Now for Mt. Sinai

So, I was picked up at the hotel at 10:40 pm, with a van full of folks who spoke other languages. . . There were five Russians, and five folks who were from somewhere in the Middle East maybe. We took a two hour bus ride to the town of St. Catherine, home of St. Catherine's Monastery.  We all got out and waited for a few minutes, while our guide for the moment gave us all flashlights to use for the hike. Somewhere around 2:15 am, we were then paired up with another guide, who would lead us all the way up to the top.

We started our climb, and passed by St. Catherine's Monastery after a few minutes. Then the camels started appearing everywhere. For those who don't like somewhat strenuous hikes, or may be not be able to go all the way due to medical conditions, you can rent a camel to take you 3/4 of the way up.  From there you take the rough steps up. I think there were 700 steps, I can't remember.

The hike before the steps was wonderful, I even broke a little sweat.  The downfall was my being in shape and others in our group needing to stop. . . So our tour guide, told myself and another guy to just go on our own, which was so much better.  The rest stops consisted of candy bars, water, juices,  coffee and tea.  There were still plenty of camels to be seen as well. I thought it was great getting through the hike so easily, until the steps that lead to the top. . . These steps weren't too bad (yes, they were), but they were also not spaced out so well.  The camels did have to stop at the steps and the riders would then have to take the steps up.

Anyway, I think once I got to the top, I just wanted to stay there for a good while.  There were probably a hundred of us sitting there watching the sunrise.  First you could just see lines across the sky and then you could finally see this big ball of light slowly rising -- what an amazing experience.

The walk down was nice. I joined three Russians, a couple, Vladimir and Riana, (sp), and Tanya, who was alone.  I didn't understand much of what they were saying, since they couldn't speak English, and I couldn't speak Russian.  We did have a great time together walking down though.  I had to help Tanya down during one instance, and the she slipped which almost pulled me to the ground.  We got down to the bottom of the mountain about 7 am.  We still had an hour until we were supposed meet with our guides at the St. Catherine Monastery for some brief history about what we were going to see.  The monastery opened at 9, and by that time I was struggling to stay awake, much less stand and walk some more.

The monastery itself was an impressive piece of work. . Even Napoleon Bonaparte made a few key contributions to the safety of it.  The well of Moses is there, and the burning bush from the bible stories. You can even see the elbow of St. Catherine herself.  Sounds kinds of odd, but it's cool to see something that old.  There is even some art work that dates back the 2nd and 3rd centuries as well.

I was quite impressed, but too tired to really be enthused at the monastery.  I just wanted some food and a bed after that hike.  We did stop at a little joint where we ate our breakfast.  It was food, and I was hungry, so that's all that mattered.  I enjoyed some hibiscus tea, which I've grown to like in my time here in Egypt.  Once we got to the van again, I somehow fell asleep in that little vehicle.

                                               Camel anyone??

                                                 I didn't see any Koreans this time

                                           I took many pictures of the Sun

                                              It was a little cool at the top

                                                     On the way down

                                                      The Burning Bush

                                            A cat guarding Moses' well

Four Wheelin' Wednesday, and a Hike Up Mount Sinai

Nothing like waking up early on a Wednesday morning only to wait for thirty minutes for your ride to pick you up. . . At least I got to play in the desert on a four-wheeler for 90 minutes though... . . It was a great time.   I came home and sat by the pool for a few hours after that studying some Korean. I then went for a walk down through the Naama Bay shop area. . . When you are in this shopping center, the shop keepers will drive you nuts, especially when you are walking alone. . . . "Oh come visit my shop man!", or I get "where are you from my friend?".  They always seem to get that part wrong, since it's rare to see Americans here. The taxi drivers are the worst, because if they see someone walking down the street, they will honk, and honk, and honk some more.  I've been walking around with my headphones to help ignore them.  Then at the shop area they will still come up to you and offer you a good deal.

So, I found a cool deli near the hotel after I came back from the walk. Some hot tomato soup and a hot day wasn't the brightest idea, but it was delicious.  They also had probably the best roast beef sandwich ever, which I couldn't finish due to the size of the soup.  After that I had to come home and get stuff ready for my hike at Mt. Sinai. .  So I took a "nap" from about 7:45-9:45, since the bus was coming to get me at 10:30.

                                                    Loving the four-wheeler ride

                                                I'm a beast!!!

Don't worry

. . . full post about MT. Sinai coming soon.

Camel riding, Sunset watching and star gazing

So I booked myself busy for the last few days of my trip officially this morning.  After a lazy day of sitting by the pool and studying Korean, I went on my first excursion here in Sharm.  It was definitely a fun one too. . .

I was picked up at the hotel around 4pm, in a van full of European folks, mostly English, and they were all very friendly. We went to a little spot in the desert where men and little kids were waiting on us with their camels.  We boarded our camels, and went on a little ride. . The ride only lasted about thirty minutes, and then we were taken to a tent and served hot tea (on a hot day), and cold water.  We waited, for a while, watched people make bread out of a hole in the ground, and then finally got to see the sun setting.

