From the linked story

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Demelza

Demelza

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Moon that's great !!! I loved it. . . . I've never been to Tunisia or that part of the Sahara but I feel like I've just got back !! Am I right in thinking that the desert rose is a stone? I think I have one. Or are you talking about the flower? Anyhow it was a lovely touch - especially at the end !! and I love the bit about the wine-gums and the dates, and how you thought the carriage driver was spitting out his rotten teeth !! Well done xxx
ps. maybe you should start a 'memoires' thread !
Demelza xx
 
Moon

Moon

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Demelza, you speak Arabic very well, right? Never had the desire to learn to read and wright it? I think it'll be less difficult if you already speak Arabic.
I cheched out this website yesterday http://lexicorient.com/babel/arabic/ but I have no sound on this pc so I can't hear the pronounciation. Maybe it can help you to learn how to write arabic? :)
 
Demelza

Demelza

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why thankyou moon ! I just had a quick look at it....looks like it will definately help me with my none existent reading and writing skills ! I listened to the speaking aswell.....it sounds like it's got the dialect of Morrocco or somewhere like that. . . a bit different to the way they speak in Egypt. Oh well, the writings all the same so I'll try to make use of it.

Yes thats the stone I meant, bootiful isn't it....I've got a wicked piece somewhere....I think its in the bathroom at my mums house!
 
Moon

Moon

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demelza said:
why thankyou moon ! I just had a quick look at it....looks like it will definately help me with my none existent reading and writing skills ! I listened to the speaking aswell.....it sounds like it's got the dialect of Morrocco or somewhere like that. . . a bit different to the way they speak in Egypt. Oh well, the writings all the same so I'll try to make use of it.
Click to expand...

No problem :) As far as I've read it, they say it's written exactly as it is pronounced, so I get that's the "easy part".

Yes thats the stone I meant said:
in the bathroom?? Lol! Be careful you don't confuse it with a sponge ;)
Click to expand...
 
Shanazel

Shanazel

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Wow, I go away for the weekend and come back to all sorts of goodies! I have a desert rose (stone), too, but it came from the Wyoming desert. No camels here, though you can go for some wild rides in the moonlight. I think an article on costume buying in the middle east would be fascinating. Why not ask Salome about it?
 
