Desert Oasis

The weather here has been unpredictable, as you would know if you read Leon's link to the news about the sunken ferry. 3 days ago, it was superb, sunshine, flat ocean. We went snorkelling at the blue hole with the brothers Berkman. We affectionately refer to them as 'Berkmen', or just 'Berkman', and although Michael asserts that they are discrete entities sometimes things get a little hazy...

The day after our blue hole snorkel session, there was a massive storm, with thunder and lightning right on top of us. It was one of Dahab's 4 annual rainfall days. I got an electric shock off my clothesline. Then we lost power for the night. Luckily I still had a candle from Tiberius in my bag, and was able to finish reading Dan Brown's prequel to the Davinci Code. I was up to the last chapter, and needed to satisfy my curiosity and see what ridiculous heights of unreality the author could take it to for the finale. I wasn't disappointed.

The blue hole is much better than the brown hole, especially if you're diving ;-) but Leon and I have decided to forego the dive experience for some above-ground desert action. With this mission in mind, we headed out into the desert in fine weather yesterday on a 4wheel driving/hiking/climbing/sand-sucking trip. Our driver was a very experienced Bedouin man with an uncanny likeness for Snoop Doggy. He was a complete legend, taking us down wickedly snakey trails and across soft sand dunes. He had to rescue the other car in our convoy when it got bogged. He was the man.

We visited the coloured canyon, the 3rd largest canyon in the world, akin to Petra with it's swirls of iron oxide, lava trails and the signatures of wind and water written all over it. We went canyon diving, sand in our shoes, fossilised coral hanging off the top of the dry cliff faces. White canyon was different again, chalky and pristine, and as we emerged we found ourselves at the oasis (*sigh*).

The oasis was beautiful, though freezing as soon as the sun went down. We didn't really have the 'cultural experience' we'd been lead to expect. Instead of 'meeting a real Bedouin family', we met other tourists and peddlers. Yes, we are tourists, not travellers, and this is defined by our strict itinerary, and the pre-digested standard group activities we find ourselves signing up for. And that's just fine. For now. Real adventure is surely just waiting around the corner...but meanwhile this trip gave us an idea of what life is really like out in the Sinai desert.