Hello Israel

After spending the night in the straw hut, I took a bus to the Egyptian town of Taba and walked across the border to Eilat in Israel. Went straight to the bus station and took a long and hot bus ride to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was incredible in almost every way imaginable. Didn't do much the first day, pretty much just checking into the hotel and got a bite to eat. Seeing the military in the streets takes some getting used to.

Straw Camp

After climbing Mt Sinai, I took a bus to a small community near the Israeli border called Nuweiba. I got there late at night and decided to try staying in one of the "camps" on the Red Sea. As you can see, there is not much to them, a little hot at night and a lot of straw. Beautiful view and wonderful people, so I can't complain.

Mt Sinai

Very early in the morning, I climbed Mt Sinai. The tourist bus came to my hotel at about 11 PM and we drove for three hours through the Red Mountains and then began hiking. It was still dark so I couldn't see much on the way up. The top of the mountain was so cold because of the wind, hard to believe anything here can be cold in July. The sunrise was beautiful. It is incredible to think that Moses received the Ten Commandments in the same place I was standing all those years ago. The guide convinced me to take the stairs route down and informed he halfway down that there were 3000 steps- but they are small ones, he said. Hmmmm. The Monastery of St Catherine, at the base of the mountain, was beautiful as well, supposed to house the burning bush and Moses' Well. I had a wonderful time.

Sharm El Sheikh

I flew from Luxor to Sharm El Sheikh, on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. It is gorgeous here, just like all of the pictures. While I was here, I did a lot of snorkeling just off the beach from the hotel, the coral is bright and there are so many kinds of fish. Water is a bit cool, but feels wonderful after being outside. Went on a snorkeling trip to Tiran Island which was fabulous- coral here was even brighter and there was a greater variety of fish. My favorite is this neon purple fish about three inches long.

Luxor- Trip 2

Today I went to three more temples- the Temple of the Nobels, Medinet Habu Temple and the Karnak Temple. Karnak is hands down the best in my opinion- 134 huge columns, pretty spectacular. Temple of the Nobels (last photo) was neat, but in a way, was a smaller version of Valley of the Kings. Habu (second photo) was beautiful- some of the reliefs still have perfect color despite being outside and exposed to the elements, I don't know how the Egyptians did it. Karnak was just incredible, I think it was my favorite- takes a long time just to walk around it. It is huge (first photo).

Luxor- Trip 1

From Cairo, I took a plane to Luxor- the Nile isn't high enough this time of the year to take a boat, which would have been my preference. Today I went to three temples in Luxor- Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens and the Hatshepsut Temple. They were all great, but it was very hot. It is amazing how far down into the ground the King's temples were. The paintings and carvings inside are beautiful- some look like they have been created yesterday. The photos are all from Hatshesput- pictures weren't allowed at the other sites, but the landscape looks the same at them all.

Day 3 in Cairo

Today Hamada and I went to the Egyptian museum, I saw mummies! They still have teeth, hair, fingernails, it is crazy. There were so many artifacts at the museum it was hard to take it all in, but it was really cool. No photos because photography isn't allowed. In the evening, we went on a cruise on the Nile- the river is beautiful. Kinda funny- I didn't get the photo in time, but there was a bird floating on a pile of garbage down the river. Or maybe that is sad....