On the road to Sharm in a bus......
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2005
1
15
149
Trip End
May 22, 2006
Sharm El Sheikh,
Egypt
Saturday, August 27, 2005
James, Alex and I waited off to the side, about 10 feet away (in the shade). The line grew and got quite long. A few people in line were approached by touts who were offering mini-bus services to Sharm for a few extra Egyptian Pounds. We didn't bite as we only had 10 or 15 minutes more to wait. But 10 or 15 minutes became 30 minutes. 30 minutes became 60 minutes. Tamalyn held her ground despite a couple of pushy Egyptian fellows who tried to cut in front of her. Burned once, Tamalyn wasn't going to let it happen a second time!
We were contemplating taking a mini bus as we noticed that a group of Italian divers were bargaining with a tout. We watched their progress, and shortly, they left the line with their luggage. They left the bus station area and walked around the corner. Our group discussed doing the same thing. We had agreed to wait 10 more minutes when out of the corner of James' eye, he noticed the Italians returning. The conveyed to us that the car was is very poor condition, without air conditioning, and the driver looked like he was out of it. I guess we will wait as long as we have to for the bus.
At this point, at the back of the line, I noticed a familiar face. Milo, an American tourist who was on our tour of the Philae Temple was near the back of the line. Funny, I didn't remember seeing him on our bus. I approached him and asked how he was doing. He indicated that he was arriving from Hurghada and trying to get to Sharm. I found out that he was on the noon bus from Hurghada, and that there were only 8 people on the bus when it left Hurghada. Damn, two hours on my butt on the floor all for naught. We could have had seats all the way. We could have had 2 seats each for that matter.
At 7:15pm, over 90 minutes after Tamalyn got in line, they started to sell tickets. Although we were initially told that the bus was a 6:00pm bus, the printed tickets indicated a 7:30pm departure time. Maybe we were lied to. Oh well, it wasn't the first time that the truth was stretched in Egypt, and it surely wouldn't be the last time.
We took our tickets and headed to the bay where the bus was to arrive. Around 7:45, the bus finally arrived from Cairo. Passengers disembarked to have a cigarette, and those of us just boarding, packed our bags in the luggage compartment. Most of the new passengers boarded the bus. When the bus driver hit the horn telling everyone that he was ready to leave, the original passengers re-boarded.
Two rows in front of us, two men started arguing very loudly. Apparently, two new passengers had taken the seats that belonged to two passengers who boarded in Cairo (funny enough it was the same 2 Egyptian guys that had tried to push in front of Tamalyn at the ticket booth). These new passengers were adamantly demanding that they be given the seat numbers printed on their tickets. Now even rookie Canadians like Tamalyn & I knew that the numbers on the tickets meant nothing. Nada. Safr. How was the ticket officer in Suez to know who had sat where from the previous destination? The argument got louder and louder, and we saw first hand how expressive Arab men can become when they get into a heated discussion. Regardless, another 30 minutes of this nonsense, finally rectified by the bus station manager ordering people to take specific seats, resulted in us leaving the bus station shortly before 8:30pm. We never see heated arguments like this in Canada unless there is a punch about to be thrown!
Before heading out to the open road, the bus driver brought the bus to the repair garage. Something was fishy. He killed the engine. One by one, the passengers started to disembark as it was getting hotter and hotter without the air conditioning (what little there actually was). When I decided to get off, I walked to the back of the bus and was aghast to find the engine cover off, three or four "mechanics" working inside on the engine, and many trouble lights being used to provide light, the sun having set an hour earlier. Another 30 or 40 minutes passed before the driver restarted the engines. Hurray, we were off!
Our final journey was set to begin. We had been hoping to witness crossing the Suez Canal, as it would be quite the sight to see from a bridge. 20,000 ships a year cross this man made canal bringing goods from India and Asia to Europe as well as oil from the Middle East to the Unites States and Europe. Two things actually worked against us seeing this engineering marvel. First of all, it was dark. Second of all, we were going to cross thru a tunnel and not on a bridge. Oh well, them's the breaks.
The rest of the journey was mostly uneventful until near the very end. About 20 miles short of Sharm, a passenger wanted to disembark. The bus driver was OK with this. Unfortunately for the passenger, the bus driver wasn't going to open the luggage compartment for him (How does that make sense? You can get off, but you can't take your luggage!). Another argument, just as lively, loud, and boisterous as the one which preceded our bus trip fro Suez, ensued waking up all of the passengers who were sleeping. Finally, cooler heads prevailed, and the passenger did get off and was able to get his luggage.
Arriving at the bus station outside of Sharm El Sheikh, the four of us hired a taxi to take us into the town of Sharm El Sheikh. We walked around the two main streets looking for the budget hotel about which Alex had received a recommendation. We finally found it, negotiated a discount rate (it was after all, 3:30 am, and most hotels were quiet following the recent bombing in Sharm) and we were off to bed. Almost 22 hours after our day had started we were finally getting to sleep in a bed, in a hotel room, in Sharm El Sheikh. Our dive trip had been saved! I hope we don't have too many more days like this.
