Teen Travel Blog

After a great visit to the city of Luxor, a much quieter version of Cairo with broad boulevards, a beautiful walkway along the Nile River and the staggeringly huge Karnak Temple, Zach and I flew to Sharm El-Sheik, perched at the southern tip of the rugged and mountainous Sinai Peninsula.  Flying in over the Red Sea, we could see miles and miles of turquoise blue waters, perfect for SCUBA diving.  It is easy to see why the Red Sea is reputed to be one of the best diving locations in the world.

A common pilgrimage in this part of Egypt is to climb to the top of Mt. Sinai to watch the sun rise.  (As a quick review for those of you who haven’t read the bible recently, Mt. Sinai is the mountain Moses climbed to receive the 10 Commandments from God. ) We caught the late bus and drove through half the night to reach the base of Mt. Sinai around 2am.   Our small group of international travelers was assigned the team name “Alaska”—that way if we got separated in the dark, our guide would simply yell “Alaska” and we’d head in his direction–and we started the 2 ½ hour trek to the top.

After 30 minutes of hiking through rugged boulder-strewn canyons in the pitch dark (and frequent calls of “Alaaaaaska”), we suddenly started hearing these strange guttural sounds.  Instantly dozens of huge “boulders” inches away from us all started growing…and moving…and swaying.  In the ambient light we realized we were hiking through a Bedouin camel park and we were in the midst of hundreds of camels….none too happy to have us get so close.  It was all a bit surreal…Egypt, Sinai, Moses, Camels.

Our arrival at the summit was punctuated by the chanting of monks, a strong reminder that this was one of history’s and religion’s most sacred sites. The sunrise was spectacular.  It was stunning watching the Sinai desert come to life far beneath us.  All in all, a very mystical experience for a couple of pretty cynical guys. 

Things we’ve seen and heard:

• You drink tea with every meal, negotiation, meeting, and get together.  We were even offered tea when we were buying goods at the little knick-knack shops.
• Rule of Negotiation in Egypt.  Once a price is given, counter with 10% of that price and then be pleased if you end up at 60-70% of the original price.
• Camel carcasses litter the desert.  Sad to see them along the sides of the desert roads.
• Karnak Temple in Luxor is so massive and huge that St. Peter’s in Rome would fit inside of Karkak. It was build by the pharoahs to dwarf the common man…and it does.
• An airport security screener sound asleep with his head resting on a roll of toilet paper resting atop the X-ray keyboard.  We had to wake him up to pass security.

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