2006.05.27_Mount Sinai

Inscription on Mount Sinai


Sunrise at Mount Sinai


Pilgrims and tourists at Mount Sinai


HC and me


The 2-hour descend

We left Dahab at 23:00 to embark on the journey to Mount Sinai. An organized bus ride took HC and me and a group of tourists from Dahab onto the desert highway. On the road, it was pitch black with only occasional street lamp at road intersections. We had no idea where we were going. At 01:30 we finally arrived at the parking lot of Mount Sinai. Despite in the middle of the night, the place was crowded with tourists and pilgrims all came for the climb up to the summit to view the spectacular sunrise.

HC and I and our bus group followed a local guide towards a path that I supposed would lead us up. The guide walked extremely fast, while there were many local Bedouins and camel vendors blocking our way and persuading us to rent a camel. A German tourist in our group showed some interest of the camel ride, but he thought it was too expensive. The camel vendors followed our group, and even used their camels to block our way. Our guide couldn't get rid of the camel vendor, but luckily a tourist police appeared from nowhere, stopped the vendor, and let us through.

The hike was not easy, perhaps because it was just too dark. Between the two of us we shared a small flashlight. It took us a little over two hours to reach the end of the path. Along the way we stopped four times for rest. At the end of the winding path there came the steep stone steps, around 700 steps that led us to the top. It took us a great deal of effort to climb to the summit. We reached the top at 04:30.

On the summit there is a small chapel, and a few vendors renting out blankets and mattresses. It was quite chilly up there, but we didn't bother to rent a blanket. At first we stood in front of the chapel waiting for the sunrise. I soon discovered a piece of rock with an unbeatable view towards the east. The rock surface was a little slippery, and if we fell over it could be fatal. The sky turned white at around 05:30, and the sun finally came out at 06:00. I felt so much warmer just by witnessing the rising of the sun behind the ragged mountains. Not until the sun was out that I could realize how crowded the spot actually was. Tourists and pilgrims and their sleeping bags were everywhere: on top of the chapel, on the roof of some distant mud houses, on the path, on stone terraces, on the other side of the chapel, altogether there must be over 200 people.

Under the golden light, the scenery of Mount Sinai and its surrounding was spectacular, arid, rocky, without a single tree in front of the horizon. This is the legendary spot where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

At around 06:15 we began the 2-hour descend to St. Catherine's Monastery.

2006.05.26_Dahab

In the afternoon HC and I went to a diving site called "Islands" for snorkeling. The reefs there were again beautiful and sea life abundant. I swam out to the coral mounts, where I had to pass through a deeper section of open sea. The coral mounts were spectacular, and I thought that they must be what the locals refer to as the underwater "islands".

After the "Islands", HC and I went to the southern tip of Dahab to do more snorkel. There was not much corals in the area, and the water was a lot deeper and as a result colder, despite it was 40 to 45 degrees Celsius above the water. In order to reach the south beaches, we got to walk along a seaside boardwalk and passed by dozens of resort complexes facing the sea. It must be the bombing. All the resorts were extremely quiet. We could only see the local staff killing time with card games and gossips in the shade. We went into one of the complexes and asked for washroom. A staff led us into a resort room to use the toilet. It seemed to me that the entire hotel complex (with at least 50 resort suites) was completely empty. And I got the feeling that it was pretty much the same for all the resorts in the area.

In the evening HC and I returned to Bishibishi for dinner and a brief rest before leaving for our adventure to Mount Sinai. AK didn't go with us. Because of her dives she would not be able to ascend to a high altitude within short period of time.

2006.05.26_Dahab

I decided to do a whole day of snorkeling. I rented the snorkel and flippers at Big Blue, and followed AK and her Italian instructor to Eel Garden. HC decided to do another introductory dive. Along with us there was also an Italian woman, in her early forties, traveling alone with her Dachshund dog. She came from Rome, had worked in a hospital in Trastevere, where I stayed for 4 months for my architectural study in 2002.

I snorkeled in some lagoons at Eel Garden. Apparently the reefs around Dahab is far better than the ones at Aqaba. I snorkeled at areas of around 3-5m deep, and saw uncounted colourful sea life including all kinds of fish, sea urchins, and of course, coral of various colours.

In midday we returned to Big Blue for lunch. While we ate a black cat appeared in the dinning tent. It suddenly jumped towards the Dachshund dog and scratched the dog on its face and nose. The dog screamed and scared to death as David, the diving instructor drove the cat away with a tea pot.

2006.05.25_Aqaba

View of Aqaba from hotel window

After we get up we immediately hired a taxi returning to Royal Diving Centre for our refund. The staff there tried to avoid us again. We refused to leave and at last a manager came out with a big smile and agreed to pay us back the admission. Then the taxi took us to the passenger ferry terminal and arrived at the gate at about 09:30. It took us over an hour to go through the customs and deal with the departure tax. At last we were told to board a shuttle bus. The bus drove up slowly into an entrance at the back of the ferry.

Once on board, we found the Egyptian custom officer to stamp our passport. The ferry didn't leave the dock until way over 11:30, over two hours since we got to the terminal. The ferry sailed southwest towards Egypt. We could see the shore of Saudi Arabia to the east. At around 14:30 the ferry arrived at the Egyptian port at Nuweiba. The port was quite chaotic, and that was our first impression on Egypt. At the minbus / service taxi station we met three Australians. The six of us hired a minivan for our destination Dahab, a backpacker seaside resort town at the Egyptian side of Gulf of Aqaba.

The van took us to the bus station at Dahab. The town seemed to me a little quiet, probably because of the recent terrorist bombing on April 24th. The town looked to me very young and relaxing, without the conventional and cheesy type of honeymoon atmosphere. At the station we met Alex, a staff from Bishibishi Garden Village. He led us to Bishibishi, a relatively new hotel establishment in Dahab. We don't usually trust these kinds of sales, but once we arrived at Bishibishi and met Jimmy the owner, we decided to stay at one of their air conditioned triple room. It turned out to be a good choice. AK decided to take a night dive. Jimmy took us all to Big Blue Diving Centre. While AK stayed for the dive, HC and I returned to Bishibishi for dinner. After dinner, we strolled around the town, dropped by an internet cafe, and bought another disposable underwater camera for the next day.