Why don't retailers who cater for women who wear clothes in small sizes? If you are a woman of 5'3&...
Why don't retailers who cater for women who wear clothes in small sizes? If you are a woman of 5'3" or shorter, especially if you wear size 8 or smaller, please let me know, or see my website www.petitepersonalshopper.com
Member since:15.06.2003
Reviews:6
My partner loves snorkelling, and we'd been promising ourselves a Red Sea holiday for some time, but only with the recent opening of Taba Airport (removing the need to travel via Israel) did we think it worth choosing Taba, which was until the 1980s 'Occupied Territory', rather than Smarm or Hurghada.
I knew that Taba Heights was an artificial green resort set down in the desert with no 'real' towns or villages anywhere nearby before | went, and it is vital to book any holdiay there knowing exactly what to expect. I also knew that the point, as far as the Egyptians were concerned, was to keep tourism (which their desperately poor economy needs) corralled in a place that was secure, defensible, and unlikely to provoke the wrath of conservative
Egyptians. It's vital to be the kind of person who can generate your own amusement. We took loads of books, a kettle, snorkelling and gym kit, water colours, and a large bottle of rum!
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency 5* hotel on a half board basis. The Hyatt turned out to be quite a magical place. The architecture contrived to turn what was a very large hotel into something small scale and intimate, with something different around every corner. At night it looked like the lost city of Atlantis from certain vantage points. The mixture of vernacular, modernist and pharoanic architectural influences was stunning. My partner said it reminded him, oddly, of Portmeirion in Wales, and I could see what he meant. It would be a great place to shoot the remake of The Prisoner!
The really high temperatures of summer had passed by last week, although it was still very (but not intolerably) hot, but even so, it was essential to drink many litres of water each day. Most stomach upsets are triggered by dehydration, and the moment you feel thirsty, you are already seriously dehydrated. For me the holiday turned into an accidental health spa. There was actually a mini-spa at the hotel, as well as a filtered seawater lagoon amongst the endless swimming pools, but the health aspect came from the weather, which made me drink less alcohol and more water than I would have done at home, and the exercise, as I ran about 6K in the gym every day. I also read a lot and became mildly addicted to cheesy Arabic pop videos!
The highlight, undoubtedly, is the Red Sea itself. The Hyatt has a large, uncrowded private beach with waiter service from the bar. The coral reef makes it impossible to swim out from the shore into deeper water, but there is a jetty which crosses the reef, and from which you can lower yourself into the sea. But even standing on the jetty, you can look down into the sea and within seconds you will see amazing fish. Shoals of tiny irredescent fish; huge black fish banded in vivid day-glo yellow; large turquoise and orange creatures, even giant clams.
The food was from a buffet, but the choice was fine, with breakfast particularly good. I loved the 'ful', unappetisingly described as 'stewed brown beans' for breakfast, whilst my partner took to the Egyptian porridge with cinnamon. There were also freshly cooked eggs, waffles, fruit, and the 'full works', plus masses of just squeezed orange and guava juice.
As we were there for only a week, and we've been to Egypt before, we didn't take up the offer of tours, e.g. to Cairo, although I was very tempted by the idea of Jerusalem. But we did do a day trip to Dahab, which was really interesting. Seeing the developing coastline and the desert was a treat in itself, the stop at a Bedouin 'motorway cafe' was surreal, and Dahab itself was a mad hippy surfer enclave where kite surfing Aussies were to be found next to Egyptian women beating carpets in the sea. I even saw a cat eating a courgette with some gusto! Dahab's also a bit of 'real Egypt' set in a militarised tourist ghetto, and great for shopping.
A final note. I was really proud of the Brits on holiday. The middle easterners there, both middle class Arabs and Israelis, were pretty rude to the hotel staff where they could be bothered to notice them at all. The Italians weren't much better. The Brits, on the other hand, were polite, friendly, charming and cultured, and in a volatile part of the world, that's the kind of ambassadorship we really need.
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Advantages: Guaranteed sunshine. The private beach is safe, clean and half empty and the staff are lovely. Disadvantages: The dreaded Pharoah's curse! I didn't meet anyone who had not suffered from a stomach upset.
VanillaSpy 18.08.2004 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Taba, Egypt
Advantages: Guaranteed sunshine. The private beach is safe, clean and half empty and the staff are lovely. Disadvantages: The dreaded Pharoah's curse! I didn't meet anyone who had not suffered from a stomach upset.
VanillaSpy 18.08.2004 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Taba, Egypt
Sep 19th, 2004
exceptional by (6%):
very helpful by (88%):
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