Bedouin dinner in the desert
Trip Start
Unknown
1
82
100
Trip End
Ongoing
Dahab, Red Sea and Sinai, Egypt
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The worst part is I would have made more of an effort on my part if the group as I really liked them all indivually but they were constantly surrounded by a cloud of smoke leaving me feeling nauseous and with a headache. Ah, yes, this is why I don’t date smokers.
The worst part is being around people that you don’t click with and knowing you don’t fit in for some reason makes you want things that you don’t normally care about, or miss. I felt anxious and lonely and wanted company and cuddles. Why do I only feel like this around people?! The boredom of doing nothing probably didn’t help either.
I wont elaborate on the last few days as I truly haven’t done anything but today I met up with Sabina & Sami who promised to show me a brochure of a guy who could take me to Taba, to get to Eilat so I hunted them down and started going through the brochure.
This is when I got really pissed as I realized, had I not spent so much time avoiding everyone, I would have seen this days ago, and gone on a specific trip with this couple up the Sinai mountain to watch the sunrise and see the burning bush from the bible. That would have been kewl. Is it bad that I cant even tell you who saw this burning bush? I THINK it was Mosses, but he parted the sea so, maybe in his 40 year wanderings?…. Not sure.
Yep, that’s me, totally religious.
So after going with them to see them off to their bus as they were heading to Cairo and I wanted to check on buses to Taba I realized how unreliable the buses here are. (ok, I knew this prior but to SEE it was a bit of a shock) for 20LE more (4CAD) I could be picked up AT MY VILLA with no transfers, break downs, long waits at the side of the road, and an hour less of travel time. I may be retarded, but Im not THAT retarded. I opted for this option.
Also not wanting to have my time here be a total waste and piss off I looked over the options for tours and found a "boudoin dinner in the mountains"
120LE to go from 6:30 to whatever time you want with dinner & tea. Sweet.
I wanted to do more but due to my STUPIDITY I don’t have time.
Sometimes I really hate myself.
In case you didn’t get it from the above Sabina & Sami couldn’t catch their bus cause it was full and you cant buy tickets in advance which scared me.
So they decided to join me. HURRAH.
I feigned being social and sat eating lunch with everyone. After being ignored for a while I popped in my earbuds and blasted my angry girl bands and then wandered looking for the perfect Isis pendant which I am hoping to find here.
The rest of the afternoon was torture. Waiting. Wanting to go and do something.
Meeting up and heading out in a 4X4 we left the highway and bounced along wishing I was an a cup.
I never thought I could fall in love with the desert having grown up in it and hating it. Always wanting the lush tropics, but I have deffinatley fallen in love with the desert here. It is so unlike the desert at home. Sabina, Sami & I got to go an hour early with the cook as they had to leave at 10 to catch a bus to Cairo at midnight (yuk) so we got to wander around in the daylight and enjoy the amazing formations. Stunning.
THIS is what I needed. Peace. Silence. Nature. LOVE IT!
Lets just say I was not overly impressed when the other tourists started to arrive especialy a group of noisy Egyptians from Cairo. I found out the bodouin people don’t like the Egyptians as they feel they have been forgotten about. Interesting.
Chillin out, staring at the stars and chatting we are taken for a desert tour at around 9. It is pretty dark as the moon has gone down but there is enough light to see by, but the idiot Egyptians insist on BLINDING you with flashlights and ruining your night vision. Im not impressed and hang as far back as I can in the dark avoiding the noisy group.
It always feels good to beat someone at their own game. (I later found out the guide was from Luxor and not a native so it took some of the triumph out of it) We weren’t warned about this “hike” through incredibly narrow valleys (like, just enough to SQUEEZE through, and up rock formations. This is where again I realized how not-normal I am. Removing my flip-flops I hopped easily, happily and quickly up, and around the formations, not unlike a mountain goat, hands outstretched to either side of the walls for balance.
I would have found it amusing watching everyone else struggle if they hadn’t been so annoying waiting for them and listening to them whine.
Eventually we came to this amazing set of rocks that you had to climb. The Egyptians whined and refused to go, wanting to go back. Great. There goes my fun. Bastereds.
Heading back we were taken on a “easier” route which included climbing up a sand dune. My GOD Egyptians are out of shape. This could have to do with their normal meal including rice, potatoe chips/crisps, bread, sausages, chicken, and beans. Id be out of shape too.
Although watching them struggle up (and then down) was rather amusing.
Sandals off, I thought it was allot of fun.
Once at the top I picked the edge of the precipice and sat with boards of Canada blaring peaceful ambience music blocking out the annoying chatter and setting a perfect backdrop to one of the most stunning landscapes I have ever seen.
