Day 21

WEDNESDAY 30th DECEMBER

Synopsis of day: Flight to Egypt (in a boat).

Highlight of the day: Knowing that despite saying our farewells to others, that we still had a number of weeks of exciting things to do and see, and new experiences to have before we too head home.

Lowlight of the day: It took longer to disembark from the ferry than it actually took to travel from Jordan to Egypt. We had to wait for almost two hours to get off the boat.

Toilet ratings: Toilets on a public ferry. Seriously awful. Considered minus points. Smelt really awful too. First Egyptian toilets required payment and the smell was better but still off, but by no means the worst. Probably a 5-6 rating.

Favourite quote/word: “Misappropriating sheep” from a documentary on Jordan that we watched in our transfer car. We thought it was a great expression, and we are determined to use it again.

Favourite photo:

Akaba.

Cultural-shock moment: The customs at Egypt was a bit crazy, and a very instant reminder that we were no longer in a Western country, and that the security measures we have in Australia are quite extreme in comparison to a number of countries (except perhaps Israel!). However, the blank looks of surprise we got when we asked if we could post boxes to Australia in the post office at Akaba was bemusing and astonishing too. They didn't sell any postage items in the post office, you are meant to come with them already!

New food consumed: The dinner at St. Katherine's was the best food we'd had since leaving Israel. The food actually had flavour.

Favourite purchase: Postage for more purchases.

 The thing I lost today: The ability to close the handle of my suitcase. It seems to be permanently broken.

Random act of crazy: How quickly we got through customs in Jordan onto the boat, and then in Egypt, when there were huge queues and boxes and carpets and buses and people everywhere but we got through customs there within about two minutes.

What Arthur did next: He desperately wanted to stop off at Wadi Rum(where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed) and was trying to convince our driver to take us, even though all six of us tried to prove that there wasn't the time if we were to make our ferry. He even started walking there when we had a toilet stop and then got really sulky when we all outvoted him and we drove on. Because of the delay at the post office, it was a near run thing to make it to the port anyway.

Something I want to remember: Not to criticise things or customs just because they are different, or to feel that the Western world has it better. To be more accepting and tolerant of others and to appreciate diversity.


Our transfer to Akaba port was delayed because the driver had sat around waiting for us, and we had sat around waiting for him. This meant that we were a little more pressured for time but watched a dvd on Jordan featuring King Abdullah (who has photographs of himself everywhere) as the guide as we drove. The ride was pretty squishy but it only took about an hour and a half to get to the port.



Mary, Kerri and I all had packages to send home so we arranged to got to the post office. That was quite an experience because when we got inside and explained our intentions, the people in the post office looked astonished at us when we said we wanted to send large items and in box. After looking at each other and conversing in Arabic they said that we could go to a shop across the road to get boxes. Mary and I followed someone who took us considerably further than across the road to his friend's shop which had all of the items on the floor. We had to select a box which was actually being used to store some items, and the shopkeeper emptied it and gave it to us. The boxes were quite tattered but we had some packing tape which fixed them up relatively well. The whole process was very different from postage at home or even in Jerusalem.



We had a very quick transfer from the post office to customs by the port and because our guide had contacts, we got through almost instantly. According to the tickets we were meant to board two hours before the ferry departed but we had only about fifteen minutes. We had to get more stamps on our passports on the ferry and then sat down and did fairly little for the next hour and a bit. We were under the impression that this was the fast ferry but after docking, it was nearly two hours before we were able to depart.

The queues were really long and because all the instructions were in Arabic we didn't really know even if this was our stop or if there were others. Eventually we made it through and were greeted by our new temporary guide Mohammed. We walked through a pyramid shaped building for a scan, and then got out of the bus a second time for our bags to have a security check which took all of seconds. We skipped a queue of crazy proportions and missed having our bags physically checked (again, it seems to be beneficial to know the right people).

Just outside customs but still rather crazy.

 Arthur desperately wanted to do some duty free shopping and Mohammed found a place but it was closed because it was close to five pm. We figured that they must have shut early but it turned out that the shop actually opened at 5pm. We waited around for a few minutes on this street that reminded me of the main street of Honiara before getting in there. The others were very pleased with their purchases but we had very little money and were not too interested either.



We drove on for a few hours in the dark before finally arriving at St. Katherine's. We made it to bed by 9pm because we had to be up before 1am for the lift to the starting point for the walk up Mt. Sinai.