Holy Russian Hordes

The following afternoon, the cast and crew of Twiga loaded up, drove out of Dahab and headed West into the heart of the Sinai Peninsula.  The Israeli built highways carried us across the desolate Martian landscape toward our destination at Mt Sinai.  As we hurtled along, I lay face up on The Beach, drinking a beer and admiring the colours of the sunset while Zoe knelt chatting with Anthony and Lena; all meerkat-ting above the roof of the truck.  Wonderful stuff.

We arrived at the foot of Mt Sinai in the early evening.  Immediately we set about our evening chores.  Scotty
and I cooked up a peppered vege pasta which was a bit overdone on the pepper front...to say the least.  It was popular and moreish but the amount of coughing and spluttering was cause for minor concern.

Following dinner, we loaded up our day packs, put on some warm gear and, led by a Bedouin guide, began our trek to the summit of Mt Sinai. It was a three hour walk and very steep; the peak is at 2285m.  We reached a Bedouin camp just short of the summit at about 1am.  By this time we were bursting for the loo.  The loo was located at the edge of  a sheer drop.  Luckily it was pitch black otherwise I think I just would have wet myself.  As we returned to the camp a Bedouin emerged from under a pile of rotting blankets to demand money for using his thunderbox.  These people never miss an opportunity.

It was a very, very, very cold night.

At about 4am we were awoken by some activity down the mountain.  At first it was just the odd distant voice of an excited Russian and the shuffle of footsteps on the loose gravel tracks .  Over the next half-hour it crescendo-ed to a cacophony.  As the freezing wind rose, thousands of Russian pilgrims emerged from the pre-dawn twilight.  They crowded on top of and clambered around all the vantage points to watch the magnificent sunrise.  With a fair bit of urgency we rolled up our sleeping bags and fought for a position.  Being a wuss who's afraid of heights, I spent more time worrying about my companions falling off a cliff than watching the sunrise.  I spent a bit of time trying to work out how to get inside the small chapel which is apparently built around the rock from which God carved the tablets containing the Ten Commandments.  Unfortunately we couldn't get inside as the followers of the RoP would vandalise the joint and so it remains almost permanently locked.

Immediately following the show we set off back down the mountain to St Katharine's Monastery.  Allegedly it takes 2 hours to descend.  However, we had to contend with a single file descent which was being delayed by ridiculous Russian women walking down a stone and gravel mountainside in 4-inch heels.

Bloody Russians.

By the time we returned to the truck, ate our breakfast, packed our kit and said our goodbyes it was too late for a proper tour of St Katherine's before our scheduled taxi journey back to Dahab.

Bloody Russians.

What we did see of St Katharine's was quite impressive.  The monastery had been located on that spot since the sixth century.  It is surrounded by huge stone and earth ramparts to defend from Muslim Arab raiders.  The monks are self-sufficient: the courtyards contain olive groves, grape vines, vegetable patches and livestock.  Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to view enter the chapels or the library (which contains the most important set of Christian religious texts outside of the Vatican).

Bloody Russians.

Departing Dahab for Mt Sinai

Road to Mt Sinai

Troy, Scotty amd Andy prepping history's most pepper laden meal

My privacy being respected by Zoe as dinner starts causing issues

Effin' freezing

The Russian Horde arrives

Sunrise, Mt Sinai

Jason giving me a heart attack, Mt Sinai

Zoe & Andy, Mt Sinai

Let there be light!

The queue down the mountain

Acute ass...and a donkey

Bye Twiga

Bye Twiga

Anyhow, it was a bit sad saying goodbye to Twiga and the team.  There was a bit of regret that we didn't continue on the long journey across the Suez to Egypt proper.  We'd made some good friends on the truck.  However, we reminded ourselves that Egypt would be part of our big trek through Africa and its cultural sites would be there as they had been for thousands of years.