Morning call was early at 4.30am, and for breakfast we were given boxes containing a few bread and pastries, guava, banana, fruit juice and bottled water. And our road trip began!
We used 6 4x4 jeeps to reach the colored canyon, situated about 12km north of Nuweiba. After 15 minutes drive, 3 of the jeeps needed to do a detour as the police stopped us and asked to see our passport. There was no reason for that, really, as normally they never ask. But since today the army's general paid a visit, they were told to ask tourists to show their passport. So we lost 30 minutes for going back and forth to the hotel for the passport. True enough, armed with passport, when we reached the gates for 2nd time they just let us pass through without bothering to check our passports. Grrrrr!
We made 2 stops along the way for toilet break. Total driving time in the jeep was 4 hours including driving time in desert which was really rough and bumpy. Sitting at the back of jeep was not a good idea. And our driver always avoided tailing behind other jeep due to the dust, so he always made turns now and then, which made the ride even more bumpy.
Finally we reached the trekking start point at 11.30am, way behind our scheduled time. But we continued nonetheless. The trekking took a total of 2 hours. First we sent down 150m, walked pass sandy and rocky paths, followed the twists and turns of the rocky maze, jumped through some big stones and slided through holes. The killing part was the climbing back up at the end of the trekking. However the experience was worth it. We got to see pretty, colorful canyons.
After another 2 hour drive, we reached The Blue Hole for a really late lunch. The Blue Hole was a diving location famous for its 100m hole with 20m diameter. The hole and its surroundings had plenty of fish and of course corals. We could see the area had darker blue color compared to the rest of the sea.
Lunch was Bedouin style. We had salad, seasoned rice, fried fish, potato curry, chips, minced beef and coke.
Another 30 minutes drive and we reached a bazaar with limited shops, mostly souvenirs. We also stopped by at a minimart to buy bottled water and snack. So far it was the "best" mini market we saw during our trip, as the rest was even smaller with less variety.
Last stop for today was for party and dinner at Bedouin tent. Bedouin was one of the tribes leading a nomadic lifestyle. The venue was open air under tents and stars. Too bad the moon was really bright tonight, thus we could not see that many stars in the night sky. We watched sufi dance and belly dance show before having our dinner. Dinner was similar to lunch, except that they had grilled chicken now.
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