The reason why I wanted to go to Eilat was to cross border to Sinai, Egypt, and flew from there to Ethiopia. It’d be much cheaper to fly from Jordan or Cairo, but I didn’t have enough time to get visa to either Jordan or Egypt. Sinai is the only place that lets me (an virtually everyone) in for free for 14 days. My flight is on the 5th of August, but since Asher and Joe, my very good friends in Israel, are also coming to Sinai for a trip, I thought it’d be fun to spend few days with them They took the bus from Tel Aviv to Eilat, and I hitchhiked. We planned to meet at the border and took a cab together to Bir Sweir.

But when Yoni was about to drop me at the border, Asher called to tell me that he wasn’t allowed to leave Israel with his withering passport. It was wet and a page was going off. They already found an overpriced hotel to stay overnight in Eilat to try again tomorrow. Asher told me to go ahead because Ki-Jung (a Korean friend we met in Nepal) was waiting there for us alone, and they would see me in Sinai the next day.

I planned to do so at first, but then I thought that there was a good chance Asher would still be denied exit, and I wouldn’t be able to say Goodbye to him once I got out of Israel. I decided to stay back in Eilat to wait for them. Yoni offered me a place to stay. I called Asher several times to let him know but he didn’t pick up. Assuming that he was taking a shower, I told Yoni to turn around and went back to the city. But when I was already in the city, Asher told me that they decided to go to the border to try again.

- Damn it, I’m already in the city. I don’t think it’d be fair to ask Yoni to take me to the border again. You go ahead. If they let you out, I’ll see you in Sinai tomorrow. If not, let’s meet again in the city tonight.

But Joe was so sick of this whole balagal. He dismissed Asher’s enthusiasm and went to sleep.

Yoni’s place is a really nice 2 bedroom apartment right in the heart of the city, overlooked the sea. He made me dinner with schnitzel and sausages, while he just made himself an omelet and ate only the red part. He pointed at his tummy. On diet. Then he gave me a free tour at Nightmare – the scary house that he owes. Later he took me to the Center Mall to meet Asher. Joe was so tired that he stayed back.

- Friend speak Ivrit?

I shook my head. – Only English.

Yoni looked disappointed. He said he was tired, told me to go with Asher, he’d wait for me at Nightmare.

- He’s cute. – remarked Asher.

- You think he’s nice to me b/c he expects something back?

- You mean if he expects you to sleep with him?

- Hmm, let’s see. – I was really confused.

Asher looked tired and worn out. The whole balagal cost him hell lot of time and money. I was there to add to his burden. He was hungry but we were both broke. Eilat is expensive even in Israeli standard. It’s a touristic place, everything is at touristic price.

- Gonna try again with your passport tomorrow?

- Yeah. I fixed the torn out page with glue. It looks almost normal now.

- Cool. What time?

- As early as possible. Yoni will drop you at the border?

- He told me so. But I really don’t know. If he expects something back, I’m afraid he will be disappointed by tomorrow.

We checked out the night market and other passing by tourists, then we headed back to Nightmare. There Yoni made an amazing gesture, he offered to drop Asher at his hotel.

We got back to Yoni’s place. I was so tired so I went to my room, closed the door and slept. I have never slept that well in my life. The mattress, the pillow, the blanket, everything is so comfy, and the a/c at 18 degree is a real luxury.

Asher called to wake me up early. Yoni woke up right after me. I felt bad about it. He offered to take me to the border. He even stopped by the hotel to pick Asher and Joe up. While waiting for them to get ready, I sneaked into the hotel’s dining room and had free breakfast. At the border, Yoni gave me his card and insisted that I call him if I needed any help.

- He’s a genuinely nice guy who enjoys helping people out. – Asher said when we got off. I couldn’t agree more.

We held the breath when the immigration officer checked Asher’s passport. She put his name in the computer and frowned.

- You came here yesterday and they told you to go to the Ministry of Interior?

- Yes – Asher painfully admitted. “Ha, you think that you can fool Israeli’s immigration officers?”

- Did you go?

- No.

- Why not?

- I thought that it would be ok.

- I’ll call the supervisor.

The supervisor came.

- Why didn’t they let you go yesterday?

- Because my passport was wet.

- OK, I’ll go get a photocopy of it.

She disappeared and came back like 15 minutes later.

- What made you think that the answer today would be different?

- I don’t know. I’ve used my passport a lot, so I decided to just try again.

She disappeared again, this time much longer. Asher started blaming himself.

- I should have told her about the torn out page. Apparently she called the yesterday officer and she knew that I was hiding information from her. Oh, I should have got my passport done a long time ago.

- Why didn’t you?

