Burk-me, burk-u, burk-a!

So, we discovered that we could not actually obtain an Egyptian visa from the Taba border crossing, as we had previously researched. We planned to grab the visa, go to St Catherine’s Monastery in Southern Sinai, and climb Mt Sinai before dawn to watch the sunrise (with apparently thousands of other daily hikers) from the mountains summit. We thought it would be a great way to start our way, the following day, to Mitzrayim (Egypt) … and basically Natan was itching to see the toilet on the mountain’s summit which has been dubbed The World’s #1 Most Disgusting Toilet, and (ironically), The World’s #1 Toilet with a View.

Bottom line… it didn’t happen and it was really sad. BUT, we spent an impromptu night in Eilat and the following morning in its Egyptian Embassy.

Since we lost a day waiting for our visa, and since it can take up to 9 hours to get there from the Taba Border in Eilat, we decided to make our way straight to Cairo. Taba Border is not nearly as scary as everyone says, in fact it was like any other customs line. However, we recommend to anybody crossing this route, not to use the only ATM in the Egyptian Customs hall.

We found the bus station and three other young travelers who were also going to Cairo, so we managed to get cheap seats in a mini-bus together, “direct” to Cairo. We assumed this meant direct, but we were quickly reminded that people living in developing countries are very lax with time, and after waiting about an hour for a 6^th person to join our mini-bus (who obviously never came), we got driven to some incredibly stark and small town in the middle of Sinai, where we waited for a new driver and mini-bus to take us to Suez, where again we changed driver and vehicle for the third time for Cairo. At one point in this very long day of driving, there were four Egyptian men in our mini-bus, dressed in the appropriate garb, sipping identical juice boxes and eating chocolate bars. All the waste of which, was disposed of, by simply pushing them out the windows of our absurdly fast driven mini-bus, which swerved at every moment to dodge the sand dunes on the road.

After all that, we were exhausted, and couldn’t actually believe we had made it to Cairo. We did know we were there however, because our driver dropped us off beneath a highway, in the middle of a crazy chaotic market with donkeys and people absolutely everywhere. He kept gesturing the way to the metro, but we couldn’t see it, so we panicked and asked that he walk us there. We stupidly had no Egyptian pounds left, (only shekels, which I was hiding with my kippah and tefillin) and out of nowhere, a kind Egyptian man saw these 5 white kids (who looked like death), bought metro tickets for us and took us to our train. I think I’d probably still be standing beneath that highway right now, crying, if not for that man.

We eventually got to the King Tut Hostel, in downtown Cairo, and the rest is history. We got a great deal on a tour guide and driver (both named Ahmed), to take us the next day to the Islamic centre of Cairo, some beautiful Mosques, the Pyramids, a Perfumery (where we got tourist trapped and scored an expensive bottle of imitation Channel 5), and a Papyrus store (where we knew better and walked out empty-handed).

Egypt is chaotic, with donkeys, crazy drivers (who will literally drive between lanes, for kilometers, whilst speeding), hookah bars, disgusting piles of garbage, a beautiful Nile and burkas a-plenty. It houses one of the Great Wonders of the World (which were excellent!!! and actually quite spiritual for us), but the entrance to which, is ironically a miserable pathway made of wooden planks and old doors thrown into a pile.

In the next installment, we travel to Abu Dhabi, and go aboard The United Arab Emirates’ national airline, Etihad … and go to JAPAN!

Natan.

P.S. Give Natan a break—this was his first trip to a developing country… in Africa… Lili