Day 22 - New Year's Eve

THURSDAY 31st DECEMBER

Synopsis of day: I climbed Mt Sinai!

Spiritual Sites visited: Mt. Sinai. One of the possible sites of the rock of Horeb.

Biblical Connections: 10 Commandments, Golden Calf, wandering in the desert etc.

Highlight of the day: I climbed Mt Sinai!

Lowlight of the day: Arthur.

Toilet ratings: Was very grateful I didn't need to use the facilities part way along Mt Sinai since primitive doesn't quite cover it. Lunch stop was also fairly vile. Probably a 2 or 3. Liquid on the floor and hose with small drainpipe on the floor made for as quick an exit as possible. Hook for bag.

Favourite quote/word: I climbed Mt. Sinai!

Favourite photo:

Cultural-shock moment: The Bedouin guides have an amazing stamina to be able to climb up there every day! Astonishing.

New food consumed: There was an amazing decorative display of food at the hotel, and such a wide variety of food. I really enjoyed a pineapple cream and chocolate tart. It tasted so great even though it looked and sounded a bit unusual.

Favourite purchase: THE CAMEL (though it was only a temporary purchase).

The thing I lost today: Sleep.

Random act of crazy: The number of people willing to forgo a night's sleep so they too could climb Mt. Sinai. Also the Bedouin are clearly made of awesome crazy.

What Arthur did next: Today he was at his most annoying. He complained persistently about his phone not working, kept walking away from the group and we ended up waiting several times for an extended period (and this was directly after walking up Sinai so the three of us were exhausted and really wanted to get back to the hotel). He criticised the guide and the archaeological practice of the Egyptians in preserving rather than reconstructing at St. Katherine's, and then was completely unrepentent about his disappearances, only laughing at us and blaming us for disappearing. Mohammed was obviously really frustrated by him, and on several occasions joked with us that we should just leave him behind somewhere.

Something I want to remember: The accomplishment I felt at the summit, and the beauty of the chill night air and morning sunrise.

The alarms went off very early this morning – 12.45am – but this time I didn't mind overmuch. Kerri's back had been paining her too much and she elected not to come. On the descent I decided it was definitely a good thing that she had, since her knee has been playing up and many of those steps were very steep and she would have found it treacherous.
 I rugged up in seven top and three bottom layers. Eventually in the daylight I removed a few of the top layers, but I was always warm, except when I wasn't wearing my mittens and on my face where the coats and beanie couldn't cover it. We departed for the visitors centre at 1.30am and by just after 2am we'd walked part way up and I got my camel. Mary and her husband Phil chose to walk the whole way up and Mary felt incredibly unwell by the time we were reunited and I was so thankful that I'd been firm about getting the camel to take me part of the way up.

Me with a random camel on the way down. By this time I'd divested mysellf of two layers - I was like a Michelin man.

It was a full moon and you didn't need any torchlight until you reached the final 750 steps. I really enjoyed the camel ride, and especially liked the fact that I am apparently not allergic to them (there was the possibility so huzzah for that). In the darkness each camel had someone walk them (though Sayid, my camel-man, decided to abandon me part way through to go and catch up with his 'brother' and my camel (who I think was called Faruq, that is what I named him anyway) just trod along, sometimes precariously close to the cliff edges. I decided not to worry about the fact that I was so far up without any protection and that I was so close to the cliff edges by presuming a lot on the animal's own sense of self-preservation, and the fact that he must have made the journey many times before without error.
 In the darkness you could only hear the Bedouin's phones ringing or playing Arabic music, and the clopping of the camel along the dirt. It was so peaceful and strangely magical. As I was going up, I decided this was the pinnacle of the trip, and the most Arabian thing I had ever encountered, and was probably ever likely to encounter. The night sky was so black and although you couldn't gauge the height of the mountains, based on the distance of the lights below, we went up a long way.
 We waited at the meeting point for quite some time, and although I was initially fine after getting off the camel, within a few minutes my whole legs shook and I couldn't have stood even if my life was in danger. They settled after about fifteen minutes and I waited for the others to make it up. The tent where we were had a number of camel riders in it, and the facilities to hold about forty people (at one point it became very close to capacity) and sold some tea, coffee, chai and flashlights. There were a couple of other shops along the way up the hill – probably about five or six in total, some of which were offering a place for respite, or food and drinks, or camels. Each time you approached one you would be beset by men offering “Help” whether to step up only a few steps, or the whole way up. Of course every offer for help except that from our guide came at a price so we were adamant in our refusals. In any case, our Bedouin guide Farah was an utter treasure, going far beyond what was necessary to ensure that 'Madame' (me), 'Senora' (Mary) and 'the husband' (Phil) made it to the peak.



