|
|
|
Mt Sinai
7 – 11 September
After realising that five days of full egyptian-style
english breakfasts and much snoozing in the sun must surely
be having some affect on our health and our bodies we
mustered up the energy to climb a mountain.
But not just any old mountain.
Apparently Mt Sinai is the place where Moses received the
Ten Commandments from God - how he managed to get up there
before a trail or steps were laid out I don’t know. And I
think he laid some of those steps himself on his way down.
It took us 2 hours to get to the top, it wasn’t a
particularly difficult walk but I think days on end of doing
absolutely nothing took its toll.
Most tour buses from Dahab leave at 11pm at night, giving
people a few hours to climb to the top just before sunrise.
We wanted to see the sunset and beat the crowds so we made
our own way there and waited until mid-afternoon to climb so
that we wouldn’t have to do it in the stifling heat. We
managed to see the sunset in relative peace - there weren’t
many other tourists around but the sound of "you want
blanket?! mattress?!" could be heard every five minutes once
we got to the top. There were a number of makeshift shops
catering for tourists who pass by selling munchies & drinks
as well as renting out blankets & mattresses as it gets
quite cold and windy even in summer. We had hauled our
sleeping bags with us thinking we would camp out under the
stars but it was still far too cold for that. After
purchasing a few much needed chocolate bars from one
shop/tent, the 19 year old owner Swaylem offered us shelter
for the night.
So we spent the evening in this cosy bedouin tent and met a
few of the local boys - they all spoke english well and were
enamoured with Paul's gadgets from his swanky ericsson
mobile to his MP3 player. They gave us a thin mattress and
piled blankets on top of us to make sure we were warm
enough. It was a restless night of sleep as I could still
feel the uneven surface of the sandy and rocky floor,
turning over often trying to find a comfortable position as
the numerous layers of blankets weighed me down and managing
to cop Paul's elbow in my left eye at one point as he was
attempting to do the same.
It was a very early start the next morning - the first batch
of tourists from the 11pm bus arrived at about 3am. From
then on until sunrise it was an exhausted stream of tourists
passing by and purchasing lots of tea and coffee to help
warm up from the cold outside. By the time we left the shop
at 6am to find a place to watch the sunrise, it was packed.
We managed to find a good viewpoint and waited in
anticipation of the new day - when the sun began to emerge
above the surrounding mountains a collective gasp was heard
from all those watching and for the next five minutes all
that could be heard was the sound of camera shutters as
people attempted to capture the moment on film.
|
|
|
