Sunday, January 9, 2011

Day 11 - Sinai, Dabah (28th Dec 10)


"Mount Sinai , also known as Mount HorebMount MusaGabal MusaJabal Musa (standard Arabic meaning "Moses' Mountain") by the Bedouin, is the name of a mountain in Saint Katherine city, in the Sinai Peninsula of EgyptAccording to Jewish and Christian tradition this is the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

Mount Sinai is one of the most important sacred places in the Abrahamic religions. According to Bedouin tradition, this is the mountain where God gave laws to the Israelites."

We left Dahab at 11pm, reached the based at 2am, climbed for 2.5hrs reached the summit at an unearthly hour of 4.30am. And I saw a shooting star while i was climbing. It was freezing cold especially when the wind blew. The sunrise at 6.20am, and despite wearing 4 layers, we had to rent extra blankets to keep us warm in the cold dark pre-dawn morning.


There were a lot of Christian Pilgrims at the summit waiting for the sunrise. There was this African man (leading a group) who kept praising God and thank Jesus very loudly. Obviously, he wanted to let everybody knows that he was a very devoted Christian. However, he was really disturbing the peace and tranquility of the place by speaking loudly non-stop. An amazing display of over-enthusiasm and energy, but very annoying as well. He stopped when a Caucasian went over to ask him to shut up in a nice way. I guess God heard him well and clear.



Cold Morning!



View of Sunrise


Hills around Mt Sinai


Beautiful Sky.
The world is just too beautiful and awesome!!!



Guess what are we doing?

AY: Fluttering her pink Scarf like the Burning Bush in the Bible
Jon: Splitting of the the Red Sea like Moses 
SM: Praising the Lord 
Boon: Displaying the 10 commandments. 





Beautiful Sunrise!!!






Hordes of Tourists



Why is there a fire extinguisher?
Because that is the Burning Bush!!

"The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus (3:1-21) as being located on Mount Horeb; according to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name.[1] In the narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan."




"Saint Catherine's Monastery lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in Saint Katherine city in Egypt. The monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO report (60100 ha / Ref: 954), this monastery is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world together with the Monastery of Saint Anthony, situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo, also lays claim to that title."


Blue Sky
=)

No comments:

Post a Comment