Ghost town

When we first arrived in Hurghada, you notice a difference immediately.
This small tourist town, famous for its location next to some of the most beautiful sea life in the world is.....spooky.

In other areas of Africa that we've visited...like Lusaka in Zambia, city buildings strike you as odd because they are all left decaying from the 70's, as if time had stopped, which in the sense of the city having a working infrastructure and educated civil engineers....it did stop. You walk on the side walk until it falls apart, and then....well, you walk in the dirt.

Hurghada is special because at least 85% of the buildings standing are incomplete. Nobody lives in them and perhaps nobody will. Locals start building with the money they have and when they run out of funds, they simply stop building and start up again in a few years when they do. Sometimes you'll see an entirely empty building with just one store lit up and open in the dark of the night, or perhaps a single apartment unit with the lights on. Our friends explained that as long as the building hasn't been finished, they don't have to pay taxes! Interesting.....

It's just kind of odd to be in a ghost town that has never been lived in! An entire city that is yet to exist!!! Sort of backwards and upside down in a sense that doesn't really work in my Western brain. Just like the decaying sidewalks of Zambia dont' make much sense either.
Dr. Seuss would love it!