I left Dahab at 10:30 on the bus heading to Nuweiba, only about 85 km away but still a 2 hour bus ride. This was the first time I took a public bus in Egypt, and after this experience I was counting my lucky starts for having forgone the 8 hour bus ride from Cairo to Aqaba and having opted for the flight there instead.
I finally got to Nuweiba at around 1:30. As I was clueless as to where to go to catch the ferry, I asked a Korean guy who was also getting off of the bus... he was as clueless as I was, but we were both heading the same way so we decided to stick together, and this is how I met Kim. After our initial confusion with the chaos around us, we finally managed to head in the right direction for the ticket office to the ferry. At the ticket office we met Ernesto, a Mexican guy who just like us, was also traveling alone. His adventures are taking him to Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and he had just spent the night sleeping at top of Mt. Sinai with the Bedouins living at top of the mountain... it really made me feel like a spoiled child when he entertained us with his tales of hardship and survival along the way. After paying the outrageous price of $80 US for the ferry, we headed to the area where you went through security, customs, and waited for the ferry to arrive in a few hours. As we waited for the ferry in a dirty and dark hall, we got to know each other as we entertained ourselves with our tales of woe and fun.
As we waited for 2 hours, we eventually met Hue Sun, a Korean girl traveling alone and hauling the biggest pink suitcase I had ever seen... it was just too comical and cute. Once we got going and were in our 2 hour journey across the Aqaba gulf, we met Nick, an 18 year old Australian free spirit who was also traveling alone and had just spent 2 months in Ghana, followed by a few weeks in Jerusalem and in the Sinai Peninsula. Nick came to complete or ragtag team of oddballs as we decided to stick together since we were all headed the same way and there was strength in numbers.
We had some great conversations as we got to know each other and planed out next move once we got to Jordan. Once in Aqaba, we all stuck together through customs and inspections... something that took a good 2 to 3 hours because there was nobody working the security scanners for a good hour and a half. We all decided to head to Wadi Musa that same night, even though it was 2 hours away by car and it was already night time. By sticking together we figured that we could get a good deal on a taxi all the way to Wadi Musa (Petra). The taxi drivers outside the ferry terminal were tough, but us, as a group, had the upper hand since we were the only tourist that had gotten off the boat that night. After a lot of bargaining, refusals to budge, and a lot of huddling in a circle like a football team discussing our next play, we finally managed to get ourselves two taxis to take us all across the desert in the dead of night for just 12 Dinars each (about $16 each for a 150 km ride). The night was cold, the road desolate, the drive was long, but the memories unforgettable as we became the best of friends for that single night.
Once in Wadi Musa, we all headed to the Valentine hostel, a popular stop with backpackers and highly recommended in the Lonely Planet travel guide. The rooms are cheap, the accommodations basic, but the friends are priceless.
I'll be spending three nights here, as we all head out to explore Petra for the next two days and the the desert wonderland of Wadi Rum, immortalized by Lawrence of Arabia in his tales of his epic Arab rebellions against the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
The adventure continues!
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