El Andalous - More Monkey Business

 

Monkey on the Loose

Drama is part of everyday life here (even though I find my own life to be thankfully quiet and peaceful).

Animal welfare – or lack of it – is quite a big theme over here among expats. Wild dogs and cats roam the streets of Hurghada. Often the Egyptian solution is to lay poison or take the animals away and shoot them. This is done unofficially and many people’s pets get killed in the process as well, thus doubling the pain of the initial cruelty.

There are a couple of charitable organisations who will neuter animals if you catch them and bring them in. I believe the animals are then tagged and let loose in the wild again (unless someone adopts – FaceBook is full of adverts for people to adopt the stray cats or dogs). The issue got worse with coronavirus as people left Egypt to return to their home countries and dumped their pets to fend for themselves in the streets.

I can’t remember how much I’ve written about this before. A cat was found locked in a boot of a car and left to die. A dog was kept on the top of our roof in its own feces and with nothing to eat or drink. Two monkeys were kept in a tiny cage over by the boats on the pier in the full sun in the middle of summer with nothing to drink.

A recent incident has again been to do with monkeys. It was noticed that monkeys were being kept in a cage in one of the unused shops (in the dark). Once people complained, instead of rectifying the issue, management just closed the door. Out of sight, out of mind.

A number of people went to complain, but nothing was done. The people complaining tried to find out who was responsible, but all of a sudden, none of the staff could speak English. The culprit was the owner’s son, who is basically their employer.

Another person went directly to culprit to say she would call the police. The guy became very aggressive and threatened to kill her and her dog if she did anything.

Eventually, another owner stormed in saying that she had personal connections to the head of police and if they didn’t act, she would go straight to him. Finally, the monkeys were removed. It’s not exactly a solution, but it was something.

El Andalous - House Warming Party

 

Karen's Lovely Kitchen (and Some Wine!)

There’s been a bit of movement between two of the main residential resorts here – Azzurra and El Andalous. People on the fifth floor of El Andalous (top floor until they illegally built houses on top of roof) have generally moved to Azzurra because of all the noise coming from the Egyptian families (of the developer, so we have no power over them) who now live on the roof. Meanwhile, Tina went in the other direction and moved from Azzurra to El Andalous.

Anyway, Karen moved from El Andalous to Azzurra. I’ve said before that the flats in Azzurra are very nice. The place is apparently well managed and the flats are huge with amazing views; they usually have a large terrace, balcony, or rooftop as well. It’s on the windy side of the bay versus El Andalous and is further from the Old Town. You really need a bicycle or buggy.

So, I went to Karen’s for a house warming party. She’d done it up (it came unfurnished) amazingly, with much of the furniture sourced locally in second-hand places and then repainted or recovered to the chosen colour scheme. She’d picked up some wonderful items.

The flat has a large terrace (it’s ground floor) and, of course, overlooks the sea. She generously provided food from Sphinx, which is somewhere in Hurghada. I hadn’t heard of it before. They delivered. I was impressed with the food, so must look the place up at some point. I particularly liked the spicy/fruity brown (coloured – may have been white but marinated in something) rice and, of course, the chicken, which was beautifully moist. There was a huge lasagna, which I don’t eat due to my dislike of cheese. Gary and Maria had made a huge chilli con carne as well, and there was bread. There were loads of other things, too, so the table was packed, but those were for me the memorable items.

It was at this party that we penciled in a possible date for a meeting of owners of El Andalous to discuss setting up an Owners’ Association. That’s what I was busy with this last weekend (as well as with another party, and another meeting, which is why this blog is being posted a little later in the day than usual). More about all that another time.

Two other friends of mine had recently moved over to Azzurra, so they kindly showed me round their new flat as well, which was only a few doors away – also very nice, of course. I got to meet a few new people as well. Although it’s generally the same people at all of these parties, it always surprises me how someone new always turns up. It’s really quite a close-knit community here.

It was also Karen’s birthday the next day, so I’d bought her a Sahl Hasheesh beach towel – they are very stylish and sold in a shop here owned by another Azzurra ex-El Andalous resident. Everything is connected!

