residents are unable to leave their homes on a warm evening for fear of lager louts, and the danger of being run over by quad bikes.

Yobbish behaviour not only spoils the picture of Crete as a whole. It soils the reputation of the thousands of decent British holidaymakers enjoying trouble free summer breaks in other Mediterranean resorts.

Local anger has finally prompted island police to crack down on nocturnal goings-on in the former fishing village. Hopefully a sensible judge, on hearing the evidence, will not penalise this young Greek woman who did what others may only dream of doing.

c.Christine Osborne

Image: Ethnic carving from Sierre Leone

Source: www.copix.co.uk

HOME EXCHANGE ON THE RISE

Are you one of the few to have not yet done a house swap? In the first two weeks of registering on the Dutch site www.homeforexchange.com I received twelve enquiries from people wanting to exchange their place with my maisonette in central London.

Emails came from `home exchangers` in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Australia, France, Spain, Sardinia, Italy, USA and Poland. It became a worldwide cyber swirl. Each new message revealed a lovely home, some with a pool, many including the use of a car, all promising to look after my place like their own.

I have long believed that home exchange was the way forward. Who wants to stay in an expensive hotel with loads of noisy holidaymakers? And the economic downturn has meant a surge of interest in exchange websites.

Ans Lammer, who has a sales background and a husband specialising in software development, decided the time was right to launch `homeforexchange` which counts 11,500 members - rising by 200 daily - from 85 countries.

40% cent are retired couples, but many academics want to exchange for study purposes. All are middle class, mainly professional. Not a yob among them.

`Bad experiences’ usually relate to miscommunication, or misinterpretation, says Ans, who endeavours to act as mediator in the rare event of a complaint.

Some people become friends. Like Robin, in New Zealand, who told me where his fishing rods are kept: and what bait I should use in the river near his home.

But some are also curious requests. A 19 year old girl seeking to swap a small flat in Croatia, wanted to know if she could bring her parrot with her..

Perhaps the reason why more people don’t consider an exchange holiday, is worry that guests will ruin their home. Registering with `accommodation insurance` goes some way to removing this concern. But naturally, personal items should be locked away.

`We plan a trip to London in springtime of 2010. Would you be interested in Budapest? Our flat is a second home, new and it is in the heart of the city. You could come at any time` is a typical exchange enquiry which arrived while I was writing this.

c.Christine Osborne

Image: House by the sea in Majorca.

Source: www.copix.co.uk

DO YOU WRITE TO TRAVEL OR TRAVEL TO WRITE?

OR DO YOU WRITE BECAUSE YOU TRAVEL?

There`s been much recent discussion about travel writing and who is a professional travel writer, as opposed to a backpacker and/or a holidaymaker, writing about their travel experience.

It`s genuinely impossible for a guidebook writer to stay in every single hotel, so apart from writing that it overlooks a beach/garden/parking-lot, and that it costs xxx per room, he knows nothing of the reality of actually staying there: whether reception was surly/welcoming, towels changed daily/never, food brilliant/awful etc.

When I was writing travel guides, I made it a point of inspecting every single hotel I mentioned.

My routine was to ask to see a standard room where I always did five things: flush the loo, pump the bed, check the lights, available hanging space and door lock. But whatever I wrote, it could never equate with the experience of someone who had personally stayed there.

Which is why though I may still read a guide-book for other advice, I refer to hotel reviews, written by guests, on internet sites such as Trip Advisor.

It has nothing to do with whether, or not they`re professional travel writers, and all to do with their experience. Clearly, a professional writer may have more knowledge, but in simple terms of what the average person needs/hopes for on a holiday, the opinion of other travellers, is the more valid of the two.

c.Christine Osborne: author guides on Thailand, Malaysia, Seychelles, Morocco, Bali.

Image: Marriott Hotel, Cairo, Egypt

Source: copix.co.uk