Suez, school lessons, and serendipity

Every day we try to teach the children something new - concepts or words or lessons for life. In Luxor, going in and out of tombs from low humidity to high humidity allowed us (Elspeth really, as I still struggle with science) to explain concepts of air and molecules, which would later come in useful for Lachlan as he took his diving course. The word of the day at the Suez canal was "serendipity".

I had always wanted to see the Suez Canal as I love ships and was fascinated by the engineering feat of building a canal through the desert which could take the biggest ships in the world. And remember it was finished in 1869! We took the bus from Cairo to Ismailaya the town which housed the HQ of the Suez Canal company. The Suez Canal is not purely a canal. There are a number of small lakes en route, and Ismailaya sits on Lake Timsah. We went to where the ships go from the Lake back into the Canal, and watched as these huge machines disappeared off into the middle of the desert. Ismailaya has a relaxed feel after Cairo. It was laid out by the French who were building the canal, and it is spacious and airy. Many of the old colonial houses remain.

From Ismailaya, we had intended to go straight to Nuweiba, a small town at the top of the Red Sea, near the border with Israel, from where we will take a ferry to Jordan. However there was no direct bus to Nuweiba, so we took a bus to Suez from where we could connect to Nuweiba. The bus to Suez broke down, so we watched the ships sailing through the desert while the replacement arrived. A student very kindly took us under his wing and took us through the various bus times. Such kindness has been the norm in Egypt, and the people have just been wonderful to us. In the bus station at Suez, a man came up to the children, gave them all chocolate bars, smiled and said "welcome to Egypt" and walked off. In Suez, we realised the only bus would arrive too late in Nuweiba so instead we bought tickets to Dahab, a small town on the Red Sea coast, north of Sharm El-Sheikh.

We now had a couple of hours to kill in Suez. The guidebooks are harsh on Suez, as it was heavily destroyed during the various wars with Israel. However, we loved it. We took a taxi to the entry to the canal. Our rucksacks wouldn't fit in the boot, so the driver just laid the two heavy rucksacks on the roof rack, unattached, and we drove off. The canal is single lane, so for half the day the ships go north and for the other half they come south. We had breakfast in the Red Sea Hotel which overlooks the entrance to the canal, and watched the pilot boats coming and going as massive Chinese container ships glided by. As the visit to Suez was unplanned but a pleasant bonus, we explained to the children the meaning of serendipity.

More was to follow. We had a 8 hour bus journey to Dahab, following the coast of the Sinai peninsula all the way with crystal blue water on the right, and barren desert on the left. As we approached Sharm El-Sheikh, the flat desert gave way to rocky mountains which rise sharply from the sea. When we got to Dahab, we were again positively surprised. The hotel we had picked from the guidebook turned out to be very friendly, the location was great (right on the sea) and by the end of dinner we were booked on various diving courses. We sat in the small restaurant on cushions with the warm sea breeze and views across the Red Sea to the mountains of Saudi Arabia, and reminded the children of the meaning of serendipity.