Another Ten Commandments - a photo on Flickriver

            Number one. Thou shalt listen to thine better half when she hast spotted an all inclusive holiday at the Cleopatra Luxury Resort in Sharm El-Sheikh at a price it's impossible to ignore and instructs thee to get on with booking a fortnight for next winter.  January should be good. Thou shalt save a packet on the heating bill at home.  Two weeks of over indulgence is exactly what thyselves needest after Christmas and erm, two weeks of over indulgence. 

Number two. Thou shalt use the magical powers of YouTube to establish exactly what opportunities for mischief await thee in this previously unexplored land. And while Thou art watching endless videos of other trippers filling up on the all inclusive buffet at thine chosen hotel, Thou shalt notice a random inclusion in thy feed that awakens thee as to the possibility of trekking to the summit of Mount Sinai for sunrise. 

Number three.  Thou shalt scour the interweb for an excursion with acceptable levels of consumer feedback on Tripadvisor and book said adventure using thy Mastercard.  Thou shalt readily accept that the journey will be arduous and long, squashed onto a completely full coach with a kamikaze driver at the wheel, no seat belts and three square feet to call thine own and thou shalt suffer thine pennance gladly for the prospect of what thou are about to witness.

Number four.  Thou shalt arrive five and a half(!) hours later at St Katherine’s, at two thirty in the morning.  Thou shalt notice that even at the foot of the mountain it’s distinctly chilly and wonder just how cold it’s going to be on the summit.  Thou shalt put on all thy warm layers and prepare to be led up the mountain by three Bedouin guides under torchlight.  Thou shalt wonder at thy sanity and question thyself over whether it might have been better to continue glugging pina coladas by the pool instead.

Number five.  Thou shalt run the gauntlet of local traders, desperately trying to sell anything and everything to the assembly of bewildered looking tourists wiping sleep from their eyes.  “Very good price!”  “Thank you but I already have one.  I really don’t need two.”  Thou shalt do thine best to skulk in the shadows behind wealthier looking visitors.  Either that or more hostile ones. 

Number six.  Thou shalt proceed up the mountain path with thy newly acquired tribe, carefully avoiding loose rocks and camel dung.  And camels too for that matter.  There are lots of them sharing the trail with thee.  Thou shalt politely decline all offers to part with thy cash in order to ride a camel to the bottom of the seven hundred and fifty steps that make up the final kilometre to the summit.  And if thou dost decide to hire a camel, thou shalt remember the words that thy tour guide spake.  “Twelve dollars is the price!”  So if thou art asked for thirty dollars, thou art being ripped off to the tune of one hundred and fifty percent.

Number seven.  Thou shalt wonder at the long history of this place.  Most specifically, thou shalt shake thy head in the knowledge that it’s a very holy site for three of the world’s major religions.  If they have things like this in common, why have they spent hundreds and thousands of years fighting with each other?

Number eight.  Thou shalt arrive at a place just below the summit after two and a half hours of hiking, to a place where thou shalt be corralled into a space by the guides with thy company of trekkers until such time as the blue hour shall commence.  By now thou shalt be itching to bound like a mountain gazelle up the last hundred steps to the summit and commence figuring out thy compositions.  Because thou isn’t going to have very long at this rate.

Number nine.  Thou shalt receive an icy blast of wind as thou steppest outside of thy corral.  Thou shalt decide that perhaps it would be best to succumb to the advances of the Bedouin traders and hire a thick blanket to hide beneath in exchange for three dollars.  Thou shalt then decide that said hiding is rather restrictive when trying to set up thy travel tripod and the camera in time for the moment thou hast been waiting several months for.  

Number ten.  Thou shalt muscle thy way through the masses and pitch thy tripod on a wall above a long steep drop, whilst protecting thy camera equipment from the people around thee.  And for these troubles, thine reward shall be granted in the form of one of the most spectacular moments of thy very nearly three score years on the planet.  Thou shalt be speechless at the fiercely glowing orange sky as the sun creeps around the earth and over the distant Arabian mountains from the east.  Thou shalt at last be in agreement with thyself that thy ordeal was worth it.  For a long time in the preceding hours, thou wasn’t at all sure whether thy quest was really such a good idea.

Taken in: Egypt / South Sinai / Saint Catherine (show map)

Taken on: January 20, 2025

Tags:

Egypt

Mountain

Sinai Desert

Sinai Peninsula

South Sinai

Mount Sinai

Jabal Musa

Moses

Moses Mountain

sunrise

morning

sky

landscape

landscape photography

Canon

Asia

wilderness

adventure

glow

layers

colour

outdoor « less

Sets appears in: • Egypt 2025 • Sky Drama more » • Mountains • Explored « less

Groups appears in: • Amateur Landscape • Flickr's Best Landscape Photographers (Post 1 Award 2) more » • Golden Landscape, Only The Best ! (Post 1, Comment 1) • Photography Week • in explore • MOUNTAIN VISTA • Amateur Photographer Magazine • Flickr Social • Flickrology • **Special Landscapes** • WONDERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL.MARAVILLAS DE LA FOTOGRAFIA EN • Very Arty « less

Camera: Canon EOS 200D, f/8.0, 1/8 sec, 59mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 200D
Lens:	EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.125 sec (1/8)
Focal Length:	59mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	-4/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 14.1.1 (Windows)
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