Category: Travel

Well, we started the day with some excitement – I could not find my glasses!  I am sure they are quite safe, they are in their glasses case, with a pair of sunglass clip-ons, but they are no longer in my possession, sigh.  We looked high and low, emptied all our suitcases and hand luggage, but no sign of them.  Finally, out of time, we had to run to check out, eat breakfast and get on the bus to leave Wadi Musa.  It wasn’t until a couple of hours later that I thought that they are probably stuck down behind the desk or the suitcase stand.  As it turns out, I could have had another chance to retrieve them… but, more on that later.

Today was the day that we finally get to see the facade of Petra, the building that lent its image to the stunning visuals of the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”.

I was up far too late last night catching up on my blogging, so when the 6:30 AM wake up call arrived at 6 AM, it was a bit annoying.  But hey I went back to sleep easily enough, then tried to catch up by rushing – always a good plan, or maybe not…

I managed to get enough together that we could make breakfast then the bus, but I’d have to brush my teeth down at the restaurant.  No problem, except, as I found out much later, I apparently left my toothbrush & toothpaste behind.  So now I need a toothbrush, oh well.  Foolish moves.

First stop was Petra itself – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra .  What a long walk!  About 2 km from the vistor’s centre to the entrance to the city, then another say 2 km in the Siq (narrow jagged entry passage between the walls of rock).  It then opens up to show the Treasury, the facade that the Indiana Jones movie (among others) made famous.  Very impressive, very amazing!

So we’re up in the morning to have breakfast, pack, and leave the resort.  We are going from Egypt to Jordan today, with a short trip through the southern tip of Israel.

We loaded up the bus, got on the bus, got ready to drive away, even did a pass around the reception loop and back to the door of the hotel.  It turns out that you have to get clearance from the Egyptian “Tourist Police” (yes that’s what they call them, you can see the buildings cars & uniforms everywhere) before they will even open the gate of the resort to let us out!  So we wait for about 40 minutes to get that clearance.  So now we are 40 minutes late starting.

The drive to the Egyptian/Israeli border is shorter than we anticipated, about 20 minutes.  We say “goodbye” to our guide and drivers, then off we go, bags in tow.

It turns out that you are treated just like in an airport.  You go through a metal detector, put your bags through an X-Ray scanner, then an optional bag inspection.  Then they take your passport and check it in some way.  Then you go back outside to a deserted “no man’s land” stretch of road, where you must walk the 100 or 200 feet to the Israeli side, where you queue up and do the whole metal detector, X-Ray scanner, bag inspection, passport check again.

Well I should say that in all our stay in Egypt, we went through dozens of metal detectors.  Only at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo did anyone even pay attention to them.  At the end, we were ignoring them, keeping our change and pens etc in our pockets, the metal detectors would go like crazy, and nobody would care.  And in the X-Ray machines in Egypt, nobody blinks an eye about my briefcase full of electronic gear – notebook computer & adapter, world cell phone & adapter, BlackBerry, handheld GPS, little camcorder, digital camera, etc.

But at the border crossing, I emptied my pockets as I should, put my bag on the belt and went through like a good boy.  No problem exiting Egypt.

Now, getting into Israel was another matter.  We ended up behind an American tour group, which was no problem, but this meant that we had to queue up, Disneyland-snake-style, and wait to get through.  I was about third or fourth of our group in line.  We saw a pre-screen customs person (beautiful young women guards at this border crossing, let me tell you, but hey they have the guns and we are tourists, so shut up and answer the questions!).  Then, just as we reached the X-Ray machine, the security staff started shouting for us to leave our bags and got back out the entrance way IMMEDIATELY.  I snagged my wallet (passport was already in hand) and headed back as I was told, as the rest of the crowd started backing out WITH their luggage.  I was shouting to leave the luggage as we were instructed (the pretty young ladies have accents and may not have been understood), which they finally did, and went outside.  Well then they were a bit upset at ME.  Well, hey, when Israeli security tells you to vacate the building you do what you are told!  Then they let us back in.  We aren’t sure what happened, but someone noticed that they let the lone wheelchair person and her husband stay through the commotion, so we suspect that it was a drill, ugh.

