My Diary Travelogues | The Levant | 1996 | May 05 to May 08 | Part 1 – Egypt

One of the languages I took at University was Arabic. In 1995, half-way through my degree, I opted for a year out to go travelling. This was kinda part of the degree - an 'Integrated Year Abroad'. I had complete liberty to do what I wanted and no contact with Academia. I was to submit a 3000-word essay in Arabic on a topic of my choice to my professor when the academic year began again in October 1996, but in all other regards I was a free bird. I flew into Cairo in November 1995 and stayed there until early January 1996 when I moved to a village in the Nile Delta region north of Cairo called Basaisa, and taught English there till the end of March. My own level of Arabic attained its peak during this period and I spent a delightful month in April, following the course of the Nile down to Aswan and exploring its pharaoh-littered banks and some of the outlying desert oases.

At the start of May 1996, I said my goodbyes in Cairo and left with the intention of returning to Europe overland, specifically to Germany, where I planned to find work and save money for the following academic year. My aim at this stage was to travel through Jordan, Syria and Turkey, as I had done three years previously, in 1992.

It is at this point, in the early hours of Tuesday 6 May 1996, that my diary writing of the time picks up the account. I will spread this out over five posts as it is looooong, and will be more comfortable to read (and post :) in sections. I do not have many photos of my own of this period, as I did not own a camera at the time, but the great and generous WWW provides, and I still have some artefacts in my possession. I have only lightly edited the original text - for readability, and to remove extraneous bits and pieces; I have not altered any of the views/statements expressed or suchlike - they are as they were 22 years ago. Rather than intervene in the narrative with present-day thoughts, I have added footnotes to clarify or explain where appropriate.

Typing up these diary entries over the past howevermany days has also been my first revisit since they were originally written. I have greatly enjoyed the experience of immersing myself in these journeys and of bringing them to life again on Steemit. I hope you enjoy them too.

Tuesday, 6th May 1996 | 03:55 | top of Mt. Sinai (Egypt)

Said bye to Ibrahim and Nariman. I saw tears well up in her eyes when I said I was leaving – she had thought it was to have been tomorrow! Ibrahim and I parted with a kiss on the cheeks, Arab style, and a firm handshake, the unemotional element being my doing.

Got a Peugeot ¹ to Suez, arriving at 2.30pm, to find that the bus to St Catherine's had left at 2! Got the one to El-Tor and got off where the roads branched off. Had wanted to make the sunset from the top, but it was already 7pm. Very few cars down that road, but I (along with two others) got a lift on the back of a lorry carrying bricks. The 80km took 3 hours but they were excellent out in the open, with the fading daylight, emerging nightlife (stars & moon) and the silhouetted, rugged mountains. Got on well with Hussein. Got dropped off 25 km short of St. Catherine's by 10.30pm. Walked a couple of kilometres to a beautiful mosque by the road-side. Only 2 or 3 cars passed us in 2 hours and we just sat smoking cigs and enjoying the silence and surroundings. Some Bedouins appeared out of nowhere and talked to us for a bit, one offering to take us to St. Catherine's for 20 pounds² in his Peugeot. I said no, so we just sat and played dominoes in the moonlight – full moon! At half-past midnight, the Peugeot reappeared and I coughed up the 20. I had enjoyed the whole evening despite being so tired, and so didn't really mind. Said bye to Hussein, left my luggage at the monastery in St. Catherine's, cleaned my teeth and set off on my solitary moonlight trek up the Mountain of the Burning Bush.

