Mystical Mt Sinai, the Suez, 1 night in Cairo, karaoke, and a KFC run by deaf people.

Leaving the relaxing Dahab we headed inland to Mt Sinai. At the base of the biblical mountain sits St Katherine’s Monastery (which houses the famous Burning bush, or a descendant of). The itinerary included a walk to the top in order to watch sunrise. For some reason most people think that climbing a small rocky mountain is not painful enough, and think that climbing it in the middle of the night, in order to watch sunrise is a much better idea. Having climbed Sinai last time I was here (that time for sunset, a much more pleasant undertaking) there was no way I was missing a night of sleep to watch the sun complete its daily birth from the eastern horizon. Perhaps unfortunately my lack of enthusiasm rubbed off on the others, or maybe they truly saw the pointlessness of climbing a largely insignificant (to us unreligious types anyway) rocky peak in the middle of the night. Either way we all opted for a nearby guesthouse and a good nights sleep. After the escapes of my birthday celebrations the night before, everyone was asleep as soon as their heads hit the rather hard pillows.(Photo above: Breakfast with the truck in front of Mt Sinai)

We awoke refreshed, but down a few pints of blood courtesy of the local mosquitoes. A long day driving through the Sinai peninsular got us to the Suez canal and the ever amusing sight of ships moving through the desert. As you can’t get very close to the actual canal due to security reasons, it looks like the massive cargo ships are simply moving through the desert. After negotiating the Cairo traffic with liberal use of the horn (a thoroughly unenjoyable experience for our driver Yo), we arrived and, of course, headed straight to that beacon of culinary excellence, KFC. But it was not only the delicious chicken that drew us in, the opportunity to give something back to the Egyptian community (the restaurant is entirely run by deaf individuals) also attracted us. Perhaps. Or maybe it was just the chicken. Either way, we sought the safety of the deep fryer, and while our hearts may have suffered, our bowels were thankful. After a little Karaoke, we were off to bed, in preparation for our trip into the western desert the next day. (Photos: Above Adam gets in some liquid refreshment on the way to Cairo. Below, filming the crazy Cairo traffic)