Day 9 – SAT - 22/9/12 – Wadi Rum, Jordan : Dahab, Egypt via Eilat, Israel and Taba, Egypt borders.
After a staple Middle East breakfast of boiled eggs, pita, marmalade, juice and fruit we headed off to cross the desert in the traditional style of the Bedouin people by camel caravan. The camel caravan took us close to 2 hours to return to the village with me in a comfortable seat atop Mosouf my camel in the silence of the desert and the camels padding along, broken up with the singing of our 12 year old Bedouin guide.
On arrival at the village we made our farewells and we headed for the border to cross Israel from Jordan to get to Egypt. We took a taxi from Wadi Rum to the Jordan border by Aqaba, then once we had cleared customs walked back through no mans land into the Israeli border. Kearnsy had a little cuffufle with customs as they wanted all liquids out of our bags after passing through the x-ray machine. Kearnsy's lock wouldn't undo however, so after customs scratching their heads I suggested bolt cutters and within minutes the bag was free! It was quite fortunate for if we hadn't realised and made it to Dahab in that condition we would have had no way of being able to open the 'smartlock' coded padlock without a pair of pliers to pop the lock open.
We caught a taxi from the Eilat Israeli border to the Taba Egyptian border which took us only 15-20 minutes where we were then ping ponged through Egyptian customs. Existing customs with the official tipping off the taxi driver regarding our destination, we again found ourselves doing the taxi negotiation dance even though we had no intention of getting a cab – only the bus which was cheaper.
Declining the taxi's offers we walked the 1km to the bus station but not without hassle by the taxi's as we walked on. On exiting the border we were offered a taxi for EGP£130 each which we had laughed at and kept walking. After a few 100 meters Kearnsy said “it's funny but the guidebook said you would be hassled by taxi's chasing you down the street and bargaining with you and we haven't seen anything”.
Within 10 seconds the onslaught started... It's no wonder I banned him from saying “what's the worst that could happen?”. So with the call of taxi, taxi, taxi pulling up right beside us, we managed to get rid of the first one but the second taxi just persisted and persisted.
The offer then changed to EGP£150 for both of us but we had time to take the bus so we kept walking. The driver by this time had stopped his car to point out the bus station – helpful??? We didn't know!?!?! We kept going a little further and came across the border entry fee tax man who was plain clothed in a 'Penguin' shirt; no uniform – very official ;). He also directed us to the same place the taxi guy had – the bus station.
We headed over the road and the taxi driver followed us in his van. The price dropped to EGP£130 for both, the equivalent to £13. We still said no. However, before we could approach the ticket window the taxi driver said something to the ticket seller for the bus. So when we asked the cost of tickets to Dahab, he said EGP£30 each. The taxi guy then offered us EGP£110 for both of us. We declined him again and then sat down to check the guidebook for the bus price and we made ourselves comfortable with our bags for a mexican standoff with the taxi driver as we were thinking we may get the bus tickets cheaper after he left as we were not sure what he had said to the bus ticket seller.
After 20 minutes he offered us a taxi for EGP£100 for both of us and said “This is a really good price for you! Not for me!”. We thanked him as it was a really really good price, equating to EGP£10 for both of us, but in the effort to stick on budget we opted to still get the bus. After another 20 minutes the taxi driver left. We waited a further hour until we bought the bus tickets and Kearnsy tried to bargain but unfortunately they were still EGP£30 each, meaning we had saved ourselves £4 and we waited a further 2 hours more until the bus came. Winning...? Perhaps not...?
The bus to Sharm el Sheik via Dahab pulled into the station so we found seats and tried to get some sleep. 4 checkpoints later and more plain clothed policeman checking our passports and visas we arrived in Dahab, only to start the taxi negotiation dance all over again. This time though we were told it was a good deal by an Egyptian on the bus that had been speaking to all the tourists. A nice enough guy who was friendly but now we just wish he would leave us alone so we could do our own deal. We were told EGP£60 for a 5km trip and we managed to negotiate it down to EGP£10 which meant once we added this to the bus fare and minus'ed the mexican stand off taxi offer, we managed to save £3... Ahhh the fun and games of a budget!!!
We hadn't pre-booked accommodation for a hostel but rocked up to one we had seen reviews for and which was only £4 a night for both of us – bargain. Seem as though we had seemed to accumulated 2 days somewhere as we hadn't planned on getting to Dahab til Sunday we had thought, but our yoga teacher told us our booking was from Monday...? We embraced the great wi-fi with the wonderful outdoor area right on the beach, had dinner there and turned in for the night.
