In 1999 I came backpacking to a place called Tarabien on the Red Sea. As I came down the coast from Eilat, I thought that the place had some potential as a big tourist destination. It seems others with more money to invest and building knowledge had had similar ideas. This area will be like Marbella soon.

The ferry left about an hour late. Well an hour later than the revised time. All the vehicles, lorries mainly, had to reverse on. In the process, our lack of ground clearance caught Jim out. He dented the back skirt on the ramp. It served him right for bragging that he was only one of two of the drivers who hadn't had a minor prang. Kev, despite trying his hardest, is yet to prang the bus.

We handed our passports over on the boat in exchange for a small piece of paper. You feel almost naked without your passport I find.

The Arrivals area at Neuweiba is a nightmare of effervescing humanity. Women in bright clothes, men mainly in white, shouting, pointing and clamouring for luggage being delivered off trucks. We looked on in awe wondering where we had to go to sort out the paperwork. whatever you have heard about Egyptian bureaucracy, its probably true and worse. The system, if it can be called one, is abysmal. No signs to suggest what to do or where to go. Finally a tourist policeman offered to help us. His assistance seemed to involve wandering from office to office chatting and arguing and telling us to cough up various amounts of money. Customs tax was going to be 100 Egyptian pounds but because we didn't have a typed list of passengers it was 500 pounds !

Finally, after 3 hours we escaped, with new Egyptian number plates, front and back. We were followed by the police out of town as I said we were planning on staying at Tarabien. They guided us to Soft Beach resort, which was a real find. Simple huts cost £3 a person including breakfast ! Camping was the same price. We couldn't wait for a dip despite it being dark. The chilled out atmosphere, good food and drink was just what the doctor ordered. I pitched my tent on the beach and slept with the sound of the waves.

In the morning, I was awake in time to watch the sun rise over Saudi Arabia on the other side of the Red Sea. Its a peaceful, beautiful, rugged area and it looks especially stunning in the early morning light.

The waiter at the resort asked how much we had paid for the bus. In his opinion it could be worth £20000 over here. Food for thought.

I wanted to donate some kit to a local school, but it turned out to be an uncomfortable experience. There seemed to be some security issues, everything we had to donate was peered at and queried. No photos were allowed and we left feeling. We had just been treated with suspicion. I don't think we'll donate anything else in Egypt.

After our late, lazy start, we delayed ourselves further with a dip in the sea 10km further on. The water is crystal clear here and we had found an uninhabited stretch of beach. It will be a shame to head back inland again, but we must.

Fuel here is 11p a litre. I filled the tank and jerry can for under £20. Excellent !

The whole atmosphere on the bus is better. Its amazing what a bit of chilling out can do.

Next stop is Cairo. I've drawn the short straw, I'll be taking the wheel and battling through the manic streets of the capital this evening. Wonderful.