Then we get to immigration control.  I approach a station and ask for my visa to be put on a separate piece of paper (Dave Batson advised me many years ago, and our guide reiterated this today, that it’s a good idea to not have Israeli visa in your passport, in case you ever go to say Saudi Arabia).  She shoved a form at me and told me to  go back and fill it out.  Fine, but there is no place to do that.  She shrugged.  Not her problem, apparently.  So I wandered back and found an ATM that had a surface I could write on.  [ luckily I always carry my own pen ]  Back to another station, another young woman.  This one on her BlackBerry the whole time, sounds like she’s talking to her boyfriend.  Passed me through, no problem.  Except she apparently forgot to give me an important piece of paper…  but I’m skipping ahead in the story.

The whole thing took so long that security sent our bus away.  We had to wait another 30 minutes outside in the heat, waiting for another one.  So now we are in Israel.  A 20 minute drive across Israel, and now it’s time to do the Israel-to-Jordan crossing.

This time we line up for an exit visa from Israel, then go to the armed security station just outside no man’s land.  He passes everyone except for two of us, saying we were missing the requisite “pink piece of paper” and that we had to go back to Passport Control to get it.  THIS Passport Control, or the one at the Egyptian border, I ask?  Well, this one will do, fortunately.  So I get the pink paper, present myself at the border, and this young man (with automatic weapon at his side) looks at it and says, “Sorry, wrong pink paper,” and hands the passport back.  I just managed to choke out a “what?” before he chuckled, took it back, and said “JUST KIDDING.”  Oh my God, I guess he has a bit of a sense of humour too.  And he managed to get a rise out of me, that’s for sure.  I take border security too seriously, perhaps.

Then we stumble the 100 to 200 feet to the Jordan side of the border, where they subject us to metal detectors (results ignored) and X-Ray machine (they asked to see the laptop and that was all).  Whew!  Then another 45 minutes for Jordan officials to check the passports, before we could get on the bus.  Oh, and another 100 foot walk with our luggage to get to the bus, too.

All of this left us tired and a bit grumpy.  Fortunately, we zipped into Aqaba and picked up box lunches, and off to our next stop, the Wadi Rum desert.

I wasn’t expecting much out of this stop, but it was a blast!  We were loaded into old beat-up Toyota & Nissan 4×4 trucks fitted with open air benches in the back, and zoomed out across the desert.  Well, “zoomed” might be exaggerating a bit.  We rolled out across the desert.  We stopped to take in some breathtaking views, get a camel ride (dromedary actually but I’ll never tell), visit a Bedouin tent and have some of their special tea & smell their incense (unfortunately incense and I don’t get along but I sucked it up for the occasion).  Then back to the interpretive centre.

Now, these 4×4 trucks – they were rough and beat up, all sounded like diesel engines, although a careful listen tells me only half of them were diesels (others were just on their last legs?).  The seats in the back were not bolted down, which made me nervous.  And the “cover” and “roll cage” was made of tent poles, no help at all.  Fortunately, we did go fairly slowly most of the way, although I must say it was pretty bumpy.  There was a “back rack” right behind the cab and I hung tightly onto that, figuring that I could probably hold Dayna and I in the box if I had to.  Turns out she had noticed and was hanging on tightly too.  Well, no big troubles, except for one…

At the first stop, we were there only about 30 seconds when there was a deafening “bang” like a gunshot.  I thought one of the goof drivers had shot a rifle into the air to create a scene.  Well, no, it was the right rear tire of the 4×4 behind us letting go in spectacular fashion!  We were shocked, but as we went on our way getting our pictures, the four drivers got together, took a spare out of one of the other trucks (seems they only carry one between them), and changed the tire.  Put me a bit on edge, because if that happened while driving…  well, I worry too much.

By the time we reached the resort in which we are staying, it was thoroughly dark.  It’s very nice, but very confusing.  It’s called Bait Zama, in Wadi Mousa.  Maybe you can look it up.  It’s actually a rebuilt ancient community with many buildings, each housing several large suites.  It’s very nice.  However, dozens of steps and cobblestone roads make it tough to find your room!  Hopefully some pictures tomorrow.

