September 25 - Sharm-El-Sheikh: I'm sweaty.... but lovin' it.

I've landed in Egypt, and boy, is it hot in the middle of the day. It's already 100 degrees (and I just found where I'm going next is going to be about 110).

Getting here was interesting enough. We landed, I bought my visa at the airport (it's a very pretty sticker), and proceeded on to try to find my luggage. Somehow, my sleepsack managed to disappear during the flight. Strange. Everything went fine except that in my hurry to avoid the attention of the border patrol, I forgot to get some cash.

Enter: mini-adventure. :) I asked a security guard where I could get cash, and apparently there is no place once you've left arrivals, but he hooked me up with a taxi driver. The driver SAID he knew where my hotel was, but turns out... he didn't. That just meant I got an awesome tour of Sharm while we looked for a cash machine (One we stopped at - the bank owner told me it was empty and to go elsewhere) and the hotel. Eventually, after 3 or 4 security crossing and a few phone calls, we made it.

As it turns out, I got a really sweeet deal. I payed 18 euro instead of 50, and so I didn't expect a private room with fancy towels, and a gorgeous balcony... with rooftop terrace, private restaurant, catered breakfast - you get the idea. It's pretty cushy here. It's kind of funny though to see goofy old (OLD) British guys walking around in Speedos though... "where can I play crick-ket?"

I was pretty exhausted so I just took a quick walk around to see all of the live music and Sufi dancing before hitting the hay for the night. This morning, I took the opportunity to go wading in the sea. It is so clear that I can see all of the beautiful rainbow fish just swimming around my feet. It was unbelievable! Like, surreal. Nemo's alive! (And so am I!)