Egypt – Part 4 – Dahab

EGYPT

written by ed; photos by jayne

After having our senses and brains stretched from learning about ancient Egypt, we had decided that some chill time was in order. We had heard that Dahab would be a nice respite for us, it was a short flight from Cairo to arrive in Sharm El -Sheikh and then an hour’s drive to Dahab.

Dahab sits at the southwestern tip of the Sinai peninsula, which was occupied by Israel during the Suez crisis in 1956 and during the Six-Day War in 1967. In 1973, Egypt launched the Yom Kippur War to retake the peninsula but was unsuccessful. Finally, in 1982, Israel withdrew its forces a part of the peace treaty signed by Israel and Egypt in 1979 and in 1982 went under full Egyptian control. Security in and out of Dahab is tight, and it was our understanding that no one with any criminal record is allowed past security forces.

Dahab has morphed over the years from a hippie haven in the ’70s and ’80s to a world-class destination for scuba diving, wind-surfing, and snorkeling.  The laid-back vibe is still quite evident though, in the village with cafes, restaurants, dive shops, and the like, lining the main streets.

When we arrived at our hotel, well, you might say, we were a bit underwhelmed as it wasn’t exactly what we expected.  Moreover, we just didn’t feel the vibe we had heard about and anticipated.  Combine that with our disappointing food experiences at two highly rated restaurants, we began to question our choice of destination for the next 11 days. But, alas, things started to turn for the better, as we serendipitously stopped into a dive shop that turned out to be a meeting place for some interesting people. It also happened to offer some scuba options for Jayne and some snorkeling for the two of us.

After speaking with the person who ran the dive shop, who seemed friendly enough, we asked a German couple who had been in the shop about their experience and, as things turned out, they became our go-to source for anything Dahab. Jurg and Antije had been coming to Dahab for the past 20 years to scuba dive and had only wonderful things to say about this dive shop. Needless to say, we came back the next day and booked some dives for Jayne. Jurg and Antije proved to be great information resources for restaurants, falafel,  sweets, and, most importantly, they stayed at a boutique hotel that had some availability.  That was a blessing, as the Coach House, really made our stay in Dahab so much more comfortable. And, not to be overlooked, Jurg and Antije aside from being great resources, were super nice, warm people.

Although it took us a few days to get into the energy of Dahab it was easy to see why people come here to visit or in some cases, to live.  One of the things I noticed during our stay in cities outside Dahab was that men, regardless of how hot it was outside, only wore long pants and the majority of women wore some type of headscarf (hijab) which made sense since Egypt is 90% Muslim.  Before Dahab, I wore long pants and Jayne made sure that her shoulders and knees were covered.  While that is not mandatory, it is in our opinion, a matter of being respectful of another culture’s traditions and mores.  Upon arrival in Dahab though, it was evident everything goes! I don’t think I saw one man in 11 days wearing long pants (yes, I was looking for that) and many women were without headscarves.  Our understanding was that many of these same women would probably be wearing headscarves had they been back in Cairo, as an example.  In Dahab, though, people let their hair down, figuratively and literally.

One of the “adventure” options on the peninsula, some people opt for, and had been recommended to us by friends (thanks, Dan!), was the hike to Mt. Sinai, a popular pilgrimage site for Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike.  According to the Old Testament, this is where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.  Of course, if you are a believer in conspiracy theories, you might also adhere to the Mel Brooks revisionist view of the History of the World.  According to that version, there were actually 15 Commandments, but Moses broke the third tablet and so only ten were left.  I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to believe what you like.

We booked a private hike with a tour agency in Dahab and opted for us to arrive at the summit at sunrise versus sunset.  Our driver picked us up at our hotel at 10 pm and it was then a two-hour drive to St. Catherine’s Monastery where the hike begins.  The drive to the monastery was not without some drama, but as it turned out the drama was fabricated by us.  You can be the judge of whether the drama was justified but here we are being driven somewhere in the very dark of night by a driver who doesn’t speak much English.  About an hour into the drive there is a security checkpoint where the driver gets out of the car speaks to the guards, mentions we are Americans, comes back to the car, and in broken English tells us we have to wait 20 minutes before proceeding.  Mind you, there are no other cars at this checkpoint.  Jayne and I look at one another and really, there’s nothing that you can do but hope this is all going to turn out ok.  Sure enough, 20 minutes later we are escorted by a police car for a few hundred meters before the driver overtakes the car and we continue on our merry way.  We’re still not sure what that was all about.

