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| The Blue Hole is a 130-metre deep submarine sinkhole in Dahab [Wikimedia] |
Dahab is a small town on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village, it's now a tourist hotspot for its beaches and cheap snorkeling and diving.
Sitting next to me on the bus from Dahab back to Cairo was a local guy called Ainan. We became friendly and he told me he owned the Al Capone Restaurant on the beach promenade in Dahab. It was funny because I had eaten there. I gave him my number and I told him to stay in touch.
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| Dahab's beach promenade [Wikimedia] |
A month later, when I was back home in London, Dahab was in the news. At 7.15 pm on 24 April 2006, three bombs exploded in the tourist areas, near the restaurants and the market. At least 23 people were killed.
Two weeks later, I received this message on my phone:
Hi ara how is life i wish u are fine also that u still remember me al capone did u know about the boom in my restaurant
I told him I was happy to hear from him, and I asked if he was okay, and how things were going. He replied:
Hi ara dahab start to wark agin we all do our best to have our city back i wish u enjoy ur time i want to ask u a favor i well tell about when u reply al
I replied but he never responded got back to me. What do you suppose he wanted to ask of me?
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| A coral garden in Dahab [Matt Kieffer/Flickr] |
