The thing is..
Can one ever really
return anywhere?
Physically we can
return to a place, if it is still standing, still occupying time and
space – but what about how we feel?
The desert and oasis,
the skies, the waters – all hold continual magic. But the people in
their realm show various faces.
The unnamed owner of
the unnamed lodge said not to worry about the price, would not
actually say how much the room would be, just intimated that it would
be a 'good price'. And, really, I thought, how much could a sparse
room with no mod cons be charged at? Especially since I had received
a good price there in the past and thought I was on pretty reasonable terms with
him having brought him some business before with quite a lot of clients.
We were shown an old
room with 6 beds though we only needed 2, and the bathroom had a
horrible sewage smell on many occasions. The sheets on the better
beds were old and I think unwashed and had no top sheet; just a
bottom sheet, and each had an unmatched old pillowcase on an old
lumpy pillow and a blanket with holes in. Still, we thought, we don't
need luxury and the price will be fine – so let's not make an issue
of it, we thought and we just asked for 2 clean sheets, bas.
Since the village has
very few shops or food places we ate our meals there at the lodge.
When I stayed there some years ago the food was good as I remember..
now it was variable and the fuul, tameya and tahina was good – but
everything else was pretty poor. For my main dinner I got a portion
of greasy rice served with some frozen mixed vegetables heated up and
oiled. However the redeeming feature of the dining room was its
inhabitants; who for a writer such as myself, provided a heap of
stories. One the evening of the greasy rice serving there were a
couple of random Egyptian guys to the left and an eastern european
girl half lying down and several bottles of red wine on their table.
One of the guys was leaning in towards her and in full public view
put his hand on the top of her t-shirted breast, she smiled up at him
and after some minutes they walked off, she attempting some type of
slinky walk in her flowered leggings. Opposite us were a couple of
girls who seemed to be in a physical relationship, for they were
petting each other and lying their heads on each other's shoulders,
stroking arms and legs.
During the night I was
awoken by many barking dogs, then some gunfire, a man speaking
quickly and excitedly on his phone about a 'white car', then later
after dawn two women shouting very loudly at each other for over 10
minutes in the type of baladi garbled accent that if put into an
English context would be like 2 middle aged women minus their
dentures saying:
'You're an idiot'
'You're an idiot'
'No, you're an idiot'
Keda. That kind of
thing.
It all seemed a little
awry for a pleasant country break but again I thought, let's not
focus on it.
I then also put aside
that another unnamed person from another unnamed lodge who I had had
a brief romance with some years ago and who asked me to come to share
a drink with him after I popped in to say hello then actually more or
less ignored me when I did go to have a catch up. He seated myself
and my friend in a prime spot by the swimming pool, saying he would
get us all some teas then a boy arrived with 2 teas and the unnamed
old romancer disappeared for 40 minutes without a word and returned
only a very short time before I had to depart. Still, I thought, at
least the view was nice and we had some tea. For my being long, long
ago ceased to care about his erratic behaviour.
But thankfully there
were trips out to the desert and a big oasis lake, there was a walk
through that beautiful village, there was mint tea in the delightful
flowered garden by the swimming pool and with a view of the orchards
and lake. There was the magic of that land, that very special land,
that magic which nourishes the soul and whispers its good medicine
into one's heart.
When we checked out of
the unnamed lodge where we staying, that unnamed owner charged us an
amount for 6 people staying in the crappy room, I was going to let it
go until we then got charged a little fuul and tameya money mountain.
I politely and nicely pointed out that we were just 2 people and I
had asked for a room for 2 people on the phone. I was given a
discount to something more reasonable but not without a snarky
comment about me 'wanting it for free' and when I called to say
goodbye as we had to be on our way and the unnamed owner was nowhere
to be seen after walking off in a huff after his snarky comment –
so, he put the phone down on me.
Things like that are
not cool.
But land of Egypt, dear
oasis, you are still a magical place and I love you.
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