A Couple of Nights in Dahab

Dahab was like a breath of fresh salty sea air. There was the before Dahab which included searching, walking, finding, and staying safe in Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor. There was also the right after Dahab in Hatzeva, the one hot amazing shower that I will remember for the rest of my life, and the coffee that tasted like heaven. But in between those moments was Dahab, right there, perfectly timed at the end of our trip. For all of the non-planning we had done before setting off for Egypt, leaving Dahab until last was the best decision we could have made. We had gone from Evron to Taba to Cairo, Cairo to Aswan, Aswan to Luxor, and finally Luxor to Dahab without much more information than a few handy hostel addresses and less than $200 on each of us. It was early 2004 and our group consisted of me, somewhat seasoned traveler, Andrea from Colombia, also somewhat seasoned traveler, like me used to discomfort and being poor, and Kirsty, very unseasoned traveler, from a wealthy family in South Africa (complete with ingrained racism and fear of the “other” which hadn’t been too noticeable until we stepped off the bus in Cairo). I don’t know what we were exactly thinking when we set off but it definitely wasn’t about the actual safety of the country or the places we would be staying in (less money better option was our mantra). That said the only place where I actually felt uncomfortable was Luxor as we kept feeling like someone was following us. We relied on our instincts and obviously our good luck, and also on the relative safety of Egypt at the time.

This all took place in early 2004, so 15 years ago, and many things may have changed since then. I do hope Dahab hasn’t changed too much though…

We got on the bus to Dahab from Luxor Bus Station at 5pm, with fresh, warm, buttery rolls, and cheese for the journey, assuming we would get some good sleep on the bus and wake up refreshed in the morning in Dahab. The trip did not go as planned at all. First of all there were so many checkpoints along the way, it literally felt as if the bus stopped every few minutes, and we had to show our tickets and papers frequently. I gather that this is even worse now from some online forums, so if you are planning on making the trip by bus be prepared for it to take hours longer than the service states. I’m actually not sure if the bus route even exists anymore. We were told that it would take 13-15 or so hours, it actually took about 21.

When we got on the bus we found 4 empty seats, two on one side of the aisle, two on the other, so we thought that we were all set for the trip. An hour or so in to the journey and the man in front of us moved into the empty seat next to me with his baby (to give his wife more sleeping room), and proceeded to talk to me in Arabic even though I didn’t understand, and try to hand me the baby. It was kind of cute, and I think that if we had all been able to understand each other better it would have been a lot easier. I was tired though, and really wanted to sleep my way through the journey so as not to think about having to use the (really) stinky bus toilet at some point. Suddenly the bus made a very strange sound, and then a weird mechanical type of smell proceeded to fill the air. We stopped at the side of the road while the driver went to check out the issue. We then continued along to Hurghada where we stopped at a garage where someone checked the bus out. We all sighed in relief at the thought of non-stinky toilets, but one look at the coffee stop by the garage’s restrooms and we braved the bus loos, covering our faces with a bandana. Off we went again, ready to settle in for the night, driving north up by the Red Sea, when the bus broke down for good. In the middle of freezing nowhere, desert all around apart from the water to our right. I went out for a cigarette, but it was so cold I rushed it and went back into the bus and tried to sleep. About an hour later another bus turned up, we all piled on and finally made our way up over the Suez Canal and towards Dahab.

We arrived at Dahab bus station around 11am and took a quick service bus to the sea front. We walked around a bit looking for somewhere to stay, and chose the Venus Camp where we shared a thatched hut and communal bathroom for about 6 Egyptian pounds each. The scenery from Dahab is absolutely amazing: glistening Red Sea, mountains in the distance across the sea, sand, camels and striking blue sky. We were there in January but the weather was warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt in the daytime. We didn’t brave the water though which I slightly regret now.

Our hotel was literally steps from the beach, and the main beach area, which is full of restaurants and comfortable Bedouin type seating areas, cushions on the floor and low tables with blankets and shades overhead. A plate of rice, soup, salad and bread only put us back 5 Egyptian pounds, and a bowl of Kushary even less. I bought a new top and pants (I was literally travelling with the bare minimum that I had been washing and drying as much as possible), and rushed to have what I thought would be a lovely, refreshing shower after all of those hours in the bus. But that was not to be… The showers in the camp used salt water, a mere trickle of lukewarm saltwater, my soap wouldn’t lather and I ended up feeling less clean when I got out of the shower than I had before I got in! It was an excuse to just not bother for the rest of our time there.

