Dahab, Egypt is a relaxed beach community nestled in the rugged purple mountains of the northeast. Day or night, the drive in is spectacular. By day, camels roam the sandy valleys. By night, the moon and stars cast light on the rugged purple mountains creating sharp silouettes. It's a backpackers haven. In fact, many wanderers have moved there indefinately, and it's easy to see why. The prices are cheap. The activities are plentiful. The food is savory. And the salespeople are friendly.
This backpacker's ghetto is located on the Red Sea, southeast of the Suez Canal, en route from Cairo to Israel (less than 2 hours from the border towns of Taba and Eilat). From the beach, you can actually see across the sea to the mountains of Saudi Arabia. Because of its location, we ended up staying twice. The first time, we arrived by bus around midnight. A young man from the bus offered to take us to Seventh Heaven, a hostel where he worked. As we craweled into the planks in the back of his friend's jeep, I commented to Mark about how far we'd come. A few years ago, this kind of thing may have seemed sketchy, but now it was just every day life: meet a stranger in the middle of the night, hop into their vehicle with a second stranger, drive off into the dark unknown. I smiled. I probably wouldn't do this at home. I liked this lifestyle.
We arrived at Seventh Heaven and were shown a room. We asked if we should pay now. "No problem. You can pay in the morning." Two way trust. I loved it. The rooms were nothing special, white walls, two twin or full size beds with a nightstand in between, a door to the balcony, air conditioning, and a bathroom. At $16 a night, it was perfect. We liked that the staff was so friendly and warm. They were full of great recommendations: snorkel at the lighthouse, scuba Blue Hole, get a full body Egyptian massage, walk through a traditional Bedouin village, eat at the German Bakery, rent bikes, have fun and relax!
Mark was thrilled because Seventh Heaven had wireless internet. I skyped my college roommates. We ate $3.50 Egyptian breakfast complete with 2 falafel balls, a fried egg, beans, pita with tahini sauce, cucumber, tomato, and green pepper slices. For $18 we treated ourselves to a 4 course seaside supper of savory seabass, dessert, strawberry shisha, and pita bread dipped in 4 salads (taziti, tahini, babaganoush). It was delightful. We got $22 massages. I laid out in the sun. We swam with the harmless jelly fish. We snorkeled the colorful reef filled with puffers and tropical angel fish; we dove down to check out a cave filled with lion fish. It was spectacular. Scuba diving was only $25 (for a fun dive), but we opted out because we hadn't seen any great pictures, but after snorkeling we wished we had done a dive or two because the reef was so alive and colorful. There's this delightful feeling that happens when you dip your mask down into the water and the under water world comes into focus... it's magical.
After a few days, we left Dahab to see Israel and Jordan for a week. When we returned, the staff at Seventh Heaven ran to us with smiles on their faces and gave us big hugs. "Welcome back! Come in for tea and drinks!" We didn't even remember their names, but they were greeting us like old friends. It was wonderful and sweet, like coming home. The guys settled us in to a similar room (with a great return customer discount). We took another few days to relax and do a little souvineer shopping. We ate this little hole in the wall local restaurant with dynamite seafood soup for cheap (I think it was called Yummies; from Lighthouse Scuba/Snorkel Beach Entry, take the alleyway/street away from the beach one block and it's on the corner- it's like $2 for soup or $2-3 for shrimp or scallops on a bed of rice with a side salad and tahini sauce). Anyway, we just loved Dahab, and it's developing quickly, so if you want to enjoy it as a backpacker, get goin' already, because in 10 years, it's going to be developed for resorts, and you'll probably have a heck of a time getting by for so cheap.
This backpacker's ghetto is located on the Red Sea, southeast of the Suez Canal, en route from Cairo to Israel (less than 2 hours from the border towns of Taba and Eilat). From the beach, you can actually see across the sea to the mountains of Saudi Arabia. Because of its location, we ended up staying twice. The first time, we arrived by bus around midnight. A young man from the bus offered to take us to Seventh Heaven, a hostel where he worked. As we craweled into the planks in the back of his friend's jeep, I commented to Mark about how far we'd come. A few years ago, this kind of thing may have seemed sketchy, but now it was just every day life: meet a stranger in the middle of the night, hop into their vehicle with a second stranger, drive off into the dark unknown. I smiled. I probably wouldn't do this at home. I liked this lifestyle.
We arrived at Seventh Heaven and were shown a room. We asked if we should pay now. "No problem. You can pay in the morning." Two way trust. I loved it. The rooms were nothing special, white walls, two twin or full size beds with a nightstand in between, a door to the balcony, air conditioning, and a bathroom. At $16 a night, it was perfect. We liked that the staff was so friendly and warm. They were full of great recommendations: snorkel at the lighthouse, scuba Blue Hole, get a full body Egyptian massage, walk through a traditional Bedouin village, eat at the German Bakery, rent bikes, have fun and relax!
Mark was thrilled because Seventh Heaven had wireless internet. I skyped my college roommates. We ate $3.50 Egyptian breakfast complete with 2 falafel balls, a fried egg, beans, pita with tahini sauce, cucumber, tomato, and green pepper slices. For $18 we treated ourselves to a 4 course seaside supper of savory seabass, dessert, strawberry shisha, and pita bread dipped in 4 salads (taziti, tahini, babaganoush). It was delightful. We got $22 massages. I laid out in the sun. We swam with the harmless jelly fish. We snorkeled the colorful reef filled with puffers and tropical angel fish; we dove down to check out a cave filled with lion fish. It was spectacular. Scuba diving was only $25 (for a fun dive), but we opted out because we hadn't seen any great pictures, but after snorkeling we wished we had done a dive or two because the reef was so alive and colorful. There's this delightful feeling that happens when you dip your mask down into the water and the under water world comes into focus... it's magical.
After a few days, we left Dahab to see Israel and Jordan for a week. When we returned, the staff at Seventh Heaven ran to us with smiles on their faces and gave us big hugs. "Welcome back! Come in for tea and drinks!" We didn't even remember their names, but they were greeting us like old friends. It was wonderful and sweet, like coming home. The guys settled us in to a similar room (with a great return customer discount). We took another few days to relax and do a little souvineer shopping. We ate this little hole in the wall local restaurant with dynamite seafood soup for cheap (I think it was called Yummies; from Lighthouse Scuba/Snorkel Beach Entry, take the alleyway/street away from the beach one block and it's on the corner- it's like $2 for soup or $2-3 for shrimp or scallops on a bed of rice with a side salad and tahini sauce). Anyway, we just loved Dahab, and it's developing quickly, so if you want to enjoy it as a backpacker, get goin' already, because in 10 years, it's going to be developed for resorts, and you'll probably have a heck of a time getting by for so cheap.
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