Last of Egypt

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Arrived back by train and by comparison to the first trip down to Aswan it was a bit better.... not much but a bit.. we found a toilet that was a little cleaner.. not much but a bit!!!! A few of us headed to the Khan El Khallily bazaar to look around. We witnessed two actaul fist and head fights between two different groups of men in the Bazaar. All suffering from the effects of Ramadaan.
The bus arrived to take us to the hostel in Morganland at St Catherines for our next challenge - Mt Sinai. Well the accommodation was not fantastic. Shared a room with Shane and Kasey. Three to a room... it was to be 7 to a room but our leader Shady arranged a bit of a better deal!!
Into bed at 10.00 and a wake up call at 1.00AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, we arrived at the St. Catherines Monastery at 1.30am, were loaded onto our camel and set off into the night riding the pathway up the mountain that the camels could see but not me... even hard to see the person next to you!! I don't know how they do it!! After about 2 1/2 hrs on the camel, ( and some walked the whole way- which was amazing looking down the mountain to the stream of headlight torches meandering their way up the mountain) we said goodbye and then had the dubious task of walking the rest of the way - up 715 steps.. not your normal steps mind you - all uneven and long .. Made it up there at around 4.30am in time for sunrise. Was amazed at the amount of people already up there. As the light opened up in the sky the amazing sight of us actaully higher than most of the mountains around us! A most spectacular sight and one that I will remember for a long time. So peaceful up there. There were chinese tourists that held a small service up there amongst themselves and sung a hymn.. so amazing.. the sound filtered around us all and most all the people just sat and listened.
Stayed up there for about 2 hrs then realised that we had the daunting task of WALKING back down. And most of you know how much I like walking!!!!! It took us about 2 1/2 hours to walk the 7 kms!! I was very proud of myself.
Headed back to the Hostel for breakfast a swim, then off to the Nuweiba port to get the ferry to Jordan. Well that was a tour in itself!! If it had not been for Shady our leader we may still be there!!
Organised chaos is all I can use to describe it!! The officials treat their own people like pigs.. speak to them disgustingly.. felt very sorry for them, and it is Ramadaan, so that adds to it.. but we got on

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