haifa.22

Haifa Fornightly(Editor--Huzefa Mehta) 22th edition 15/9/93 Temperatures have dropped drastically in past week or so in Haifa and lots of strong wind. We went down to Sinai this weekend. Sinai is as different a place could get with the desert and the blue sea. The destination was Dahab about 100km south of Taba/Eliat border. We drove down all the way reaching campground around 12ish. Next day we drove to the border and crossed to Taba. Interestingly we met the same taxi driver who had driven us the last time to St. Catherine. We cannot drive with Intel cars to Sinai(insurance limitations). We had our Egyptian pounds from our last visit to Sinai. Took a shared taxi for about 30 pounds a person.($1 = 3.3 pounds). Reached Dahab around 2 pm in the afternoon. Dahab is a bedioun village..there are lots of Bedioun tribes in Sinai..very few of them not related to tourism though. We stayed in Camelot camp for about a dollar a night (4 pounds). We really wanted to camp at the beach but the camps they provided were cute made of straw. Left that afternoon for the infamous blue hole. When we arrived at the blue hole the rentals had stopped so we just decided to snorkel around. We were the only people around. When we first made our way into the water, the hole was quite forbidding. The looked like a huge well(85m) with excellent coral and fishes around. Took a lot of time for Reena to peer over the well to see the depth but the sight was amazing. Lots of colourful fish. After a while a couple of more people came along and then we finally had the courage to venture around the center. The bottom was invisible and all we could see was varying blue colors increasing with depth. Snorkelled around for about an hour..till it started getting cold. Reached camp and just walked around the beach. We could see some of the original tribes still around going along the shore on their camels. The rest were all tourism oriented hideouts and dens. A very popular tourist destination should be because the arab tents were playing pink floyd..and the crazy paintings and drawings on the tents made it look like it should be a haven for drugs... The night was painful with lots and lots of mosquitoes--the village is dirty with no proper sanitary facilities and garbage lying all around The next day we had our hair braided with bedouin strings with little bedouin girls..I did too but it did not last it fell apart in my next bath..Reena had her hair braided colorfully.. Took the taxi back to Taba..crossed the border and got my T-shirt and my number for the triathlon. Slept for a couple of hours in the campground and attended the pasty party at the sport hotel and also the participants briefing..nothing special except all the speakers announced that next year the triathlon will take place in two cities--Eliat and the neighbouring city of Aquaba in Jordan...interesting...The pasty party was a bit too much of pasty and health drinks... Rested and next day set up the transition area...The swim 1.5, biking 40km and run 10km. All doable but I wanted to do it better than my last year. At the start of the swim I thought I was going to drown with everyone knocking each other on the head and huge rush..It was the same as last year. Went out to the sea(500m) and then back to the shore in the bay. Kept switching between free style and breast stroke and finally made in a reasonable time around 38 mins..last year I had taken 40mins. Biking was into the Arava desert with 40kms/hr head wind. Took me about an hour to get to the 20km mark and another half to get back. Run was about 10km in an hour all in all about 3hr 10mins. Bad but better than last year. Did not get my medal because someone had stolen their medals and they will mail it to us. Ate in Tandoori..the only good Indian restaurant in Eliat and headed back. Reena drove all the way. We took shortcuts from the dead sea on the Jericho road and made it in 5 hours. Another interesting thing I heard was that both Jordan and Eliat have constructed the road going to the border much before all the diplomatic activities take place..