We decided we would forgo the sunrise trip to Mount Sinai, something that I regret now, but I still remember how exhausted we were, and how tired of buses and trains we had become. All we really wanted was to relax for a few days before making our way back up north to Evron, and I also know that none of us had much money left anyway. So that’s how we ended our tour of Egypt with less than $200 trip: relaxing by the Red Sea, walking around, looking at the beautiful blue blue of the water against the red browns of desert mountains. I will always miss the beauty of the Sinai and Israeli desert landscape, the land that looks so barren from a distance but when you look closely there is so much beauty in every step. Lunar rocks, colored sand, looming hills, and the appearance of millions of stars in the sky at night, every night. And the food… I miss the food. Not all of our food experiences in Egypt were a success (the snot-like consistency of what was meant to be tahini in a falafel sandwich in Aswan comes to mind), but most of the time we were lucky. It’s not always easy to travel on a tight budget as a vegetarian or a vegan, and sometimes it means having to make do with bread and cheese or bread and hummus (which is fine by me). Luckily Egypt is one of those places where you can find quite a bit of vegetarian-friendly street food, so I never went hungry. Dahab gave us omelets, falafel, aubergine spreads, salads, soups, and the one winter drink I still crave: sachlab. My endeavors to find sachlab led us to some interesting and important finds in both Egypt and Israel (jumping in a sherut to Akko without having any idea where I was actually heading was one).

Venus Camp with the bamboo huts, Quo Vadis Napoleon restaurant, with the fairy lights and the cushioned floor area on the beach and the deals we made for breakfast and dinners: places that most likely no longer exist today, but definitely still have a place in my mind. We were so exhausted after Taba-Cairo, Cairo-Aswan, Aswan-Luxor, and then Luxor-Dahab, that all we could do was walk slowly, breathe, and relax by the sea, even though the wind was Egyptian-winter cold. Restaurants let us sit in their beach area hang-outs with just a drink and a snack because they wanted to attract more business during the less touristy winter days, and we welcomed the fact that we didn’t actually have to do anything. After spending the evening listening to music and enjoying cake and ice cream by the sea, we made our way back to the camp to sleep, ready for the 2.5 hour bus journey back up to Taba the next morning, and a re-entry into Israel that would lead us all back up north to the kibbutz.

 ———

I know that there are advisories on travelling to the Sinai area due to military operations and terrorism, however it was also not considered safe either in early 2004, at the peak of the Second Intifada. It appears that currently most attacks are on Egyptian security forces, as well as churches and flights, so road travel is probably best, and the usual safe travel cautions apply, as with anywhere. In my opinion everywhere is unsafe in some shape or form, and obviously some places are more dangerous than others, but everyone should research an area in full rather than just base a choice on a travel advisory. Dahab is such a gorgeous place to stay, inexpensive, and you can easily get to Israel, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia if you wanted to. Just remember that if you are planning to travel to Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and/or Yemen after Israel it’s important to not have a stamp that gives the idea that you may have been in Israel. Israeli officials usually provide entry visas and stamps on a separate piece of paper, but you will need to ask Jordanian and Egyptian officials to stamp a loose piece of paper if you are crossing one of the land border crossings between the countries. It’s pretty obvious to anyone where you have been if you have an Egyptian stamp from Taba in your passport…

I will work on Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor next, grateful for the fact that I wrote so diligently in my journal during my travels. I want to go back, older, wiser, and with the intention on taking better photos and without the feeling of needing to rush through everything. I would love to revisit Aswan, sit up high on the banks over the Nile and relax.

For more travel stories and memories click below:

Travel and Places

Ramblings: Working in the Kibbutz Dining Room

When I got back from Israel in 2004 I spent a few months in California and managed to put many memories down on paper for future reference. I am so glad I did as reading through them brings me a lot of happiness amongst the waves of nostalgia. Here is the description of a typical day working on the kibbutz for me (slightly edited from the original that I jotted down over a decade ago). I kept the tense as it was when I wrote it because it immediately took me right back there. All of the Hebrew is transcribed as I understood it and all of the people mentioned are real. This is the second and definitely not the last piece on my stay in Israel (the first one, On Kibbutz Evron, can be found here).

There we are in front of the Dining Room, at 6am on the dot, on time as usual even after the few frustrating minutes of trying to round everyone up so we can go altogether (Nick’s “I still have to brush my teeth aye Kitkat, I’ll meet you up there” still resonates in my ears to this day).