I don’t think she’s reading this, but thanks again to Karen for such a great party!

El Andalous - Beach Party

Buffet Ready and Waiting

At the risk of sounding totally reckless, I’ve had a sociable week this last week. One of the people I know is leaving for two months, so we had a farewell party. At least, that was how it was advertised, but I think the reality was to test out having some local get-togethers out in the open.

The event was at the Old Palace Hotel, where we can get a “happy hour membership card”. This card gives us use of the hotel beach for free as long as we order a drink, and all food and drink is provided at a reduced price (not restricted to a happy hour at all). Membership doesn’t cost anything. This is the advantage of the hotels here having only very few guests. Residents suddenly become their bread-and-butter earning.

People have started using the Old Palace rather than Bar by the Bridge (earlier blogged about), because several people were conned by the manager there (my friend is no longer helping them run it any more either). Also, they promised happy hour prices, but didn’t always honour them. Currently, the Old Palace Hotel is offering much better and more honest service.

It turned out to be one of the best days I have had for ages. My daily swim is to the Old Palace hotel and back (around 1.5km), so I decided it would be very cool to swim to the party and then swim back (it was held outside, during the day). This also gave me the opportunity to try out my swimming buoy’s (which I swim with to make sure the boats can see me) other purpose, which is as a dry bag. I packed my money, my membership card, and a dress, and swam off.

Twenty minutes later, I arrived. Success! Everything in my bag was dry. However, I had pretty much double-packed everything just in case.

They’d laid on a DJ, a huge buffet, and their animation team with dancers to perform in front of us. The charge was 160 LE for everything apart from drinks (that’s about eight UK sterling). Everything about it was great.

They played predominantly Arabic music and there was a large area for dancing. Quite a few people stopped to watch what we were doing.

Because I swam to the event, and wanted also to swim back (I could have walked or got a lift off someone), I had to leave early enough to ensure I got back before it was dark. I don’t fancy swimming in the dark as I want to be able to see if there are any potentially dangerous fish about. Also, some fish only start swimming about at night and I didn’t want to be scared by something I wasn’t acquainted with. Anyway, it was all very easy. I packed my bag, tied it round my waist, and off I went.

My swim back was an extra fifty metres, so was probably a bit like a drunken swagger. I’d had only one glass of wine. But I felt very relaxed on the return swim (despite the full stomach) and the twenty minutes it took me flew past.

Also, having that exercise made me feel just a little less guilty about eating so much.

If you want to pretend to be over here in Egypt, I’m providing some links to the Egyptian / Arabic songs I seem to hear most frequently (I hear them also when I’m swimming when I arrive at the midpoint of my daily route). Dance, enjoy, and imagine you are on the beach! 

Ya Habibi

Tabtaba

La'a

There are many more, but three will do, I think. However, I can't resist this one, which was in the top twenty downloads in Egypt in 2020. I've never heard it played, but it made me laugh when I saw it while searching about for the songs I had heard. It's called....

Coronavirus

El Andalous - Myths and Legends

 

Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt

I’m currently reading some non-fiction in the hope that it will inspire me for my next novel (on the basis that life can be stranger than fiction). I want to set my next book in Egypt, so I’ve been reading the Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley. It also means I’ve finally worked out how nice it is to highlight things in kindle, have the citations all collected, and I haven’t even ruined my copy of the book.

Some sections of the book have amused me, so I thought for this week’s blog, I’d share those (to my mind) funny moments with you.

“Myth, like logic, is a word derived from the Greed world. The Egyptians had no equivalent word or concept, and they did not feel the need to separate their thoughts into “fact” and “fiction”.

[I’m tempted to say that this explains a lot about pricing in Egypt]

“They wrote using either the elaborate and time-consuming hieroglyphic script or the more speedy hieratic and demotic scripts. None of these scripts included vowels, not because vowels did not exist, but because there was no perceived need to write them down.”

[Interesting, because to this day Arabic script is also generally written without using vowels]

“Great Honker [was] the goose who created the first sound”

[Sorry, I just found that amusing!]

