Climbing Mt. Sinai in Egypt (Part I)

It's been a long time since I last open the Old Testament. One of the most popular biblical stories in it was how Moses led the Israeli out of slavery in Egypt. On September 11 2007 (yeah, it was exactly the date, 6 years after the 9/11) I flew to Egypt in my pilgrimage tour to the Holy land. I arrived on Sept 12, exhausted of sitting all day and night in the plane, and started the tour right away around the Cairo city. Cairo was very nice, especially the pyramids... it's humongous! However, it is Mt.Sinai who has stolen my heart.

On Sept 13, after another 5 hrs ass-locked-up on the couch, we arrived on Mt.Sinai. It was already 8p.m, so I wasn't really aware of the scenery, it's all dark. The food was terrible, the bed was worse, I haven't had enough rest and I had to wake up 1 a.m in the morning to climb mt.Sinai, the mountain Moses climbed and received the Ten Commandments from God. I didn't expect much, and it was just an optional tour, so I was actually able to skip the late night tour and get some rest. But I thought, I'm in Egypt, I should do everything to the fullest, I must try everything, including climb the 4000m high rocky mountain.

So there I was, woke up in 1am, washed my face and brushed my teeth, covered myself up with thick clothes, drank a lot of hot hot hot coffees, and ready to go.

I arrived at the 1st stop where everything was dark. I can smell the ugly camel poop. The Bedouins (The nomaden tribe from Arab Emirates) was all around speaking the unknown language. I was with Indonesian group yet I feel lost, especially in translation. I traveled with my mom, and such a shame for me to admit that we were on a group tour. Our friends in a tour were mostly the oldies, so most of them think that they couldn't make it to the top of Mt.Sinai, finally it was just the 8 of us, and I as the youngest of all.

We walked around 200m to the camel station (I call it a camel station since there're lots and lots of camels there, lining up like taxis in a hotel's front desk) I've been waiting for around 30minutes until I got my camel. Riding the camel was quite tricky; especially to hop on it, but the "camel guy" helped me. I almost fall at first but I succeed in my 2nd try. My tour leader already warned us that the track to climb the mountain was very small, and we'll be separated from the group since it's impossible for the camel to walk together. So there I was, separated from the group and especially my mom, I was much ahead. Only me, my camel, and the camel guy.

The sky was as dark as the black velvet. About thousands of stars felt very near above me. I can easily spotted the northern star, and I finally noticed the rocky mountains of Sinai. It looks like a big giant genie with lots of wrinkles on his face, very scary yet beautiful. We aren't aloud to use our flashlight since it could give temporary blindness to the camel, so the only lights came from the stars. The left and the right of the track is the rocky hills. Thanks God I can't see it because of the darkness, I know that it would be very scary. I know I could fall. My life depends on the camel.

After riding the camel for 1and a half hour, I arrived at the 2nd stop. I had to park my camel there and continue the journey by foot. It's still a long way to go and I've been warned that the track will be narrower. I waited for the rest of the group (and my mom of course), drank a cup of $1 hot cocoa, chat with another tourist from Colombia. Then I walk.

I noticed that there were some people wearing black robes and funny hat juts like in the old movies. I talked with one of them and he said that they were people from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Some of them were very old, but they had the courage to climb.

Then I walked. In the velvet darkness

I walked.

I slipped a little bit.

But then I walked again.

And I walked. I had walked for about 1 and a half hrs already.

The group stopped to much, they stopped every 20 steps. That's it. I can see the sky getting pinkish and I know soon the sun will rise. I really have to reach the peak before the sun rises, or else I could miss the best part. So I left my group and ran to the top.

The local guide told me that the top was only 5 mnts away. And there I lost my breath. I was dehydrated. I left my bottle of water in the 2nd stop since I don't want to carry anything, I need both of my palm free of holding anything to help myself climb up the mountain freely. The windy chill was getting into my skin and my bone. I felt my heart pumping like a 5000watt speaker in a live rock gig. But the sky was getting more pinkish and pinkish and I don't want to miss a thing, not a bit. So I kept climbing.

And there I was. On the top of mt. Sinai, right before the sunrise…

*to be continued, pics coming up...*