prelude to Dahab

now that my sense of adventure is back, because I dont know where I am staying tonight or how I'm getting there.. I am a little nervous.. I liked the chilled out comfort of being in Dahab for days.. anyways.. let me tell you about Dahab >>>>>


first of all I took the long bus from Ismailia after friday prayers... the journey was long with a few stops along the edge of sinai down to sharm and back up the other side to Dahab.. it took close to 8 hours.

the landscape is stark but the road brings with it traffic, and lots of trash.. I was offended by the amount of trash on the sides of the road, mainly plastic bottles and soda cans.. (since I arrived in Egypt, I immidiatley noticed that plastic bottles are a problem here as people consume bottled water in massive amounts and hardly dispose of them properly -- recycling exists but its done in the most backwards way, people dispose of all their trash together, then some poorly paid person goes through it later at another site to separate plastics, glass and aluminum which can be sold for recycling -- anyway, right infront of my eyes, on the bus the guy infront of me, after finishing his bottle of water, simply opened the window and threw out his empty bottle in a plastic bag into the high way!!!!) I was disgusted.

the checkpoints in sinai are a massive pain in the ass.. more so for egyptians, tourists are supposed to feel more secure, which egyptian workers from the valley have to constantly display their ID and explain where they work, etc..
tourist areas in general but sinai specifically bring out identity issues for me.. because I am egyptian, but I am also a tourist carrying an american passport.. the issue comes up all the time when paying for entry fees to protected sites for example or when looking for a hotel room.

when I arrived in Dahab finally at 10 pm, I went to a hotel that was recommended by lonely planet and the receptionist said they were full.. I moved on and reached penguine village which also looked appealing and the receptionist said it was full.. I couldnt believe everything was full! there were three girls ready to head back to cairo and awaiting their bus near the reception and we struck conversation.. one of them happens to be from NY.. and even from NYU! so we hit it off.. later as it was exposed to the receptionist that I carry another citizenship other than egyptian, a room suddenley became available!

there is much more to tell, it gets much better from here. gotta run for the bus, I have no idea where I am going!! Al-Qusair here I come.