Nuweiba and goodbye Egypt

Last stop in Egypt, Nuweiba port right up the Eastern Sinai coast. I knew it was a long day getting across the border, but man, those Egyptians are unorganised! We arrived about 8am at the port, and watched the show in various spots through the process until we got onto our 11am ferry at 3.30pm.

Egyptian men do tend to stare at western women, so us chicks are used to that, but this place took the cake! It was as if a thousand guys had just got eyes for Christmas and were taking full advantage of using them. I had never felt so conspicuous, expecially when having to walk through the mens waiting area, and so glad that long pants and a t-shirt were my choice of clothing for the day.

Still, watching the crowds trying to get tickets, all get in through one narrow doorway at once and generally be as unorganised as possible, and watching the dockies do little but sit around and eat the apples they were supposed to be loading, gave us entertainment for several hours.

Finally got into Aquaba, Jordan at dinner time, and had to wait several more hours for our truck to arrive, as vehicles have to go on a slower ferry... go figure.

So, goodbye Egypt.

Memories of Egypt:
Dust, noise and disorganisation
Huges amounts of history
Shopkeepers who have to point our everything in their shop
Sleazy men with dodgy comments and stares
Restaurants that say you can have anything, but when you ask for something are told "NO!"
Continually beeping horns
Wide variation in desert, with endless stars
Pita bread
More pita bread
Metal detectors on doorways that beep, but they don't bother checking why
Checkpoints, convoys, inefficient and underskilled looking police and army checkpoint staff
"Where you from?"
Smoking anywhere and everywhere, but no alcohol
No photos of anything vaguely touchy - borders, bridges, checkpoints...

It's a great place. I recommend coming here, but bring lots of patience and good humour, and a camera with lots of memory cards. There's so much to see and experience!

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