There was a fee to get into the beach property. Though it was part of a nice hotel, the toll “booth” was just a man sitting on a lawn chair, chatting with the owners of the the obligatory shops selling trinkets, souvenirs, clubbing clothes and hookahs, leading up to the gate. No sign, no uniform. Am I just way too used to all the signage in Japan and the US? Oh Hurghada.
We had to walk along a half paved street to get to the beach, and saw this run-down amusement park from a couple decades ago. Good thing it was light out; I can just imagine how eerie this may look at dusk. (We later learned that it’s actually in working order and our friends went on the rides later that night. They all survived. It was a miracle.)
Since people from our group were already there, we just shared their beach chair and umbrella to avoid paying for one ourselves. They were on their way out, so it was perfect timing. We sat down in the shade of the umbrella to eat our falafels when… a camel came strolling on the beach. That’s right. A camel.
We thought that the owner of the camel might come by, offering camel rides, but he just plunked down, right next to his beast, and enjoyed some beach time himself. An Egyptian father pushed his children closer to the camel and proudly took picture after picture of his kids standing next to the camel, sitting on top of the camel, petting the camel, etc, etc. It was then that he spotted something even more interesting, even more exotic than a camel.… us. We had to pose for a multiple pictures, especially my friends who were still in their swimsuits. The poor little kids looked about as confused as we were to be posing for the 20th shot.
There were people of varying nationalities and varying states of clothing. Some women were in bikinis while some wore more conservative swimsuits while other went into the water fully clothed. I can only imagine how heavy their clothes must have been when completely soaked. One such woman caught us on the beach and kept shoving her cell phone in our ears, asking us to speak to the person on the other end of the line. We started off wearily talking in English, to which she shook her head, so we would switch to Japanese, to which she would happily nod a very pleased smile our way. I still have no idea what the purpose of this exercise was, and again it appeared the confuse the people on the other end of the line as much as it confused us.
She kept trying to sneak shots of my friends in their bathing suits, particularly focusing on the bikini top area, but settled on taking pictures with us when we called her out on it.
Obviously we had to get one too. (Photo courtesy of Elena Murato)
After we’d had enough swimming, sunning and having our photos taken, we headed out to find some more adventures, passing this awesome aqua center on the way.
(Hilary of the NomadGrad, please note our favorite tweeter.)
What interesting beaches have you visited?
I HAVE TO SAY: I LOVE the colors!
Thanks! I loved the colors here as well. Muted in the way that matches the surrounding desert so well
Oh, gosh that beach looks so fun… I mean, deserted amusement parks, camels, crazy people making you speak Japanese on cell phones… lol!
Yeah, that camel just kills me.
Egypt just kept throwing us curve balls.
It was kind of tiring then, but definitely an experience to remember!
Camels are so ridiculous. Right next to alpacas and sloths!
That camel is too cool.
I hope to be even half as cool as him someday.
What a crazy beach experience! Between the decrepit carnival, a camel, and the shutter-happy stranger, you guys certainly racked up a lot of memories!
Haha! That pretty much sums it up!
It was definitely an unforgettable experience
The water is such a pretty color! And can’t say I’ve ever seen a camel on the beach!
It was really warm, too. But SUPER salty. One accidental drop of water in my eye convinced me that I was never going to be able to see out of it again.
Me either! I have such a strong association of it with the desert. He loved it, though. And really, who doesn’t love a little beach time?
Sweet pics! Did you go diving/snorkeling there? I heard the reefs are just amazing in the area.
jill recently posted..Chasing Lava Flow in Big Island, Hawaii
Thanks! I kind of wish I had- some of the passengers who went on a snorkeling tour said it was amazing, though I did enjoy all the snacks (and wifi) we found on land.
Crazyland does seem like a theme park you’d find in a thriller or horror movie… it looks so abandoned and overgrown. When the camel came into the picture I did think its keeper would begin charging, so it was a surprise to read that he didn’t! The Red Sea looks so inviting too…
Yup… hence why I only took a few shots from the outside. I’m too much of a scaredy-cat to even watch a preview of a horror movie; definitely not interested in living one
Though I do have to say that if I was a better photographer, I could have taken some amazing “urban decay” photos.
Right?? Apparently he was just happy to be at the Red Sea.
I really wish we’d had more time here. I definitely would have gone at least snorkeling if we had been here for 2 days.
Though let me clarify that I would not like to relive the taxi ride it took to get to Hurghada from Safaga…