Novotel Coralia Dahab

... like a mini-bomb just waiting to unleash itself into your naked eye.<br><br>The black mud from local deposits 'naturally' carries ancient healing powers, and for a Dinar or two more, you can coat yourself in the shiny black goo.<br><br>All quaint and curious fun in a country that from a distance looks like a stretch of tarmac between Damascus and the land of the Pharoahs.<br><br>The Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth, at 422m below sea level, was merely an introduction.<br><br>The area ...

... us directly, but we are morally and principally against what is happening. The hotel is not full and our tour guides are not objecting to this matter, in fact they do not seem to care about concerns expressed, so we suspect they might have something to do with it.<br><br>Our room is large with two twin beds but it is very dormitory-like. It is quite cool outside and the power goes out intermittently leaving the entire complex in ...

... hour, in thirty seven degree heat and at the end of this the tour leader decides it would be a good time to mention no cameras. I thought Julia was going to grab her tripod and stab the tour leader with it. "Why did she not mention this BEFORE we left the hotel?!" Hubby restrained and calmed her down. I liked her even more after discovering everyone has a breaking point- Julia's was tour guides with lack of foresight combined with hour long donkey rides.<br ...

... climbing-style more direct ascent to the top. I decided to go Robert Frost on everyone and push for the Stairs, which very few ascend. Pretty soon, everyone was on board which made Happy happy. He liked the stairs. And he was barefoot. The ascent up the stairs was very difficult. It was pitch black outside, though the stars were gorgeous, and the &#8220;Stairs&#8221; were no easy task. I originally thought the stairs would be the easier route. But in ...

... you to ride one of the smelly beasts, it is really just beautiful. The stars at the top of Mount Sinai are like nothing we have seen before. As Shona had a torch it seemed a lot easier than last time, when she was just stumbling up it blindly, stubbing her toe on every rock, and she was even able to avoid standing in the camel ****. <br><br>Finally after more than a week we head back to work tomorrow, as an 18 hour bus ride awaits to take us to Luxor and down to Aswan. <br><br>

... up too much room in the backpack!) we decided to head down before dark, and besides we are hiking up Mt Sinai tomorrow night, in the middle of the night to catch the sunrise. At the bottom of the mountain we stopped for tea with the Bedouins who live there by the mountain. They were so nice, the tea was great! There English amazing...( he said he learned from American TV!) and they played some traditional music for us, and even posed with us ...

... My friends and I followed suit. At 11:00 at night, we piled in to a mini-van with our packs full of water and food, feeling overheated in our multiple layers in the still lingering coastal heat. Two bumpy hours, multiple episodes of dozing sleep, and several police checkpoints later, we arrived at the base of the mountain. We began the trek as a group, our Bedouin guide Mohammed leading my friends along with a few French, a Korean, and a 65 year old Canadian. But as the climb ...

... Israel to Jordanian border, get out of taxi, cross border, get into Jordanian taxi and go to Aqaba. Somehow I think there is plenty of room for problems here but we are going to hope for the best (and expect the worst). If you don't hear from us it means we are being detained in a. Egypt b. Israel or c. Jordan. Lani suggested we make sure Maddie is in front as they are partial to pretty blond girls. It might not be a bad idea! We'll summarize our highs and lows for Egypt in the next blog. Wish us well!

Out of Africa With mixed feelings we crossed the Suez tunnel to Sinai and the other side of the Red Sea and therefore into Asia and out of Africa. We travelled perpendicular to the route, taken so often by both the children's grandfathers. The elder men travelled by boat through the Canal, we went underneath it, by truck. We had slept in the Red Sea Hotel in Port Tawfiq. The sixth floor holds the restaurant that looks out over the Canal's southern entrance. From the windows we could ...