I just love Eilat...

21 Dec '10

The day started slow with nothing much happening, this is when I told Pedro that I am going to go to Aqaba to get my visa extended for another month. He decided to join me, we left at 1pm and headed to the ASEZA office as I have a free entry into Jordan and need to do it at their offices and Pedro needs to do his at the Police station.

We eventually arrived at the correct office after going to the address stated on the web only to find that the office building has been closed for 3 months as they have relocated. Very impressed with the quick help and no long queues only to find the language to be an issue, it took us 4 tries to get the correct information, this is after the manager was called and I sent him back to get the correct info twice. What we were told is that we have to go to the police station and then get a medical clearance; WTF such a schlep as this will take 3 visits to Aqaba. There had to be an easier way.

Let us cross the border to Eilat, Israel I proposed to Pedro, now was his response and YES was my answer. It was almost 2pm and the border closes at 8pm, all I heard was you are crazy and few other words I do not want to repeat. From that moment I was laughing all the way, this is what I love doing, no planning and being impulsive.

We left the Jordanian border but not after being sent back twice, once for exit stamp and then for exit tax 18 JD. They truly give you all the info you need, not.

I did not pay much attention to Pedro but I think he is calling for help, he felt like he is being abducted.

Illegal picture of the Israeli border on the way to Eilat, I am either stupid or crazy. Maybe a bit of both…haha.

The taxi dropped us here 30 NIS later and having to go back not once but twice on the Israeli side of the border 1^st for an entry stamp and then to change money as the taxi did not take anything but Shekels (NIS).

This is me being crazy and just the way I like myself.

The aeroplane looks like it is flying low over the beach and it is the airport is just to the right.

Beaches set up for tourists, modern music playing everywhere this feels like a holiday.

The entire beach front is full of shops and there is loads of opportunity to spend your money, if only we had some.

I am happy, I feel like a tourist in Israel, wait a minute I am a tourist for 6 hours. We had a lovely beef burger combo here, 25 NIS = 5.5 Euro.

Wind surfers, wow I have not seen any in Aqaba and it has the same conditions and is across the bay.

The Red Sea Star, this is a bar entirely under water. If I have my facts right they filmed part of a Bond movie here.

Pedro is waiting to receive his beer.

Look at the smile on my face; this is how I looked for the entire day.

The smile on Pedro’s face is actual disbelieve.

This is the reason I crossed the border to Eilat, my friend Nicky from back in SA said I have to drink a beer in the underwater bar. Hey buddy here is the proof that I did, 16 NIS = 3.5 Euro.

What is wrong with this picture, well if you really do not know? There is a stripper pole and no stripper. L

This is taken from the bridge at the Red Sea Star, just look at all the modern hotels.

Sun setting over some or other hotel, it looked much more impressive than the picture.

This is the Red Sea Star; the green column it stands on is actually the elevator and stairs down to the bar. The bar is 5 or 6 meters under water.

I have no idea what this is, it looks like a small info board in the flower bed but it turned out to be a pizza box.

The Great Pyramid of Eilat, sorry my bad it is actually the IMAX theatre. It does looks like the pyramid though.

I would never have thought that this is Israel; yes it is a coastal and tourist town but did not expect this after being to Aqaba, Jordan less than 20km away.

Shopping and more shopping this feels like I am back in SA, I have to mention that this city is even cleaner than Aqaba.

This is a restaurant in the beach, who would not want to come here, it is just a happy place.

This is the beach in front of the restaurant, and this is not the only one. There is just too many of them to show them all. Remember it is winter here, and still lots of people around. I can only imagine what it would be like in summer, must be phenomenal.

Very impressive hotel and it is on the beach.

Palm trees everywhere, it does not look like there are lots of people around, most of them are inside the restaurants now as it is rather cold outside and we are quite far from the centre as we decided to walk back to the border. If we only knew it was 7.5km before we started, someone said it is a 10min walk; the average person walks at about 5km/hour so you do the sums.

It is not Vegas, we are still in Eilat. I just love this city, I have not said that yet or have I?

As we are busy waking to the border, I wish you could have been there to see it. My camera also had enough, the batteries were depleted which means no more pictures. What a shame as there were much more opportunities to take some amazing picture, I will have to go back and will do so next month when I also plan to travel to Tel Aviv.

When we reached the border we had to pay exit tax of 100 NIS = 22 Euro, this was a very expensive but fun filled 5 hours.

As soon as we entered Jordan we felt sad as we suddenly felt like we are being exploited for being tourist, we asked someone for a lift back to Aqaba city centre and was told by the police we have to use a taxi, no way, I walked to a bus that just dropped people and asked for a ride back just to be told it is not allowed. The police walked over and asked what was wrong and I said that it is exploitation and the reply was it is the law. The taxi tried to charge us 15 JD each to take us back to the dive centre, guess what I told him. The price set by law from the border to Aqaba is 6 JD; we paid 7 JD from the dive centre to the border with a stop in the city. We had to take the taxi and told him to drop us at Tche Tche which was close than the station where he had to take us and he wanted to charge us more, so we said to drop us at the station and we will walk and so we did. The taxi back to the village cost us 3 JD. L

I really like it here but, if they want more tourists they got to make some changes.