“Boker tov!”

“Good morning, boker tov.” Vica, Vova, Doron, Sasha, Ofer, Ganit, Marina, Rami, Zoran, Motti… No Ronen yet because Ronen is always late.

First things first, a dash (I’m talking 6am after four hours of sleep dash) to the hot water machine for a polystyrene cup of strong, sugary tea. And into the kitchen I go with Isabel. For anyone who thinks a kitchen should be the warmest place anywhere, it isn’t in Evron. In the winter the water in “our” sink takes 10 minutes to heat up and cold air comes through all the top windows, but in the summer it becomes a lovely respite from the burning sun. Vova dumps the crates of vegetables to be cleaned next to the sink (although before Vova was promoted to manager I had to carry those crates by myself and my back hated me for it!).

One of us goes to get the plastic containers while the other starts on the vegetables; red peppers in halves or thirds, cleaned and placed on the tray; spring onions cut, cleaned, piled on the tray; white onions peeled, cleaned, halved and put on the tray (done with the obligatory latex gloves because I learnt my lesson the first few days- onion smell does NOT go away even after prolonged and multiple washes); tomatoes washed, checked, into containers; cucumbers the same procedure; parsley cut, cleaned and put out next to the lemons in the food area of the Dining Room.

Zivouv (“around”), my favourite job, going around the outside of the Dining Room, sweeping up cigarette butts and other miscellaneous garbage, changing the bins and cleaning the “station”. This has to be done before breakfast, so outside I trot while Isabel cleans and fills the napkin holders. It’s my favourite job because I get to sneak in a cigarette while working as well as take advantage of the gorgeous morning feeling that only a kibbutz by the sea can conjure up. Revi has come in (I love her; she is one of the people with whom I became good friends while working on the kibbutz).

7:25 (I always try to nab us an extra five minutes on our thirty minute break) and off we go to breakfast. Two slices of bread, one halva spread, a bowl of porridge and a “latte” from the machine (sometimes pancakes, sometimes French toast, on Thursdays an omelet). I love Israeli food, but I could only bring myself to eat vegetables in the morning during my last few months on the kibbutz. Although to this day I still don’t know how people can eat raw onions at 7am…

My breakfast goes down in less than 15 minutes, giving me the chance to do the most important: smoke 2 cigarettes with my coffee outside on the little wall.

8am: my turn to clean tables while Isabel finishes the vegetables for the next day. The Dining Room is full, all the volunteers except for Isabel, me and the two dishwashers (one being Michal, whose regular job was dishwashing) eating at “our” table, the factory workers at their usual tables, school kids, kibbutzniks, everyone chattering away, while I clean up table after table, giving the coffee and the dishwashing areas an occasional wipe, chatting to people here and there, taking a cigarette break by the dishwasher from time to time. At around 9:15 am the place starts to empty and I start to sweep excess crumbs up from around the tables, waiting for those last people to leave (and they are always the same people!). Then comes the best part of the morning: I grab a bucket of soap and splash it over “my” part of the floor, hose it down, scrub it with a brush, bring all of the water into the drain and “dry” it with a big cloth. And unless I want to hear Vova yelling at me in Russian, I had better not forget to clean the drain! There is something so cathartic about throwing buckets of water on the ground and scrubbing things clean.

Isabel is cleaning and filling the oils and then off we go on our break. It’s sunny today but not too warm. I run to the computer, check my mail then go to my room, make my bed and listen to Galgalats for a while.

10:40am- time to walk back up there, cigarette in mouth, fast stride right back up to the Dining Room. Cigarettes, lighter and keys are left on the shelf by the dishwasher and one of us goes to get a trolley from behind the kitchen while the other peers at the food on our “vegetarian” cart. The usual diet chicken and diet meatballs, most of which disappear directly into the Tupperware containers brought in by Esther for the Vaticon and by the kindergarden teachers; and then some sort of quiche, and (thank goodness no falafel or pizza today- it’s crazy when we have to serve either one of those!) and mushrooms covered in cream sauce. Isabel brings clean plates to put on the trolley, a bucket of clean water and some clothes. I peer over to see what Marina is serving on the meat counter- chicken legs, goulash stuff and other dishes. Then I go round the other trolleys, diet vegetables, rice, pasta, the same selection of salads as there is every single day, and some kind of jelly-like thing for dessert. Right. Rice and carrots again for me today.

