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• Property Description      (LASERENA BEACH &RESORT IN SHARM  AND  AIN SUKHNA) la serena takes great architecture and pristine natural settings to create one of the most stunning projects in the sharm el sheikh area. with over 300 residential units, luscious landscaping, a very large main pool and unspoiled views for the residents, la serena has something for everybody. enjoy the proximity to the mangrove national park only a minute walk away to its unblemished beaches and reefs and to the nabq golf course to have a nice day out with friends or improve your game. la serena will contain 305 residential units and a limited amount of commercial space directly tailored to the residential area. there will be a very large pool in the centre and 2 more pools on the front line of the development. residents in the upper floors of the last line will enjoy an excellent sea view and have great panoramas of nabq bay, the golf course and the desert mountains. the entire development will contain excellent landscaping, maintenance and on-site security. with more amenities to come in the future such as dsl internet, central tv and phone lines. the residential buildings will have limited structural column supports to allow extensive client based modifications to the interior of the flats. the current flat sizes are: • 40-50 sqm studios • 65, 70, 75 sqm 1 bed* • 80, 85, 90, 95, -120 sqm 2 bed* *with the ability to purchase multiple units and create large spacious accommodations pertaining to individual client needs. the development is projected to be built in 6 phases with construction spanning 18 months. now for sale phase 1 buildings 1 through 8 • prices start at £14,999 with great opportunities to enjoy great turnaround as an off-plan buyer • no income tax • no capital gain tax • no real estate tax • capital gain opportunity starting at 100% and up to 175% on initial investment for off-plan buyers! • flexible payment options • 9% rental guarantee for 3 years a few good reasons to buy in egypt are as follows; • beautiful warm and dry weather 365 days a year. • a unique mix of wealthy culture, beautiful beaches and golden deserts. • 3-5 hours direct flights from europe all year round. • investors getting on the real estate ladder now will gain huge profits in an emerging market with an increasing demand over supply. • cost of living in egypt is around 20% of uk rates. • charges for title deeds and registration as low as 3% (La Serena)
  Town			Sharm El Sheikh	Distance from Shops	1 min
  Region			Red Sea	Facilities
  Property Type			Apartment/Flat	Swimming Pool	yes
  Bathrooms			0	Garden	yes
  Bedrooms			0	Garage/Parking	yes
  Build Size			22000 sqm	Principle Views	Sea Mountain Desert
  Plot			1000 sqm	Kitchen Appliances	none
  Distance from Beach			5 min	Est. Completion Date	August 2008

Ain Sukhna, the Arabic for "hot spring", was named after the nearby sulfur springs. The springs originate at Gebel Ataka, the northern most mountain in the Eastern Desert.Close enough to Cairo for a day-trip, LaSirena beach resort has fine beach, coral reefs, fishing and water sports.  Ain Sukhna is located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) south of Suez, and is the nearest bathing resort to Cairo.The new high way (Cairo – Ain Sukhna) reduce the time to 50 min. drive from Cairo to Ain Sukhna.Some resorts in Ain Sukhna are the best on the Red Sea & La Sirena Beach Resort be one of them. Location LASIRENA is 104 km south of Suez,165 km from Cairo.   Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt)

Did you miss Slow Down Week? Me too... According to a clever flash anime cartoon over at Adbusters, January 14-20, 2007 was national break-the-pace week, a reminder that "slow living" is good. Better. Necessary? We think so.

 

When I talk to people about the Margaux Project and the idea of "immersion travel" they often say, "Oh, you mean like slow travel?" Yes, partly that's what we're all about. As well as culturally authentic travel (or real travel), responsible travel (eco-tourism and sustainable practices), adventure travel and good old fashioned flaneur-ing.

I've just returned to the warmth of my brother and sister-in-law's apartment outside Paris after wandering around the Puce de Clignancourt in the rain. Rain... Yuck! It made me yearn for snow, and when I dropped by the New York Times for a look at the world, "Finding Bliss in Avalanche Country, British Columbia" grabbed my attention. I'm ready to go skiing.

"What makes the skiing there [Rogers Pass in the Canadian Rockies], great is also what makes it foreboding: its annual snowfall of 567 inches — over 47 feet — one of the deepest in Canada."

Mark Sundeen's article is a good read, not just for the good storytelling, but for his get-me-out of the mainstream approach to skiing.

