Dahab is an unknown place to me, at least till I came on this trip. Today was planned to go to St Catherine’s, for we need 12 to 18 hours’ rest at sea level after diving before climbing which is not acceptable. There just wasn’t enough time. Stayed at a resort actually, and we thought breakfast was included but it wasn’t. Paid 7 euros more for the Sinai trip just so we could watch sunset, we can’t make it for the sunrise trip anyway. We might even pay more than 7 euros for rented blankets and notoriously disgusting coffee (according to Anthony).
At first, me and Hobart were supposed to do snorkelling while Eve and ZQ dive in Ras Mohamed. But in the end, we decided to do diving instead, and stay behind in Dahab. Cheaper, more time to relax, and more exciting than just snorkelling.
The journey to St Catherine, again it seems, is filled with bribery. The driver bribed the tourism police “to register foreigners on road”, and I suspect all the checkpoint guards along the way. And when we reached, St Catherine’s Monastery is closed. Maybe tourists usually spent more time on Mount Sinai than in the monastery. We had a guide, and he gave us the option of either taking the more hazardous climb up Mount Sinai, or walk the gentle camel trail. He did warn us that the climb is tough, and we can’t descend by that route after sunset. We chose the climb to ascend, of course, since we would take the camel route to descend anyway. And the climb is challenging indeed. Up till Elijah’s Basin where both the climb and the slope converge, the altitude stands at 450m. Multiply that by 5 steps a metre (20cm a step is tiring, I assure you), the extra 2,250 steps is strenuous. We had to rest a few times along the way to the Basin. But the view gets more and more amazing as we ascend, especially in the glaring sun and cooler-than-expected air. Temperature drops as we ascend, partly because of the altitude and partly the setting sun.
We got to the summit an hour before sunset, the entire climb took us 2 whole hours. Breathtaking scenery, coupled with amazing sunlight and our photographic creativity makes the hour super enjoyable. The short sunset can’t be described with words, it’s just so different to watch from Mount Sinai. Special indeed, like the sunset I had on the Bodrum Bay.
We couldn’t really stay since we had no torches, hence we descended just as the last ray of sun disappeared. The slope is very easy to traverse after experiencing the 2 hour climb. We barely had 30 minutes of twilight before it gets really hard to walk. Luckily for us, the moon was shining so bright tonight, it would have all the werewolves jealous of our fortune. Sometimes, the shadows cast by the moon on stones are really hard to differentiate from camel poo, I’m afraid. Almost broke my ankles and knees several times while trying to avoid ‘camel poo’ and end up step on nothingness or another rock. Can’t help but notice that night sky in the desert is beautiful as ever, when the moon shines brightly and stars illuminate in the absence of city lights.
Dinner was at this fish and seafood restaurant. Its owner was so keen on our business that he offered soup, bread, salad, rice and chips free with every main course. Guess he must have been really desperate, we were his only customers. Prices are pretty decent, with a total of 122LE inclusive of fresh mango juice made from iced mangoes. Pretty exotic, cheaper and nice compared to the sahlab Eve and Hobart had before.
ZQ and eve left by 2300h for Sharm El Sheikh for their dive, while we and Hobart enjoyed a lasagne like supper for a ridiculously cheap 5LE.
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