"home" again (a debriefing)

An unfinished summary of my trip:

Astonishingly our little crew has reached Rehovot again successfully, meaning the whole trip to Jordan and Egypt went without anything going horribly wrong on our crazed itinerary.

About Egypt, Asmahan says that you have to count your fingers before and after shaking hands, to make sure that you got them all back. I'm still counting my fingers but I seem to have them all.

DAHAB. Dahab is a dream. Dahab exudes relaxation. The primary activity is doing nothing, "loafing around." Sit on a cushion under some palm trees and ask the Bedouin to keep you supplied with mint tea or banana milk shakes, watch the waves on the azure sea...

Half-way down the coast of Gulf of Aqaba (the eastern toe of the Red Sea) on Sinai, that funny bit of land between Asia and Africa, Dahab was just a Bedouin camp not too many years ago. Then the grass huts and the travelers started coming, and now there's no bedouin camp to be found, but in its place a beachfront of small bungalow camps and simple restaurants. By almost any definition, it's in the middle of nowhere, with longer than an eight-hour drives to Cairo, Tel Aviv, or Amman. Nowadays, it's entirely synthetic and entirely touristic, but that's entirely OK.

Even just walking around Dahab is relaxing. Except for some of the restaurants in the evening, there are no annoying soliciters trying to sell papyrus or camel rides. Anything you want is available for a reasonable price, anyone can get it for you, everything is negotiable, and you can pay whenever you like ("pay today, tomorrow, next month..."). It's easy. Josh commented, "I think that anyone who has any problems in their life -- they should be sent directly here for a few days.." Eight dollars a day will get you breakfast and dinner in a restaurant, a bed in a nice room, snacks, and a mask and snorkel.

The Snorkel. Although there's no pressure to actually do anything in Dahab, there are actually plenty of amusing activities. The best by far, we found, was snorkeling. It was a new experience for me, and I started with just the mask and soon found cause to figure out the snorkel. You can spend hours out there... the sea is warm and dense, so with your head in the water you can swim around almost effortlessly, free to forget the world above. All those pretty fish you see at the pet store? They, and zillions others, they are all there! Swim along, nose just inches from the coral, then come to the precipice where suddenly the reef drops off into the sandy depths, colored light blue by the sunlight...

Another thing to do is to climb Mt. Sinai. For whatever reason (doubtlessly not least the heat of the day) it's become traditional to do this at night. Auski Camp ran a 11pm car out to the mountain (it's a two hour drive from Dahab) so I jumped at the opportunity. Keeping in mind the Boy Scout Motto, I brought absolutely nothing other than that which I was wearing (having switched into long pants) and a bottle of water and ended up stumbling up the mountain in complete darkness with about four other people for the 2 1/2 hour trip. Unquestionably this is the way to do it -- the starlight is enough to make out the trail, and, high in the mountains in the middle of the desert, the night sky is stunning. Into the stars and galaxies and meteors (I saw dozens) we hiked up the mountain.

Our group was the first to the summit, sometime around 03:00, and, thinking we'd have the place to ourselves, I was surprised to look down and see the trail snaking up the mountain entirely lit up by hundreds flashlights.

It's relatively easy to get to Dahab from Tel Aviv. Just take Egged inter-city bus number 393 or 394 for the five hour trip to Eilat (64 shekels, or ~ 59 with student ID); then bus 15 will take you the few kilometers from central Eilat to the Egyptian border crossing. Pay the ~ 70 shekel exit tax and walk into the Egyptian town of Taba. If you're just going to Dahab you can get a free "Sinai pass," but if you're planning to go to Cairo or even to Sharm al-Sheik you'll need a real Egyptian visa, which can be aquired for $15 at the border, but you will probably be better off getting yours at the Egyptian consulate in Tel Aviv as Josh and Dushan did. Buses, operated by East Delta Bus Company, depart Taba for Cairo, in addition to service to Sinai. For Dahab there are frequent minibuses, service taxis, and taxis. Josh and Dushan arrived late at night and shared a taxi with two Israelis.

An Egyptian visa can easily be obtained (for JD 12 or USD 15) at the friendly consulate in Aqaba; they're also available in the port of Nuweiba after getting off the boat, but the hassle is considerable. The consulate is easier and saves time at the border.

CAIRO. We arrived in Cairo on Thursday morning after "enjoying" the all-night minibus from Dahab. Josh and I took the prized behind-the-driver seats with the most leg room, only to find that the floor there was burning hot from the engine beneath. Dushan had to squeeze himself into a ridiculously small space. And then piled in a dozen or so Egyptians for the nine hour ride... For thirty shekels more we could have taken an actual bus, but where's the fun in that? (-:

What to say about Cairo? The first thing I noticed was the air, the weight of which increases noticably upon entering the City.

EILAT. Josh and I wanted desperately to get in a last snorkeling in Eilat before heading back to Tel Aviv, and soon, North America. But, quite bizarrely, all the snorkel-renting establishments on Coral Beach Nature Reserve seem to close at five in the afternoon (with the sun still shining brightly, the waters beckoning invitingly...), and furthermore charge ridiculous rates. $1 gets you the mask and snorkel for day in Dahab, and you might pay ten times that in Eilat.