Demelza

Demelza

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The Day we escaped the bandits​
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It was September 2005. It was a warm evening in bustling Cairo. I was there with my Egyptian partner and my best friend (also Egyptian) Moshera. We'd been in Cairo for 5 days and now it was time to return to Dahab where we all lived at the time. The work was done, and we were ready to leave. We sat and chatted with friends in the very old and decrepid coffee shop which occupied a dark side street, but bustled with old friends, beggars and boys dragging their flip-flops serving sweet tea and shishas. We had decided to leave that night, but dreaded the 9 hour bus journey through the desert and all agreed upon renting a car and taking a shorter route through the centre of the Sinai Peninsula, through the mountain range, which would only take 5 hours if driving at top speed. We would then deposite the car in Sharm, (not just dumping it - the rental office had an office there !). . . So as the sun went down, we collected our bags, bought some new music for the journey and went back to the coffe-shop to say our fare-wells. It was 1 o'clock in the morning before we left. Cairo, being the biggest city in Africa is a beautiful city at night. At night the majority of the people are in their homes eating home cooked chicken and rice, the cars disapear, and you can actually SEE the city, the nile, and stunning architecture. It took us one hour to reach the outskirts of Cairo, from where we headed onto the Cairo to Ismalia road. Now we had reached the desert. I turned the music up, we all drank water and lit cigarettes, sad to be leaving Cairo but excited to be returning to the one and only Beautiful Dahab. We must have been at least an hour on the Cairo to Ismalia road, when we suddenly decided that we had actually taken the wrong route. We should have been heading to Suez to pass under the Suez canal. So we decided to turn around and head back. "Why not just flag a car down and ask them if we can go this way?" I said to my partner. And so, in the dead of night, we pulled up on the side of the desert road, onto the dusty sand. To the left was the hot tarmac road, and to the right was a ridge, probably about 5 foot deep, leading off into the black, desolate and silent Egyptian desert. Far in the distance the sight of headlights of an oncoming lorry shimmered through the warm air. 10 minutes later, the lorry was nearly upon us. So he got out of the car and attempted to flag down the lorry. Now usually, Egyptians are generally always ready and willing to stop and help. Especially if they see that a car on the side of the road is 'malaki' or private. However this time, to our suprize the lorry only put his foot down and sped on past at a speed that almost blew our car right off the side of the road !!! Aah well. No problem !! He got back into the car, the engine still running and decided to call our friend the 'Dr.' back in Cairo to ask him directions. As the phone call took place, I looked out of the car window into the sparse black desert that lay beyond. I needed to pee. What happened next, all took place in the space of about 6 seconds. The engine of the car was running, the music was playing. My partner finished the phonecall with our friend the Dr. and I started to open my door to go and releive myself. Moshera sat casually, relaxed on the back seat, and just at that moment, all hell broke loose !!!! There was the most ALMIGHTY thud on the back of the car, two big burly men in dirty galabyas weilding huge pieces of wood pulled at Mohsera's door handle. Luckily her door was locked, buy mine however was ajar, as I had just been about to get out !!! Moshera screamed "drive drive" in a voice filled with terror and jumped to the opposite side of the back seat in the speed of lightning as 2 of the men (there were now about 6 of them in total) moved towards my door. The others ran behind to persue the driver's side and struggled at the driver's door!! My partner without hesitation put the car into first gear and put his foot on the gas, leaving 5 of the men in a cloud of dust and dragging one of them on my door, as I tried to pull it closed. Our heart beats rang out in thuds as we sped away..... trying to catch our breath from the fright !! It must have been a further 50 meters on that we managed to loose the last 'bandit', in shouts and screams of terror that must have rung out across the plains. . . . . . As we drove on we constantly checked that our doors were secure and looked, eyes wide open into the darkness. . . we had another hour's drive untill we reached Ismalia. . . when we arrived in the city, the sun had still not risen, and we approached the centre of the lit up streets. Eventually we stopped at a coffee shop to reflect on what had happened, and were told by many of the locals that the men had been bandits. They would have been watching us from the darkness, as we had been parked up, and approached us silently. Had they managed to enter the car, they would have taken Myself and Moshera out into the desert for a 'party' (rape), taken our gold, etc, and had we seen any of their faces they would have killed us. As for my partner, they would have beat him,left him for dead, and taken the car. Unbeknown to any of us, we had just driven down, and stopped on the side of - in the dead of night, the most dangerous desert high-way in all Egypt. Apparently it is known for drug smugglers and adicts who lay in the dead of night waiting for their next prey !!! And that was why the lorry hadn't stopped to help...So that was that, we had narrowly escaped (thanks to the lightning reaction from my partner) from what could have been a terrible if not fatal disaster.......We drank our tea, got back in the car, locked the doors and hastily completed our journey !! :eek:

A message for Rebecca -
Oh Rebecca !! Please don't let this story put you off travelling to Egypt. What happened that night was an extreme rareity and as i said before, in general Egypt is a very safe country, we just happened to hit the wrong high-road !! xx ;)
 
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Shanazel

Shanazel

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Holy Toledo, it may have come out in one breath for you, but I didn't take a breath the whole time I was reading.
 
Shanazel

Shanazel

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Ten years ago I would've said Holy S**t, but I decided when I turned forty that I needed to use language a bit more in keeping with my elderly dignity. (Besides, when one's children are used to Mom saying things like, "Oh, fudge bunnies!" it really gets their attention on the rare occasions when Mom feels that stronger F words are called for.)
 
Moon

Moon

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Wow Demelza, that was exciting! (although I wouldn't like it to happen to me). Wonderful story. I stay with my opinion, you should definitely write a book! :)
 
Demelza

Demelza

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why thankyou shanazel, moon and belly taz xxxx if i ever wrote a book i would dedicate it to you xxxx ;)
 
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