Daniela Village St. Katherine Dahab

... there are some photos of this temple attached to this post as well, if you have not gotten too bored and switched off by now!!

Next stop...Luxor!

Well, this was a pretty full on place with an array of scammers and conmen (sorry, conpeople for those living in a PC world) trying to fleece you at every opportunity. It was so massively different froim Aswan, much dirtier, less organised, and with people all over. We got a good and cheap place to stay on the East ...

... br>They also claimed to have the earliest copy of the Bible on site, but I'm not sure if I believe that one.

So we took a bus to Dahab (which I fell asleep during) and arrived at around 1PM or 2PM, completely ready to relax and have a great time. All of us laid on the beach until dinner when we went to a seafood restaurant. And no, I didn't give up my ways and have seafood, especially the way they presented it, so I just had chicken. But the ...

... delicious Thai restaurant above our hostel. So basically, in Dahab we ate and went scuba diving. There were also several bars along the waterfront that we enjoyed beers at with our new scuba diving mates. Upon arriving in Dahab a bright yellow boat bar named "TOTA" immediately caught our attention. We were very disappointed when we found out it was the best bar in Dahab and had shut down due to unknown reasons.

After the four day course, Tagalong Tom left us. He had a lovely ...

... to the top! Looking out what a view, what a sense of achievement! We had all made it! Yes! I don't even think our guide had broken a sweat but we were still happy with what we had done. The view was amazing and we stayed up here for the sunset over the mountains and the desert.

Now we had made it up we had to make it down....in the dark! We had a wee head torches which were all right, small and compact but that also meant we didn't have heaps and ...

... the Bedouin guy said this was it, and pointed to Mount Sinai. Sweet mother of Jesus, what had I let myself in for? It was huge. Realised I was looking at the wrong one. The actual Mountain was bigger than that.

Mount Sinai is where the three Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam believe Moses received the 10 commandments from God. Surprised Moses wasn't in heaven himself to receive them as it was so big. Truly immense. We started climbing at a very fast rate and this ...

... moved on and came to the steps. Unfit , overweight and out of breath, I made it mainly because of Mahmud , who encouraged me every step of the way. Asking me to rest whenever I was out of breathe and pushing me to just go on whenever I rested too long - he was like my personal trainer.

Hurry , hurry , the sun's coming up - my daughter, Clarissa is pushing me. OMG - will I ever reach the top, yes I did and we had plenty of time to spare and look for ...

... just so apt in the monastery. Dinner was a hot meal - roast chicken with a lovely hot gravy. We ate quickly and took a stroll around . Wow the monastery is actually run by Greek priests so lots of heavy bearded man in black robe walking around. Naturally, we had to shop and the little souvenir shop had books, posters and souvenirs. Happy with the purchases, we retired early as we needed to wake up at 2 am for our midnight hike.

... It's a a kind of cave, around 130m deep. There is a shallow opening around 6m deep, opening out to the sea and an 26m tunnel, known as the arch, the top of which is 52m. The hole itself and the surrounding area has an abundance of coral and reef fish. The Blue Hole is notorious for the number of diving fatalities which have occurred there earning it the name World's Most Dangerous Dive Site and the nickname Diver's Cemetery. Accidents are frequently caused when ...

... clambered aboard our somewhat unorthodox form of transportation to be greeted with the sound of blaring Egyptian rap beats. "Boom....Boomboom". We were to endure this for a good hour and a half until we reached a larger, slightly less run-down coach. Travel weary, and slightly deafened, we found a seat on the coach and slept for most of the way into the desert. That is, we slept fairly well, until the guide of this tour turned the speakerphone up full blast and ...