Relaxing in Egypt

Between the pollution, noise and congestion (both traffic and people) one encounters daily in Cairo getting away on the weekend is essential to maintain sanity. My husband and I have accumulated several getaway chalets (small apartments) located on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Today we are at our place in Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea. We are on the fourth floor of a small apartment complex; the top floor of this complex. Our balconey faces the Red Sea. There are several ships anchored awaiting permission to transit the Suez Canal. Our favorite pastime is to use our spotting scope and binoculars to see the names of the ships, watch them move towards or away from the canal entrance and just check out the goings on of the community around us. In front of our building are the two-story villas so our view to the water is unimpeded by buildings. To our right is the mountain Ita'a. Straight ahead is the peninsula of Sinai. On clear days we can see Moses Wells palm trees and the town of Ras Sudr. To our left are more waterfront communities similar to ours.
We like to pack some food into a soft thermal container and just a few clothes to come here. Our apartment is a little over 600 square feet. We have a small kitchen with a two-burner butagas stove, one sink, a small refrigerator, television with satellite hookup, a window a/c unit, a small bathroom with a shower and a view that is priceless from the balconey. The furniture came with the place when we purchased it in 2006. Nothing fancy but very comfortable. We have a ceiling fan in the living room and floor fans to help keep the air moving around. Early summer is a great time to be here because the humidity is low now. In July going until October the humidity will be very high. One drawback to this area are the mosquitoes. But then I haven't been anywhere in Egypt that does not have mosquitoes, flies and various other insects that are annoying. We have several pesticide sprays handy for days when the mosquitoes are more friendly. My husband always sprays the apartment before we leave so any cockroaches that visit don't leave to tell their friends.
The color of the water is a mix of light blue, sea green to dark blue. The beach is white, soft sand that stretches well out into the water. The water is shallow several yards out. When the tide is out you can walk almost a half mile out in knee deep water. The community here is relaxed so wearing a bikini is not shocking. You will see women in full gallibaya sitting under an umbrella. Some will get into the water. Some women are dressed in black gallibayas with their faces completely covered. The men on the other hand wear boxer style swim trunks or speedos. Children do not fall under any dresscodes so they are in what we would consider normal swimwear. I like to sit in my canvas chair with a bottle of ice water and just watch the ships. There is a private beach to the left of us owned by one of the industrial plants near by. They frequently bus in their employees to frolick at the beach with LOUD music. We don't need to play music as we could not hear it anyway.
Across the highway are several businesses that cater to the beach community. There is a small grocery store owned by a Coptic (Christian) family. We get bottled water, milk, eggs, cheese and other essentials there. They have Mau cats that live around their store. True desert Mau cats are grey with black spots and large ears. We love to watch the kittens frolicking about in and around the store. The family greets us warmly as we are regulars there. Another business is the fish restaurant that is busy every day. They have coolers with ice and freshly caught whole fish on display for us to choose our meal. They will grill or fry the fish and provide freshly baked pita bread with salads of babaghanough, tahini or pickled eggplants stuffed with garlic.
If you want something more American to eat about an hour drive down the Africa side of the Red Sea is a place called Porto Sokhna. There is a Johnny Carino's, a Chili's along with other restaurants you can enjoy a nice meal. It's spendy though. Plan to spend about $20-40 for a meal for two. Closer to us is a Pizza Hut and a KFC. We generally make our own food but enjoy the option of eating out once in awhile.
Our place in Sinai at Ras Sudr is a little more remote. It is a large development of individual buildings. We are located about a mile back from the beach. The development has a hotel with a restaurant that is open once in awhile. The town of Ras Sudr is a 20 minute drive down the highway. In Ras Sudr are several small grocery stores, one liquor store and several restaurants. We have eaten at a few of the restaurants. There are two really good fish restaurants, one pizza place and a couple of kabob places. One kabob place we will not eat at as the day we were perusing the choices we saw the cook picking his nose at the front door. Yuck! Egypt does not have a real strong health department - there is one but enforcement is not their strong suit. So eating out is risky. Again, we mostly prepare our own food. The beach at Ras Sudr is soft, white sand that stretches way out into the water. And it is windy all the time. Further down to the south of us is the MoonBeach resort; world famous for wind surfing. The resort caters to British and other expats from Cairo. It is beautiful, clean and full of fun people. Much farther to the south is Sharm El Sheik (about 3-4 hours drive). This is the diving location for most divers in Egypt and Europe. It is very commericialized and expensive. We prefer to visit our own places.
We have a wireless modem for our laptop. I can check email from anywhere in Egypt as it uses cell towers to connect. We pay about $20 per month for this service. The speed is only 57 (like dialup) but at least it is a connection. While I check email I am watching Rachael Ray on the Fatafeat channel. This channel is similar to the Food channel in the states. It has Rachael Ray, Emeril, Ina Garten, Iron Chefs now and then, Martha Stewart, Giada Laurent..., some kitchen and house makeover programs and of course Arabic chefs. The other channels include MBC 2 (movies), MBC 4 (CBS Early Morning News, GMA, Primetime, Meet the Press, all broadcast the next day) Friends, Charmed, Grey's Anatomy and other series. MBC Action has NCIS, Bones, CSI Miami, CSI, action movies. Dubai One has a variety of movies and series such as Boston Legal, House. For other news I have CNN, BBC, France 24, Euronews and AlJazeera International to keep up with world events. The only thing I am missing is a channel with local news in English. I read the EgyptDaily newspaper for local news.
Back to our place in Ain Sokhna. Most of the day there is a breeze that will lull you to sleep. We find ourselves napping a lot here. And as with all old buildings we frequently (almost every weekend) have to get a plumber or electrician to fix something. This weekend we have a flooded bathroom. The main is leaking. One of our smaller problems we've experienced here. Time to pack up to return to Cairo now. An hour and 15 minutes drive and we will be back in the big city trying to hold onto the sense of relaxation from Ain Sokhna for as long as possible.