"It's the journey, not the destination" is certainly not true when traveling overland to Petra, Jordan from Egypt. The expression is equally untrue when traveling the same route in reverse in order to get from Jordan to Dahab, a resort town along Egypt's stretch of the Red Sea.
100 years ago there would have been little distinction along this 20 KM stretch of deserty coastline at the peninsula of the Red Sea, aside from a Turkish outpost and a bit of settlement here and there. Today getting through the region requires navigating the border crossings at Taba, Egypt; Eilat, Israel and Aqaba, Jordan. If a university degree in Political Science taught me anything about this part of the world it's that a lot has happened here in the last 100 years - so much that it's amazing there are border crossings between these places at all.
I'll go over the return trip back to Egypt because I thought to remember as much as I could so I could share it here. The return trip, like the first time through, took a few hours. The weather was blistering hot, border fees blew our daily budget apart and the only time I smiled was when I was smiled at.
Before we got to the crossing on the outskirts of Aqaba we had to find the Egyptian consulate in town and get another visa in order to enter Egypt. 3 hours later we were in a cab to the border with Israel. We met a couple of New Zealanders who had been "trecking" in Jordan and decided we'd all cross the borders together to save on transportation costs.
The Jordan side had a pre-border checkstop. So, we all got out of the cab under a welcome arch (for traffic coming the other way) and showed the young fellows with big guns what was in our bags. This was also the first time of twenty that we would show our passports to officials over the course of the day (between borders and Egyptian checkstops). It was at this point it occured to me that if these nice New Zealanders were smugglers that Steph and I would likely see the inside of a jail along with them - don't worry they wern't or if they were they were good at their job.
Then we showed our passports to get into Jordan's border control site where we were directed to the first window to get a stamp. Passports stamped we were then directed to Window 10 to pay an exit tax of 7 Dinars each. We were efficient in Jordan and had no Dinars left, so we shuffled across the street to the arrivals side to the exchange booth. Oh rats! That explains why there is no one around, the banker and most of the rest of the border staff was off to prayer! We hung around a while longer, got the Dinars and got a second stamp.
Second stamp in place and we're ready to exit Jordan... after one final passport check, maybe the first four inspectors missed something.
100 meters in the hot sun divides Jordan's border control from Israel's border control. We haul our packs over. There is no line so we're right to the front. The first distiction between the Israeli border and the Egypt and Jordan borders is that the post is mainly staffed by young women. The second distinction is that they really examine your bags and reason for travel - we met Westerns who were denied entry here (one fellow due to his involvement in pro-Palestine NGOs).
After a passport check - at this point I am no longer putting it away - my bags are loaded up on to the X-Ray machine and sent through... then back, then through again, then back, and so on for about five minutes. Our New Zealand friends almost left us.
Finally, they ask to inspect. They hone in on my junky gold painted metal 6 inch tall camel sculpture. Great, now they know I'm a sucker for mass produced tourist junk. I was tempted to tell them that I got a good price or it's for my niece, but I didn't and, sorry Georgie, it's not.
At least they smiled at me, we were all happy the camel sculpture was what it was. They scanned my bag a couple more times, it was good, no elephants, horses, cows or idols... yet, wait till we try leaving India next month.
Then a few more people checked our passports. They stamp an entry stamp on a seperate piece of paper incase you have onward travel in Syria. Syrians don't allow entry to people with passports containing Israeli stamps - remember poli sci. This separate piece of paper thing is pointless as an exit stamp from Aqaba, Jordan and an entry stamp from Taba, Egypt can mean only one thing: you were in Israel.
Now we're in Eilat, Israel. Looks fairly basic, small beach resort with a bit of industrial shipping; not that impressive, much like Aqaba. The 15 minute cab cost us 20 USD. The driver complained about the development in Aqaba and how they're trying to compete with Eilat. That evening while chowing down on some mezza (pita and dips) in Dahab in a beachfront restaurant it was quite clear that neither of these places had a thing on Egypt's Red Sea holdings.
At the Israel-Egypt border there are some fees to pay, about 25 USD each. I guess that's the charge for vigilant baggage scans. We paid the fees, got stamped and then walked 100 meters to Egypt's border at Taba.
Low and behold a plugged in manned security site with a bit of scrutiny, Egypt's Taba border must be taking lessons from Israel. Though the integrity only goes so far - while checking our bags and passports the security officers tried to offer us overpriced transportation to the Taba bus stop or our onward destination.
This time the camel was in my pocket, which meant the fuss was transferred from the x-Ray machine to the metal dectector. They gave it a good look over, realized it was tourist junk and handed it over. Steph suggested it was more trouble than it's worth... for a split second I wasn't sure if she meant the camel or travelling like this.
After we filled some forms, swore to not having swine flu, and had our visas and passports examined we were ready to roll.
Next stop was Taba bus station to catch the bus to Dahab for some serious relaxing. We waited in the sun for hours. Once on the bus we stopped at a good 5 checkstops for passport control and paid some dubious "Sinia tax" to an un-uniformed "official" - bogus.
I guess that could be a whole blog entry on its own, but as we've been in India now for 12 days my focus is now firmly on this amazing place!
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