- They told me that it would take at least 3 weeks. I need my passport with me.

Joe started getting mad.

- Damn it, I’m going back to the North. – He walked out and didn’t come back.

- Where did he go? – I was worried. What if he really went back to the North?

- Smoke.

I started thinking what I would do if he was really denied exit. My Israel’s visa was about to expire in a few days, it didn’t make any sense for me to all the way up North. It’d be too expensive for me to take the taxi to Bir Sweir by myself. I heard there was no traffic there to even hitchhike.

The supervisor finally came back and gave us the news: one good, one bad. The bad news was that Asher couldn’t get out of the country with this passport. The good news was that he could get a new one within few hours at the Ministry of Interior in Eilat. “Just tell them that it’s emergency.”

We rushed to the Ministry, and it really took like 2 hours to get a new passport. We also ran into some old friends there. Israel is a small country! We screamed when Asher got his new shiny passport.

- Sorry for being such a bitch. – said Joe. It takes a man to do it. Suddenly all the hard feelings were gone. We were happier than ever.

We crossed the border with no difficulty. Soon enough, the taxi took us to one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life. In the middle of the arid desert, surrounded by rocky mountains, suddenly raised a whole bunch of palm-roofed huts, next to white sand and blue beaches.

- Epic journey. – Asher summed up the whole balagal.

- It’s worth it, isn’t it?

So I lost my wallet.

I was pretty upset because I lost the visa card. It was my only valid card, and HSBC Vietnam refused to issue a new card without my presence. There is no way I can receive or withdraw money from now on. In the depressed moment, I even thought of giving up the trip and going back to Vietnam. But then I realized that it was purely stupid. I don’t have money, so what? I’ve already booked the ticket to Ethiopia, and I’m doing AFRICA! Even if I can only travel for only few more weeks, I’ll still have the most fun out of it. I’ve never had money with me, so the wallet had only sentimental value anyway.

I made myself a huge breakfast and food made me happy again. Feeling the need to spice up my trip (and mostly unable to afford a bus ticket), I decided to on a challenge: hitchhiking from Tel Aviv to Eilat. It’s deemed impossible for 2 reasons: 1. It’s impossible to hitchhike (or tremp, as they call it here) from Tel Aviv, nobody will pick up hitchhikers from a big city. 2. It’s a 350km trip through Negev dessert where the temperature goes up to 45 -50 degrees.

By that time, I was familiar with Tel Aviv streets. First, I needed to get out of the city on foot. Luckily, I was staying pretty close to the South exit of the city. The last time I went there was to tremp to Jerusalem. I ended up walking for 2 hours on a highway with no shoulder for cars to stop, until I was totally exhausted and took a bus instead. Lesson learned, this time I decided to tremp BEFORE getting on the highway. I chose myself a visible spot at the beginning of the highway. Few cars passed by giving me a weird look. I started wondering if it was even legal for cars to stop there or I was making myself an idiot standing there, then whoops, a car pulled over.

- Eilat? – It was a rhetoric question. The chance that he was going to Eilat is 1 in 1 million. I didn’t care where he was going, all I cared was that he was heading South and I needed a better spot to tremp.

He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. We exchanged the ultimate conversation: he asked me where I am from, how old I am, why I hitchhike, why I am traveling alone, blah blah while I just smiled politely and tried to be cute. He dropped me at Ashdod, about 30mins from Tel Aviv.

- Crazy girl, good luck.

Luck was exactly what I needed. As soon as I got off his car, another car stopped. This car took me another 30mins down South. The same procedure and conversation were repeated.

- Where are you from?

- Vietnam.

…

- Ah, Filipino girls are the best.

- Yeah, but I’m from Vietnam.

…

- Is it that hot in Cambodia?

- I’m from VIETNAM.

I hated this guy already. Come on, you must have at least heard of the Vietnam war, haven’t you. We aren’t that insignificant T_T

He dropped me off I had no idea where. A van stopped, and before I knew it, I got one of the most unexpected rides ever.

It was a delivery van from Tel Aviv. They were delivering stuff to God-know-where. “It’s just 2 hours from Eilat, don’t worry.” They threw my bags on the back and I seated in front with them. If I’m not mistaken, the guy who was driving is Nimrod and the other guy is Ron. They are both in their early 30s, but they acted like school boys.

- Veeewww, let’s go!

Nimrod stirred the wheel while Ron just laughed hysterically for no reason. They started telling me stories of their traveling in South America, Asia, etc. after the army, pretty much a typical Israeli story. Nimrod was really excited about his dream.

- I want to buy a van and travel everywhere in Australia.

- Do it.

- No money. Have to pay rent and such.

