Monday 19th March

19th March ~ my birthday :O) More cards today, lots of them including £25 from Mum & Dad & £20 from Andrew's Mum which I'm going to put towards an external hard drive :O)
Lovely warm morning & no wind. Tide was right out making it easy to see the coral reef, went in the sea AGAIN!! Saw a purple jelly fish, Arabian Picasso fish, Sergeant Major fish, a Cornet fish, some Red Sea Banner fish, a Butterfly fish, a Klunzigers Wrasse and some goat fish ~ brilliant!! Lunch & strawberry smoothies at Cilantros and back to our room to discover the cleaner had decorated our bed with a birthday card & lots of flowers. Windy again in the afternoon so stayed by the pool. Had tea in one of the Bedouin tents along the sea front and had lobster, first time ever and sadly not impressed, still pleased I had tried it though (and it was quite cheap too). Elena was looking at the menu when a look of panic and sheer horror came over her face. When I asked her what was wrong she read from the menu ... Creamed Camel under the heading of Desert!!! After we had picked ourselves up from the floor and wiped the tears of laughter from our faces we read it too her ... Desserts, creamed caramel!!
After tea we walked along the promenade to the end where there were lots of strange inflatables everywhere, looked like something out of Batman. A couple of years ago Egypt was bombed so the South Sinai government had declared today a celebration to show everyone they were not going to retaliate or live under threat (good for them I say). There was a marching brass band followed by men twirling their costumes. An Egyptian band followed them, men dressed in white playing drums & snake charmer clarinet type instruments. Everyone was in high spirits, shouting and clapping in time with the music. There were so many people, it was great. We went with the crowd to the sea front where there was a big firework display over the bay and outside one of the Bedouin tent restaurants some Egyptian waiters & chefs were dancing with ........... a pantomime horse!! Crazy but great fun and what a way to celebrate my birthday :O)
Walked around the shops soaking up all the atmosphere and found a shop selling herbs & spices. Bought Liam a loofa (and got a free Cinnamon) stick and spotted some round black balls as big as tennis balls with lumps of coloured bits in them. Never having seen anything like it before we asked the shop keeper what it was, to which he replied ... camel shit!!! Stunned we looked at him and realised he was joking *lol* it was Teran Tea (not a clue either). Got another free perfume bottle and the lad tried his hardest to sell me some Organza perfume (which smelt like soap and not Organza) but he had chosen the wrong person to pit his wits against. Needless to say I didn't part with any money and he gave up in the end. I thought it was great fun and we had another bottle to add to our collection :O) Elena & I were given a scareb beetle each by another shop keeper, for luck. We had a bedtime drink at Cilantros (easily our favourite place, a bit like an alfresco Starbucks but cheaper). Strawberry smootie for Elena, hot chocolate for Andrew & an English breakfast tea for me with a gorgeous cinnamon biscuit on the side. Went back to the hotel room to find a birthday cake with my name on it ~ wow ~ best birthday ever!! Only thing missing was Gemma, Matt, Lisa & Liam.