We had all made it safe and sound to the beach/party town of Eilat, found at the southern most tip of Israel on the gulf of Aqaba where one can cross into Jordan or Egypt. At this point in our travels (still being day one) we piled off the bus, used the facilities and began looking for a place to eat. Now we knew that for the next 10 days we would not be able to have food that we were accustomed to, that is anything remotely close to American or Israeli food, so we all made the decision to have one last good meal. We located a hamburger stand (which is far inferior to any American hamburger joint, but for Israel is was pretty good) and we sat down an ordered. After receiving our food and marveling at/experimenting with this red, jelly-like substance that the shop keeper tried to pass off as ketchup, we ate our burgers and moved to the next item on our literary.

We needed to convert some money to the Egyptian pounds and then CROSS THE BORDER! Luckly, as we walked down the street we encountered a bank. Well we didn’t really encounter the bank as much as we encountered the money changers who were “working” in front of the bank. These two guys were private business men who were offering better conversion rates than one would find in the bank. (Sketchy?!) Well, welcome to Israel so we made our conversions there with the guys on the street (of course after a little bartering and verifying what the exchange rates were - luckily I had looked up the conversion rates before we left Jerusalem) After we were all a few shekels poorer and a few Egyptian Pounds (EP) richer we garbed a cab and headed to the border.

All full of excitement and hope we arrived at the border crossing where we played in the water free of any worries and ready to officially start our big adventure. Little did we know just how adventurous it was going to be. After bringing every one up out of the water and making sure we all had all of our belongings we walked up to the border crossing building, which sat right on the coast, and we began the process. We paid our exist taxes to the State of Israel, walked through the duty free shop, exited the Israeli border complex, crossed into Egypt and into the Egyptian boarder complex where everything became complex.

After a handful of questions by the boarder Officers, it was brought to our attention that we were minus 5 VISAs for entry in to Egypt proper. I had gathered information before we came saying that we could get VISAs at the border. This was true, but only for the Sinai Peninsula. If one wished to enter into the Egypt Nile Vally, which we did, there was a need to purchase a VISA to the mainland Egypt from the Egyptian Embassy in Israel, a process of 2 or 3 days as we found out from our boarder friends. This was to say the least COMPLEX. Luckily (providentially?), Eilat housed an Egyptian Embassy and was set to close in about 45 min. So we all ran back through the Egyptian complex, the duty free store, the Israeli complex and flagged down a couple of cabs while we franticly begged and pleaded with the Egyptian Embassy to stay open till we arrived and see if they would processes our VISAs in a fraction of the time it should normally take. Well, much to our surprise they said they would stay open for us (thank the LORD) and see what they could do about the VISAs as soon as we would get there.

It really does amaze me how people can be so helpful at times, even if they are complete strangers. That is something to be said about the middle eastern hospitality which the Arabs are masters at. Bending over backwards to help strangers in a strange place. All this to say, in about and hour and a half and for a very small fee we all had VISAs and were heading back to the boarder. Someone say they wanted an adventure? Whoever said that life’s a journey not a destination clearly tried crossing into Egypt from Israel and could see that there lay a long road ahead of them, and our road was just beginning.

But if when we encounters the truth
and are not moved to change,
are not encourage to grow
and are comfortable with what we have found,
then we have not found the truth at all,
but only a mirror… and are staring at a reflection of ourselves.

After weeks of planning we had finally come to an agreed upon plan as to what we were going to do in Egypt (you can refer to the blog entry: Egypt Itinerary). So we packed out backpacks and went to bed early so that we might arise in time for the 7:00am bus to Eilat. We knew that none of our cell phones would work in Egypt so communicating with each other would be a challenge, however we would never have guessed to have encountered it at such an early stage in our journey. Somehow, in-between leaving our room and walking the 200 meters from our door to the bus stop where we were going to begin our journey, we lost one of our 5 companions. It was absolutely mind boggling! My flat mate, Dave, his friend Zack (who was also traveling with us, but only as far as the Sinai Desert) and myself set our bags down after watching the first #28 bus (which was the bus we needed to catch to the central bus station) drive past the bus stop.