At times he would hold Mary's or my hand and help us up some of the trickier steps, pointed out the difficult ones, and let us stop so often, because we really needed it. He was so blithely fit and happy and sometimes would run ahead and then back down to help us. He spoke some English and Italian and tried to communicate to us how much longer we had to go. When there was about half an hour of climbing to go, he would start pointing towards the peak, but it still seemed so far way (admittedly the distance between half and hour and fifteen minutes to go was much longer than fifteen minutes!).
 At the last shop before the peak there were many blankets and mattresses for sale but because we had taken almost four hours to climb instead of the usual three, the rays of sunrise were just starting to glow in the sky, so we didn't have much time to make it up that final bit. We were passing people (and they were passing us as we stopped) all the way up but there was quite a queue right at the end for the last steps, and I didn't pause for any breaks then but stayed in line. Right as we reached the top it was getting closer to sunrise and I was led down through people and up and down stairways until I was shown a simply excellent view. We stood there for over half an hour and watched as the dim colours became more visible, and as the many mountains around started to appear.

The view was electric, and as I was basking in the accomplishment, I felt inordinately thrilled with the sight. I didn't feel the cold but was amused that my glasses kept fogging up because of the chill.

After some of the people (and there must have been hundreds crouched up around the various lookout points at the peak) started to move away, I found Phil and Mary again and we looked over towards the little Christian church whose bell has rung at sunrise, and at the Muslim mosque which were on top of the mountain. We also took some pictures facing in the direction of St Katherine's from where we had come. It felt as though we were on top of everything around us, even though we knew that the St Katherine mountain itself was about three hundred metres higher. It was a fascinating sight to see the mountains all around us, but it wasn't until the descent that I realised how truly high up we had gone.

The stairs were so very steep, and the procession of people descending seemed endless.

 Just before we finished at the steps my foot got stuck and I thought I twisted it, but thankfully it was fine. We continued our descent along the sometimes slippery track. We all agreed that we could not envisage making the distance had we not had the walking sticks we had purchased at Petra with us. Occasionally we would turn around and see just how far we had gone, and every time I was astonished at the height of the mountain. The stamina of the Bedouin guides who do this every night, and even of Phil and Mary was highly impressive, because it really did feel like such a challenging accomplishment. The view was completely different in the daylight, and the descent itself took over two hours. By the time we made it back to the rest of the group, we felt almost spent, but I felt strangely invigorated and not nearly as exhausted as I thought I might feel. I wasn't tired, just weary.

Camel on the loose!

I made it!

 We arrived at the foot of the St. Katherine's Monastery but the three of us that had walked the mountain were honestly more ready for food and a toilet stop (it was too sickening to contemplate either of those needs during the walk). Arthur's being late and being critical of the guide really annoyed us three and we warmly welcomed the idea of leaving him at the monastery so that he could find his own way back to the hotel. I had enough time for a quick omelette (they make them freshly in all the hotels here and it is a pleasant change from boiled eggs) and a shower before we were due in the bus. We saw a rock formation rather in the shape of a calf before starting the drive towards the Suez. Phil and Mary dropped off to sleep very quickly and it wasn't too long after them that I followed suit.



While the rest of the day didn't follow in a blur, it didn't hold nearly as much interest for me as the morning had. We didn't stop for lunch until 4pm (meaning the new year had started in Australia by then) and had passed many tall mountains (though none as tall as “our” mountain) and lots of dirt , as well as the Red Sea which was to our left. Later in the evening after we had stopped at the very picturesque possible site for the rock of Horeb (and been harassed by a rather loud female shopkeeper) and crossed the Suez canal tunnel (which has its own security detail) the Red Sea was then to our right.

It was after this that we started to hit crazy third world city living, and psychotic traffic. Kerri's eyes seemed to bulge at everything, and I was a bit horrified by the fact that empty taxi vans have their side doors open for people to jump in at any point. The condition that the cars are kept in is at a considerably (and you don't even realise what an understatement this is) lesser standard than in Australia. Kerri remarked that after seeing streets like this, she better understands why Western Sydney looks the way it does. I completely agree, and moving to a Western country must be an enormous change for people used to this environment. We also drove past some walls which looked as though they were housing except without a roof, and these were Muslim cemeteries. The many mosques are always lit up with Oz-green lighting and I don't understand why, but they are very pretty! The loudspeakers which play the prayers during the course of the day can be heard from ages away and have sometimes had amusing timing.



By the time we finally arrived at our hotel – about 8pm, we were all incredibly ready for dinner and bed. Phil didn't even make it to dinner, which was a pity because we had tickets for a NYE party and it was the most decadent spread imaginable. Really tacky but at the same time impressive that they had gone to this much effort. The champagne we got was amongst the worst drinks I have ever consumed and we had much fun abusing it. We all received party bags but most of us were far too tired to show any end of year conviviality. As soon as we could return to our rooms (which Kerri and I had fled very quickly on account of the really awful stench inside it) we did. Most uncomfortably, I discovered there were hairs in my pillow and (shoe? food?) stains on my sheets, so even though we felt dead on our legs, we called housekeeping and had the sheets remade. It seemed to take a really long time but eventually we noted that the smell was a little less, and sunk to sleep practically instantly. No new year's excitement for us, but I figured I'd had plenty of excitement earlier in the day to make up for it anyway.