- Why do you need an apartment? Get rid of the rent, get a tent and camp on Rothschild (thousands of people are camping on Rothschild to protest against the housing price).

- If I do it, will you travel Australia with me?

- Insha’Allah. – I laughed.

They stopped at several cities on the way to deliver stuff. I wanted to get off somewhere along the highway to tremp with another car so that I could get to Eilat before dark, but they convinced me otherwise.

- Come on, stay with us. It’s fun. We are almost half way to Eilat.

Ron was right. It was fun. I had a chance to check out the places that normally I would never think of going to. I was amazed how the furniture was assembled from small pieces, using really smart screw designs that I have never seen before. I picked up a cradle and assembled it myself.

- Wow, no need for instruction? Smart ass huh. – Ron and Nimrod gave me a heartfelt approval and my nose blew up to the sky. Ha, I’m good at it

They dropped me just outside Dimona.

- Write to me. – Nimrod shouted goodbye. – Let’s do Australia together.

To my horror, I read a sign on the street: “Eilat – 240km”. It wasn’t half way. 4 hours and I’d only progressed like 60km. But it was worth it. I like really the boys, they are the type I would want to hang out with. Too bad I’ve got to move on.

A man picked me up and I was soon on the road again. He dropped me in the middle of nowhere. It was so hot that I could barely breathe. The wind carried the heat through the desert, slapped right onto my face. The bottle of water I brought started getting hot after just few minutes. I could see it evaporating. I was boiling!

The scariest thing is that there was almost no traffic there. A car passed by every 5 or 10 minutes. Well, it’s a looooong time when you are all by yourself in the middle of the desert. A car stopped right in front of me. I ran towards eagerly but the woman sitting in the front gave me the signal to back off. The driver looked at me wryly. He told the woman something but she kept shaking her head and threw me a look as if she was about to pour acid on me. The man shrugged, I guess it’s his way of saying sorry. Oh, bitches!

But it was my luck that they didn’t pick me up. Another car soon pulled over and that’s how I met Yoni.

Yoni is a nice 24 year old guy with the kind of face that you can trust from the first look. He is from Dimona but lives in Eilat for his work. His English is probably at my Hebrew level. He pointed at the bottle of water in his car:

- I make.

- You make water. Are you God?

With awkward body language, he managed to explain to me that he works for this company. Later, through friends that I found out he’s the manager of the whole region or something like that.

We exchanged some information, but most of the time we just listened to the music and sang along. Even though we couldn’t communicate much, his style made me feel really comfortable. He lives in the center of the city but he got out of his way to take me to the border. Mission accomplished. But it was just the beginning of a huge balagal (trouble) that I couldn’t have managed without the help of Yoni.

We all make mistakes while traveling. Some are funny, like when Asher wanted to fly to Amman, Jordan, his friend misunderstood and booked him a flight to Oman instead. Some are just mere stupid, like this one. I’m making a lot of mistakes, and I hope that they will at least serve as a warning for all aspiring travelers not to make the same mistake again.

—-

My beautiful plan was to take a bus from Cairo to Sinai today, arrive at St. Catherine at 6pm, climb up the Holy Mount Sinai – the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God all night, wait for the sunrise, then climb down to visit St. Catherine monastery in the morning. I booked the bus ticket yesterday. After the ticket and the gift for my host’s grandmom, I had exactly 100LE (~ $16) left. That amount of money should be enough for me to hitchhike from St.Catherine to the border, and get out of Egypt just before my visa expires on Friday. Everything was calculated to minute.There was only one thing that I forgot: traffic jam. I’m so used to traffic in Vietnam and Nepal that Cairo gave me a false sense of heaven.

I woke up early that morning. I had time for breakfast, a shower, some reading and even …  Facebook (screw you Facebook). The bus station was just 10 minutes driving away, so I darted out of the house 15 minutes before the (supposed) departure time expecting to have plenty of time there. You know, buses in Egypt never leave on time. The last time I took a bus, they kept me waiting for 2 hours.

It took the cab 1 hour to travel 5.5km to the bus station!

And the bus, surprisingly, had already left!

It struck me so hard that it took me a while to realize how badly the situation was. I still can’t believe that I could ever be late for a bus, and not just any bus, but a bus in EGYPT! There is only 1 bus to St. Catherine a day. Since my visa is expiring, I can’t wait until tomorrow.

My first plan was to take a cab and race to catch the bus on the way, just to realize how stupid it is to race in that jam.

My second plan was to hitchhike to Sinai. I need to get to the highway first. A taxi stopped for me in front of the bus station. I said: “No money, no taxi.” and he said “No money, no problem.” I was confused.

- Where are you going to? – I asked in pidgin Arabic.

- Where you want to go?