We stand and serve the early people together. Vova is sitting behind us reading the paper, Doron is hovering, checking the salads, and Revi is occasionally smiling across the food area to me from her place at the computer. At 11:30am Isabel takes off for her lunch break (tomato salad) and I serve the high school kids, replace what needs replacing and clean the food trolleys when needed.

Serving hummus on the "vegetarian" cart

“Vova, I love this song, turn it up!”

“Beseder. But promise me…”

“What? Oh no, I get it. No!”

“Just one kiss!”

“No!” (laughing).

At noon Isabel replaces me, I grab a tray and my food, my coffee coin and I go to Revi. Mustn’t forget my receipt- must watch that food account! However will I be able to put my friends’ food on my account if I get to 300 shekels at the end of the month? It’s funny how the meat-eaters always end up going over their limit before the 25th, while the vegetarians never do… I eat at the volunteer table, but in 15 minutes I’m done, get my coffee and drink it outside while smoking.

12:30pm. Isabel goes off to clean tables while I finish serving on the vegetarian trolley.

“Ma ze?”

“Pashteda pitriottes”

Surprisingly enough mushroom quiche doesn’t seem to entice many people. Not much of a steady flow today, so I chat to Vova and Doron. At 1pm Vova helps me take the hot trays out of the trolley (“they’re too hot and heavy for me Vova!”) and I push it back against the wall. Out comes the hose and I spray the trolley down, scrub it, rinse it and wipe it down, then clean up the excess water. I sneak off for a cigarette break by the dishwasher before attacking the big plastic things in the kitchen. Ofer smiles at me, and without me even having to ask he goes to get a big trolley and empties the plastic containers of the leftover trays of food. Yet again I pull out a hose and hose the things down, after pulling them around the drain. They are scrubbed, rinsed and put back into place again, ready for tomorrow’s food in the morning.

The Dining Room in Evron

Time for another cigarette break and a latte from the machine. I can’t help it if I finish fast! I nip into the Kolbolit to get my daily supply of chocolate (those “4Plays” are delicious, both the regular and the white chocolate ones). I replace Revi on the meat counter for 5 minutes while she goes to the loo (i.e. cigarette break) and serve some of the later high school kids.

“Ma ze?”

“Ze of, ze bacar”

“Anni lo rotsa.’

“Bevakasha!”

Isabel joins me for a cigarette by the dishwasher and then I start refilling and cleaning the coffee area for tomorrow. We are out of Nescafe and hot chocolate so I go and collect some more from the big storage room. All the Dining Room workers, except for Revi and Tuti, are just finishing their lunch breaks, so I chat to Tuti for a few minutes, finish cleaning the soda/water dispenser, fill the hot water tank and sweep round the coffee, and as nearly everyone has left the Dining Room I grab the bin bags, the dustpan and the brush and head outside to do zivouv. It takes me about 15 minutes to change the five bins and collect the cigarette butts, leaves and other garbage all round the Dining Room. When I get back inside it’s 2:20pm and Isabel is just finishing the tables, Doron and Vova have started cleaning the floor. We clear up our stuff, tell Vova we’re finished and he sends us off home. We’re lucky, but only because we work hard, because we never finish after 2:30pm (all of the other volunteers finish around 3pm).

After collecting out stuff, shouting goodbye to everyone and getting our sweaters we set off down to the Volunteer House, going into the Volunteer Office to say hi to Ina before plonking ourselves on the couch, taking our shoes off, putting on music, smoking a cigarette and waiting for the guys to get back.

One example of a regular days work in the Dining Room. I worked there regularly because I asked and was asked to. Most volunteers were rotated around the different jobs, but I liked the fact that I had a regular job; I was given my own responsibilities and daily chores. The atmosphere in the Dining Room was mostly one of fun; we always managed to have a laugh… Gossiping with Revi, running away from Sasha, laughing with Vova, chatting with the guys in the kitchen, pulling faces at Rami, chatting with Ronen. The work was not intellectually challenging, but I really enjoyed it, and my Hebrew went from non-existent to a lot better because I really tried. One day I will learn properly! It’s difficult to describe communal living to someone who has never experienced it before, as there are so many things that are part of the whole experience. It is not for everyone, but it was very good for me. To this day it was one of my favourite jobs and I would do it all over again in a flash if I could.

I smoked a lot of Noblesse Lights during my time in Israel if you hadn’t noticed after reading this.