Day 141, 142

Ah, Nuweiba. As I wrote last time, Dahab didn't do it for me. Too crowded, too busy. Too urgent.

But Nuweiba is nice. It's got a lot of great beachfront, and not too many visitors. I think that this place must have seen a lot of tourist traffic in the past; near my beach hut there is a strange promenade of unoccupied hotels and shuttered restaurants, along with a few touts trying to move some very dusty merchandise. Where did all the tourists go? I've been told that this place was very popular with Israeli vacationers, and that they stopped coming when some bombs went off in the region a few years ago. I think there was one at Dahab, and one at Taba.

Sort of a ghost town for the time being.

So, yeah. I'm not much of an "on the beach" sort of guy, but I'm enjoying myself regardless. I've procured a little hut, and I spent each day here walking up and down the old promenade and up and down the beach. A few times each day I wander fifteen minutes down the road into town, looking for food and Internet connections.

Meanwhile, the skin on my arms and legs has become quite dark. I could be a local. My belly, though, is pink and irritated. Exposed to the sun for the first time in a millenia, it's having some trouble coping.

Everything seems to have ground to (another) halt. It's nice to linger here. The ferry to Jordan leaves from a port about eight kilometers from here and I expect to be on it soon enough - perhaps in a day or two.

Ramadan begins in a few days. Traveling through the Muslim world during that month ought to be a real treat. Perhaps strange... perhaps a little bit trying.