We looked around, and said it will be ok, there will be 3 more busses that we can catch till we absolutely need to be at the central station. The busses came in 15 min intervals so we all had a good 45 min till before time would no-longer be on our side. I said to Dave, “I’d better go check on Stephen and Bethany, just to make sure all is well.” He nodded in agreement. I then turned and re-entered the dormitory complex. Stephen was a delightful fellow who I had met during the course of the past few months in our Hebrew Ulpan class. He was a bright young man beginning his M.A. in Jewish History and a student of philosophy. He has a gentle demeanor about him and a smile that asks, “Will you be my friend?”. Right from the beginning I liked Stephen. So as we talked over the course of our developing friendship, the idea of him and his wife joining David, Drew, and I on our trip to Egypt came up and he and I both were excited about it. When I arrived at the room they were staying in, Stephen and Bethany were all collected and on there way out the door. “Great!” I said, “Let’s hustle down to the bus stop and we can catch the next one in to the central station.”

When Stephen, Bethany and I arrived at the bus stop, much to my surprise, Drew was not there. Andrew, Drew for short, was my roommate and he was equally excited to be traveling to Egypt. “The Pyramids” he would say with a tone that would have you believe that he was intimately connected with them on some sort of cosmic level. He was quick, young collage student here in Israel for a year of study abroad. He meticulously had his keys with him where ever he went and was the most faithful about locking/unlocking our dorm room doors. Earlier, David, I and Drew all left the Dorm room together heading down for the bus stop. When Drew said, “Hold on, I need my keys to lock the door.” “OK.” Dave and I said as we continued down the 12 half-flights of stairs that led from our room down to the ground floor. He could not have been 30 seconds behind us. However when I returned to the bus stop with Stephen and Bethany, we were coming up on 15 minutes and still no Drew.

Dave looked back at me with a similar expression on his face, “I don’t know. He should have been here by now. Let me try calling him.” he said as he pulled out his phone and dialed Drew’s number. No answer on the line. Dave tried again. Again, no answer. “Maybe we should go back and check on him”, I said. The truth was, we all were carrying heavy backpacks and there was a slim possibility that this trip may be ending with an injury before it even began. “I’ll go check on him”, said Stephen. “Also, check the other bus stop as well and loop back around here.” Time was nearing for the next bus to arrive. Dave looked back at his cell phone and continued to try to get a hold of Drew on it.

The next bus arrived before Stephen returned. We all looked at each other, “Should we get on?” Dave’s friend Zack asked. Dave said, “There?��Ǩ�Ѣs no reason for you to stay here, we were all only going to ‘ride’ with each other. Our plans were going to change at Eilat anyway so there is no reason for you to wait with us and miss the bus to Eilat.” Zack climbed aboard the bus and we waved, worriedly goodbye to him. The bus drove up the hill and we continued to wait for Stephen to return. The minutes ticked by and we began to wonder if there was a Bermuda Triangle located on the Hebrew University Dormitory complex, (which was not that big) and now Stephen like Drew, also had been sucked into it. Just at that moment Stephen walked down the hill, still with no Drew.

“I went to your dorm room,” he said, “and the door was locked. I banged on it and ended up waking your other roommate Will who finally came to the door and let me in. I told him what was going on and when he led me to your’s and Drew?��Ǩ�Ѣs room, it too was locked.” Will didn’t have any key other than his dorm key and the key to his and Dave’s room. “So I walked up to the upper-stop and Drew obviously wasn’t there either,” Stephen finished as he collected his and his wife’s backpack on the sidewalk next to the bus stop. I looked at Dave, “How is this possible!? How could we have lost Drew before we even left the dorms, let alone the country!?” We began guessing that Drew might have caught that first bus that went up the hill before Stephen and Bethany joined us. Dave began to call Zack saying, “Maybe Zack could look and see if Drew was already at the central station.” Dave put the phone to his ear, and began to speak with Zack. “What!?!” he said, “Drew is already there?” The last bus just pulled up to our stop. “Drew is already at the central station”, Dave said to us. We hurriedly climbed onboard the bus while Dave continued talking on his phone making arrangements for us to rendezvous and for Drew to buy us all tickets on the next bus to Eilat, hoping we would all get there in time to “Begin” our trip.

