Mt Sinai

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Today was another early rise for our trip to Mt Sinai. The journey was about six hours in a private minibus. We headed east out of Cairo to the Suez canal where we hoped to get a glimpse of ships passing over.  We did get a glimpse before heading into the tunnel that went under the canal.  There was a checkpoint at the border of the Sinai and it is here we said goodbye Africa hello Asia !  The Sinai itself is desolate desert with a few new developments along the coast.  Some of these developments are apartments and homes for Cairo residents wanted to escape the city for a holiday by the sea.  As we headed inland away from the coast the scenery changed from flat desert to desert mountains and we stopped briefly to get photo's.  Kimo had phoned ahead to organise a goat for dinner, the goat was to be killed that afternoon and slow cooked in the ground for a few hours.  We got to our destination of Mt Sinai later afternoon and were staying in the Bedouin owned hostel.  We shared 3 dormitory style rooms between all of us, We weren't going to be sleeping for very long as we had to get up at 2:30am to go climb mount Sinai !   There was a hotel part to the hostel where the more expensive rooms were, this is where the Peregrine tour stays.  After freshen up we all headed over to the communal dining and get together area which was a bedouin tent.  There was a fire going which was needed because it was cold.  There was also a little shop where you could by bedouin wares. For dinner we had the goat feast and I personally didn't like the taste so gave it a miss, Vaughan didn't like it either !  It was early to bed to get as much sleep as possible before our climb.

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At 3am we all piled into the minibus rugged up to the eyeballs and headed up to St Catherines monastery where we would be starting our climb.  I've never hiked up a mountain in the dark before, I have to say its an experience and hard work when your tired !  The track was sandy and very steep, it was about 4 hours to get to the top.  It was unlike any hike we've done before, for the start there are huts with provisions of hot drinks and snacks every so many hundred meters going up the mountain. It was nice to stop and sit inside the warm huts which were colorfully decorated with bedouin woven wall hangings and cushions and have a cup of Tea!  If you got tired of walking then you could flag down one of the many cameleers and hop onto a camel taxi.  Walking up in the dark was also a challenge not to get run over by the camels as you wouldn't always hear them coming up behind you while you have a beanie covering your ears !

God wasn't home !

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Near the top of the mountain before you climb the thousand steps you had one last stop and chance to hire a blanket to take with you to the top, I'm glad I did because it was damned cold sitting around waiting for the sunrise.  The steps I found to be the easy part probably because by then I just wanted get to the top !  At the top was a little Christian chapel which was closed to visitors.  We all found a spot to sit and waited patiently for the sun to come up.  The sunrise was wonderful and worth the 4 hour walk, the sun bounced off the surrounding mountains echoing a deep red colour. It was not until the sun was up that we got to see the gorgeous scenery which we would enjoy on the way back down.  On our decent I need the facilities and found a dunny perched out on a small cliff, it sure was a 'Loo with a view' !  The decent was inspiring and we stopped many times to take photo's.

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On reaching St Catherine's Monastery we were all hoping to go in but it was Sunday and the monastery was shut. We were all very tired and were looking forward to a hot shower and getting back on the road so we could get to Dahab and get some rest.  It was a couple of hours to Dahab and an experience we won't forget.  Most of us fell asleep on the bus including the driver and  it was Ree's quick observation that saved our necks.