Saludo de ... دهب (Dahab) - English

Dahab, Sinai

Map Sinai

bicycle distances Sinai

I'm in Dahab, a tourist paradise on the Red Sea, on the edge of the Sinai. The Sinai Peninsula is a desert, with a beautiful sea, many resorts but terribly hot and thus not always easy to cycle [mountainous and warm] .. It is not a very safe place especially in the north. 

The towns I passed had always a police checkpoint plus soldiers in a kind of army vehicle at the entrance and exit of the place.
 

el Tor Sina`, sinai

Often I got through without any problem but sometimes I had to stop and was asked in a rather aggressive way for my passport. I now know enough Arabic to react at such kind of situations saying: 'Salaam aleikum Habesha. Massaa al Kheir!. [It was getting dark] Inta quais?. Koello tamem?. Aaizz ashoef dzaowazadie? Ma fie moeskiela sadikh! / May peace be upon you sir! Good evening. Are you okay? Everything cool? Do you want to see my passport? No problem friend! / [After the fanatic relaxed haha].

From Suez I had the wind at my back so I went like a rocket though it was not easy [it's never easy!]. The road crossed a flat shaped landscape which is easy to cycle but I suffered from muscle pain in my arms, neck ... But what can you do?. Simply go!.  

From Suez they wanted to give me police escort which irritated me enormously .. But when we took off they just drove away from me so I was alone anyway, what a bunch of flap turds!. I've cycled seven days alone which was great!. Twice I have camped at a police station [ One time a policeman forced me to accompany him to the police station only doing so  because he was concerned about my safety since it was getting dark. Another time it was me who went to the police to ask for shelter -in Sharm El Sheikh- because it was getting dark and I could not find a good place to camp].

Everywhere in the Sinai army can be seen but what I find striking is that what you see is light army equipment i.e. no defense artillery or aircraft but a kind of vehicles that would be used against a protesting crowd.  

Sometimes I had to pass zig-zag barbed wire blockades. I think this has to do with the Israeli occupation of the Sinai until 1982 [ the Israelis returned the Sinai to Egypt on the condition that Egypt wouldn`t place heavy weapons in the Sinai].  

The problems now are mainly in northern Sinai with Bedouins attacking police stations and the circulation of weapons smuggled through the northern Sinai into Gaza [Northern Sinai borders Gaza].

The road from Suez to Sharm el Sheikh and Dahab follows mainly the sea [on your right] with on your left the raw impressive Sinai mountains. But sometimes the road `leaves` the sea also,  going inland. Temperatures rise quick to about 40 degrees [especially as the wind is now and then absent ] what makes pedaling very challenging. Sometimes I had a break in the shadow of such a huge mountain.

... having a small break in between St. Catherine Monastery and Sharm-el-Sheikh, Sinai

Along the sea I passed huge empty resorts and I even saw two people kite surfing. Between the resorts was a device that moved back and forth to pump oil to the surface. One also sees mini refineries and storage tanks. A weird combination with tourist resorts!. Very occasionally you'll pass villages where real people reside in multi-leveled concrete boxes No, it's not really an exciting place to live though the Sinai mountains are impressive.

... `E-djebal Sina`h` [Sinai mountains]

The people who live here are Bedouins, originally nomads roaming the Sinai with camels but nowadays driving around in rebel pick ups, abducting occasionally a tourist [for ransom] but now mainly driving tourists to a canyon where such a tourist is supposed to stroll around for an hour, climbing a hill [for half an hour], sitting on a camel [two hours] and finally consuming a `delicious lunch` at a Bedouin family [1,5 hrs]. 

It all sounds pretty cool but I find it all a bit fake. I`d rather meet people like that myself instead of driven to them by a guide ...

... camping in a garden on the edge of the Sinai Tor Sina `, Sinai

.. I'm not really looking happy caused by the brutal climb Sharm el Sheikh-Dahab including the forty degrees Celsius that you get for free!.
 


When I look outside I see a tourist on a cross moped crossing through a canyon just outside Dahab. You can rent traiks, or quads [three / four-wheel small vehicles]. The idea is that you with a Arafat` like scarf dwindled around your head [against the wind/ dust] follow in a [small] convoy with fellow white boys a Bedouin right into the desert.

... Dahab, Sinai genoeb [South Sinai]

Here you can dive, you see tourists on mountain bikes and you barely see locals anymore. Yet the atmosphere is very relaxed. Dahab is built right next to the sea, as in the Caribbean [Willemstad, Curacao] ... It is a chain of restaurants, cafes, hostels, all one-level buildings and you can plunge into the sea if you would like although I don`t see anyone swimming [perhaps because all the shit of Dahab is dumped on the bay of Dahab ]. Still the sea is very clear, when you look to the other side of the bay you see in the distance Saudi Arabia!. It could be nice to swim to that coast hahaha :) 

I get a little confused by this place because there are a lot of things that do not seem to 'fit'. The small town center for instance is car free [!], I see girls on bicycles, or driving a motorcycle (!!) or even driving a car [!!!]. But in the hostel where I stay the water that comes from the tab is salty [poor water distribution].

If you talk to locals it seems nobody actually comes from Dahab: the majority comes from the `Delta` [Cairo and surroundings]. Plus penshionados [retired people], many Russians ... Actually everyone here is in some way a stranger. Maybe that's why here people don`t yell at you and the atmosphere is relaxed. Also here again I am overcharged [I have to pay five `Guinea` for a tea instead of the usual 1.5] but I have promised myself not to get angry and simply pay what they ask me. 

However I started a debate about the issue in my favorite cafe. I started with my usual one-liner: `Nahnoe Wahed` = `we are one / equal` [a key phrase from the Koran] and thus had a chat with the `boss` and a couple of taxi drivers. People appreciate it here if you have a chat with the brothers, if you show some interest in them. Finally we agreed that we are one/ equal so from now on I will be treated the same [pay the same] just as rest of the losers here :), Allah u Akhbar ! [we were sitting right at the opposite of the mosque!].
 

Dahab downtown, a bit outside the tourist zone

Now I'm in a hostel, full of Koreans and Japanese backpackers. It is nice because the guests are diverse and many are here to do a diving course which creates a nice atmosphere. I thought about it [doing a dive course] but 300 USD for three days is too much for me. With 300 bucks I can at least travel a month. Evaporateing such an amount of money in three days I find a disgrace . 

I'm currently really completely exhausted. Everything aches after a very cruel week. I wonder if a bicycle actually is the appropriate means of transport for a trip like this. I will skip the St Catherine Monastery [the oldest working monastery in the world, founded in 400 and situated where it is believed that Moses received the Ten Commandments of God!]. Simply because it is a brutal, hot climb to that place... On the other hand, I wonder if it is worth it going there: with the massive flow of tourists... Such kind of places I find less interesting to visit ... 

I'm seriously wondering whether it ever rains here. It is insanely dry here [except where people live, there are trees, bushes]. If I go over a bare plain I see in the distance a tree. Although a spine tree, but for me it is a miracle how that tree became ever a tree!. Without help from outside!. I suggest to cut that tree and cast it into gold as remembrance what cool tree it was!. 

Here in Dahab everything is easygoing [slowly] and shops don`t open before 11.00 am what a  bunch of lazy people they are haha ..