Thursday morning we took the Hydrofoil from Hurghada to the Sinai Peninsula, then transferred on to St Catherine, a small town named after the monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai - and the place where we spent the night. St Catherine is surrounded by spiky granite mountains, and lies between two of the highest and most religious mountains in the region; Mount Sinai and Mount St Catherine. It was cooler there too, which was nice. I spent the day strolling around the village, mixing with Bedouins, nomads, big camels and tiny goats, trekkers and pilgrims. Later I headed down to the beachfront, had a Coke and gazed out over the crystal blue waters of the Red Sea where boats and swimmers bobbed around on and under it. Heading back to the hotel, took some (I hope) stunning photos of the white-washed village against the sharp reddish brown granite mountains, wide valleys and coloured canyons - beautiful at sunset. Back at the hotel as I turned in for the night I flicked on the TV - images of devastation - where? Iran, probably. But no, it was Amman - later learnt that 50 plus people had died in the terrorist attack on the capital of Jordan. Couldn't help thinking of all the friendly people I met there, wandering if any had been caught up in the blasts. Fucking Osama, fucking Arsenal supporter.
Early morning call on Friday - 2.30am. We were all slightly sombre as we set off to climb Mount Sinai in time to witness the sunrise. For the heathen's amongst you, Mount Sinai is believed to be where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. 3.15am and the ground beneath my feet is starting to rise, have a feeling this is going to hurt - why can't God appear in gentle rolling meadows? For some two hours we follow an old camel trail over steep, dusty and rocky terrain. It's cold - barely above freezing. Teahouses dot the way, we pause at one near the base of the final ascent - the hot tea tastes awful - but it's hot and wet, and so welcome. Then it's off again, up the 750 stone steps that lead to the summit, which we reach a little before 5.30am - ten minutes later the first rays of the day break the distant horizon. It was beautiful, yes. Worth getting up in the middle of the night, being freezing cold and aching? Urm, I'll get back to you on that. We spent half an hour at the summit, then began the descent. Back down the 750 stone steps, but then we followed another winding path known as the 'Steps of Repentance'. 3000 or so steps gave lots of time to repent - some two hours. Back at our hotel we had a late breakfast and then gathered up our things and boarded a bus to Cairo, arriving after dark. I was footsore, weary and tired and headed straight for my room, showered and fell asleep.
Yesterday we all traipsed around the Egyptian Museum. A wonderful building, with as you might expect the world's greatest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts including many of the treasures discovered in the tombs of Pharaohs and the amazing golden mask of Tutankhamun as well as a large number of mummies - including cats, dogs and crocodiles, as well as foetuses - yeah, quite grim. A guide led us through the museum, pointing out particular highlights. Later I drifted away from the group, and spent a happy afternoon wandering through the winding narrow streets of Islamic and Coptic Cairo, where exquisite mosques and minarets call the faithful to prayer, I nosed around the Al-Azhar Mosque and shopped at Khan el-Khalili, a bustling bazaar. Definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto. Eventually, and I'm not really sure how, I found myself back at the hotel where we had a farewell dinner followed by a floorshow - several bellydancers interspersed by 'traditional Egyptian folk music', hmmm.
It's Sunday morning now and I'm at the airport - security is tight - been asked to switch this laptop on twice and had my bag searched. The flight to Jo'burg leaves in a couple of hours - it's a seven hour flight and I'm not looking forward to it. The last three weeks have been good though, the Middle East and Egypt have thrown me into the deep end of travelling again - okay, so I've been with a group, but perhaps that was good too - not allowing too much time for brooding, naval gazing and contemplation. On the down side, there have been times when I could have murdered an Egg McMuffin.