Dahab and Sinai
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2006
1
15
26
Trip End
Aug 10, 2006
Dahab, Egypt
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Well it has been a little while since I have had the time to write. On the night of the 23rd I headed to Sinai having spent a few days in Jerusalem and enjoying an altogether completely different city to anywhere else in the world. It was a city I could not quite understand. It was steeped in religiosity and yet when we went out we saw transvestites, homosexuals`and drunken deborchery to a degree that I have not seen for a long time. The orthodox Jews, the Muslims, the Christians and the military made up the rest of the population. It is amazing to see the different Jews from all over the world having come to the country, and how this is reflected in their appearance. Jews from as far flung places as Africa, Russia, Morocco and south America. A very diverse city and one I would like to visit again.Its strange, it is like two completely different countries and systems in the same city. Very separate and yet side by side.Even the bus companies are completely separate.
I had spent the day going to Bethlehem which is on the west bank. Literally it is fifteen minuted from Jerusalem but you have to pass through the infamous wall that blocks the west bank from Israel making it very difficult for many Palestinians to led a normal life when they have to deal with such tight restrictions on their movement. t had hit the tourist industry hard (along with the war of course). Bethlehem was a nice little town with a church built over the birthplace of Christ. It was very special to me and as I ventured down to the underground cave I was able to enjoy it all to myself for about 20 minutes.
Completely exhausted I made my way to the bus stop in order to make it to the Sinai to see my friend Solomon the next day. It had been Sabbath and only the Arab buses were running during the day so I had to wait till the evening. The next bus wasn't leaving till 12 so I just sat and people watched for some time... which is one f my favorite past times...
looking forward to nice sleep I managed to get on a bus with the loudest bunch of sixteen year olds I have ever hard (Israelis do tend to be very loud). To get to dahab I had to pass through the beach town of Elat in the south of Isreal. With the war on in the north it seems this place was were every teenage Israeli was headed too. Sitting next to young kid I chatted with him for a while. Interestingly enough the conversation turned to politics very quickly, which I found was often the case in Israel in particular. He was looking forward to joining the army and explained it wouldn't be a problem (every Israeli must go to the army, women for one year and men for two). He explained that Israel wanted peace but everyone else wanted war. To prove it he pointed tot he Sinai peninsula which they gave back to Egypt in the mid 1970s in exchange for peace. It seemed that every one on both sides of this conflict wants peace and both sides see the other as the perpetrator of violence.... Hence not a lot of peace is to be had.
I played a game of Backgammon with anther kid before falling asleep. Ah... the long awaited sleep. The unfortunate thing was that I only got an hour before pulling into Eilat. I got a taxi to the border and as the sun was coming up I found myself in Egypt once again. It really was incredible. On the Israeli side you had a bustling town of a summer paradise and on the Egyptians side there wasn't much at all as far as infrastructure. A few half finished hotels and some taxi drivers awaiting to take rides. The Sinai was gorgeous though. The desert where Moses had walked for forty years in the desert.
Unfortunately there were not too many others crossing the border at he same time as me. So I asked the taxi driver to take me to Dahab but he explained we would have to wait for others. Having not slept all I took this to catch some sleep.
When I awoke the sun was streaming in and I was soaked with sweat (I started to realize the desert wanderings of Moses were not through then beautiful paradise of six in the morning but also through the extreme and deathly heat of 12 in the afternoon. It was midday and I knew my friend Solomon would be awaiting me. So knowing that time was running out I decided to pay a bit extra and get a taxi all the way to Dahab alone.
Finally I arrived in Dahab and I have got to say, I was not disappointed. It was an idilic setting on the coast of the read sea. A small town that cant boast more than a few thousand. I met up with Solomon. Over the next couple of days we enjoyed relaxing. This was to be a holiday from my travel and that is what we did. I did not do any diving but went snorkeling and the array of beautiful aquatic life was superb. Fish of all shapes and sizes, colors and personalities. The glory of God reflected in each and every one of them... A must for any trip to Egypt.
Between eating and relaxing we spent time in one of the hotel pools and the nights enjoying movies and a bit of a boogie on the dance floor. The night of the 25th we were to head to Sinai. The great mountain that Moses climbed and received the Ten commandments....
