Egypt : Taba...

We arrived in Taba around 3.30 pm and we prepared to take our food down to eat at the seaside or even on the island itself. We wanted to visit Kubu Salehuddin Al-Ayubi in the ofshore. It was on a little island in the sea, about 10 minutes boat ride from the shore. We could already see the beautiful fort from the parking spot.

But we were stopped by the owner of the seaside resort and he demanded that we had to leave our food in the van. Afzan and the owner got into an argument and we were proud to see Afzan (who's very small by the way) standing up to the big Arab. But being a peaceful folk as we were, we just left the food in the van and walked past the resort.

The point that I was so pissed about was the fact the man claimed that the fort was 'his'. Hello! It's a piece of history okay and not supposed to be owned by an individual, especially such an arrogant p@#$k like him! We had to wait for Afzan to handover our passport to the policemen and bought our ticket for the boat ride. Another 'funny' thing happened, we were asked to pay not just for the boat but in order for us to step on the island, we were required to pay another entrance fee...sigh.

The beautiful resort that we had to go through...

Walking towards the jetty...

The boat ride...

While waiting for the boat, the kids were busy collecting corals and seashells from the shore. When we arrived at the fort, we were very impressed with the sheer magnificence of the fort! While the one in Cairo was huge, this one was very compact but very strategic because it overlook several countries, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia. And I took a picture of a sign stating that the island belongs to the government of South Sinai. Geez, I wish the government would go and check what the resort owner's doing to the visitors, hassling them etc.

The clear message on the board

On the way up...

The view of the background was amazing!

The kids...

Beautiful, huh?!!

The water was the same shade as Aliah's shirt...

On our way back...

It was breezy...look at Amir's hair...hehehe

On the boatride back...

The scenery was truly beautiful...

Cantik kan?

They were playing...after 'lunch'!

We climbed up the many stairs and then walked around the ruins. The kids were so busy playing and exploring the area, that we did not have enough energy to yell at them anymore...sigh. The view from the top was splendid. Up and down we explored the area. And after about 45 minutes, the boat came to pick us up.

Everyone was tired and slept as soon as we hit the road again. We asked the driver to stop somewhere so that we could have lunch, but the next thing we remembered was waking up in the middle of nowhere and it was already maghrib! That means the only food we had was the simple breakfast in Dahab! We finally stop in a small town and ate our 'lunch' there. Fortunately the kids were very good and they did give us any problem whatsoever. We arrived in Cairo around 9 p.m. Tired to the bone...