We arrive at St. Catherine’s around midnight and there are a number of Bedouin men who serve as guides standing alongside the road.  Our driver gets out of the car and about 10 minutes later, we meet our guide, Gomaa, who spoke some, but not much English.

The hike is described in most tour books as moderate, about 14 km (8.4 miles) return so we both felt pretty confident going in.  The starting elevation is about  5,250 feet (1600 meters) at St. Catherine and 7,497 feet (2,285 meters) at Mt. Sinai.  We tried to get some sleep prior to our driver picking us up but the best we could do was some rest.  So, basically, we’ve been up since about 7 am and starting the hike at midnight and do not anticipate completing the climb until around 3:00 am.  At this point, there is no turning back.

The climb requires that you carry some light with you whether it’s a torch/flashlight or a headlamp as there is essentially no other light to be had other than the moon. Since it wasn’t close to being a full moon we made do with what we had. Additionally, we were each wearing about 4 layers of clothing (it would be cold at the top) and carrying a pack, (Jayne’s was much heavier than mine), and we started putting one foot in front of the other.

There are a few tea houses/coffee shops along the trail and we stop at each one for about 5-10 minutes as well as some shorter breathers, mostly for my benefit. About 1.5 hours into the hike, with a few people (all much younger than us, I might add) passing us, I’m beginning to feel like I’ve bitten off more than I could chew.  Gomaa, though, assured me we were going at a nice pace and that we would arrive at the top in three hours.   Since it took Moses 40 days, I was feeling pretty good about myself.

Three hours into the hike, we arrived at the final stop before we get to the summit -750 vertical stone steps, actually, most of the steps weren’t steps at all, but I digress.  It’s only another half hour to the top, Gomaa reassures us.  I was pretty spent at this point but again, one foot in front of the other we arrived at the final tea house at 3:45 am.  We now have to wait two more hours for the sun to rise.

The scene at the tea house was pretty interesting.  There are a few Bedouin men who run the teahouse and are shouting, “Tea, coffee, hot chocolate”, while a few others are renting blankets for about $3USD.  We’re feeling a bit chilled so we get some hot chocolates.  Soon thereafter, our legs are getting cold from just sitting around, so we rent a smelly camel blanket and watch over 400 people we were told, finally make it up to this area.

In spite of us being bundled up and it being pretty cold, it was a great place to people watch.  One scene was particularly funny.  As the Bedouin men were trying to rent blankets and telling people the price, one older European woman, tried to haggle with the man and only wanted to spend $2USD to which the bedouin held firm to his price.  Now haggling is quite common in Egypt and tourists usually have the upper hand, if they know what they are doing.  But in this case, here is a woman who’s obviously cold who won’t spend an extra dollar for a blanket to keep her warm.  Likewise, here’s a bedouin sticking to his principles, and probably saying to himself, “well lady if you want to freeze that’s your option”.  I don’t think she ever did rent the blanket but it was very amusing to watch.

About 20 minutes before the sun is about to rise, everyone who is not already at the summit (a few minutes up) makes their way toward the summit, waiting for the sun and its accompanying warmth to arrive.  Although the sunrise itself wasn’t spectacular necessarily, the scenery of the Sinai mountains was.  Since the hike up was in total darkness, this was the first glimpse of sunlight we had in several hours.

People were perched on all kinds of places along the summit to take in the beauty of it all and, of course, take pictures.

We stayed at the top for about an hour and then started our descent.  I know for many people, descending can be quite stressful, if not painful, but fortunately, I’ve never had that issue so the hike back was a breeze for both of us.  We were able to enjoy all the views we had missed on our way up and I basically, just let gravity take me down the hill.

As we were descending a large group of Ethiopian men and women were ascending to make the pilgrimage for sunset at the summit. Many of them were really struggling, some of them were barefoot, yet the determination on their faces told us they would make it to the top.