Bons baisers de Russie: January 2010

Looking through the weather pages early today, I wasn't surprised to read that the day is only 6 hours long in St-Petersburg at this time of year. So for those asking what was the motivation behind this latest vacation destination, I have 18 reasons... What does one do when they have the winter blues and need to get away? Well, if you happen to live in Montreal, a cheap and easy option is to book an all-inclusive vacation to some island location like Cuba. If you happen to be in St-Petersburg, Sharm El-Sheikh (pronounced "shake") in Egypt is the equivallent... really!

As time passes, I become more and more surprised that there are ANY international flights from St-Petersburg, as the airport looks like it belongs in Rouyn-Noranda (small-ish mining town in northern Quebec) and many major airlines connect through Moscow anyways. But much to my surprise, there are charter flights that fly direct from St-Petersburg to Sharm El-Sheikh. And because this is a flight from St-Petersburg, this meant that it was a flight full of Russians, except of course for Matvei and myself, who were the only people needing Migration cards on our return - to the point that we actually had to ask the flight attendant for these because they weren't handing them out as they do on all other international flights. Sharm El-Sheikh is a resort town on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, which has a lot of interesting attractions in the general area and that has become very popular with Italian and British tourists, and in recent years Russians as well. The local language is Arabic, but it was not uncommon to meet Egyptions who spoke any combination of English, Italian, or Russian - and they speak these additional languages WELL.

Our trip began with some relaxing by the crystal clear waters of the Red Sea, followed by a visit into the local market (still named "Il Mercato" from the hey-day when the first tourists in the area where from Italy).

We spent some time at this little shop to partake in one of the local customs: having tea. The shop keeper was lovely and was one of the first quadrilingual locals that we would meet. He explained how tourism had transformed the area and how things had changed when the terrorist attacks occured several years ago. But since things have settled down in recent years, the city has regained its momentum for growth and economic development.

I was really hoping that this sign didn't mean "do not drink the tea"... ;-)

Now you may be asking yourself why I would take a photo of the garbage cans, and there are a few reasons why these intrigued me. First, I have spent the last 6 months living in a place where there is NO recycling system set-up for average citizens - they don't even recycle paper in offices! Yes, it does bother me that things like egg cartons and glass bottles go to landfills instead of being transformed to find a second life, but this is the reality of where I am. So to find a garbage can next to two recycling bins was a sight that I've missed. Second, the fact that these were indicated in multiple languages (English, Arabic and Russian) was a sight for sore eyes. And lastly, yes, I thought it was kind of cute that they used terra cotta pots for the garbage and recyle bins.

The first major excursion of the trip was to climb Mount Sinai. Yes, this is the place where Moses was known to have seen God as a burning bush and where, at the summit of the mountain, God gave Moses the tablets which contained the Ten Comandments.

There are 2 paths up Mount Sinai, one is a constantly sloping road and the other is known as "the steps of penitence" and is, as you guessed it, all stairs. The two paths meet a few hundred meters from the summit, from which point one must climb 750 steps to reach the summit at 2285 meters. Hikers are required to take a Beduin (meaning "man of the desert") guide to show them the path and this hike is most commonly done at night, so that you can watch the sunrise from the summit.

The journey up the mountain took over 3 hours to complete and started a little after 2 am. Despite the light from flashlights, it is still very dark. So as your eyes start getting used to the dark at the bottom of the mountain, the first sight may come as a surprise: camels, lots and lots of camels. The first thing I saw was what I can only refer to as a parking lot of camels, as many locals offer you camel rides (at what cost I didn't even want to ask) regularly, almost until the two paths meet near the summit. Some of the roads follow the edge of the cliff, so I was quite impressed to see these camels trot by on these narrow paths without a moment's hesitation. But then again, this was probably the 100th time he'd walked this path...

We were warned to bring warm clothes on this hike, but I wasn't quite prepared for just how cold it was going to be at the top... What was also surprising was the extreme change in temperature once on the sun came up at 6:30 am and how sweltering hot it was once we got back to the bottom. Such is life in the desert...

Once at the top, everyone scrambled to get a spot where they could sit to see the sun rise.

The rocks seemed to glow gold when the first rays of sun hit them.

The mountain ranges viewed from the top are spectacular, though I must admit that this was the first time I'd seen such mountains where there was no living vegetation in sight.

What goes up, must come down... I like this shot because it gives a sense of the mountains as well as an idea of just how many people do this hike every night. There were "cafés" at various locations along the camel trail. They sold everything from hot drinks and snacks to flashlights and blankets. The guys selling blankets must make a fortune!! Most people are willing to pay the 20 Egyptian pounds to buy a blanket (worth every penny!) but few bother carrying the extra bulk back down with them. Once the crowd leaves they return to the top, collect the abandoned blankets and resell them the next night.

The steps down drop you off in the backyard of St-Catherine's Monastery. It was impressive to look back from the bottom to see just how far we had come.

No trip to Sharm would be complete without a trip to the Old Market. This is a place where shopping and negotiating become an extreme sport. Vendors constantly call to invite you into their shops, promising "a good price". But the best one I heard was from someone as I was walking out of the area on my way home, "How can I take your money from you?" I laughed so hard that if I'd had any money left, I probably would have turned around to visit his shop - at least he was honest!