We walked up a rocky "hill" if you want to call it that, and all struggled for positioning as we were taking pictures of each other with the sunset in the background.  The sunset was magnificent to say the least. I could have gone back to the hotel after that personally, but I had to stay to enjoy my somewhat lackluster dinner. . . It was more of a cookout than a traditional Bedouin meal. At least there was some watermelon (hope my stomach at least enjoyed that, since I've been on a fluid diet throughout the day).

While we were eating we enjoyed some belly dancing, and some traditional Egyptian dancing of other sorts as well. We then were treated to a good twenty or thirty minutes of stargazing, with an Egyptian who is a really good astronomer (I guess that's what those folks are called). He pointed out a bunch of cool constellations and important stars to us, and explained some other stuff that I couldn't quite retain.  

Anyway, enjoy some of the photos!!

                                           The camels waiting to do some work

                                          Doing a little ridin'

                                            Beautiful sunset

                                               The sunset again

Cross country bus ride in Egypt

. . . and what a ride it was. I spent the morning chewing out a guy in Cairo who works with a travel agency at my hotel, because I thought their service was poor to say the least.  I never get angry at people to begin with, so I  was kind of shocked at myself.. . . then again, I had hardly eaten much during a 24 hour span when I gave the guy a piece of my mind as well.

Now to the bus ride. I took a 4:30 pm bus ride from Cairo to Sharm El Sheikh.  For 16 bucks, I sat on a nice air conditioned bus for about seven hours. I got a bottle of water and even a box full of snacks.

The interesting part was having to stop at all the check points along the way. Since the end of the revolution in April, there has been tougher security all around the country. At least we didn't have to stop at all of the check points though. The driver slowed down, the soldiers raised their hand up and we went on our way. Two times we did have to stop for a few minutes though.  One man came on the bus and checked everyone's IDs. He asked me a few questions, and then proceeded to check the Egyptian IDs all around me.  A time before that we had to all get off the bus, take our bags off from under the bus, while some guy and his sniffin' dog checked out all of our stuff. Then we put the bags back on the bus, and left.

I did meet a nice Egyptian guy who showed me around the nightlife area of Sharm El Sheikh last night. We ate some Egyptian burgers, and then went to a bar called Monty's which is owned by Monty, a nice English fellow. Then we went to some world re-known nightclub which would have been fun for me about five years ago I think. I felt bad being around this new found friend (whose name I can't exactly spell), because apparently the women he was talking to, weren't very pleased that he was talking to them.

Since I took a nap on the bus ride it was kind of nice getting out, because I couldn't get to sleep until about 5 am, though I arrived back at my beautiful hotel room (30$ a night for 4 stars thank you!!), at 4 am.  Luckily, UFC was on at that time, which was added motivation not to go to sleep.

Some shots of Cairo from Saturday

Get me out of Cairo

So two days in this big city is more then enough for me. . . The traffic is unlike any other I have ever seen in my life. All the touristy sites, (even churches), have metal detectors that you have to go through before you enter. I was even told it wasn't a good idea to go outside of the hotel on my own at night.  That's something that really makes me stir crazy.  Yesterday, I took a tour of Old Cairo, which was kind of fun.  It just sucks that my driver has been just that and not a tour guide.  I even used the tour people at the hotel -- not sure why they call themselves "tour people". . . Oh well, at least I got to see the pyramids and even saw some really old churches too.  One church traced its roots back to the days of the Holy Family.  I walked through a really old synagogue, and walked in a few mosques as well.

The Citadel was a really impressive place to see.  It offers a really impressive view of the city, and I received countless "welcomes" from people that were visiting there also.  I guess it was odd to see a brown-haired white boy walking on his own at some of the tourist sites.  One man even took a picture of me and his children with the city of Cairo in the background. I ate a tourist restaurant yesterday, and drank Sakkara Beer, which was light thankfully. I think because most of the food was fried, I woke up this morning with some terrible stomach bug.  In the last 24 hours, I've had yogurt, and that's about it.  Well, 21 hours so far.

Anyway, I am super excited to be leaving Cairo this afternoon and heading to Sharm El Sheikh, which is on the Red Sea.  I have one more goal to check off, which will be climbing Mt. Sinai.  Most importantly, I just want to get some good rest over the next few days, and enjoy the beach.  It will be a luxury to be able to walk outdoors and be safe again, or at least I hope I will be able to do so.

