Long Weekend in Sharm El-Sheikh

Thanks to the Sham El-Nessim public holiday on Monday, I had a opportunity to bring my family to Sharm El-Sheikh for a relaxing long weekend.  As I have mentioned in my earlier posting on my recent car accident, I changed my mind about taking the 6-hour drive to Sharm.  But because of the peak Coptic Easter Sunday, most of the flights to Sharm on Friday and back to Cairo on Monday, were fully booked.  In the end, I had to settle for the early morning flights to avoid the long and tiring road trip.

We took the first Egypt Air flight to Sharm on Friday departing Cairo at 0510hrs.  The packing was done the night before to avoid last-minute rush but we still forgot to bring a number of things we intended like the stroller.  From hindsight, it was probably better for us not to bring it as it would be a hassle lugging it around Sharm.  We reached the airport at about 0345hrs and there was already a long queue.  Our tour agent, Mohamed El-Banna, from Jet Sky Travel was there to see us off.  I am grateful to Mohamed for helping us secured the flights and being there at the airport at such an unearthly hour to make sure we were checked in.

Our boy did not give us much trouble for the early morning rush and loss of sleep time.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Perhaps he was cooperative because he knew we were going on vacation.  Anyway, we arrived in Sharm at about 0630hrs after an hour's flight.  The guy who was supposed to ferry us to the resort did not turn up.  But we have no problem taking a taxi on our to Kiroseiz Three Corners Resort.

Kiroseiz is located a few kilometres away from the Naa'ma Bay and is a family-themed resort.  That was why Mohamed recommended the resort to us.  It's quite a good resort but there are certainly room for improvement.  As all the rooms were occupied, we had to wait till after lunch to check-in.  The wait was tiring though we took the opportunity to explore the resort ground.  The room was okay.  The sound-proofing was

 not very good and the beds shifted easily on the tiled floor.  But the room was clean and tidy.

It was a free and easy vacation for us and we did not do much planning beforehand.  We were late in joining the city tour organised by the resort on day one but we managed to find our own way to Naa'ma Bay dining/shopping belt for dinner.  We did some shopping and bought a camel fur rug, two pairs of shades and Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts.  The sun was very strong and we really need the shades... nevermind the price.  Over the next two days, we went on the United Submarine's Aquascope to tour the coral reef, spent some time at the two private beaches of Kiroseiz and joined the Bedouin Night dinner in the desert mountain area where we had tasty grilled chicken and watch belly dancing by the top belly dancer in Sharm El-Sheikh - a man named Mr Vijay.  He is really good!

Good times passed in a blink of eye!  Once again, we had to wake up very early in the morning to catch the first flight back to Cairo.

  I must say our boy enjoyed the short vacation very much.  I too find the trip very relaxing.  Sharm is really very different from Cairo.  It's clean, well-planned and the roads are wide.  Even during the peak season, it was not too crowded.  It's a pity Sharm is rather far or we will be able to visit more often.  We also did not have the time to tour the other tourist spots in Sinai like St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, Dahab, Nuweiba, Ras Mohamed National Park etc. etc.  I guess we will have to plan other trips to those places.

Go to my photo album for more photos taken during the trip.  I have also uploaded a video clip in my YouTube channel.