Israel - The promised land

Question: What do Moses and Dev have in common?

Answer: Both have seen, but not reached the promised land.

As an Indian citizen, Dev had called the Israeli embassy in Vienna and asked multiple times (the "are you sure" refrain was used quite liberally) if he needed a visa.  NO was the repeated reply.   As for Jordan, according to the guidebooks, one could get a visa upon arrival.  However, as an Indian citizen this could prove difficult, so Dev procured a letter of intent through his underworld, oops I mean diplomatic connections :).

So having done our homework, we blithely boarded the bus for another bus journey from St. Katherine's to Dahab, then on to Nuweiba.  Nuweiba is the seaside resort town on the Red Sea from where you can catch the ferry to Aqaba as well as enjoy the sun at a myriad of beach camps.   We got off at the taxi and bus station in Nuweiba and of course were surrounded by potential taxi drivers.   However the frenzy was a little more crazy here..the taxi drivers actually came to blows while trying to secure us for their cars!  We had hooked up with a group of South Korean students and their Japanese guide as we thought it would give us more negotiating power to bring down the cost of the ride - Taba and the border was about 50 km away, and this bus station was the only place from where to catch a ride. 

The police got involved in stopping the fight between the cab drivers.  The local mafia goons arrived and told us that we have to take their taxi - and the price started going up from 200 egyptian pounds to 250 egyptian pounds and higher!  Then the police told all the cab drivers to go away for their prayers because it was about 5pm and time to break the Ramadan fast.  So, in short order, we went from multiple available taxis to absolutely nothing!  Finally, a couple of cab drivers surreptitiously returned and the Koreans took off in another cab.  We took off for Taba along with four Egyptian students.  Time was running out (the border crossing would close at 8pm) but the students insisted on taking a tea break about 5 minutes after we left the bus station and lingered for a while. Quite maddening.

At Taba, we saw the bombed-out Taba Hilton (the bombing had taken place a couple of weeks prior to our arrival in Taba).  It was surrounded by armed policemen. We trudged through the Egyptian section of the border  through no-mans-land and arrived at the Israeli side.  We then went through extensive security checks and then the moment of truth arrived - Would Dev be allowed into Israel without a visa (as I had been told by the Israeli embassy in Vienna)?  The answer, which took about an hour in arriving, was a resounding NO!  Seems the information we had received was incorrect and in fact, Dev needed a visa- no question about it. So two and a half hours after arriving at the border, we walked back to the Egyptian side, negotiated with the taxi cartel again, and took a one hour drive back to Nuweiba.  Very frustrating.

After some tense moments in the taxi (price negotiations continued throughout our drive to Nuweiba), we reached Habiba Camp.   

-Smruti

Comments

[tejal]

My boyfriend's family lives in Israel and I'm dying to go as well!

I stayed at the Taba Hilton when I was in Israel/Egypt ages ago. I know that everyone has that story of "oh, well I was there one hour/week/year precisely before the bombing" but it's still a strange sort of connection that you feel to a place that has been damaged, that has been the site of death or destruction.

Anyway, sorry you didn't make it, but I hope you do soon!