Passed the big monastery, with its forbidding walls, the full moon and bats flying about. Was feeling the atmosphere. Then came upon a hoard of camels with their Bedouins waiting for lazy tourists. Walked for an hour, overtaking everyone (15-20 people). Stopped and talked to a Bedouin who wanted to buy my radio. Also met an Indian, living in Rome – Ashok. S, from Benaras (50-60 years old). But I walked alone and enjoyed imagining myself so, with all the moonlit splendour around me. Reached the top - now rapidly filling with people, and I'm glad I've written this because I'm very tired.
<sub>1. mini-van/mini-bus shared taxi.
2. Egyptian Pound. At the time £1 Sterling equalled 5 or 6 EP.</sub>

Tuesday, 6th May 1996 | 18:20 | Dahab, Sinai (Egypt)

Quite stoned! Spent an hour and a half with the panoramic sunrise and the people of various faiths praying and singing. Must have been over a hundred people, mostly groups - religious tourists - and mainly elderly (over 45)¹. Poles and Briazilians and Jews singing; a group of Japanese or Koreans worshipping and clapping the sun as it rose; and myself, half dozing, wrapped up in my shawl and in the atmosphere. Took an hour getting down (8am), collected my stuff and walked the 2.5 km into town. Very tired but played backgammon and dominoes and caught the bus at 1pm. Met Johnny on the bus – a really nice Irishman (Catholic) teaching English in Lebanon who has lived an interesting life. He carried on to Sharm-el-Sheikh.

Snorkeled today – a wonderful glimpse of another world. But I hesitate to go out too far (which isn't really far!), for the vast unknown and strangeness of this world fills me with awe and my fancy plays with me even though I rationalise its harmlessness. The place itself is full of young people who revel in small-talk and light, superficial relationships with one another and everything around. I don't dislike them, just feel I've outgrown the way I perhaps was, or tried unsuccessfully to be like – 1991/2! Met Ashraf Rubiya, a diving instructor and different from a lot of the pushers. It was with him that I went snorkeling. I'm sitting in a loungy seaside restaurant.
_{1. Indulgent smile at perception of 'elderly' from stand-point of a 23 yr old. I am currently over 45 :)}

Wednesday, 7th May 1996 | 18:05 | Dahab, Sinai (Egypt)

I'm still sitting in the loungy restaurant - “Friends Restaurant”, and I've made friends with a few of the diver/waiters working here. Been getting stoned and doing nothing. Woke up very late today. Am leaving tomorrow, had enough of Dahab. It doesn't excite me and I need a while away from pot, or maybe I'm just making a scapegoat of pot! Maybe they are the two eternal sides of good and evil, only thing is, which is good and which is evil? Or does it even matter?

Thursday, 8th May 1996 | 23:00 | on the ferry - Nuweiba Port, Sinai (Egypt)

What a long wait, and how much the Egyptians have to put up with! I got a bus out of Dahab (due 10.30, arrived 11.15), arriving in Nuweiba by 1pm or so. Had a vague idea that the boat to Aquaba left at 4 or 5 pm, no one knew for sure. Anyway I paid $32 USD for a ticket, had something to eat and cleared the rather un-thorough customs by 2pm. Found myself in a large hall with around 800-1000 others. Got a position near the door and sat talking, waiting and playing dominoes with the Egyptians. The boat just never seemed to arrive. Time didn't weigh too heavily though, I got to practise some Arabic and as we'll arrive in the early hours, I'll save on a hotel! Lots of false alarms before the boat was finally sighted around 8pm. The police wouldn't let anyone out and we had some more false alarms before they let us onto the buses at 10.30pm. I was amongst the first, so I've a fairly good seat on deck. People have stopped filing in and there's only another lorry, so another hour might see us on our way. Three and a half hours to Aquaba, so I'd say 4.30-5am (Jordanian time). Then I need a visa, so 6ish before I'm out. Don't know what I'll do – not too keen on 'sight-seeing', like I did three and a half years ago, nor on exactly repeating that trip. Let time decide as per usual. Again, the prospect of little sleep (slept only 6 stoned hours last night). I hope the Jordanian visa isn't too expensive – might be as much as $40 because of British passport!

• Travelogues | The Levant | 1996 | May 09 to May 15 | Part 2 – Jordan