Hurghada: A Blog Of Thousand And One Nights

Hurghada greets me with a pleasantly calm day – which, by local standards means abundant sunshine with temperatures of 22-28 degrees Celsius and blazing winds that within their force try and fail to diminsh the effect of sun and hot sand. Forecasts predict a steady 30 degree temperature without clouds in this magnificient city where, according to Virtual Tourist, rain hasn't fallen since 1996.

Before we move on, an interesting flight observation: at 5.00 AM we boarded Latcharter flight from Riga to Hurghada, proudly provided in co-operation with Latvia's largest tour operator Tez-Tour whose mother company is based in Turkey.

A day before departure I was reading the March edition of free tourist monthly distributed to my knowledge only in McDonald's where someone desribed “crazy Latvian babushka” behaviour in airlines. The author was surprised everyone clapping their hands upon happy landing and rushing towards exits even before aircraft came to a full stop in the airport. “Latvians and airlines – what's the story?” the author finished his article with a surprised question. I will not name the newspaper, just go this month to McDonald's Luna next to the Monument of Freedom in Riga to read it yourself. I wondered if the story was true exactly for 24 hours, since a day later I witnessed the exact clapping-rushing story in my first chartered flight with passengers exclusively from Latvia – a motley crowd of “babushkas”, ladies, men and children. Even more, I was so eager to jump and rush towards the exit, I skipped clapping hands to reward pilot for his happy landing. And what else could you expect after a sleepless preparation night and disturbed flight sleep with too many children – most of them 4 to 7 year old – screaming and running around the aircraft. When we grew up, children's vacation consisted of going to grandma's to do field work.

Hurghada, the tourist center of Red Sea region, proudly manifests it's national color already while I'm airbourne. And as you already guessed, the color is brownish yellow – with vast sand fields, sand color buildings and booming construction sites of more yellow buildings everywhere. The main accent is set on the amount of buildings, most of whom sport glassless windows. And with temperatures like these, one might suppose there's no need for buildings themselves, even less so windows.

Clearing through the multiple customs queues is less troublesome than advertised. The security is almost non-existant, built on trust in tour company's skill in selecting travellers by setting the travel charge. I pay a fee of 15 USD to a bank employee for put some stamps in my passport, which are later sealed by a customs officer who collects the two vouchers for arrival I filled out in aircraft before landing, stating my name and business in this country. One voucher goes to his archives and he tears the other one apart with a broad smile on his face.

Vigorous preparation during the last days before departure make transfer to Titanic Aqua Park a blast.
- You can leave the bag here while you check in, - the first hotel clerk I meet tries to get ahold of my bags.
- No worries, I'm fine, - I resist, gripping the bags even tighter. - I need the exercise.
Ethnic differences between my home country and Egypt are too great to be explained in great detail within this article, nevertheless my memories of Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress I read as a child (instead of traveling chartered flights, by the way) warns of two distinct characteristics: the notion of baksheesh and it's more advanced concept of doing insignificant services with an artistically exaggerated effort aiming for significant reward. For example, the clerk could take your bags to your room for, say 10 bucks, if you're in a good mood. He can open the door, for say, 5 dollars. His smile could be priced lower, say a couple of bucks.
Thus I'm prepared to exclude every possible hint towards paying money from all future communication, nevertheless I note another observation: everyone here smiles, is generally happy and is pleased to answer “yes” to any of your questions and inquiries, as well as promising to deliver stars from the skies in an instant. The fulfilling of promises and actually doing something is where the circle breaks too often.
It's getting late – or, more likely, early. Let's see what tomorrow will bring.