iets. "he spn BEE USE EV Sp lt take A

A COOL breeze was"
lifting from the Red
Sea as we walked from

- the beach to the Cactus _

Club disco behind the
Swiss-run- Movempick
Hotel, gradually enter-
‘ing a high-decibel zone _
-of Madonna that
“peaked inside with
: enough sound and
“lights to power a night-
- time spectacle at the —
-, Pyramids.
“1, The crowd, mostly: >

” Egyptian studenis on college’
” break;:would have looked at’
home ii Manhattan or .
‘ Montreal. When a line-dance
“came on the entire floor took

"its cue from a tall young man:

"in jeans, a bomber jacket and
“New. York Yankees cap.
; ” Others wore Disney and
‘ Coors T- shirts, and feet in:
-Nike tennis shoes’ skipped to
the Electric Slide.
- Then the music changed. °
On came a current hit by an
‘Egyptian woman singer, a .
track that sounded Greek at
first (or was. it Turkish, or.
“was it the sound of the
desert). On the. floor. the
dancers spontaneously ;
changed gear, particularly the
women. Like belly dancers

- David Wishert phato

SAILBOARDING ON the Red Sea is one of many
adventures the mysterious country of Egypt offers. A
fiest cf charter boats is available to take cdivors to the
national marine park of Ras Mohammed, where some
cf the world’s best reefs lie just bolow the surface of

-_ Perfectly clear water.

- they leaned back, ‘thrust out

their pelvises and rolled their
hips with a panache that
would have impressed Elvis.
in the time it took the disc °
jockey to change tracks we

_. were back in Egypt with ail
“. its allure and complexity.

‘And so a visit to a disco,
not normally high on the cul-
tural tour, provided a memo-
ry that lingers with the first
sight of the pyramids, the

_ Nile at dawn and the temple

of Abu Simbel}.
+» Yet before this night few

_ Of us had heard of Sharm-el-

Sheikh, a dot on the map
thrust.into the spotlight as
the location for the recent
peacemakers’ conference
attended by world leaders,

» including Prime Minster ,
Chretien, Clinton and com- -

pany.
We had gone there after a.

_ week-long cruise from Luxor

to Aswan. Strange though it

may seem, Nile cruises can
be hard work because there
is so much to see. Passengers
tend to get up early to watch
the sun rise over the Nile,

* then spend long days

trekking to tombs and around
monuments, much of the
time in the glare of the desert
sun. -

It was an easy fight
across the Red Sea to Sharm-
el-Sheik in a shiny Airbus jet
but what we saw was another
world. Compared to the
crush and clutter of Aswan,
where dusty Toyotas are
among the few symbols that
mark the passage from the
Middle Ages, Sharm-el-
Sheikh is a modem resort
with a beach strip of hotels

not unlike a new destination *

in Mexico.

Israel launched tourism
here while occupying the
Sinai peninsula during the
Middle East wars but pulled

ian

out in [982, Egypt has con-
tinued the development,
which so far is agreeably
resteuined, Tourists, most of
them from Europe, enjoy
long. clean beaches with
clear, calm water. There are
no hawkers, just Egyptians
with a sense of humor. One
beach equipment rental
shack had a sign “Surf like
an Egyptian.”

The Sinai has a remark-
able history. St Catherine's

’ Monastery is not far from

were God is said to have
spoken to Moses from a
burning bush. It is a land of
miracles, such as the parting
of the Red Sea, and
Abraham, Elijah and Jacob,
the prophets of Islam,
Judaism and Christianity.

Bedouins still roam the
desert despite government
efforts to settle them in vil-
lages. Some live up the coast
at Dahab, where young. trav-
ellers gather under clouds of
marijuana, and a few orga-
nize camel treks or drive
taxis.

Life on the coast moves at
a faster pace with four-
wheel-drive safaris and jet-
skis. A fleet of charter boats
is available to take divers to
the national marine park of
Ras Mohammed, located
right at the tip of the Sinai,
where some of the world’s
best reefs lie just below the
surface of perfectly clear
water,

We went out with a skip-
per who had been a frogman
with the Egyptian Navy. -
Dive costs are reasonable

and so is accommodation on -

shore. .

Just remember to save a
few Egyptian pounds, and
some energy. for the Cactus .
Club, .

“airport trying to. carry.

- person in front ‘has .

~ deduct

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