8 September 2010

No images in this post. These will follow as we stayed in Dahab for a couple of days.

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So the crossing was uneventful but the getting and organising of visas to get through the checkpoint took about three hours. It was incredibly boring and hot on the truck. It really does seem as though no one has a plan or any clue what to do (the officials at the border that is).

Egypt, when you first cross into Nuwelba is pretty much what you would expect – vast, desert, few buildings and rubbish mounds. I find it incredible how much rubbish is left to build up.

From Nuwelba we drove to Dahab. It looks horrible from the angle you come in on. All I could think was “this is what people rave about?” Drew parked the truck and we got out in a ‘parking lot’ that literally stunk of shit. It was horrible. My hopes were sinking fast at this point. We followed like ants into a motel set up and a little cafe. We must have all looked really tired because they brought each one of us a mango fruit juice, which was okay with a heap of water added to it.

Room keys were distributed and we went to have a look. Our room had 2 king singles, a ceiling fan and a bathroom. The ceiling fan hung under the light so when both were on it flickered really badly. No epileptics in that room.

Teegs took us on a quick tour of the place and lead us out into a streetscape on the Red Sea. It was so beautiful.

Ange, Bruno and I went for a bit of a wander but Ange and I ended up in the local internet cafe. After an hour here I was done so went back to the motel to read. Ange and Kate came back later. It was at this point though, I found out everyone else had airconditioning and fridges. After nearly not getting a room the night before I wasn’t very impressed. Teegs thought she was being nice giving us the ground floor room so we didn’t have to lug our bags up stairs and she didn’t know the condition of the room.

We went to a restaurant called Al Capone for dinner. They had a fresh seafood catch sitting in front and people could choose what they wanted cooked. Everyone took this option except me. I wasn’t into seafood.

Ange and I got home, used the toilet and found the damn thing wouldn’t flush. At 11pm I had to go out and find someone to fix it. A young guy came in, had a look and walked out. About five minutes later he came back loaded up with all the stuff you need to rebuild a toilet, which he did. About an hour later he had it flushing, he’d cleaned up and left. The next morning the bloody thing didn’t work again.