Drew had caught the first bus up to the central station, and even though he had all that extra time before the bus to Eilat left, he as well as the rest of us only were able to get standing room on the early bus to Eilat (which is a 4 hour bus trip with a short 20 min break at a gas station/McDonalds. We all happily made it to Eilat together despite the fact that our group was split up between the two busses that traveled down to Eilat in caravan style. Stephen, Bethany, Dave, and myself ended up on one bus while Drew and Zack made it on another bus. All the seats were taken on both busses so Stephen and I took over large sections of the isle in an effort to sleep on the way while Dave sat in it and began journaling, a practice he recently picked up since he had come here to Israel. Unfortunately, Drew and Zack had no such comforts as we had. His bus was so jam-packed that Drew stood the whole 4 hour trip.

When we had all poured out of the busses, gathered our luggage and done what we had needed to do in the bathrooms, we were much refreshed and were looking to get some food. We all wanted to make sure that we ate something good while we were in Eilat, for we didn’t know when the next “good” or even “eatable” meal was going to be since we were going to be passing into the Sinai Desert in just about an hour where our real adventures awaited for us. We found a nice hamburger joint and we all enjoyed our last reliably good meal, even if the ketchup was a little questionable. Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, Iced tea and Cokes. We ate and drank and enjoyed. We had accomplished quite a feat, even though in the eyes of most we had only just begun our journey. But we had successfully become separated and reunited. We were now a group of adventures with a bit more courage under our belts. We felt that we were then, equipped to handle what ever else would come our way. Look out Egypt… were coming.

Without wisdom, there is no conscience;
without conscience, there is no wisdom.

Without knowledge, there is no understanding;
without understanding there is no knowledge.

Without bread, there is no Torah;
without Torah there is no bread.

(Avot 3:21)

Itinerary
Day 1 (October 3rd)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 6:05am leave for central bus station
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 7:00am Bus Leaves for Eilat.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 11:00am Eat lunch in Eilat and continue on to Taba.
o Cross into Egypt by the TABA Terminal (10 Km. South of Eilat)
o Purchase Tourist VISAs ($25) and pay the entrance fee (LE 25) in TABA
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ *2:00pm Catch a taxi in Taba to Tarabin (Maagana beach, Sababa, Red Rocks-Helnan Nuweiba Hotel) for dinner and the night.
Day 2 (October 4th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 7:30am for breakfast in Tarabin or Nubeiwa
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 9:00am leave for Dahab
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Fun on the beach till evening
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Contact The Jasmine Pension for the Mt Sinai tours
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Taxi? to St. Catherine?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s and Mt Sinai
Day 3 (October 5th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Wake Up at 3:00am to hike up Mt Sinai (optional)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 8:00am Breakfast
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 9:30 ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú 11:00am St Catherine?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Find transportation to Cairo
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Stay in Pensione Roma (Ismailia house, Dahab Hotel)
Day 4 (October 6th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 7:00 ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú 8:00am Breakfast and Giza by horse/camel and Cairo Museum inquiry.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 8:30am Pyramids by horse/camel
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 12:00pm Lunch in Giza
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 1:00pm Cairo Museum till satisfied or closes.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 7:00pm return to Giza for dinner and ?¢‚Ǩ?ìlight show?¢‚Ǩ?
Day 5 (October 7th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 7:00 ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú 8:00am Breakfast and Train ticket inquiry.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Free day in the Arab suq
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Overnight train to Aswan
Day 6 (October 8th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Time TBA arrive in Aswan and inquire about Felucca
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Time TBA Tour around Aswan, eat breakfast and lunch
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Time TBA Board Felucca and disembark for Luxor
Day 7 (October 9th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ All day Felucca
Day 8 (October 10th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ All day Felucca
Day 9 (October 11th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Time TBA Arrive in Luxor and Train ticket inquiry.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Time TBA Tour Karnack temple, Valley of the Kings, etc?¢‚Ǩ¬¶
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Time TBA board train for Cairo.
Day 10 (October 12th)
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Time TBA Arrive in Cairo eat breakfast and catch bus for Taba boarder crossing
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 3:00pm Hopefully be in Eilat

My older brother Jason and his wife Amy have just compleated the very long and dificult process of adopting my new nephew Nathanael from China. My family is amazing! Have you ever wanted to grow up and be like your older brother? Who wouldn’t want to do that if this man was your brother!

I have began a new section that I hope will become rich with all the wisdom that I encounter. As I continue through life, I will keep my ears open for brilliant and relevant sayings that might help composite a collected sayings of the wise. As often as possible I will credit whomever I quote.

I encourage anyone who comes and enjoys this new section to comment on the proverbs as they see them fit in their own lives or perhaps if one of you might have a great interpretation on a posted proverb.