Place: Taba, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
Date: 13 November 2009 (Day 31)
After a day of snorkelling around the reefs of the Red Sea resorts in Taba, we brought a pot full of vegetables to the boil and wrapped it in layers of insulation to stew. Now some time to burn; so we decided to go watch the sunset from the hills above our beach camping spot. On our way down in the dark we were greeted by a pickup truck full of ominous looking characters. They didn’t seem to be police, but their gestures were authoritative. They wanted us to get in the back of the pickup. No explanations as they didn’t speak English and the only broken communication we could make with them was through ineffective translations by the small boy accompanying them.
I decided the best strategy was to ignore them and walk off back to camp. As I headed off they rushed after me and gave me a couple of good clouts with the sticks they were carrying. In an act of brave heroism I cringed in pain and obediently got in the back of the pickup.
We had no idea where they were tacking us; all we could do was hope. As we passed the next hotel, we motioned that we were staying there. Through some slightly better translations by the security guard there, we discovered that they were civilian helpers of the police and because of Taba’s close proximity to the Israeli border, roaming the mountains was not allowed.
We eventually made peace with our escort and returned to our camping spot only to be chased out of the whole town by the police proper.
In retrospect an interesting evening.
