The total distance to climb to the peak was about 3.5 kilometers and average time taken to go up and down has been seven hours. Jebel Musa is about 3,000 meters high, halfway up using a path zigzagging up the incline and the rest of the way which gets steeper as we go up has more than 3,000 steps of rocks arranged by monks in the early days to ease climbing up somewhat. Later, I was told, some workers help rearranged the rocks to make better and sturdier steps. Climbers were advised to wear appropriate clothes as it is cold up there, wear rubber shoes and to bring along torchlight, bottled water for drinking and washing as toilets, although available up near the peak, are without water supply.
With a tight schedule and thirty nine participants ranging in age from 29 to 72, keeping time was a challenge, more so when some members of the group needed to go to the toilet often. Traffic conditions, in Cairo especially, did not help our schedule. We were caught in the 'expected' Cairo traffic jam!! and thrown off our schedule by more than a couple of hours. We only managed to get out of Cairo at about midnight and with four hours it took to drive to Turisina we just had to give watching sunrise from Jabel Musa a miss.
We slept almost all the way to our hotel in Sinai. There was not much to see anyway being nighttime. We had to stop at several security checkpoints along the way, more than half a dozen, each heavily guarded with 'menacing' security personnel brandishing guns and machine-guns. Each stop the driver has to sign something amidst loud Arabic banter that sounded more like quarrels to me than decent conversation between adult men. We finally arrived at our hotel in the wee hours, checked into our rooms, refreshed and regrouped to start the climbing expedition.
We were taken to the starting point of the climb near a monastery called St Catherine, a walled cluster of old buildings.
I was told that there is also a small mosque in the cluster of buildings. The main door to the walls of the monastery was closed when we were there, hence no opportunity to see inside. The buildings looked badly weathered, rundown, needing maintenance. There is also a small cafeteria and a couple of souvenir shops nearby.We went straight to the camel enclosure not too far from the monastery and picked a camel each to ride halfway up the mountain at USD 12.00 one way. The camel guide walked alongside as we climbed. The tract upwards meandered and zigzagged up the side of the mountain and the ride to the upper camel station took about two hours.
Ram was assigned a camel. She had some difficulties getting on the animal and had to be helped (lifted) onto it. The camel was at this time on its belly with legs folded and was cool and unconcerned of the fuss going on at his back!! Ram gave a short scream when the camel got up, first lifting its back and straightening its hind legs, thus throwing Ram forward and then straightening its front legs to level up, throwing Ram backwards, all the time she was holding onto the wooden stump at the front and back of her saddle. When my turn came I felt how Ram felt when the camel got up from its resting position, the first of many more yet to come of ‘rock and rolls’ and slides of my bottom!!
Perched on top of the camel, swaying side to side with its every stride up the incline, and more than two meters above ground (the camel is a tall animal), with nothing to hold on except the 8 inches wooden stump that's part of the saddle, scares the wit out of us. It felt even worse when you look to one side and see the steep fall down the mountain side.
The saddle placed on the hump of the camel's back was no comfortable, cushioned saddle fashioned as the saddles you see in western movies. It has two wooden stumps, front and back, on a base that's tied onto the camel's back with blankets covering the contraption attempting to provide cushion for the rider. Our legs were just dangling on each side with nothing to rest on. It was far from comfortable!! One can also fold one’s leg over the camel’s neck but that position was not comfortable either. The wooden stumps rubs against your front or back with each movement of the animal, while being jolted up and down at the same time. Each time the camel lifts itself onto a higher level step we will get the upward jolt. But, you get the knack of it after awhile, taking into the ride synchronizing our body sway with the movement of the camel. (I wonder how Peter O'Toole can look so determined riding a fast camel in the movie "Lawrence of Arabia". His bump must have hurt so much.... just like mine!!)
As we progressed up the incline I kept looking out for the upper camel station, hoping the torture on my bottom can end soon but could not see it because of the undulating terrain. Almost about two hours into the climb we began to pass people coming down, some on foot and some on camels. This side of the mountain was suddenly swarming with people, young and the not so young like us, all rushing down, most looking tired and sweaty. At a few stages on the camel route there was even 'camel traffic jam!!' The crowd was really international, English, various European nationals, Japanese, Koreans and others. Obviously all would have climbed in the night and stayed to observe the sunrise.
All the people were coming down while our group was the only one going up. We started our climb just at dawn while all these people would have started their descend after observing sunrise. I guess when we passed those people coming down we were at almost halfway up the mountain. It was then passed 8.00am. I figured we would have more than two hours of climb to reach the peak.
The camel ride meanwhile was getting more grueling as the climbing gradient became steeper in incline. Our back rubbed against the back stump of the saddle but the camel kept on climbing at normal pace and none the worse for the steep incline. It's a very cool and steady animal.
We finally arrived at the upper camel station and settled dues with the camel guide. Off the camel and with feet on firm ground we felt much relieved although we could still feel the numbness in our thighs and legs having had them dangling and swinging with every step of the camel for more than two hours.
We were walking 'bow-legged' for a while but not for long as we then began our climb up the steep flight of steps to the peak...... The practical side of me said "No, enough, lets go down" but the emotional me said, "Don't give up.... You've come this far.... finish it!!" Ram was very determined to continue and was instrumental in me making the decision to go on. So we trekked on up the steps.....
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya.
1 comment:
tak ada ke lebih banyak gambar sekitar pendakian
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