Tales from the Land of the Pyramids - Mt Sinai in Egypt

I've been very lazy about putting the rest of my albums

together from my Egypt and Jordan trip. I thought I would

share some tales from where my mum and I traveled from

Cairo to Mt. Sinai in September.

The snapshot above was taken from the mini van on the way to

Mt. Sinai. Quite a desolate area. During the time, there had been

some Europeans who had been kidnapped in Egypt and the Egyptian

government had decided all Americans and Brits needed tourism

police escorts. Mind you, the Europeans kidnapped were extremely

far from the normal tourist route near the Sudanese border. My mom

and I have never been on a tour where we've been outnumbered by our

escorts...We took a very small tour and it happened to be that we were

the only ones to continue to Jordan and Mt. Sinai was one of the stops

along the way.

I think a lot of people don't realize the lengths that the Egyptian
government tries to protect the tourism industry there as it is
most definitely their main source of revenue. It's tough when your
country is 95% desert and they only have enough oil for themselves -

not enough to export. I thought one of the most fascinating facts

about the Nile River is that it's the only river in the world to run from

the South to the North instead of the other way around. This is why

the South of Egypt is called Upper Egypt and the North of Egypt is called

Lower Egypt - it follows the direction of the Nile River rather than North

or South on a political map.

So there were we were, the two of us with a driver, a guide, and

a tourism police escort...

On the way, I asked the driver to stop when I saw this lovely

camel by the side of the road. We opened the van door and I

was able to catch a shot as he was heading away. Mind you,

this was before I actually got on a camel in Jordan which

scared the living daylights out my mom and I. A story for a

later post... Some things are better admired from afar or

through a lens or ridden in an open area...

When we reached our hotel in the middle of the mountains,

there was a nice bedouin tent set up by it.

Of course, complete with a souvenir shop.

I, for one, would never complain about

shopping.

What really amused me was when I peaked inside the tent.

In the corner was a full computer and fan all wired up. You

would never be able to tell from the outside of the tent that

there was anything electronic, much less a computer with a

connection to the internet inside. This is what I call, modern

Bedouin living.

At night, the place transformed into

a wonderful place for a party.

Isn't the inside cool?

We had tea to boot.

Here's my mom outside with our very

nice guide in front of the fire.

But the party was definitely inside the tent and let me tell

you, if you ever travel - it's the Brazilians who are always

the life of the party.

They even got all dressed up to party.

After the exciting night, we turned in and made it

to a monastery called St. Catherines in the middle

of the mountains.

Of course I couldn't stop taking photos of the camels...

But I did find this man to be very clever. He was building a stone

structure and they obviously don't have stone or tile cutters there.

So he improvised by dribbling water onto the stone

as he was cutting so it wouldn't crack as he drilled.

And this is where the famed burning bush that

Moses spoke to - within St. Catherine's monastery.

You see everyone trying to touch it there.

Anyhow, the New Year is upon us and I hope

this has inspired some of you to travel or have

and adventure this coming year!

Happy New Year and be safe!

I will be returning next monday on January 5, 2009.