Mt Sinai

Yesterday I watched the dawn from the top of Mt Sinai and today I am writing this in Cairo International airport on my way to Zurich for an overnight stop before carrying on to Dubai and Oman.  Life is full of miracles!

At first I misunderstood the guide's briefing about my trip to the mountain and I waited in the hotel lobby at 10.00 am rather than 10.00 pm.  Once I'd worked that out, I spent the day trying to get as much rest as I could because it seemed I would be climbing a mountain all night!  When the minivan arrived for me, the first thing they explained was how to put the seats down so I could rest!  So I dozed most of the two and a half hour trip.

I think they've just called my flight so I'll finish when I can.  

Just a move from one waiting area to another!  But this one is much quieter and I still have wireless!

So I arrived at a carpark after midnight.  There was a bus with many tourists sitting inside, several minivans, Bedouin men hanging around the inevitable street market.  I got out and Bishay my guide directed me to the toilet saying it would be 2 Egyptian pounds.  I'm off again - boarding this time.

So now I'm in Dubai where I have wireless access in my room.  I'll write about Dubai and the gentle rain in Zurich in my next post, but for now I need to finish off the story of Mt Sinai.

The guide who was to lead me up the mountain arrived and Bishay handed me a torch and pointed me in the right direction.  The mountain guide asked me if I wanted a camel, but I said no, I wanted to walk if it wasn't too difficult.  We set off at a cracking pace and I had to concentrate on my feet in the little circle of light from the torch to make sure I didn't stumble on the uneven path.  Every so often I would hear strange grunts and a camel would be lead past on silent feet.  Each time, the camel was offered.  There didn't seem to be anyone else on the mountain at this time of the morning and when we stopped at the little rest shops on the way, there was no-one apart from the man behind the tea counter.  By the second stop, a camel driver who was more persuasive than the others sold me his camel by saying I had only come a quarter of the way and things got very steep at the top.

I have never been on a camel before, but my training at getting on my brother-in-law's motor bike in California stood me in good stead.  The rhythm made it a bit more uncomfortable and there was nowhere to rest your feet, but once I'd got the hang of it I was able to look up at the stars and the eerie mountains round about.  It was great not to have to stare down at my feet.  The camel driver and my mountain guide walked ahead chatting quietly and I drank in the craggy mountains that occasionally glowed white like smoke.  I didn't think too much about the possibility of the camel stepping over the edge or crushing my leg against the rocks on the other side.

We arrived at the top camel station and the guide explained that it got too difficult for the camel from here on as it was continuous steps for about 40 minutes.  The camel did the classic kneel and I got off stiffly.  We set off and the camel driver was right!  We were also quite high up now too so I told myself that it was the thin air that was making me breathe so heavily.  We stopped regularly and eventually we made it to a hut that was near the summit.  Here we went in and I accepted the offer of tea.  There were big piles of blankets all down one side and the usual carpet-covered benches all round.  My guide promptly settled in a corner and went to sleep so I figured that I should do the same but I refused their offer of a blanket and got out my jacket and bedouin scarf.  After dozing for a while, the hut started filling up with people so I had to sit up and there was a constant sales patter for blankets and hot drinks.  

The tiredness made me impatient with the hordes of Russian tourists who were piling in and who have a different way of dealing with close proximity than I do.  My guide continued to sleep on under his blanket so I got up and went outside.  The sky was beginning to pale and there was a constant stream of people heading on up the path.  Just as I was starting to feel anxious, my guide appeared and said "We go?"

I thought it was just a few more steps but it turned out to be quite a bit further and the mountain was filling up with people.  My guide found us a spot just before the summit and pointed towards the slightly reddening horizon.  I found myself a seat on a ledge and pulled my jacket collar up against the cold.  The guide disappeared and I settled down to watch the dawn.  Or so I thought.  A Russian woman came and sat on the rock in front of me and before I knew it I was jammed in between a whole tribe of tourists who proceeded to get out their breakfast and scatter paper and bread crusts all over Mt Sinai.  On a different mountain, it would have become the story of the feeding of the five thousand!

I sat there bristling and almost missed the first red curve of the sun as it came up over the craggy mountain tops.  People clapped and there was a lot of noise!  No self-focussed communing with nature on this mountain top!

Coming down, I was again offered camels but was determined to walk now that it was downhill and in daylight.  It was a good decision because the landscape is dramatic and I felt good striding out now that I could see where my feet were treading.  The thousands who were on the summit got spread out on the zig-zag path and it didn't feel like a mall on late night shopping.

Towards the bottom where St Catherine's  monastery blends into the red-brown mountains, there were occasional small children selling quartz thunder eggs and I got conned into paying 5 Egyptian pounds for a small, inferior quality egg for my uncle in Wollengong who is a prospector.  The young man didn't have change so we eventually came up with a complicated arrangement whereby I would take the egg and give the money to my guide later who would then bring it to the seller.  I figured that it was only two and a half pees!

The monastery is fascinating in its own right.  Reputed to be the oldest monastery in the world.  I have to go as my pick up is here to take me to the airport to fly to Muscat.

Finishing in Dubai after my trip to Oman.  The Monastery at the base of Mt Sinai has a large blackberry bush reputed to be the burning bush as seen by Moses.  It also has St Catherine's knuckle bone and a room full of the skulls of ancient monks.  When I got to that bit there were two Americans in front taking photos through the bars and taking so long that an enormous queue built up behind me so I glanced in and left.  Somehow relics don't work for me.  But the monastery is interesting and adds to a picture of the roots of Christianity in the same soil as Islam.