Red Sea Crossing

After seeing the wonders that lie within the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, we set off to the Sinai peninsula of Egypt. Crossing the Red Sea by ferry seems straightforward enough, but in this part of the world that is seldom the case.

We pulled into the port at around noon, giving ourselves an hour to buy our tickets and board the 1 o'clock boat. This warped American conception of timing immediately became clear as we entered the mayhem in the ticket hall. There were crowds of men huddled around every window fighting for position.

We jumped right into the mele and after a few minutes our first attendant had lost interest and ducked out from behind the glass. Not one ticket seller had an attention span lasting longer than a few customers, constantly forcing crowds of men to stampede over to the next window. It was like a game of Whac-A-Mole, and would have been comical had it not been so enraging. We tried to stay as aggressive as possible while avoiding the angry scuffles breaking out all around.

Fortunately for me, I was chosen to stand back from the mayhem and watch the bags. Those calmly lounging around my area had obviously already acquired their tickets and decided to remain there for the ongoing spectacle. One man approached me and politely introduced himself as Ahmed from Syria. He offered me a cigarette in typical hospitable Middle Eastern fashion and suggested I write down his name and town in my book to remedy my awful Arabic pronunciation.

After an hour at the ticket lines, we had completed the first step towards becoming ticket holders. Next was to get the ticket confirmed and purchase an exit stamp.