- Sinai.

- OK.

I repeated “Sinai. Very far.” I was still extremely confused. It was hot outside, and I was getting tired. The big backpack on my back and the small one hung in the front. My shirt stick to my body. My brain was falling apart. I got in the cab, and put him on phone with Amr to explain to him that I wanted to get to the highway. He agreed. I was looking out of the window when I felt his hand crawling up my thigh.

- What are you doing?

- Friend. You – he pointed at me, and then pointed at himself – my friend.

- Shit.

- No friend? – he looked at me with his sickening eyes. I was so disgusted that I told him to stop right away. Not even 10 minutes and I was already harassed. I don’t know what will happen if I hitchhike to Sinai. I showed my useless bus ticket to a minibus, explaining to the driver that I wanted to buy a bus ticket to Sinai. He told me to hop on, and dropped me at the bus station just next to host’s house. Later I learned that the bus leaves from the station that I missed, to this station before leaving for Sinai. Damn, had I known better, I would have gone straight to this station and would caught the bus just on time.

I decided to skip St. Sinai this time because there is no way I can make it before my visa expires, and bought the ticket to Taba for tomorrow evening. It cost me a bloody 80LE. I was so tired that I paid 10LE for a taxi from the bus station back to my host’s place. I have only 10LE left to get to the bus station tomorrow, and to go from Taba to Israel. I heard that I had to pay some sort of exit tax at the border. I’m doomed.

My romance with Egypt didn’t go very well. First, I decided to skip Pakistan and Iran and fly directly to Egypt for a sole reason: visa. I was tired of all the embassy hustle and I thought Egypt was going to give me visa on arrival. She doesn’t. I only found out about that 10 days before my scheduled flight. It turned out that it’s super complicated for a Vietnamese to get Egyptian visa in Nepal. After hundreds of phone calls, 3 times traveling to the embassy which is 2 hours by bus and walk, invitation letter sent from an Egypt, sponsorship letter faxed from Vietnam, 2 interviews, hours of waiting at the embassy, harassment by an Egyptian employee, I got single entry visa (I applied for multiple!) just one day before my flight.

Having spent more than 3 months in Nepal doing almost nothing, I couldn’t wait to leave. Yet when all necessary ceremonies were done: farewell to be said and tears to be shed, I was ready to go to the airport when I found out from FlyDubai website that my booking was changed to the day after, and they didn’t even bother to inform me either by email or phone. When Asher called their representative office, they went so far to claim that I was a lunatic who booked the flight for tomorrow but thought that I booked for today. I went back to the hotel I just checked out to stay for one more night, but all the rooms were already taken. Feeling sorry for me, the manager arranged a mattress in the storage room and let me stay one night for free.

I got to Kathmandu airport the next day just to realize that my Nepali visa was expired the day before. After half an hour explaining to the immigration office that it was the airlines’ fault, not mine, they let me go without paying fine. The departure tax was included in the ticket, so I spent the rest of my Nepali money on a big pack of candies. I don’t eat candies, but you never know when you meet some kids and you just wish you have something sweet to give them.

It was a long flight, 10 hours fly plus 4 hours transit at Dubai airport. I didn’t see much of the Dubai airport, but the budget arrival was the most chaotic airport I have ever seen. There was no instruction and it took hours to queue to transit. I killed time playing with 3 African kids in long black robes. They don’t speak English, and I have no idea what language they speak, but somehow we managed to communicate. They laughed hysterically just by looking at my face. I was probably the first Vietnamese they had ever seen. I gave them candies. They ate and naturally threw the papers on the ground. I picked up and put in the trash bin. They didn’t get it at first, but after I had done that several times, they seemed to understand and stop littering.

I arrived at Alexandria airport at around 12am, more than 1 hour late. The airport was 70km away, so I planned to get out early and find somebody to share a cab back to the city. Somehow the immigration officer thought that my passport was fake! According to them, the embassy in Kathmandu gave me an “incomplete visa”, which could have been verified just by a phone call to the embassy, but they felt the need to detain me there, and only got back to me when everybody had already left. I was the last person at the airport, and even the money changer was closed. The taxi driver took the chance to demand 25 bloody dollars (the normal price is 10$).

I got to the city at around 1.30am and Manuel – my CouchSurfing host – collected me from Hilton Green Plaza. I tried to use Internet but it was impossible because of firewall. I gave up and turned in at 4am. It was around 8am in Nepal. I was tired like hell but my mind didn’t want to sleep. It’s Egypt. It’s Africa. It’s Midditernean. It’s Sahara. It’s pyramid. It wasn’t easy but I made it. I couldn’t wait for the morning to come to see what was awaiting me ahead.