Derek Takes Cairo: Sinai Trip. Part One.

A problem with the sudden planning of the Sinai trip was the lack of time to properly prepare for a trip of such caliber- the major travel guides suggest purchasing bus tickets several days in advance. We tried to get our tickets one hour and fifteen minutes before the bus to Dahab left. There were seven of us, but only three tickets available. We had to buy tickets to Sharm al-Sheikh, instead, and hope we could get a bus to Dahab from there. We had to wait around in the bus stop for a little longer than planned, but we made it work.

(all of the pictures get bigger if you click on them)

It was a night trip (bus left at 1am) so naturally we had planned to sleep for the seven hour drive. Sleep, however, was hard to come by and not because of the bumpy bus ride. No, the bus-line shows movies to entertain the passengers, regardless of what time it is. The films shown were not even reasonable to show that late. This is something I had written down while on the bus, “2:36am and there is an Egyptian action movie showing on the bus’s screens. EVERYONE IS ASLLP [I misspelled this as it was dark and I was tired]!! NO NEED FOR A MOVIE!” I was clearly upset about waking up to gun shots and screaming. After the action film, they showed Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (if you are familiar with the Anaconda series, you will recognize this as the second film in the series). In between the shooting scenes, if I was able to fall asleep, I would soon be woken up by crossing through a security check point in which a guard would board the bus and check passports and visas.

The bus arrived in Sharm al-Sheikh just before 8am. The city is surrounded by mountains and the Red Sea. Seeing this was a tease because we still had to take a bus to Dahab before we could relax in that kind of environment. There was a little snafu buying the tickets- the attendant gave me back the change for the group and as we walked away, he beckoned me back to the counter. He began yelling “GIVE ME MONEY”. I stared blankly at him, holding the change. All he ever said was “GIVE ME MONEY” repeatedly and we did not know why. Eventually I caved into his demands and handed him the change- I don’t like being yelled at, I guess. It turns out that he just gave us the wrong amount of change.

The bus ride from Sharm al-Sheikh to Dahab reminded me quite a bit of the bus ride from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. At first, it is really exciting to see the desert and mountains, but it quickly becomes repetitive and boring. That being said, being in the Sinai sounds cooler than being in Arizona/Nevada.

As we pulled into the Dahab station, our bus was mobbed by taxi drivers offering their lowest prices to destination-X or destination-Y. ‘Mobbed’ may be an understatement. Men were running along the bus as we approached the station. Each wanted to be the first to greet you and offer you their service. Lucky for them, we were not entirely sure of our plan. Would we go straight to St. Catherine’s Monastery and Mt. Sinai? Would we go in to Dahab first? Where in Dahab would we go/stay? This debate gave the drivers plenty of time to suggest where we should go- and, more importantly, how we should get there.

We purchased our tickets for our return (we did not want to get stranded in Dahab because our classes were starting soon) and then just walked a mile-ish in to town. The drivers were disappointed by this.

We went to the Jasmine Pension and asked how much for rooms. Being in a town that thrives on tourism, the staff at the Jasmine knew how to whew us. The man we spoke to, Momo (short for Mohammed, we think), showed us around before discussing the price. He took us to the rooms and then through their bar and out to their outdoor-lounge area. This lounge area just happened to be right on the Red Sea. It was beautiful. We relaxed in the lounge and drank tea and hibiscus juice while we went over the pricing. We worked out a deal to stay there and get a tour package to Mt. Sinai. It was beautiful.

The view from my room:

This one has been stolen from my friend, Jessica, but her room was next to mine:

The Jasmine's seaside lounge:

The previous pic is from Rachel, the next one is from Jessica

This one is from Darren (everyone was taking pictures, so I decided I would not take many and take everyone else's):

The Red Sea was very seductive- we had not planned for this. The girls needed swimsuits so we walked into town in search for some. None of the stores had them, but what the last store we went into did have was a very friendly staff. We got on the topic of football (soccer) and somehow that led to us smoking hookah in the back of their store. They even offered the men “something special”, but we declined. The workers were extraordinarily friendly. We were there for a few hours talking about life, politics, and the Arabic language (they were teaching us the Egyptian dialect). We became very hungry at one point and managed to escape their kindness and hospitality. They did invite us to come back for more, though.

Inside the shop:

This is from Jessica:

We ate kushari and then went into the Red Sea. The Red Sea is filled with coral, sponge, and other things that feel uncomfortable when you step on them. Because of this, Dahab is a hotspot for diving and snorkeling, so my travel book says. After several failed attempts at parting the sea, we came back ashore and relaxed until it was time to go to Mt. Sinai.