It was Christmas day when we approached Dahab but it was far from our minds as we needed somewhere to sleep, and badly too after the near incident of going into the ditch on our way. The entrance to Dahab town was very well lit with dual carriageway and even had Christmas decoration on the trunks of the date palms.  We relied on Ron and TJ and their lonely planet guide to get to the Penguin, a place recommended in the book. As it turned out there are lots of hotels in Dahab from the Hilton to the budget class and we ended up in one of the budget hotels, Bishibishi at 15.5 Euros with breakfast thrown in, as the Penguin was full.

We were just too tired to care about the state of the rooms but as it turned out it wasn’t too bad although it was anyone’s guess as to how long the blankets had not been washed. We decided to stay another night even before we went for breakfast but was told to check later on if there was room available. Breakfast was at a restaurant called Funny Mummy across the road and on the seafront. It was a rather cosy setup with brightly couloured drapes hanging to break the wind and everyone seat on the cushion, Arab Style. The breakfast was quite substantial too.

By midday we were told we could stay another night but have to shift rooms which we couldn’t understand why we needed to. We didn’t argue and headed out towards St. Katherine’s monastery. We had to pass 4 check points on the way and at the third we were told that the Monastery only opens between 9am till 12pm daily except Fridays and Saturdays when no visitors are allowed. It was then almost 3pm and even the visitor’s centre was shut. Nevertheless we were allowed to proceed as we only wanted to see the Monastery from outside as we had driven a long way, 120kms to be exact.

The temperature in the mountains surrounding the Monastery, which was more like a fort started to drop as soon as the sun went down and by the time we got back to the car it was 9C. If we were fit we could stay at one of the accommodations nearby and climb up Moses Hill or Mt Sinai the next day which involve 6 hours of walking. It could take me 12 hours, if I manage to get to the top at all with Adrain in tow! So we went back to Dahab.

We were looking forward to a nice dinner at the Funny Mummy as we saw that they serve fish. We ordered our fish and Alison also ordered pasta to top up our meal and for Adrian. It was rather romantic with the fire lit in the middle and candle lights too, but a wee bit chilly with the wind blowing from the Gulf of Aqaba. The meal cost us 124 EGP and we went back to the room happy knowing that we had not been ripped off.