Well, past time to crash.  More later!

Well, today was what they call a “free day”.  This does not mean free as in no cost!  It means “do what you want”.  But it was nice anyway.

Well, I figured out today why the ancient Egyptians used to worship the sun.  Man, is it nice here!  For a fleeting moment, I had this vision of plunking down my Visa card and saying that we’d stay here for the rest of our time in the far east – rejoining the tour just in time to fly home.  But, as I say, it was a fleeting thought – I cannot pass up the opportunity to see all of the other Holy Land sights!

I woke up early this morning, something like 7 AM, with the feeling of cotton batten in my mouth.  Yup, my CPAP machine, which never uses up its supply of water, had used up all its water in the night.  I guess that’s what they mean when they say you are in a desert!  I refilled it and re-crashed.

We were up at the break of 9 AM for breakfast.  Yes, it was nice to sleep in for one day, without having to pack and run for the bus.

We lounged around the resort pool for the morning, and that was nice.  The pool itself was actually quite cold, more like a lap pool than a spa pool, but what the heck.  As we sat by the pool, I could hear all kinds of languages spoken – not that I could understand any of it – but I heard several distinctive languages, including Italian, French, German and Russian.  This really drove home the fact that we are actually in a resort on the other side of the planet!

At noon hour, we took the shuttle bus to the “Taba Resort Centre”, which is an open air mall of little shops.  Almost every shop we went into, the shop keeper said, “British” and smiled.  I had to say “no, Canadian,” and they were astonished.  My guess is that they have a lot more British tourists here than Canadian – which makes sense, if it’s 13 hours of flying just to get here!

In the afternoon, we did something evil and washed some of our clothes in the sink.  It’s so dry here that they dry almost immediately!  Well, just my luck that apparently my clothing holds more water, and sadly it’s still wet – I may be packing wet clothing in the morning, ugh.  We have to pass through Israeli customs and then Jordanian customs on our way to Petra tomorrow; pity the poor border guard that has to open and inspect my clothing, ha ha!

Then we packed up and went down to the beach.  Dave Batson told me quite earnestly that I had to take a swim in the Red Sea, and being the earnest friend of Dave that I am, I took that as an order.  I’ve never had a swim in salt water before, wow!  It turns out that the sea is actually much warmer than the pool.  The only annoying thing was that there are a lot of rocks along the shore, you must wear sandals when going into the sea.  Because of this, I left my goggles on the shore, but I didn’t realize that the rocks stop and it’s back to pure sand about 20 ft offshore.  Well anyway, I took a nice long swim in the sea.  I couldn’t open my eyes, it was very painful, and I got a significant salt taste with every stroke, but it was great!  The water was very soft with all that salt.  But hey, being on a sodium reduced diet, I have to really watch my intake for the next month –  yikes.  All in all, a very nice thing to do.  Thanks, Dave.




While we were in town I finally found a place to purchase a corkscrew, so we could open the bottle of wine that we bought in Giza (oh I see now that I didn’t include that story in the blog, sorry, should have).  Well, let’s just say that I wanted a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, and ended up with Rose, at an inflated price.  We’d better drink it before we exit Egypt, I said, because I have no inclination of carrying it home!  Well, so I bought the corkscrew, and then came back to the room.  A half hour later, I was fumbling with my swimming stuff, and what falls out of my bag?  A multi-purpose hobby knife with corkscrew!  Oh, man.  Well at least I have a mediocre Egyptian style corkscrew now.  A trophy, a keepsake, yeah right. 

So we finally got to drink that Egyptian rose wine that we got in Giza.  Whoopee.  It was OK.  Especially after the first glass :-)

One last thing about the Taba Resort.  I spotted some interesting trees.  They are tall but too too straight!  Well you get up closer and take a look at the top – they aren’t trees at all, but cell towers!  I’ve read about them, but never seen them in the wild.

Ha, as soon as you think a post is finished and that you’ve recorded everything, you realize there are a couple more interesting bits that you had forgotten!

