Leaving Sharm March 20

After some leisure time and breakfast it was time to return to Port Faoud. The time here was wonderful because we were with the whole family, Ezzat, Susan, Nardeen, and Ephraim, enjoying the beach and the excellent company. The drive back was just as long as the drive down but somehow didn't seem that way. We took a number of breaks on the way back that we didn't on the way down.

We stopped at a hot spring that ran into the Red Sea. I have no idea what the name of the area was but the water was coming to the surface at the base of a "mountain" and it was hot enough to burn your feet when you stepped in it. There were certainly plenty of people there. When we arrrived there were at least three buses there. All were full of tourists, one had Japanese people, one Canadian, and another from Eastern Europe. All were facinated by the hot springs. Of course they were not comparable to Laird in British Columbia or to Circle Hot Springs or Manley Hot Springs in Alaska but it was an interesting place. There a couple of entrances into the hill where I was told the water comes from but since I didn't have flashlight I didn't venture into the caverns. There was the skeleton of a resort that was begun and then looks like it was abandoned just off the road in this area. Guess the developer ran out of money or decided it wouldn't be viable.

We stopped to stretch or legs and have some tea at the same place we stopped to eat on the way down. The proprietor remembered us and welcomed us with open arms. That's certainly something that would be out of the ordinary in the US but according to our host was not particularly unusual for Egypt.

The Sinai Desert once again seemed opressive. Looking at the rugged mountains and the barren sand and dunes was like looking at a landscape out of a science fiction novel. There was some vegatation between the coastline and mountains but it was sparse. Small shrubs grew on little "piles" of sand. It was hard to determine if the little piles of sand caused the shrubs to take root or the piles were formed when the sand swirled around a shrub that gained a foolhold in the barren landscape. I'm sure someone must have studied that and come to some conclusion but it's interesting to contemplate. As we moved north toward the Suez Canal the wind picked up and was blowing sand across the roadway. It reminded me of a windy winter day in Alaska with snow blowing across the highway it looked exactly the same except for the color. Oh yeah, it was a lot warmer, too.

As we moved north another change took place. The east side of the roadway looked lush and green with orchards, grain fields, and banana plantations. The thing that had changed was the amount of water. The rainfall hadn't increased but the land on the east side of the roadway was irrigated. It's amazing what water can do to the desert. It there was any doubt about what was lacking in the normal landscape all you had to do was look to the west side of the road. There was no irrigation and the desert prevailed.

One of the manmade wonders that is part of the Sinai is the Peace Bridge over the Suez Canal. This bridge was a joint construction effort between the Egyptian government and Japan. The Japanese designed the bridge and constructed the suspension portion of the brige and the Egyptian government contructed the approaches to the suspension bridge. It is a very beautiful structure. Another great feature of the bridge is that after you cross it you only have one hour to go to get to Port Faoud. It was a long drive and a tiring day.