Tuesday 3/6 Tel Aviv to Eilat

We got up early again, packed our stuff and checked out of the hostel, leaving our bags in storage there while we spent a few hours out. We took stuff that we didn't want to drag around with us any more, and headed over to a post office near the big shopping centre we went to before. The staff were pretty friendly and helpful there, and we organised a small box. We packed our stuff and sent it off.

The day was getting on so we went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and jumped on a service taxi to the central bus terminal. Service taxis are great; a mix between a bus and a taxi, and very efficient and cheap. A helpful passenger next to us let us know how to pay for the ride.

The central bus station was quit a confusing place. We eventually found our way up to the buses, and bought tickets to Eilat. We had only about an hours* wait. I picked up some rolls to eat on the way, and we started our journey south. The bus ride itself wasn't too bad. It lasted for about five hours, including several short stops along the way. It was actually a great way to see the diverse landscape of Israel, from the greener areas near Tel Aviv, going into the barren wastes of the Negev, and down to the majestic mountains lining Eilat.

An interesting thing about travelling on the buses here is the number of soldiers travelling back and forth. I guess they're either moving from one post to another, going on duty to their post, or off duty and back home. Several of them carried their M16s around with them. It was comforting, I guess. As we got further down south and closer to Eilat there you could see the increase in military activities, with numerous checkpoints, vehicles moving on the dunes, and armed outposts set up. We put it down to being near the borders.

We arrived in Eilat in the early evening. Eilat is a bizarre place. It*s situated right down the very bottom of the country, with only 5km of coast to the Red Sea, and stuck right between the town of Aqaba in Jordan on the one side, and Egypt on the other side. And yet there seems to be such a good peace shared between the three as they all just want some sun and surf. From up the hill near the bus stop you can see both Eilat and Aqaba. They're that close!

We checked in to our hotel, the Red Sea Hotel which was really quite nice. The old man serving at the reception desk however couldn*t speak much English at all. He answered most questions with, **It*s all right.** It took a short while to get through to him that we didn't want two nights accommodation but that we had already called ahead and booked for two nights under Emma*s name. We finally got through to him though and we were able to go to our room and freshen up.

Our room was fairly decent considering how cheap it was. The only problem was the lack of a fan, or a remote for the air conditioner (and no chair to stand up on to try turn the damn thing on). It was hot there. Very hot. The town is several hundred metres below sea level so there is an increase in ambient temperature. Not overly humid but very, very hot.

We decided to go find internet, trusting the Lonely Plant guide for directions. It told us about a café named Capiche with free wifi. It claimed it was in the new tourist centre but located that area in what seemed to be the middle of a suburban area, a fair distance away. We thought a walk there would be a good way to see some of Eilat so we started our way there.

It became fairly apparent fairly quickly that we were heading right into the heart of Eilat suburbia. We still pressed on, firm in our belief that the LP was infallible. After a long trek up hills we realised to our dismay that it was not. It had lied! Provided us with false information! We cut our losses and headed back to the hotel. We had an early start the next day for our Petra day tour.