[Georgina]

Just to add a few of my thoughts having lived in El Gouna for nearly five years.

My aim was to purchase a property that felt totally different to anything in Europe. I wanted to feel like I was in Egypt when I close the doors so buying my Nubian style apartment with domed ceilings, arches and stunning views over the lagoons, mountain and sea delivered this.

I also wanted to live somewhere that I could walk everywhere. The roads in Egypt scare me so much because of the standard of driving. And also because of the Europeans full of alcohol! In El Gouna I can walk just about everywhere and catch a shuttle bus if I want to go from one end to the other. Even in El Gouna there are many accidents but in Egypt I think the figures are 8,000 deaths per year on the roads.

I love to swim in the lagoons. I hate swimming pools.

The sea view rooms at the Sheraton were being refurbished when I visited the hairdresser recently and they were dredging the lagoon too.

El Gouna is getting busier and less quieter with the marina parties now every Friday and Monday and more venues open to dance until sunrise!

Because El Gouna is growing so fast and a lot of people have bought as an investment there are more and more resales available. Some are asking way too much money and have therefore had their properties up for sale for a long time, especially if they are on the edges of El Gouna or don't have any views from their windows. A bargain could be had if you contact the buyer direct. There is a Group on Yahoo for El Gouna you could join and ask for details or search the forum for property for sale. Orascom would obviously prefer to sell you a new property than one they have already sold.

Whether buying in Egypt is an investment or not I really don't know. It's Egypt. We don't have the standards as in Europe. All I know is that I chose my apartment as a home to live in and hopefully will never have to sell. Prices go down as well as up. I have owned property in the UK for 20 years and look what is happening there now. I am sure it will have a knock on effect here if it is mainly Brits buying on the Red Sea? And you can say your property is worth what ever you like but it is only worth what you actually sell it for as a few people in El Gouna are finding out.

For me it certainly is "Life As It Should Be' and I know I am very, very lucky :-)