Fun Day in Cairo, Giza, Sakarra, and Dashar

So I got a decent priced tour today.  I wouldn't really call it a tour. The guy just drove me around to the sites, I paid admission, he drove me around some more, took photos when I needed, got me some lunch, and drove me around some more. . He didn't tell me much about anything in relation to Egypt which I kind of sucked, but I just wanted to see things anyway. . . . I got attacked by Bedouins everywhere I went, not literally though.  Silence apparently shuts them up.  "You want a camel ride?" They will also ask you for your ticket, take it and then lead you around like a guide and ask you for an outrageous sum of money as well. . . Luckily, I warned of all of this beforehand. . I even had to say that I was from Russia, so folks wouldn't bother me so much. . These people and even there kids were doing so much to try and get money off of people. Luckily my driver, Peter, was able to take pictures for me when he was around. . . I also had some Chinese guy take a few for me at the Sphinx area.  Then I was asked to be in a picture with him a little while later. I found a nice Korean guy who was shocked to her my speak to him in Korean, but he was a good photographer.  "How did you know we speak Korean?", he said.  "I heard you speaking in Korean, and I kind of live in Korea as well."  Anyway, I saw plenty of pyramids and got a little bit of sun.

My night event was a dinner cruise on the Nile.  The food was not so great, but the entertainment definitely was interesting.  There was a pretty lady who did a good bit of belly dancing to start the evening.  Then two guys, one pretty big, and one really small, did some traditional dances as well.  They were all pretty fun to watch and the belly dancer even took me on stage and had me try some baton twirling, which didn't go so well.

                                                 Giza Pyramids (three big ones and six small ones)

                                                Camels everywhere

                                               Self pic

                                          with a few Giza pyramids in the back

                                             There's the Sphinx

                                          Temple at Sakarra

                                            Lunch

                                             Dashar

                                               Ttuk Ttuk

                                                Belly dancer trying to teach me something!!

Standing in my underwear on the hotel balcony . . . .

I can see the pyramids of Giza --- wow!!! 

Omar, Crazy Egyptian Drivers, and Egyptian Buffets

There's nothing like eatin' bread puddin' 3km down the road from the Pyramids of Giza. .  Never in my life would I imagined that that would happen to me. . Yes, my hotel in Cairo has a nightly buffet, which is great when you've burned off a week's worth of calories in three days worth of walking. .  It's not even all that overpriced either. The waiter was stunned when I told him I wanted the 1.5L bottle of water for 2 bucks as well.

Now, to my arrival in Egypt -- I had to pay for my little visa which was an easy process.  Go to a bank counter, then pay them 15 bucks and they give you a little thing for the passport people to stick on the passport.  When I went through that line, some guy came out of nowhere asking me all this crap about my trip to Egypt. Basically homeboy was wanting to sell me on a bunch of over priced tour stuff for my time here. So I gave in. . . . . just so I could get a ride to my hotel. . . . He was super insulted that I didn't want to pay 2x what I should be paying and he offered me the airport transfer free . . . at least that part was only 25 bucks (almost as much as my 4star hotel cost me).

Now to Omar. .  . and the crazy driving here in Egypt.  Omar was the guy who was driving me to the hotel -- I hope Omar survives through the week.  It seems Omar may have lung cancer, though he had to stop and pick up some cancer sticks on the way to the hotel.  Omar also introduced me to the Egyptian way of driving -- kind of like NASCAR -- two lanes doesn't mean two cars, heck, it means three cars. Yeah, quite a roller coaster of a ride. . . I think it took almost two hours to go 35 km or so to the hotel. . . When we arrived Omar didn't even pull in to the hotel, he dropped me at the other side of the street. . . As I am getting out of the car, he yells "TIP"!!! I had read up on this beforehand, so I gave him five Egyptian Pounds, which is about a dollar. . . He wasn't too excited about that and said "too small, too small". . So I said, "ok, I give you no tip".  Well, Omar took the five coins and slowly opened the trunk.  I got my stuff out and darted through traffic to get into my hotel.

I was escorted to my beautiful room, where supposedly I can see the Pyramids of Giza in the morning time.  For 30 bucks this is a super nice room as well.  The room service is fairly cheap, but I wanted to oink a little and so I "towered" the buffet.

Almost midnight here in Cairo, so I am off.

Last Day in Rome

So my last day for walking in Rome was definitely an exciting one.  I got to see that guy they call the Pope, from a far distance.  The Vatican City itself was an incredible sight to see.  I was glad that my place in the sticks was at least close to The Vatican though.  I also ate some lasagna, that didn't do much for me (thankfully I drank a glass of wine with it though), and then got the gelato I had been waiting so long to eat.

I wanted to visit some other areas, and make good use of my 3 day pass, and that's what I ended up doing.  I pretty much saw some of the same things, but thrown in with a few other places as well (such as the Opera House, and Republic).

Anyway, I wore myself out walking and walking, though it wasn't too hot out.  According to the Brits that were staying out in the sticks with me, it was "SO HOT".  I guess Vietnam was good training for me then.  Anyway, I'll post a few more pics for now from Rome, so I can get on with today's entry.