"Hot tubs and sushi notwithstanding, for someone who likes the backcountry, skiing at resorts and sleeping in motels is ultimately a bummer. So the next day, we pasted climbing skins to our skis, tested our beacons and skied into the woods, where we would spend the next two nights at the A. O. Wheeler Hut, a rustic log cabin about half an hour from the road."

Of course this is after a day of lapping the groomers at the Kicking Horse resort in Golden due to the high avalanche risks brought on with the massive snowfall. But as soon as the conditions are safe (safer?) he and his buddy head for the wilds. After crashing out for the night with a couple of dozen Canadians, they awake and for higher elevation, treking on their skis. Despite carrying avalanche security beacons in their packs, the feeling of security was distant for the the author as they advanced into the avalanche-prone backcountry.

"I didn’t feel particularly safe. Munzke predicted that our ridge would very likely split an avalanche from above onto the flanks on either side, and assured me if I just breathed a bit more slowly everything would be fine. So we dug a pit to analyze the stability of the snow, which Munzke declared to be favorable, then sat on our packs and ate salami and cheese and pieces of chocolate."

Then they were off, floating down toward the valley below through thigh deep virgin powder. Sound good? Still raining in Paris...

Oooomph! Another wheelie suitcase is bashed into your shins as the mob jockeys toward the overwhelmed attendants at the gate. They've just announced that your "red eye" home from a business trip has been canceled. That charming news after sitting in the terminal waiting for two hours because it was delayed! With your pulse skyrocketing and your hopes plummeting you jostle through the crowd while dialing your wife on your cell phone to let her know that you might not be making it home this evening.

Hibiscus with Plumeria, Georgia O'KeefeBluebird skies, warm weather and few tourists. Friday's visit to the Shelburne Museum to view the Georgia O'Keefe exhibition was a technicolor success. We had friends visiting for the last week, a couple and their three young children, and we planned a day trip to see O'Keefe's paintings, to wander around the living history exhibits, tour the steamboat Ticonderoga and generally ramble the beautiful grounds.

I love having guests, each new person gifts some new thing in the places I live ... it's always been that way and ML and Al have been no exception. Yesterday I saw Brussels in a new way. We began at the famous Atomium . You haven't heard of the Atomium well ... it was designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn for the International Exhibition of Brussels back in 1958. The Atomium is a structure that is half way between sculpture and architecture, symbolising a crystal molecule of metal by the scale of its atoms, magnified 165 billion times. It's an impressive wee place, with a restaurant at the top of the 335 foot high structure. The spheres have a diameter of 59.0 ft and weigh 2400 tons ... Photographs taken, we caught the metro into the city, abandoning our car in a shady place because the temperature was once again in the high 20's. We wandered in Grote Markt where I harassed street musicians with my camera ... I've taken to unashamedly asking for peoples email addresses after photographing them. No one has yet mistaken me for a stalker. We ate on Kaasmarkt, in one of the many Greek restaurants lining the back street, eating Gyros (otherwise known as Döner kebab in that other life that I lived). I do believe that Döner kebab is a meat I could eat endlessly ... it was good.

And so we returned to Belgie only to be back out on the road within 24 hours ... The 150km drive to Amsterdam turned into a 200km trip due to a closed piece of highway and a road lacking signage. We travelled about 60km without any kind of reassuring 'Amsterdam' indicators ... ahhh like Belgium, it seems the Netherlands runs light when it comes to marking the way. We arrived at the hotel and caught the train into the city. With memories of Heidelberg still in my mind, first glance Amsterdam didn't impress. It has something of the crazy chaos of Istanbul but lacks Turkish friendliness. We made one or two mistakes, jumping on the first canal boat ride we saw ... shop round on these because some are like buses and not pretty to ride on. On a happier note, we had 3 kiwis from Auckland sitting behind us and we chatted about 'home' between views from the boat.

You know when you're travelling on a flat road somewhere in the Netherlands and you look out across farmland and see a massive cloudbank where the Southern Alps would be if you were driving the Canterbury Plains back home in New Zealand ... and your heart misses a beat?

I forgot the Black Forest part of the journey ... perhaps it is that we covered so much ground in so few days. We travelled from the lowlands of Belgium up into the Ardennes and on through a little of France, Germany and the Netherlands in 30+o celsius heat, with the temperature staying that high until our return to Belgium last night ... it doesn't make for clear-minded thinking.