Advertisement
Yesterday was a very long day and a crazy onel The morning started with a lovely good morning orchestra at 5am doors were banging, cats were fighting violently (agro cats lol), construction works started in front of my window, the muezzin called the believers for the morning prayer (the minaret was right in front of my broken window). Time to get ready and to be honest I was quite emotional (=glad) about leaving this place (=the rubbish hostel with which i had a love-hate relationship) (today I regret that I didnt stay 2 more nights at least)
This time the narrow streets of the old city were spookily empty in contrast to my arrival in Jerusalem. I caught a taxi to the Israeli (western) part of Jerusalem and was dropped right in front of the central bus station. Usual procedures: luggage x-ray, ID-check, metal detector, etc)
A couple of hours later i left Jerusalem in order to get to eilat, cross the border and from there going to Cairo. During the trip through Israel i thought about how smoothly the trip has been so far. No sickness, no complications of any kind. This would change very soon...
First
of all my mission was to get stamps for some postcards in Eilat but nobody appeared to speak english or german and it took me exactly 1 hour till an elderly lady helped me with my search to find someone who may understand my language. After this I got onto another bus, went into the border, passed the israeli controls first before passing the egyptian immigration. At the egyptian passport control i was told that i had no valid visa!!!! And also that it would not be possible to issue a new one at this place. On my arrival in sharm el sheikh i payed for a big multiple entry visa and was confirmed to have a multiple entry visa!! And now i was told that i only had a sinai visa and of course no multiple entry visa!!!! And now i was told to return to eilat, go through the torture of israeli immigration again and getting a visa from the consulate before theyd let me through the passport control!! The manager demonstrated to me that as a woman you dont have much to say by simply ignoring me arrogantly!!! I got so angry when he did that and
probably lost my face when i energetically insisted on him to listen to me. Its an offense when a woman interrupts a male who has a higher rank and so i guess it was a mistake i did but he wasnt helpful at all anyway. When i asked if i could store my luggage at the border they didnt even allow me that. So i picked my passport and left. At the first passport control i was sent back to the final passport stamp area. Why? Because my passport needed an exit stamp from egypt! So i had to return and in this moment a MASSIVE japanese travel group entered the israeli immigration (now the queues would be so long and i wouldnt make it to get the visa that day) I was desperate and cried, in the end i only laughed. It was such an abstract situation. I was still so angry and went back to the managers office who suddenly stopped his conversations and listened to me lol He may have been scared by my angry look hahaha Anyway in the end there appeared to be a way for getting a visa at the border... by paying 50
US$!!! With money anything is possible here...
One hour later i had my stamps, and was escorted for free (!!) to the taba bus station from where the bus to cairo was supposed to leave at 4.30... of course it never showed up lol
So i got together with a palestinian family and we shared a minibus. We had great conversations during the 7 hour drive and in the end they invited me several times to come to their appartment right after the trip for a cup of tea. After that 2 of their sons brought me into the city and helped me to find a hotel. They were such gentlemans. They carried my luggage, and did everything for me. It was a lovely experience. So by 2 am i was finally in my bed.
The traffic here in cairo is MAD!!!! It is unbelieveable and a real danger! The driver pushed the minivan up to 150km/h and that despite much traffic on the highway...
Anyway, this morning i slept a bit longer and visited the citadel and the orthodox graveyard when i begun to feel sick. i think i have eaten something wrong. I went to a pharmacy and
they were so sweet, they saw me and gave me medication for free!! Now im feeling much better, just feeling a bit green in the face so i guess its a good idea not to eat anything today...
Tomorrow ill go and see the pyramids and the egyptian museum
so long...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.042s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0228s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Paulo
non-member comment
At the foot of the pyramids
Hey, lets wake up early tomorrow to see the pyramids :D You reaaly have an adventurer spirit... pls dont try to climb up the pyramids, ok? ;o)