Thursday, March 9, 2023

egypt (luxor + hurghada)

10 days in egypt => luxor, hurghada (makadi bay), adult hotel makadi spa, ... btw, what does an adult hotel mean? well, it is a quiet place for elderly guests similar to a nursing home, i learned πŸ˜„


what about few somehow shoking and/or interesting experiences? 
  • the hotel & service staff was NOT allowed to swim in the sea and to go & enjoy the (tourists') beach => so sad 😭
  • the corrupt and selfish police mocks and terrorizes the people: just one example: we have had to wait 30 minutes longer till the 'godlike' police officers finally opened the road from the coast to luxor in the morning. fuck them! why cannot they open the road on time and let other people do their business? only because their salaries provided by the state does not depend on any achievements aka output? egyptians hate their police & military. what a tinderbox (pulverfass), if you asked me ... the result for us? our 20 people tourists group missed the visit to a banana plantation + crocodile farm + small ZOO at an island inside the nile river. the result for egyptian business? many eygyptians missed their opportunity to earn some money (boat drivers, travel guide, farm owners, refreshments & souvenir sellers, ... ) => so sad again 😭
  • unemployment + the poor salaries + tips all over the business life =>  ... coming soon or never
  • crazy currency devalvation + consequent consumer price inflation in the last 4-6 months before our arrival
1 EUR was below 20 EGP in november 2022 and 4 months later in march
already 33 EGP => 65% devalvation against the weak euro in 4 months πŸ˜“
  • sahara desert => ... coming soon or never
  • beduins => ... coming soon or never
  • demographic growth:
        in the time of pharaos => approx 2.5 million people
        1800  =>   2.5 million
        1900  => 12.5 million
        the recent years? just see the table below. with a growth rate of 2.4% a year there are
        almost 110 million egyptians today. quite a jump up in the recent 60 years, wouldnt you
        say? the next tinderbox / powder barrel (pulverfass), if you asked me ...
demographic growth. source: wikipedia
  • rural egypt: mr. donkey meets prof. tractor and wins many times. why? through the demographic growth are the fields often that small that you can't work with machinery there ...
  • the nile river => assuan dam changed the flooding agriculture to all-year-water-obtainable agriculture => the nutritious mud which was available to farmers for millennia stays for 40-50 years in assuan ... there is sooo much water which evaporates in all that artificial dams down the road, too ... on top, by some strange treaty by the english belong about 80%-90% of nile's water to egypt and sudan. foolishly comes approx. 90% of nile's water (through the white nile + blue nile rivers) from the other 8 nile adjacent countries like ethiopia, burundi, south sudan, DRC, tanzania, kenya, uganda .... these countries probably also want / need part of the water and will build dams for themselves ... what a tinderbox (pulverfass) again! read more about the nile water treaties on wikipedia here
  • pharaohs (pharaos) + their plundered graves (by the priests?) in the valley of the kings, luxor => ... coming soon or never
  • sun + water + coral reefs in makadi bay => ... coming soon or never
  • great massage every 2 days at the beach in front of our hotel 
  • any SPECIAL BONUS? the siwa oasis + desert fox photographed by my youngest daugter 2 weeks after our stay
  • etc.

i'm not sure i'll find the time to upload / sort / edit and comment my own pictures. so enjoy here few of my wife's pictures, will you? πŸ˜„
adult only hotel makadi spa, hurghada
our room & terrace were gigantic. why? we've booked our stay much too late, so that
only few expensive rooms were still available πŸ˜‡πŸ˜ˆπŸ’šπŸ‹
our gigantic roof top terrace
sun rise 🌞
ten thousands of storks flying home to europe ...
adult only hotel makadi spa, hurghada
makadi bay - makadi beach
beduins trying to earn some money & food at the petrol station in the sahara desert
watering canal at luxor
mr. donkey
luxor temple
the luxor temple was connected to the nile few hundred years ago
two of us
we have to reach the other nile's riverside in order to continue to the valley of the kings
the thin green strip of fields which secures egypt's survival
alabaster factory
we have seen 3 plundered graves (by the priests?) in the valley of the kings
at the left (shadow ~ western ~ sunset ~ darkness) side of the nile river, luxor
back to makadi bay ...
what about our inflight magazine & (turkish?) videos watched at the airport? πŸ˜„
and here the bonus i've offered you above: my daughter's pictures from the north egypt, siwa oasis:
 the siwa oasis, northern egypt + 1 night spent in a desert camp
what a nice curious (or just hungry?) desert fox came to the camp 

more pictures (hopefully soon) here.