“… the long-established Egyptian reluctance to commit anything bad to writing, lest that bad thing should bring its own bad luck”

[I found this interesting because in modern Egypt, Egyptians are very unwilling to say they can’t do something. I wonder if it’s connected to the Ancient Egyptian unwillingness to admit to anything bad?]

“…  no town was able to declare a link with the dead god’s penis, as that most important member had been eaten by the rapacious oxyrhynchus fish. Henceforth…. The Egyptians avoided eating fish…”

[That amused me, although Egyptians eat a lot of fish, at least in the Red Sea area. But it maybe explains why I don't like eating fish...]

“But the Universal Lord was angry again, as the judgement had not gone the way he intended. Turning on Horus he hurled a childish insult at him: ‘You are too feeble to be a strong king, and what’s more, your breath stinks.’”

[Ha ha!]

“Mild-mannered Osiris …. Is a powerful fertility god …, yet he demonstrates the ultimate in self-control during his famous coupling with Isis, when he himself remains inert (admittedly because he is dead).”

[Ha, ha, ha!]

“Egypt was, and of course still is, a hot, fly-infested country”

[I had to highlight that because it was so true]

“No deceased could arrive at the weighing ceremony with a heart, so hearts which were accidentally removed were sewn back, not always in the correct place.”

[This might be why people ask me what I’d do if I needed an operation while over here…]

Have a good week, everybody!

El Andalous - Openings

 

Shimmers

Despite coronavirus, new places are opening up in Hurghada and in Sahl Hasheesh. Egypt has announced that our second wave of coronavirus is retreating, although no changes have been made to current rules in place (reduced capacity in restaurants, mask wearing inside, curfew at midnight). However, these rules are far more liberal in the first wave last year and they aren’t too restrictive.

Nevertheless, I was surprised to find places opening – obviously, tourism is still low and restrictions are in place.

A restaurant has opened up in Sahl Hasheesh called Shimmers. It’s by the sea (in Sahl Hasheesh, that’s almost a given). I did wonder if it would get any custom, but it’s actually always got two or three tables occupied, which in Sahl Hasheesh is quite busy even when tourists are around. And this is despite the fact that Bus Stop and Il Gusto (two other restaurants not attached to hotels) are also operational.

I’ve been there twice – once in passing for a milkshake. They use Moevenpick ice cream, which is a treat, but it’s quite expensive and not huge (I am greedy). Another time, I went with friends for a meal to try out the food. I’d heard mixed reports – some people saying it was very good and others saying it was okay. I took the steak, which was good, but not the best I’ve had over here (I prefer the steak at Bus Stop in SH and at The Heaven in Hurghada).

Still, a new place is always welcome to spread the choice a bit.

A bar/restaurant has also opened up in a side road (so no sea view) called Tipsy. The bar itself looks really impressive. I took some photos before I went and said I’d be back. I wasn’t actually fishing, but I did mention that the photos were for a FaceBook page for the owners of apartments in El Andalous. Anyway, maybe because of that, we got a selection of free starters (Baba Ganoush, Hummus, and stuffed vine leaves; all with fresh oriental bread). The chef there is Syrian (so I was told), so for the main dish I had Beef Shawerma (spicy sliced beef in onion) with French Fries. It was tasty and something I wouldn’t be able to cook for myself, which is always a plus.

The problem with both places (and many others in Sahl Hasheesh) is that the prices are very expensive. They’re about the same as in Europe, whereas you could probably take a taxi into Hurghada and still eat for less even taking into account the taxi fare. Part of the problem is that the prices look marginally expensive on the menu, but then almost an extra 25% is added on afterwards for tax and service.

It’s also partly due to the mindset here that they want to attract wealthier people to Sahl Hasheesh, so they charge more. However, they don’t seem to realise that wealthy people pay more for higher quality, not pay more for the same quality as cheaper places!

But, having said that, it’s great to have local hostelries and always nice to see people making their ideas into reality. And very nice for us residents to have more choice locally. Hopefully it’s a sign that better times will come.