Now I cannot properly convey just how much I was looking forward to sampling some of the local dishes. Egyptian cuisine isn't as well known as, say, Lebanese food, but there are many many similar influences. The food is very rich in spices without being particularly spicy. The first find was a small shop called Fares, which had been recommended by a few locals as the best fish restaurant. There was nothing fancy about the place, the menu was simple, the table were all covered with plastic table cloths, but the atmosphere had that hectic hustle and bustle one expects in Egypt and the food was amazing. This tangine was a mix of seafood, including a type of grouper that was without a doubt the best white fish I've ever tasted.

Our hotel had its own private beach, which was wonderful. The floating pier allows you to get beyond the coral reef and into the deeper waters on the other side. Our scuba dives would start from here.

Crystal clear water.

This was the spot that would eventually become our little private corner of the beach. There were no chairs, so none of the other tourists seemed to come here.

The island in the distance in Titran. Behind that, the mountains of Saudi Arabia are visible on a clear day. It's an interesting area where many countries share waters, but more to come on that later...

Lounging by the pool...

Another local tradition/habit is smoking shisha. For those unfamiliar with this (where have you been hiding?), flavoured tabacco is smoked using a hookah, which has a pipe that draws the smoke through water that filters and cools it. This has become popular in many countries, but originated in this corner of the world.

Most of the cafés that offered shisha were open-aired, with lounges and pillow arranged on the floor instead of chairs. It's the perfect way to relax at the end of an evening.

I always find labels in foreign languages interesting. I would have never guessed that the drink to the left was soda water!

I mentioned scuba diving earlier, and I understand now why most people who've been diving in the Red Sea swear by it. The visibility is excellent, the topography and nature of the coral reefs are very beautiful and there are MANY species of fish to be encountered on any dive. We saw lion fish, sea turtles, spotted sting rays and a huge variety of coloured fish.

What trip to the desert would be complete without a little safari?... So we booked a full-day excursion with an Italian tour operator to spend some time in the desert and get to finally ride a camel! I wanted to get out of hearing Russian all the time and be surrounded with a language that I actually understood for a change! Seeing as heading to Egypt wasn't enough to give me that opportunity, this was an excellent option! Our driver was INSANE by all western standards, the lovely Italian lady sitting on my left in the jeep had moments where she couldn't look forward as she worried about how close our driver was to street traffic, but that certainly made for a fun ride in the desert! The landscape seems deceptively flat around the mountains, but if there were hills and turns to be found on these unwritten roads, Mohamed our driver certainly found them! "Yala! Yala!"

We stopped in a beduin village for some tea, where our guide explained the life and habits of the different types of beduin tribes. With no formal medicine other than herbs and grasses found in the desert, I was very surprised to learn that the average life expectancy is 75 years! I guess stress IS responsible for most of the illnesses we suffer!

We joke about how a woman's worth is measure by how many camels a suitor is willing to offer for her hand in marriage, but it is true! The camel is a very valuable item in the desert: not only does it provide a means of transport, but it also provides milk (and cheese is made from this milk), its hair is used for wool and camels know how to find drinking water in the deepest parts of the desert!

The turbans are to protect from both the wind and the sun.

Once out of the desert, we headed to the coast for our camel ride!! I was surprised as to just how soft the wool/fur is around their ears and necks.

Yee-ha!

Here is the group of Italians with the 2 Canadian add-ins ;-)

The camel ride brought us to a place referred to as "The Blue Hole". If you look closely in the picture, you can see a circular area where the water gets darker - the coral there opens up and the bottom is several hundred meters below. We only snorkeled here, but even close to the surface there was lots of marine life to see. Though I must admit that trying to free dive in a wetsuit is rather challenging in water this salty - I couldn't sink! The only body of water that has a higher natural, salt concentration is the Dead Sea.

I liked how it was unclear where the sea ended and the sky began...

Unfortunately, we were unable to visit Giza to see the Great Pyramids (so I WILL be coming back to Egypt to see that before return home at the end of my Russian assignment), but we did manage to make a day-trip into Jordan to visit Petra.

The city of Aquaba is interesting as the boundaries of Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia all lie within a short distance.

It started with a very early pick-up and several hours on the road before we made our way to the city of Taba, where we would catch the ferry to Jordan.

We arrived in Aquaba and then had a little more road to travel. Unfortunately, it was overcast that morning, so the mountains of Petra could not be seen in the distance.

After much travel, we finally arrived at the entrance to one of the New Wonders of the World.

Petra used to be a fully functioning city. The initial separation of the rock walls to form the canyons all those years ago was said to be due to the separation of the tectonic plates that formed the diffrent land masses that would eventually become Africa and the Middle East.

One must first walk over 1 km before reaching the city.

Seeing people walking through the passage gives a good indication of just how high some of the rock walls really are.

Here is the money shot: the treasury can be seen in the distance. And those of you asking yourselves the question, yes, this was used in one of the Indiana Jones films.

This building was carved out of solid rock. The task took 20 years to complete - every day during those 20 years, 100 men worked to sculpt what would eventually become the treasury.

This picture shows some of the magnificent colours within the rock formations, as well as the conservative dress worn by some Egyptian women. The head must be covered, as well as limbs to the wrist and the ankles; however, most women will leave their faces revealed.