Dahab and...Foucault?

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Greetings from Dahab, beach colony on the Red Sea but technically located in the Sinai.

Frankly, I still can't believe that I made it. The Sinai isn't the easiest place to access, especially from Luxor and especially if you are not aiming for Sharm-el-Sheikh or are not going as part of a package tour. Therefore, my only real option was (gasp!) public transportation. Being no stranger to long, long bus journeys (22 hours in Syria, as I recall...), I thought I could handle a mere fourteen hours from Luxor to Dahab. And, in all honestly, I probably could have handled it. However, the Upper Egypt Bus Company had other ideas, or at least my particular bus did, as it chose to break down midway in the journey and, this being Egypt, the solution to the breakdown was to continue (on the same bus!) at a snail's pace. For the next twelve hours the bus never made it out of first gear, and when we were approaching a hill the driver had to pull over, kill the engine (and therefore the ac) and give the bus time to get its breath. We eventually coasted in to Sharm-el-Sheikh at noon (a mere six hours after we should have arrived in Dahab, which was another two hours away) and everyone was told to wait for the next available bus. By that time I had had enough of public transport in Egypt, so, along with a German girl and a Dutch man, we hired a local Bedouin to drive us the 100 kilometers to Dahab. Of course, he did not have a license to transport tourists, so every time a police checkpoint loomed we had to go off route and take a 'short cut' through the desert, but in the end I made it to Dahab in one piece, with my luggage, and without any injuries that a long shower couldn't cure.

Dahab is a bit of a trip, and is completely unlike the rest of Egypt. Unlike Sharm-El-Sheikh, it is not a vacation destination for European travelers nor a location that diplomats frequent when discussing the intricacies of the Palestinian question. Instead, Dahab is the permanent home of a rather large group of aging hippies, and the temporary home of a cabal of 'independent travelers', who come for the cheap food, exceptional diving, and (and perhaps I should have put this first) the plentiful supply of illegal drugs. The atmosphere is very similar to what you find in Zanzibar, and probably what Phuket was like before Leonardo DiCaprio. Then again, I just noticed that the hotel bookshelf has discarded volumes of Foucault, so maybe there is an underlying sophistication to this place that I have so far overlooked. Then again, maybe Michel Foucault jives well with the environment that I have described, or maybe the key point is that the book has been discarded... At any rate, I, on the other hand, have come to Dahab as it is the launching point for solo trips to Mt Sinai and Saint Katherine's Monastery, which is the primary reason that I have 'come so far and traveled for so long'.

I will be leaving for Mt Sinai in less than an hour (at 11pm local time), so that I can begin my trek up the mountain at around 1am and arrive at the summit by sunrise (thank goodness I was able to pack a MAG light...). It used to be possible to do the journey by yourself, but recently some tourists went off the track (and from what I hear, fell off the mountain) so now guides are required. After spending the early morning on the mountain I am going down to the monastery, where I will be able to spend an hour or so before the monks close the area to pilgrims. I hope that I get a chance to see St Katherine and the archives, but just being there will be a thrill.

At this point, I have no idea how I am going to get back to Cairo in time to take the plane back early Saturday morning (public transportation no longer being an option). So, if I don't arrive at work on Monday morning, I am probably still in Dahab.

If I am back on time (meaning Saturday afternoon) I hope the person with my house keys will remember to pick me up (hiint, hint)... and, I promise to pay a king's ransom to anyone who can provide me with a decent latte (haven't had one since Jordan), or anything made of pork (after three weeks of seeing nothing but 'beef bacon', I would do just about anything for a pepperoni pizza). I swear, it will be months before I can even contemplate hummos, tabouleh, or anything pita or served on a stick.

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Photos

Dahab
The blurry quality of the photo should help you to envision the place as experienced by the majority of the inhabitants...