Although was up quite early after a good nights sleep I couldn’t do anything without my glasses. I had no idea where they were and knowing that I have another 4 pairs in the box in the car it didn’t worry me to lose one pair after 8 months of travelling. What frightened me though was the fact that I couldn’t read the computer screen like I used to do without my glasses on.

We left the hotel after a simple breakfast of cereals in search for a place to wash Tuah off the sands he had collected while in Wadi Rum. In alight industrial area we found one which cost 4 Dinars and at the same time found a tyre shop to bring Tuah’s tyres to normal road pressure. The Egyptian guy who was given 2 Dinars for helping out returned one Dinar to me when he found out I was a Muslim. What a nice gesture on his part!! Then we found an electrical outlet to buy a small vacuum cleaner to clean Tuah up and at the same time saw a small florescence light which we also bought.

Next was the A. B. Shipping office after being given a vague direction by an officer of the Maritime Authority, where we made enquiries for the ferry to Nuweiba, Egypt. There were two ferries running daily the fast one departing at 1300hrs and a slow ferry departing at midnight, the latter taking 3 hours to cross while the former, one hour. The price differential being about USD50 and we decided to take the fast ferry and promised to return by 0900hrs tomorrow to pay for the tickets, as no credit cards were accepted.

During lunch Alison tried to update the website but the connection was not particularly stable and she gave up. I suggested for her to go to the internet café while I went back to the hotel with Adrian who was quite happy to do so. Alison checked my emails for me and at least I had a response form Chase Evans and Tariq, regarding the letter from Home Office.

As we needed cash to pay for the ferry we went hunting for an ATM that was willing to dispense it to us and found one after about 5 attempts at various machines. We ended up being waylaid in the bakery by what we thought was a kind gesture to show us how the roti was made. We had a tour of the complete facilities and took lots of photos, at the end of which the guy who showed us around asked for 1 Dinar. It was a side income for him as I saw him approaching another foreign looking couple for their turn to be conned.

Aqaba is a fairly large city with lots of food outlets both local and fast food and even a Chinese restaurant. In the area we were located there are 24 hour cafes where customers could be seen enjoying their water pipes. But I was warned by the receptionist, against having Tuah seen to because of the high revs he had when started after the Wadi Rum caper as apparently the mechanics are not reliable. Fortunately I didn’t need to get Tuah seen to as I found the remedy in a switch I had accidentally turned on. I really need to read the instruction manual for Tuah in greater detail!