Loving Dahab

Oh yeah. I am over it. The bus ride that is. I knew it would be a matter of time and it was. I got here, checked into an ok (cheap) hotel, but didn't like it. I moved to a great place with really helpful and friendly staff. Once that happened, I knew that I would love Dahab. It has been great. I have had a busy couple of days here though. Sunday I read. I am trying to finish my book. I got up late, moved hotels, had a leisurely breakfast on the water, drank a cup of coffee, had a beer, and basically read my book. I bumped into my Felucca friends who are here and we had drinks and dinner. So nice. Then that same night I was off to Mt Sinai to climb during the night to be at the summit for sunrise. Amazing. I was sure that it was going to cloudy and I was excited that it wasn't.

Mt Sinai is an interesting place. A lot of really religious people make the pilgrimmage to the summit. i was going for a sunrise! There was a group of Chinese however, who were full of their religious fervor this morning. They piled off their bus in matching blue and with warmups with TAEKWONDOE written on the back. They hiked throughout the night and when they arrived at the summit, they started singing religious hymns. It was sort of nice; then the sun came up. Once the sun had risen, they all began chanting. It started with a low "mmmm mmmmm mmmm mmmm mmmm mmmm" and morphed into a full on yell, complete with hands raised and bodies shaking. Clearly the spirit had moved them. Wow. It was like nothing I had ever seen. It felt very cult like and a bit freaky. (Don't worry I took some pictures for proof.) I had rented a balnket at the summit to keep warm and it was worth it. it was really nice to be up there for all of this.

Walking down off the mountain we stopped at the Monastary adn got to see the actual burning bush. The one that spoke to Moses. Pretty cool. (Of course they are assuming that this is the bush, just as they are assuming that Mt Sinai that I hiked is the same one that Moses got the Commandments on). It was a rpretty remarkable day.

I got back and did a nice SCUBA dive for a while and had soem good local food. I am still a fan of the Kushary and Falafel. I am catching up with some friends tonight and then I am off to Jordan on Tuesday to see Petra. I will be in Jordan for two days and then back to Egypt.

Did I mention, Dahab is a laid back town good for chilling out and diving? Yeah, I kind of love it here.