Go Red Sea Diving!

We start our activity today with a healthy breakfast at Penguin Dhahab Restaurant. The restaurant located just beside the beach with superb Red Sea or some say Gulf of Aqaba view.

We spend time at the beach for a while and after colecting our diving gears, we move on to the diving site name as The Canyon. It was a 30 minutes drive from hotel.

The pictures explained how beautiful the beach and Sinai mountain.....and also the diving experience! My first diving experience...and it happen in Red Sea, South of Sinai, Egypt...SUPERB!!!!

Sinai Region Team (Vendor H) arranged a trip (3 days 2 nights) to Dhahab and Sharm El Sheikh. We take off from Ismailia at 5pm local time and arrived in Dhahab at 2am. Our trip activities as follows:

1. Arrival at Dahab late Thursday Night: (So better to move from office to Dahab 8 PM on Thursday).

2. Go to dive in "Canyon" (Special diving area in Dahab) Friday early Morning and return back by 4 PM to the Hotel.

3. Go to have Sunset Trek Safari on same day by Jeep Cars and sleep over in the desert ( includes a whole night stay and sleep in desert and having dinners on Mountain with Bedouin, )

4. Return back from the desert to Dahab on Saturday morning.

5. Have little rest and then move to Sharm to have a look or return back to Ismailia on Saturday.

Here's the pictures for the trip....Enjoy

Port Said (31.15° N 32.18° E)(Arabic بورسعيد, transliterated Būr Saʻīd) is a northeastern Egyptian city near the Suez Canal, with an approx. population of 1,500,000.

The economic base of Port Said is fishing and industries, like chemicals, processed food, and cigarettes. Port Said is also an important harbour both for exports of Egyptian products like cotton and rice, but also a fuelling station for ships that pass through the Suez Canal. Port Said also thrives on being a duty-free port, as well as a summer resort for Egyptians.

There are numerous old houses with grand balconies on all floors, giving the city a distinctive look. Port Said's twin city is Port Fouad, which lies on the eastern side of the canal. The two cities coexist, to the extent that there hardly is any town centre in Port Fouad. The cities are connected by free ferries running all through the day.

The diocese of Port-Said for the Coptic Orthodox Church was founded in 1976 by his grace Bishop Tadros. In 1993, the late subdeacon Nosshy Attia Anbary wrote the history of the diocese in Arabic.

Source: Wikipedia

Ismaïlia is the capital of Al Isma'iliyah Governorate. It has a population (including surrounding rural areas) of approximately 750,000. It is located on the west bank of the Suez Canal, approximately half way between Port Said to the north and Suez to the south. The Canal widens at that point to include lake Timsah, one of the Bitter Lakes linked by the Canal. It is an administration center for the Suze Canal and still has a large number of Colonial housing dating from British and French involvement with the Canal. Most of these buildings are still used by Canal employees and officials.

Source: Wikipedia

I woke up today and I feel very empty....I'm alone here..! I miss my wife...! ...hopefully she can come here....at least for one month...

Well, today I decided to find Satay House restaurant located at Mac Din Chi street. I took Cach Mang Thang Tam street from my apartment and turn left to Nguyen Dinh Chieu street passed Coop Supermarket. After 20 minutes walking finally I arrived at Satay Hose restaurant. I think the restaurant's owner is from Selangor since I saw Selangor flag at the wall.

As expected...the halal food there is expensive...and I ordered Nasi Goreng with beef satay and peanut sauce with fried egg together with Vietnamese tea. The price was 57,000 Dong (RM 14.25, 15% tax included).

After having my lunch....I decided to walk back to my apartment and wasting my time there...

Today's my first weekend in Ho Chi Minh City....I arrived on 8th of Nov 2006 for GSM Optimization support for VMS (VN Mobiphone).

I walked from my apartment at Thienh Min Khai road passing Unification Hall for about 30 minutes and went to Dong Du mosque in District 1. There's a hidden halal restaurant behind the mosque. In front of Dong Du Mosque there was Bombay Restaurant run by old lady name Auntie Selima but the restaurant already close and moved to new location. I only managed to eat there only once. Not far from Dong Du street there is Four Season Restaurant located at Thi Sach Street. And the bad thing is all halal food here are quite expensive. After having my lunch, I walked straight passed by Sheraton Saigon to Le Loi street to go to Ben Thanh Market near Ho Chi Minh monument. Ben Thanh Market is popular amongst tourist for vietnam silk, handicraft and shoes.

After wandering around, I decided to go for shopping at nearby supermarket and then headed back to my apartment.