The “mountains” (If you can call them that) are incredibly small, pointed, and numerous.
The lights from Dahab only touched the peaks of a few high up so it looked like they were bathed in white light and we looked down upon a tiny valley with 2 campfires, winding road, and more stars than I have ever seen in my life
Peace.
I could live here. Alone. In the desert. Sleep in a open shelter, or under the stars. There is nothing dangerous and the sand is soft enough for barefeet.
It was a little hard to meditate with the idiots at my back but I managed to clear my mind and self and let this amazing world soak into me.
I cant begin to describe the beauty and peace of this place. I could have been quiet happy if they had left me there alone. It was almost the silence of deep in the caves as there are no plants to rustle, no animals moving, nothing.
Back at the camp Sabina & Sami had left to catch their bus and I was placed with the Egyptians and the guide who brought us here named Wesa (weesaw)
And I was so looking forward to alone time. Damn it.
They went out of their way to get me to join the group and talk with me and were very sweet actually. Annoying, yes. Especially one called Russia who didn’t shut up.
I felt selfish because as touching as it was I really just wanted to be alone but had to chill with them at least until the food came. It was around 11 by the time the food came and was (oh goody) typical Egyptian food. It was horrible. Flat. And I was impressed how they managed to not get a single iota of nutrition (save for the grilled chicken with no spices or salt: blah) TAREK! Come, bring food.
I fed my befriended cat and laid on the mat to stare at the stars. Aaaa Peace.
But my peace would not last long. The Egyptians where drinking and offered me to come drink with them but I truly wasn’t in the mood. Wesa offered me hash, which I also declined and realized that I had become the person at the party that I never understood. The one who wanted to observe and remain sober. Oh god, Im getting old.
Every 2 minutes from Wesa: “What are you thinking about”
And other random questions. Most of which between the hash he had smoked and the language barrier he didn’t understand and would stop listening ½ way through the answer, or ask again 3 minutes later.
When the guys needed to clean up the table the Egyptians moved to one of the side lean-tos and Wesa somehow managed to get me to another one with just me and him. I didn’t argue. It meant some peace from the drinking, loud Egyptians. It did mean constant annoyance from him. After about 10 minutes I head a bit of a commotion and Wesa informed me of the “Scandal” that he had singled me out and there was a lone Egyptian man sitting with a white girl. How inappropriate.
In a group full of people, (not just now but earlier as well) WHY am I always picked on?! I am normally the on that everyone leaves alone.
After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that it is because I am Canadian and apparently a Canadian passport is coveted as it can get you anywhere. This is my conclusion as when picked over the leggy, gorgeous, blonds time and time again, there is something wrong with this picture.
Wanting him to just go away and wondering if Id be allowed to slip away into the desert alone after a bombardment of “OH, your going to Luxor, I live in luxor, whats your number, take mine, promise me you wont loose it, promise me youll call me, come sit closer………..” Now, I have been told Ive gotten the wrong impression before, fine, I know this culture is different, totally get that but there was no mistaking that.
Seemingly to read my mind he asked me to go for a starlit walk in the desert with him.
Now I CANT slip away cause hell come. GOD DAMN IT!
I cant tell you how many times I had to tell him I truly wasn’t interested and was to tired to move, no I didn’t want to sit next to him, not I didn’t want tea, or shisha (tobacco), or hash, or a cigarette, No I didn’t want to go for a walk along the beach, or drinks when we got back, or, or, or, or.
I swear he wasn’t as annoying before he smoke the hash.
I feigned sleep a few times but he kept harassing me till I “woke up”
By this time the group had recongened into a central circle and were singing and playing the drums and drinking and having a jolly time. I was ready for bed and kept praying “please go away, please go away, please go away.”
When he asked if I wanted to sleep he said I couldn’t and if I wanted to, I had to go about 10 mtrs into the desert to sleep. Soooo not happening. I have a squishy bed, and Im comfortable. WHY would I go into the desert to sleep?! Not seeing the logic.
Finally realizing I was honestly tired he asked if I wanted to go back. YES! THANK YOU!
Aaaa… how to piss people off.
This nearly broke out a few fights as the Egyptians CLEARLY hadn’t finished drinking. (I could say otherwise from sharing the jeep back to town with them that they really didn’t need anymore if the almost-fights weren’t enough)
I crawled into bed around 2:15
It was an amazing trip. I love the desert. I could do without the people. To take a jeep and just go off by myself or with a small group of friends or a lover. The stars are amazing. So many of them. I wish I could find the words to describe it, or had a camera that could photograph it. If it hadn’t been for this trip, I would have said the Dahab part of my journey was a total piss of. Next time maybe I can do it in peace.
