Egypt Revisited: Conquering Mount Sinai

Egypt, June 2011

Egypt was my last pilgrimage destination after Jordan and Israel. We arrived at Taba border crossing around noon. It's the international border crossing between Eilat, Israel and Taba, Egypt. The immigration process went smooth and easy. On our way to Saint Catherine, the bus drive along the Red Sea. And of course the sea is not red. It is thus named because of the seasonal blooms of a water plant called Trichodesmium erythraeum which produce red colour blossoms at a certain season every year.
Red Sea is very beautiful, unfortunately we didn't have time to stop by because we needed to reach Saint Catherine and start to climb mount Sinai before sunset.

turned out the Red Sea is not really red :p

After checked in our luggage in Morgenland hotel, we quickly gathered in the lobby and get into a van that would take us to the base of mount Sinai. What I found funny was the tour guide kept asking me if I really want to climb the mountain. He said he was kinda worry because he thought I look too princess-y or not strong enough for climbing a mountain. Yeah I know I didn't wear a pair of hiking or sport shoes, instead I only wore my flat shoes. But hey ! it wasn't like I wore a dress and Cinderella's glass high heel shoes for climbing. And stop calling me princess because I'm nothing like that :p

We reach the camel station to choose our ride. You can actually opt to climb the 3750 Steps of Penitence. But we preferred to do the 3 hours camel ride through the Camel Path and save our energy for the final 750 steps to the summit.

Camel station. Look ! the camel is grinning

and the journey begin

my shadow

The ride was very fun! Well at least for me, because I heard the guys kept complaining about the camel saddle was too hard that their groin hurt like hell. Oops! I hope they didn't have any potty problem after :p
I really enjoyed the scenery along the camel path which was stunning and scary in the same time. I couldn't imagine if my camel took one wrong step, we could ended up rolling down together into the canyon.

We arrived in a resting hut which also the final stop for our camel ride. We rest a bit while waiting all of our group member to gather. Here you can buy water, chocolate and even Indomie, the famous Indonesian instant noodle. Nice! Feels like home now :p

The weather was quite chill and windy up there so I put my sweater on. We had to walk about 1 Km through a narrow path which lead to the base of the 750 steps. Which I meant steps were those uneven slippery dusty rocks. You really need to be careful while climbing because some of the rocks are steep and not solid. You could tumble easily to the canyon. I made some stops every couple minutes to catch my breath. Halfway to the top I started to doubt that I'd be able to reach the top because I was feeling dizzy and my legs were trembling uncontrollably. So I chose to sit down on one of the rocks and eating my chocolate for the energy boost. I know that's not the healthiest option but it worked for me. I felt better instantly and started climbing again and finally made it to the top of mount Sinai ! Just on time to witness the sun setting behind the rocky mountains. The view was breathtakingly beautiful. It was such an achievement for me because I could overcome my phobia of height!

mount Sinai

Indomie (Indonesian instant noodle) at mount Sinai!

let's start climbing the rocks!

catching breath, halfway to the top

I made it to the top of mount Sinai...woohoo!

The trip climbing down the mountain was not easy though because by that time the sky was already dark. So we had to rely on our flashlight. I think it was more scary than climbing up because the rocks were very slippery. I did step on a wrong rocks and collapsed and kept descending until my guide grabbed me on time before I dived into the canyon. I was in shock and for a few minutes I couldn't move my left leg because apparently it hit a big uneven rock when I fell down. It was so painful, I was worry my leg has broken :(

My guide help me to walk down the mountain because this time we didn't ride a camel to the base. We had to walk all the way to the parking area. I think it took us more than 4 hours walking before we reach our van.
By the time we arrived at our hotel, we already famished and exhausted. I had dinner around 11 PM, did a quick shower and crawled to my bed.

Woke up in the morning to found out that my left thigh has became a giant size eggplant overnight. The bruise was so nasty and I could hardly walk. Luckily we didn't have any activity that day because we were heading to Cairo. So I could rest for the 8 hours journey on the bus.

with Mom & Dad at Morgenland Hotel, Saint Catherine

Bedouin girl

Nile river

We reached Cairo by dinner time and transferred to Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel after. I really liked this hotel. the view was amazing, I could see the pyramids from my room. The pool was also inviting, but I didn't want to scare other guests with my eggplant legs floating there :p

That day we visited the pyramids in Giza desert. It was my second time being there, I've been to Giza in 2009 during my Turkey & Egypt trip. Still it never failed to amaze me. There's something mysterious about those pyramids that makes me want to revisit over and over again.