We head North from Nuweiba to Taba. Before leaving the driver (In Arabic) reads a list of do’s and dont’s. An Egyptian guy in the next seat translates for me. One of the rules is no smoking on the bus. We set off and the driver and the passenger next to me both light cigarettes. Welcome to Egypt. It is clear that the air conditioning doesn’t work and after 20 minutes I am soaked with every article of clothing stuck to me. We head north toward Taba along the beach road where beach club after beach club are under construction or recently completed. They have interesting and original names like “Cleopatra Beach Club” and “Beach Beach Club” along with my particular favourite “KumKum beach Club”. The mind boggles on what happens in there. We leave the beach road and start to climb through a mountainous area. The bus is struggling and I suspect you could walk quicker. The volume of passengers and cargo are taking there toll. We get to the top and a place called Taba Heights. Another 20 minutes and we make a left turn into the sun. From my own planning, and the direction of the turn, I know that we have now entered the Sinai Desert.
The Sinai is desolate and barren with only the occasional car coming in the opposite direction. Darkness descends quickly and it is obvious that the suspension on the bus is as broken as the air conditioning. I am uncomfortable due to lack of leg room and the realisation that I haven’t eaten since breakfast in the hotel. At 8.15 PM, after 3 hours of driving we stop at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The temperature has dropped drastically and the wind provides a chill made worse by still damp clothes.The kofta, rice and bread are just what the doctor ordered along with the chance to stretch my legs. We are due to leave at 9.15. The bus won’t start. Luckily there is another bus from the same company also at the restaurant and eventually they jump start our coach. I guarantee we won’t be stopping again. We hit the road again at 9.30 and, with a full stomach, I think sleep will come easy. I drift in and out of sleep until the driver puts on an Arabic music CD at almost full blast. I later learn that this is aimed at helping him stay awake, and indeed on two occasions later on the bus veers violently as he nodded of at the wheel. With the introduction of the music, the Egyptian woman in front of me becomes the life and soul of the party and starts a conversation with everyone on the bus at the same time. She also starts to sweat up which adds to the discomfort. We reach the Suez Canal at 11.30 PM and pass underneath by tunnel. With about a 100 clicks left to Cairo and the road now two lanes in both directions, I go and sit in the empty seat next to the driver. Now there is a real art to driving in Egypt at night. Firstly, there is the full beam headlight lesson. The car coming in the opposite direction will lower the beam of his headlights. The coach driver does the same as happens in many other countries. Then as the vehicles get close they switch the full beam back on to blind the other driver. This is accompanied by hitting the horn at the same time in an attempt to inflict shock and awe. Secondly, with two lanes to choose from. the only option is to drive down the white line in the middle. As the coach approaches other traffic from behind (Providing of course you can see them, as most have no lights) the driver flashes his lights, sounds his horn and over or under takes the lorry or car hoping that the other vehicle knows he is there. On two occasions while I was upfront they didn’t and the brakes were on pretty quick.
We eventually reach the Giza region of Cairo at 1.15AM. 8 hours after leaving Nuweiba. I am so pleased to be off the coach. A cabbie approaches me and asks where I want to go. I explain and he feigns not knowing the place. I say I will find another cab driver and he insists I go with him. I tell him in no uncertain terms that I have had a long journey and in no mood to be dicked about. We drive off and it is clear he hasn’t got a clue where we are going. We stop at another hotel (You can guess what’s coming) to ask his friend for directions and his friend hasn’t got a clue either. The cabbie tells me there is no such hotel and that I should stay here as it is nice and clean. I tell his friend to look up the name of the hotel on the internet from the computer behind the reception counter. He does so and comes up with a phone number which he rings. The hotel gives the directions to the cabbie and we leave. I insist the cabbie puts the trip on the meter and tell him if I see any landmark twice he will have a problem. We tear through Cairo for 20 minutes and the Pyramids appear to our right hand side illuminated. 5 minutes later I am in the hotel. I sleep the sleep of the dead.
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