PLAYBOY PHOTOS made good currency in the Sinai Desert when Sharm-el-Sheikh was just two sunshades and Ras Muhammad only a name on a rather empty map. I discovered this during one of my many trips south from Yotvata in the Negev desert. I used to hitch-hike down to Eilat at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, carrying my precious snorkelling gear in my little pack, a ground sheet to sleep on and as much food as the kibbutz would give me, allowing a week of frugal living while most of each day I hung my little white body above the most incredible coral reefs I'd ever seen and not seen the like of since and certainly will not see again due to the world-wide destruction caused by gelignite and cyanide fishing and of course the already very visible effects of global warming.

I would hike south along the east coast of the Sinai Peninsula south of Eilat thru Nuweiba and Dahab and sleep under a beach shade, the only sign of human habitation, at Sharm-el Sheikh. The Sinai was under Israeli occupation then and apart from the odd army truck to hitch a ride on I'd only see a few rather ragged Bedouin from time to time and they were as curious of me as I was of them.

On my second or third trip I went further south and snorkelling out over the reef at Ras-Muhammed (the Head of Muhammed) at the southern tip of the desert. It was a shock--one the most incredible experiences of my life--the reef dropped away to a bottomless infinity and it was like looking into outer space thru that incredible sparkling blue with a clarity that reminded me of the pictures taken from space modules looking back at Earth. There were sharks circling about below the reef wall so I couldn't hang about too long--and 'hanging about' was more like the thing I did then as opposed to really swimming--I've taught myself well since then (even advanced open-water scuba diving in the last couple of years) as I make a point of swimming in every lake, river and sea I come across in my travels and even had a swim in the filthy Suez Canal at that time just to prove the point. Guess it's a kind of respect--getting under the skin of a place--like climbing a mountain, or taking that 'other road' just to see what's around the next corner,  but that's another story, and in retrospect not always a wise thing to do if you are afflicted with such a disease --an affliction that's more like an addiction to the hopeless traveller.

South of Suez I found food and drink in a cafe in a deserted town near Abu Rudeis, the population had fled before the advancing Israeli army. I slept on the counter. It was an eerie feeling to be the alone in that ghost town with the silhouettes of it's anti-aircraft guns pointing to the empty but otherwise starlit sky--the Egyptian army and civilians had all run away to the north. During the night the desert wind blew up, and the sound of the sand drumming like rain on the windows, combined with the creaking and groaning of tin and wood, was a bit creepy as I read my 'escape' book by candlelight.

Anyway, back to the Playboy photos; in a land where female flesh is rarely seen, and after a few serious fights in the scrambles, I soon realised I was carrying pretty lethal stuff. The womenfolk wondering what had gotten into their drooling, half crazed men. Once, I bartered my last scrap--just a pair of legs - for a drink of water and a handful of couscous! My poor Irish mother would be wondering about me if I'd died without explaining this stuff in my pockets, and that worried me a bit!

After a couple of days walking east through that vast, deserted wilderness to the centre towards Mount Sinai and the isolated monastery of Santa Katherina, I fell in with a large group of Bedouins, several families with goats, donkeys and camels,  trekking east along a wadi, a dried up riverbed.  Paying my way for a drink of water I realised I could have bartered the Playboy centrefold for a donkey or secured long-term rental of a camel - like an 'Avis Rent-a-Camel' but, before I could clinch the deal, there was a riot and bits-of-her-tits were leaving in all directions. One lucky Arab took off with the bottom half, hightailing it away over the sand dunes on his donkey - he's probably blind by now!!

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