At the end of the late supper at the St. Catherine monastery (see picture in previous post), as our folks were clearing out to go back to their rooms, a short portly fellow behind me with a thick accent (Italian?) asked me whether we were there together as a faith group or as a group of (secular / non-religious) tourists.  I replied that we were mostly one faith group, from Canada.  He asked if we were Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christians, in a manner which implied that there weren’t any others (hey I wasn’t offended, more amused than anything – reminded me of the wonderful nuns who taught us at St. Charles Academy many years ago).  So I told him that we were neither, that we were Protestants.  Well, this must have thrown him for a loop, because he was most astonished.  “But we have the church, in church we have icons, you do not believe in these icons,” he exclaimed.  He went on to make it clear that they were Orthodox and that the monastery was Orthodox.  [ this was very obvious the next day, when we saw the church itself – from the style, the icons, and the writing style on the items in the church (sorry don’t know what lettering it is, but imagine it is Greek?), it was clear that it was Orthodox ]

Well, I explained, we were there to climb the mountain and to tour the monastery.  He was still unbelieving.  So, I tried to tell him that there would be two types of Christian visitors:
1. those who had the religious fervour to visit and to pray because it was Orthodox and an important blessed location – these would be the aforesaid Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians, and
2. those who came because it was an important historical location and liked to see the Christian history of those that came before – other Christians and those from other religions.

Well, that didn’t placate him.  “But, you don’t celebrate the Eucharist!”

“Well, actually we do,” I advised, “we just don’t do it at every service.”

“But we invoke the Holy Spirit to change the elements into ze body and ze blood of our Saviour!”

“Well, we actually do the same thing.  Just not as often.”

There was an Orthodox priest right beside him who apparently was rather amused by the exchange.  Another woman from the table asked me, in perfect English, where I was from, and I of course told her.

At this point, we were obviously suffering from a disconnect.  So I changed tacts.

“We need to know and understand each other, Muslim and Jew, Orthodox and Catholic and Protestant, so we can learn from each other,” I advised my new friend.

“But these people, Muslim and Jews (with a pause that made it clear that others, implies us) are all different from us.  We have our Saviour Jesus Christ, ze one true path, ze only way to the Father, to God!   …and they do not.”

“My friend,” I replied, “it is not through conflict that we successfully convert others to our beliefs.  It is only through dialogue.  This dialogue is the only way to understand each other, to convince each other, to convert one another.  I choose to listen to many points of view, and it deepens my understanding and my faith.”

Then I bid him adieu and turned to leave.  I noticed that George was the only one behind me at our table, as if to be watching my back.  He also got up and left.  I was thinking about whether I did the right thing, said the right thing.  In my limited way, I think maybe I did.  Hmm, just read that passage this morning that might apply to this, Matthew 10:19&20, excerpted NIV: “…do not worry about what to say or how to say it.  At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”  Hmm, not sure of the divinity of the words, but maybe something I can lean on, myself.

The other “missed item” that occurred to me was not nearly as important.  But, as we were climbing to the summit, we were gawking around from time to time to see what was out there.  This was dangerous; you could lose your footing, or in my case, crank out an ankle, in one step.  And at the coffee shacks, there were lights that blotted out your night vision, so sad.  So, once in a while, we did sneak a peak up.  The stars lit up the sky!  Well, then, let me tell you, once I reached the summit, I found an unoccupied space and gazed up.  Oh the magnificent stars up there!  Clear and beautiful.  Now I’m not an astronomer by any means, but it sure was a wonderful sight, a vision to behold.

Friday was a big driving day.  We packed up early and headed out on the bus, across Giza and Cairo, off to the Sinai Peninsula.  We crossed under the Suez Canal.

We were off early to the Citadel this morning, the fortress built by sultan Saladin in the 12th city where the 19th century Mohammed Ali Mosque is built, very impressive.

One of the things that strikes you about the city of Cairo (and Giza) is that the buildings look terrible.  Very few of the residence buildings are completed.  Our guide advised that this is a way to avoid taxes, as apparently incomplete buildings are taxed much lower.  It sure makes the residences look ugly, especially at night, when you can see that they don’t have windows but people are still living there.  You can see carpets & towels over windows, even see right into people’s living areas, and it can look rather sad.