Never ride a camel on a full bladder

So I have finished my course. As part of it we were booked into a trip to the Red Sea. It has been a fantastic and luxurious contrast. We stayed in a tourist town called Sharm el Sheikh. The great thing about a tourist town is that it is totally geared for the needs of tourists. Snorkeling, beautiful beaches, restaurants, no clothing restrictions, four star hotel, stunning pool, sunscreen sold in the corner shops... Corner shops. It was all such an incredible escape. The not so great thing about a tourist town is that is is very expensive. Even though the hotel was paid for, nothing else was. A restaurant meal was around 6 British Pounds. Which is cheap if you are in the UK but expensive compared to the 2 pounds I would pay in Alex.

So I spent a bit of time under an umbrella by a pool and on a beach. I finished Wuthering Heights. Attempted to start the last of the mohecians... After two days I'm still not off page 3. I took my Padi certificate but didn't do any diving... too expensive. I did go snorkeling, saw loads of amazing fish including a puffer fish, a clown fish and a sweet fish about the size of my big toe.

With others from my course I went into the desert on night ride with quad bikes. I didn't drive because I'm a big girls blouse. I was on the back of Star's bike. Star has ridden motorbikes and snowmobiles a lot so was happiest at the back of the convoy where she could gain a lot of space then catch up by jumping and turning through the sand. I was happiest at the back too, cause if I fell off there would be no one behind to run me over. It was loads of fun. We stopped between rock formations to listen to the echo... We attempted to quack like a duck because that apparently doesn't echo. Didn't work. Popped into a Bedouin camp for a cup of tea and shisha.



The night before last I climbed to the top of mount Sinai, Where Moses saw God and received the 10 commandments. I went with Ryan, Za'imah, and Sabrina and 10 grumpy Russians and about 150 other tourists. Like Moses I walked most of the way barefoot. Unlike Moses it was because my plastic shoes were cutting in and in the cool of night it was just a lot more comfortable. We left the hotel at about 11pm drove to the mountain started climbing through a gauntlet of camel guides at about 2.30am and reached the summit in time to see sunrise. Brilliant. I got a camel ride down, I'm still walking like a cowboy. I also managed not to break any of the 10 commandments while I was there. It's the first 4 I tend to break, not any of the big ones.

I'm now in Cairo. Looking into options for what next. I left my large backpack in Alexandria. I think I will go back and get it tonight (about a 3 hour train ride). Then return to Cairo tomorrow. I will join Star, Ryan Za'imah and Sabrina to Luxor (another tourist town half way down the country on the Nile) by over night train tomorrow night. That will mean if I get a volunteer position in Sudan I can head directly south. Jake got work in Alex, Jackie left for Paris, Max is on his way to Turkey.