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Published: December 4th 2008
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Day 225
After a very long night with Carly suffering a case of gastro (of unknown origin) we packed up our gear set for Wadi Rum desert on a 4WW Safari with Sergi (A Spanish mate we had met on the epic journey from Neweiba. We were picked up by the same taxi driver and staggered aboard hoping he'd had a little more sleep then we had. In what seemed like no time (napping perhaps) we arrived at the Wadi Rum Visitors centre to purchase entrance tickets and met our guide's "Musalla' (the boss) and Aldi.
From here we jumped in the back of the jeep and set off with another 8-9 4WD and jeeps for the not so deserted desert. Our first stop was The Spring where we were told to climb to the spring whilst our guide did some shopping unlike all the other tourists who admired it from below. We scrambled up it just the same nad enjoyed the magnificant views overlooking the desert.
Next stop was the Red Sand Dunes, where we joined the others climbing the dunes by decided against rolling down and the couple mouthfuls of sand that went with it. Next stop was at
the remains of "Lawerance of Arabia's House' and a wall of traditional camel inscriptions. We stopped for a picnic lunch lunch of hommus, tomato, cucumber, tuna and pitta's and a siesta in the sun. Our last stop was the Umm Rock Bridge a bridge formed naturally by rocks. After a hairy climb we took a few moments to gather ourselves before climbing down. We set off back to camp with Sergi taking the wheel for spin.
We set up beds before climbing the near by rock/hill for a magnificant view of the sunset.
Aldi (driver come chef) whipped up a delicious camp dinner of camp-oven roasted chicken and potato's, arabic sald, pitta, arabic stew and rice with Sergi and four girls from Poland.
After dinner Sergi set to teaching us the constellations of the winter sky and the girls provided us Apple flavoured Sheesha, rum and coke and Holland Chocolate. With an early start scheduled for sunrise we headed in early.
Day 226
Up at 5am we rugged up against the freezing morning desert and set off in the 4WD for a good vantage point for sunrise. After a long hour the sun finally rose bringing light and warmth
to the desert and some spectacular pic's.
After a kip and breaky we caught a lift in the village with girls and arranged a camel ride part of the way back to camp. We walked the remaining way which was alot further then we remembered in the jeep.
Back at camp after another nap, Sergi gave us our first Spanish lesson which we hope to continue learning back in the UK and we enjoyed a lazy afternoon in the sun. After afternoon tea of
(very sweet) tea and biscuits we watched the sun set. Aldi cooked another fanastic dinner of Arabic stew and some of his mate entertaind us with some lively Arabic guitar and singing around the camp fire before
Sergi gave us lesson two of the constellations of the sky.
Day 227
Our Journey back to Egypt- keen to avoid the Ferry we were persuaded by our Taxi drive to make our way back to Egypt via Israel given it was quicker and cheaper?!? With little to lose we set off at 7.45am in Jeep back to Wadi Rum Village, then a taxi to the Israelian border here we paid our Jordon departure tax and got another
Taxi to the Egyptian Embassey to our Visa's. Where we hit hurdle number one; they would only take Israel money (and we only had US dollar) and Jez didn't have passport photo's so much to the disgust of our Taxi driver we headed back in town. After an hour long wait we finally recieved our Visa's with our Taxi driver getting angrier by the minute he dropped us at the Egyptian border demanding more money. After more tax at the border (for a country we had spent less than two hours in) we made our way to the Taba bus station for the 3 hour wait for the bus to Dahab. At 3.00pm we bordered our decrepite looking bus, ten minutes into the journey we paid another border tax and started to question whether this really was going to be cheaper! Just over an hour down the road the bus came to an abrupt hault and the back half began filling with black smoke (dilemma number 2). Initially, amused by the mechanical geniuses we assumed by the abupt reply's that another bus was coming and denied the passesby for lifts. But with an apparant mechanic arriving 45 minutes later (why?
as this bus was in no state to go anywhere and it was dark!) and our fellow passangers disappearing on alternate transport we too thought we had better start looking for another way to Dahab.
Minutes later a van pulled over asking whether we would like a lift, us three and the other five foreigners jumped in (safety in numbers right!) at another 10 egyptian pound each. The middle aged German couple constantly requested the driver to slow down, we were happy just to be on right side of the road and less than forty-five minutes later we arrived in Dahab. With Sergi as our local guide we booked in a Adventure Spot Divers to begin our Advanced Diving course the following day, checked in to the Marine Garden Camp for a cheap double room (Concrete Cell no window at 50 egyptian pounds/night) and enjoyed a fantastic BBQ fish and calamari at Chill out for dinner.
And the verdict, going via Israel possibly saved us $25 bucks each, but was better than a nine hour wait for the ferry!
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jordy
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leaning tent of pisa
wtf? did that tent last the distance man or did it fall over with u guys in it!