Lena and I just returned from our summer holiday in the Sinai peninsula. We spent more than a week doing mostly nothing except reading, eating, snorkeling (well, Lena did more than I did), and hanging out in the desert.
In the last few years, the southeastern coast of the Sinai has been built up as a big resort area. It's not fit for anyone or anything to live there so fresh water has to be pumped in, palm trees have to 
be watered to stay alive (it rains about 1-2 times per year on the Sinai) and there are periodic power outages. The water runs brown in the hotel rooms for a while before it clears up and it’s highly likely that you will suffer from some kind of stomach ailment while there. But people are flooding there because it’s cheap compared to anywhere in Europe, you don’t have to worry about bad weather spoiling your trip, and possibly it’s the best diving and snorkeling in the world. The water is unbelievably clear, the reefs are enormous, and there are more than 1,000 kinds of tropical fish. And they are no more than 30 feet from most hotel beaches.
We had a good time there. But traveling always involves some little frustrations, especially traveling into a new culture—where it seems the unexpected becomes the norm. Last year, on departure from a little town in western Turkey, we were stuck in a small airport with nothing to eat or drink and the prices were astronomical. This year, to avoid the airport rip-off, I planned ahead and filled a big Diet Pepsi bottle with the hotel’s pseudo “orange juice” and packed it in our bags. We had to check out at 12.00 but didn’t leave till 6.00, but the hotel promised to store our bags until we left. They stored them on the curb in the direct sunlight. Lena’s chocolate bar liquefied and my bottle of orange drink swell and became sealed. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the crazy bottle open. So there we were, stuck in another expensive tourist airport. Several places were selling cans of Diet Pepsi for more than $3 each. I finally found a can of warm Coke in the duty free shop for $1. So I broke down and bought one to momentarily slake my thirst. Fortunately for me, since the chartered plane didn’t want to bother with turning on the air conditioning.
We are back in Kyiv and back in the swing of things. Actually, it seems these few days we are just swamped with work—another UEC newsletter, UEC loose ends, putting out some small church fires, planning for the coming semester, and in the middle of all, trying to hear God’s voice.
be watered to stay alive (it rains about 1-2 times per year on the Sinai) and there are periodic power outages. The water runs brown in the hotel rooms for a while before it clears up and it’s highly likely that you will suffer from some kind of stomach ailment while there. But people are flooding there because it’s cheap compared to anywhere in 
1 Comments:
Thanks for filling us in. We were just in Mexico and were stuck with similar beverage dillema. We were advised not to drink water or have ice in restaurants or we would likely have disruptive degestive problems. So I had to order one can of soda for $2 -- no refills. It got really old after a week. If I weren't pregnant I would definately drink the water. But as it is we even brushed our teeth with boiled water (we had a kitchen).
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