Sahl Hasheesh - Absorbing the Changes

Progress in Sahl Hasheesh

I’ve mentioned before that although living in Egypt is like living in a timeless bubble where it’s always summer, there’s also always constant change with shops opening and closing all the time.

This time, it was a bit bizarre. When I came back to Egypt last year for Christmas, there was the first ever horse jumping competition taking place in Sahl Hasheesh. This time, when I came back, the first ever international horse jumping competition was taking place. I had a strange sense of déjà vu. There are never any horse jumping competitions here, and now I’ve returned on two occasions running, and each time there’s been a horse jumping competition. Weird.

I’d really enjoyed the spectacle in December, so I went to watch. It was still free to attend, although the this time announcements were in English and I didn’t see trainers shouting at their jockeys across the fence. Although it was international (there were Dutch and French, for example), it was predominantly the Arabic countries and maybe even predominantly Egypt.

I walked round the whole arena, but only the VIP tented area was shaded and the day was very hot. I tentatively went into the VIP lounge and sat on the edge of a comfy armchair positioned right at the front, overlooking the competition arena. Everyone else in the tent seemed to be wearing a blue armband and seemed to be related to the jockeys. I felt quite nervous, but once I decided I wasn’t going to get thrown out straight away, I sat back and tried to put on an air of entitledness that only the wealthy seem to be able to carry off. I hoped that this might stop anyone from daring to challenge me. I probably just looked like a prat.

The backdrop to the competition had also changed. The new building behind the Premier Romance hotel had come on leaps and bounds and instead of looking like a half-building of bricks, it was now standing tall behind the competition area with flags draped down it, presumably in honour of the competition. Although shops open and close with great regularity, buildings tend to remain unfinished for years on end, if not for decades. So, to see such progress was a surprise.

There were more surprises. Ever since I’ve lived in Sahl Hasheesh, a piece of ground by the Entrance Piazza has been blocked off advertising that a boutique hotel would be coming soon,. I’ve been told it was like that for years before I came, too. However, I now saw that building had actually started –its skeleton was rising up from behind the billboards. I was astonished.

Also to my surprise, just by the competition arena, large posters were advertising that apartments (and a spa, and a café) were going to be built behind the boutique hotel. It seemed that things were really starting to progress in Sahl Hasheesh rather than staying stationary with just a change of occupancy. It was as if I’d been away for a decade rather than just four months.

Safi drove me and some other friends to the back area of Sahl Hasheesh, where only a few villas previously used to stand. Now, there was a hive of building activity. It seemed that apartments and villas were sprouting up as we looked. With tourism so bad at the moment, I hadn’t been expecting this. But it was good to see, even if I can’t understand how they are going to sell these places. However, as others have said, they are maybe preparing themselves for when tourism does pick up again. Or maybe it will just be another group of skeleton buildings, never fully developed, that will end up just staring out at an empty expanse of desert for decades to come. Who knows!

In complete contrast to all the building activity, the shops were very sad. Many units had closed. My favorite ice cream place has shut down. There are hardly any shops left selling tourist souvenirs and clothes. The places that remain have no customers and I don’t know how even they can survive. I just have to hope for Egypt that this is temporary and that tourism will return. Even in Hurghada, I heard that a new Lebanese restaurant had opened, only to discover two weeks later that it had already closed. A supermarket that had opened during my year away had been shut down before I’d even had time to look at it.

Times are tough just now, but in Egypt there is always hope.