Sinai

Last weekend I climbed Mount Sinai with my roommate here in Cairo, my one at AU, my real estate agent, and a British fellow I met at the hostel I stayed in before I moved into my flat. We took a 45 LE (about $7) to Sinai. We arrived too late in the day to make it up in time for the sunset, but we hired a bedouin guide (as is now legally required to climb the mountain) to climb it at night so we'd get there in time for the sunrise. The climb itself was surprisingly strenuous, but I think this had more to do with my recent lack of physical exertion and the amount of extra energy expended looking for places to put your feet when climbing in the dark.

We were awoken at about 4:30 AM EEST to the sound of a Polish man singing while his congregation quite literally mumbled along with him. I would have been greatly amused if it weren't 4:30 AM and the sunrise wasn't supposed to start for about another hour. I suppose the one plus is that I got to see the sunrise in its entirety, though I could have done without the most awkward choir in church history as my alarm. It removed a bit of the ambiance. The sunrise really was amazing. I've posted several photos from the trip on my Facebook profile, but even those can't really capture how beautiful it is. It's a little too touristy, but I think that's more a function of the time of the year than anything else. All in all I'm glad I had the chance to go.

The way back was quite the adventure. Bus drivers out at St. Katherine's (the monastery at the base of the mountain) know they can rip Westerners for all they are worth because the exchange rate is so heavily slanted in our favor, so they do. Note how little I paid to get all the way from Cairo to Sinai. On the return, we were offered prices anywhere between 350 LE (which we were ultimately forced to take out of desperation: classes started the next day) and 1400 LE, and these were only to Ras Sadr or Suez, not even all the way to Cairo. We took a 350 LE bus to Ras Sadr, which is a really, really pretty town. It's right on the Gulf of Suez, which is quite the sight in itself. It's easy to overlook the town itself, as when you drive through it, you go in on a highway that is filled with gas stations and other eyesores. The town itself was filled with some amazing fish stands and was a brief walk from the beach, though we unfortunately didn't get to see the beach because our bus left soon after our arrival there (the bus cost another 35 LE, but all the way to Cairo). I'm considering going at some point later in the semester for a day trip.

All in all, Sinai was a grueling, but worthwhile experience. I recommend that if you go, go with a tour group or where you pre-pay for your return trip. Getting out there is a piece of cake, but getting back can be far more complicated, especially during a holiday.