Kood & Chang in the Red

Why did it take so long for us to make it to Thailand? What an amazing country, clearly with lots of places to explore – on this fifteen day trip we’d only have time for visiting Bangkok, Ayutthaya, and a couple of the many islands. Not sure of the reason but something drew me to the islands closest to the Cambodia border and away from the more touristy places around Phuket. They looked easy to get to and were still relatively untouched.

Koh Kood looked perfect, half the size of Koh Chang with far less going on, and then there was Koh Mak. We should have incorporated this island into our travel plans too as it was far too convenient not to, and sounded perfectly sleepy! Oh well, next time.

Hopefully these islands would stay calm and peaceful during our visit – we had read a day or two prior to leaving France that many governments had categorised this area red, like Do Not Travel red. An ongoing spit and spat between Thailand and Cambodia had escalated with some shelling taking place. Just like with my Ethiopia trip we chose to ignore the advice!

The only means of transport was by moped, or utilising the songthaew, an open back taxi truck that never seemed to congest the beautiful island. It would have also been nice to bigger than the nearby island of Koh Mak with far less going on.

We were around 2.5 kms from the bustling centre of Dahab, an area known as Lighthouse. With its countless dive centres, restaurants and accommodation options it felt pretty busy even during mid January. We made the walk every day, mostly to visit Yalla bar, one of the few places we found that actually sold alcohol. Alongside that we found some great places to eat lots of healthy Egyptian/ Middle Eastern food – an abundance of babaganoush, hummus, tajines. scrumptious salads, and fresh fish.

This trip was mostly about chilling out, enjoying the sunshine and hip recovery, although we did find some great things to do. When the body allows there will be lots of other things planned for the next winter visit.

Being on the Red Sea meant being either on or under the water. On this occasion there would be no diving due to the too recent surgery but we found the snorkelling to be pretty amazing. Again, due to surgery it was too risky to attempt kite boarding or foiling so that will have to wait. Then on land there were camel safaris, ATV safaris, and hiking in the mountains with the local Bedouin.

Blue Hole

One of the most famous dive and snorkelling sites on the Red Sea and a mere 8 kms from Dahab, this 110m deep hole accessible directly from shore, was well worth the visit. We decided to walk there, first along road and then dirt, passing by a military checkpoint and a little further paying $10 USD (510 EGP) at the Reserve office.

Other than being occasionally pestered to rent snorkelling gear and eat at certain restaurants the day was relaxing. Each establishment was sea facing which allowed us to lay back on cushions drinking Bedouin tea whilst watching decked out technical divers entering and (hopefully) exiting the deep hole. Not everyone that goes in comes back out, plaques for a few of the unfortunate divers, pinned to a wall on the waters edge.

It was amazing to us that people get a huge thrill from attaching countless decompression cylinders to themselves or holding their breath for minutes at a time to descend into the dark depths! Other than merely descending to the bottom there is a 26m long arch at a depth of 55m, an attraction for both technical divers and freedivers. We were happy jumping off the pier and following the top of the reef!

Saint Catherine

The small town of Saint Catherine is located at the base of both the highest mountain in Egypt, 2629m Mount Catherine, locally Jabal Katrîne, and probably the holiest, 2285m Mount Sinai/ Mount Moses, or locally Jabal Musa. The majority of people visit as an evening trip from Dahab or Sharm El-Sheikh with the sole intention of bagging Mount Sinai at sunset – we had no desire to accompany a few hundred others up the well used trail beginning at midnight and so decided to spend the night! The town itself is pretty nondescript, a bit rough around the edges, however the government seem to have big plans – a new road, new hotels and modern looking visitor centre are all well under construction. Not sure if this will bring the masses or the reasoning behind it but the towns location in the heart of the southern Sinai offers amazing hiking opportunities and its ancient monastery is a big pilgrimage destination.

Quote from britannica.com

“Mount Sinai is renowned as the principal site of divine revelation in Jewish history, where God is purported to have appeared to Moses and given him the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). According to Jewish tradition, not only the decalogue but also the entire corpus of biblical text and interpretation was revealed to Moses on Sinai. The mountain is also sacred in both the Christian and Islamic traditions.”

We stayed at Sheikh Mousa Bedouin camp and it ticked all the boxes. Rustic accommodation with a great dinner and adequate breakfast was all we asked for. Immediately upon arrival we decided to head into town and take a nice new path for a couple of kilometres to the monastery to find a guide for our sunset hike up Mt Sinai. Using one of the local Jabaliya Bedouin guides is compulsory and far too cheap not to do; 750 EGP or 15 USD per group!

The hike up the popular route (also used for camel assisted hikes) followed a very well trodden rocky path, passing by a number of locally run cafes, before reaching a section of steeper steps that led to the summit. A small distance from the top it was possible to get snacks, Bedouin tea and other drinks, and also to rent mats and blankets to spend the night, or a few hours, on the chilly winter summit. We declined the warmth of blankets and lay down on some flat rocks in hopeful anticipation that the clouds would clear and we’d see an amazing sunset. It wasn’t to be although we did get a glow and some great views of Egypts highpoint; Mount Catherine.

Hiking down in the dark was far easier with our headlamps and we were back at Sheikh Mousa in time for a tasty dinner. We definitely needed our down jackets for the wait on the summit but unfortunately had no need for the microspikes we had bought with us in anticipation of snow or ice – guess that doesn’t happen in these parts very often.

The following day, prior to taking a taxi to Sharm El-Sheikh, we headed out for a couple hour hike to a local wadi with its orchards and watering holes. We didn’t think about the compulsory Bedouin guide on this occasion so didn’t have anyone to ask why there wasn’t a soul around or why the obvious pits for water were empty! Wadi Talla was within very easy reach of Saint Catherine and our accommodation, and is part of many greater hiking opportunities.

Sharm El-Sheikh

Whilst perfect to fly in and out of there’s nothing that would make us want to stay here for more than a night! Our all-inclusive resort was convenient and cheap but far too touristy – the proximity to the reef was ideal but the wind very much less than ideal. This seems to be the way for a lot of coastline along the Red Sea.