Saturday August 29, 2009

I had arranged for the police escort to meet me at 6 a.m. A policeman had slept in the corridor outside of my room, and I asked him where the escort was.

They were late. After an hour of waiting the hostel owner told me to just go for it. He pacified the policeman and off I rode.

I was now slightly nervous looking around for the threats that I was no longer being protected from. This nervousness soon dissipated as I became hot and tired and focussed on reaching Sondag, where another youth hostel awaited.

The only stop I made was to eat fish at a road side cafe, where I had spotted truckers eating. Seeing anyone eating during Ramadan daytime is rare.

I arrived in Sondag and eventualy found the youth hostel only to be told I couldn't stay. I had awoken the receptionist man, he was curt and told me to find another youth hostel. He refused to write the address, I was forced to cycle off in the vague direction he had pointed.

I asked for help and followed a car back to the original hostel. I went inside with the kind man who was helping me, but once again I was refused to stay and was again given inprecise directions and no address to this other hostel. A boy on the street was asked to walk with me to this other hostel, he was given instructions but obviously didn't understand as we were soon lost. He had no idea where the other hostel was.

We asked more people for help, but looking vunerable and like a tourust drew the unwanted attention of the police. They kept me for 30 minutes just looking at my passport.

Then I was to follow a secret policeman on a motorbike to a cheap hotel. I tried to gain favour with him by suggesting this plain clothes nobody was like James Bond. But this obviously didn't work as I followed them all the way back accross town to the tourist police station. They had lied about going to a cheap hotel.

I spoke angrily to the tourist police and then followed James Bond all the way back to the original Youth Hostel. This seemed to be a hopeless spiral. Hours after my first visit and with the police backing me up the hostel receptionist changed his tune and decided to let me stay. I hate the Egyptian tourism industry.