Dear Friend,
First I have to apologize the kind of address I sent this letter, as well as the photo of your face in the envelope. I accidentally lost my notebook during the final day of my trip, and thus I also lost all of the addresses I had there. I just had to send this letter according to the facts I have in my memory.
I had a very pleasant trip to Middle-East. The culture, history and the friendly people made the trip a memorable one. Let me briefly describe my schedule.
I arrived to Tel Aviv airport in Israel on Sunday, March 5, at 1 p.m. My initial plan was to travel to Cairo during the same day. However, It was difficult to find a bus connection. I was told at the airport that there are busses only twice a week, and that the following bus would depart on Thursday.
Hopeless. I traveled to the main bus station of Tel Aviv. They did not now how to get to Egypt, neither did they know how to get to Jordan. However, there was a flight at 8 p.m., and I returned to the airport. At the information desk of the airport, there was another lady this time. She found that there is a bus to Cairo the following morning, but it was fully booked. Fortunately, she found still one more bus company, and I was able to make a reservation. Back to Tel Aviv City, overnight in a youth hostel, some swimming in the Mediterranean in the morning and departure at 8.30. I was told that once having visited Tel Aviv, there is no need to go to Miami Beach anymore.
It was a long journey. The price of the bus fare was not bad, but there was a robbery on the border to Egypt. There Israeli officers collected a departure tax of 30 USD. In the Egyptian size, there was another robbery of 6 USD. I think the staff of the tourist bus company just made some private business.
I reached Cairo late in the evening. In the morning, I tried to take a service taxi from the Tahrir Square to the Giza Pyramids, but that was not easy. Too many busses, too much traffic, but no-one going to Giza. Finally, a young man, Abdullah, joined me. He was coming from the hotel where he was working at night, and he was going home to sleep over the day. It was not easy to Abdullah either to find the minibus. Finally we found a service taxi to the suburb of Giza, and the same minibus continued then as a special taxi to the Egyptian Papyrys Museum.
Then I further had to visit Ibrahim, who was the major of the village Giza. I think I bought some perfumes from Ibrahim. Finally to the pyramids. Abdullah and his friend wanted me to hire a horse or a camel, but I wanted to walk myself. Finally i accepted the horse on a negotiated price, and started riding. I did not know that there was an official entrance fee, I though it was private cashing and thus I entered through the desert rather than through the gate.
I think I learned something about riding. When galloping, it would be very good to have the stirrups properly adjusted according to the length of the rider's legs. This also helps keeping on the back of a rebelling horse. Loose cameras hanging around are not very nice when galloping.
Unfortunately, when I came back to the City of Cairo, the Egyptian Museum was about to close. I ate something in a restaurant with female waitresses, picked up my backpack from hotel Tulip and walked to the Ramsis station. I was told that there would be a train to Luxor at 10 p.m., and it was not more than 6. I sat on my backpack on the platform, and in a few minutes, there was a train. This train was going to Luxor. OK, maybe the information officer wanted me to take the French Train with 250 LE rather than 1. class in the earlier train (50 LE).
The 6.40 p.m. train was supposed to be in Luxor at 6.15 a.m. However, at 3.20. the train officer woke me up and told me that we are in Luxor. Out to the chilly night. Although the morning was close, i took a 5-pound hotel and slept a little.
I shortly visited the Ramses III temple (Medinet Habu) and spent somewhat longer in the Temple of Luxor. Some relatively expensive shopping, shortly joining a party. (The party was on the street, and some people were openly drinking alcoholic beverages. I disliked that, in this environment.)
In the morning I took a bus to Hurghada: first along the valley of the Nile to Gena, and then over the Eastern Desert. That took something like 5 hours, and after hearing that the ferry connection to Sharm-el-Sheikh was infrequent, I decided to continue to Suez immediately.
Continuing to Suez was fortunate, because the place was very nice. I made friends with a nice fellow, Tarik. Together with Tarik, two travelers from South Africa and one from the US. we had a delicious but inexpensive dinner, and then we joined a wedding party in the officer's club of the Suez Canal Authority.
There was lots of traveling the following day again. Back to the south but on the other side of the Gulf of Suez. It took something like 9 hours to travel around the southern end of Sinai to Nuweiba - all the time the desert on the left and the sea on the right. There were many security checks during the journey, but I made friends with the local people and enjoyed my time.
It was not easy to find out the time of the ferry to Aqaba in Jordan. I bought a ticket at 8.20 a.m., and the information about the departure time varied from 9. a.m. to 4. p.m. The ferry departed at 3. p.m., it was in Aqaba at seven and then it took two hours to clarify the immigration.
With a few other travelers, we started negotiating a taxi to Petra, the ancient capital of the Nabataean Arabs somewhat before Christ. Fortunately one of the Canadian fellows spoke Arabic, and we got a deal of 20 JD/car for the 150-km journey.
I did not eat so much during the days in Egypt. Thus I decided to have breakfast prior to entering the Petra ruins. The entrance fee was horrible, 20 JD/day and person. In addition, it was difficult to avoid the fee since there were troopers with watching eyes in the mountains...
Petra was great. I recommend an early entrance - like almost everywhere. Too many tourists between 8 and 9 a.m. - unlike in Egypt, where there were almost no-one.
The tourist information office in Petra was very poor. In the morning, they did not know if there was a bus to Amman in the afternoon of not. They just told me to be back in an hour. Hey, I was going to the ruins 3 km away! I was back at 1.20 p.m. NOW they told me to ask for the bus at the book shop. I happened to have my backpack in that very book shop. The friendly shopkeeper asked me: "Why didn't you tell this in the morning? The bus is fully booked now!"
Okay, then a (special) taxi to Ma'an (7 JD or actually 11 USD), and from Ma'an to Amman by bus. Fortunately, since in this bus I made friends with a Bedouin, Majdi. I got to know a lot about the life in the Arab countries.
I met my Greek friend Panos in Amman. We had a Libyan dinner with 8 dishes. In the morning, we rented a car and went around in Mount Nebo, the Church of Madaba and took a swim in the Dead Sea. Panos dropped me to the King Hussein Bridge, and I was on my own to Israel.
The Arab bus to Jerico, another bus to Jerusalem, and the search of an inexpensive hotel. Instead of typically 1.5 USD in Egypt, I had to pay 20 USD. The old city of Jerusalem was very interesting, but at night it was very cold (4 degrees Celsius or so, like in Amman, too), and there was no warming in that hotel (unlike the house of Panos). There was only one blanket and clean-looking sheets, so I did not have any clothes on. I am tough. I am still suffering for the flue, which actually later appeared to be a somewhat more serious infection.
The security control in the airport of Tel Aviv was something remarkable. Any details of my journey were questioned. Then they made some cross-questions, and finally they asked me to show the receipts from the hotels and traffic communications. I did not have any. Then they asked the names of some the people I had met (actually only Panos), and I refused to tell them, on the basis of security reasons. Then, my luggage was investigated very carefully. However, everything happened friendly and politely.
I really had a good time in the Middle East. It is difficult to tell which was the best place, but out of tourist centers like Giza and Luxor, everybody was very friendly. Even if there were very many tourists in Petra, the local people were VERY friendly. Tel Aviv was really like I think Miami Beach would be. The bus drivers were busy and nervous, but when I had to ask something form private individuals, the obviously were happy to help.