Ive acutally spent more than half my time so far in Dahab..
...but I should be leaving soon - honest!
It almost feels like I haven't started my travels yet. When I got to Dahab it was like a homecoming with lots of people hugging me and welcoming me back, which was lovely, but I can't help but wish that this chilled out place full of people who know me could be a bit further through my journey, when I could really need it - perhaps we could move it to Sudan?
Having said that, the journey back from Jordan was pretty fraught. We caught the fast ferry this time, and it only took 7 hours to go 40 miles instead of 12 on the slow one. Upon arrival in Egypt, I thought my pack had been nicked but it was just on a later trolley than everyone elses. We got through customs s l o w l y but upon reaching the other side found that one of our number, a Georgian, had got lost. It turned out he'd been held up in immigration as he now needed a special visa, but no-one had talked to him for the half hour he'd been sat in a little room when I went to go find him and he had no idea what was happening.
He told us to head on and he'd make his own way down, so we set off, but our minibus driver decided to krnk the prices up by 50% once we were underway, so we told him to take us back to the port. Finally we found someone willing to take us for the original price, and we again set off, just glad to be getting somewhere after an extremely long way. He was driving pretty slowly though, and with the lights off for long periods of time. In fact, he started coasting down the hills. Finally we stopped. No petrol, and 10 ks from Dahab. Still, the desert is famously warm at night.
We spent a good 45 minutes working out whether it was a good idea to walk, whilst some Japanese guys frolliced and made some cool photos with their torches. Luckily we got picked up eventually and dropped off hungry & tired in Dahab.
To be honest though, I viewed the whole day with amusement. It wasn't so bad. If we had ended up walking it might have been a bit more miserable, but we got here and got some food down us from the always awesome 'King Chicken'. And now I'm back in Dahab, sitting under plam trees, snorkelling & diving, drinking tea and chilling. It's been Eid, so there was no real point in going anywhere else as most places are shut whilst everyone visits their families, but I'm hoping to get off tomorrow to start my travels (finally!) and climb Mt Sinai.
Hope all's well, and that the weather's let off a bit. If it's any consolation the breeze here has made the sea a bit choppy and lowered visibility, though it has made it a bit nicer for walking around. I have started wearing a jacket at night though, but it's not strictly necessary.
Love and happiness,
Simon
No comments:
Post a Comment