The Sinai peninsula is the only part of Egypt in Asia. The mountains of the southern part of the peninsula are like sharp teeth, and Sinai means "teeth" in Arabic. We drove north from Sharm el-Sheikh on coaches to the foot of Mt. Sinai to visit St. Catherine's Monastery. The drive was interesting, and the convoy of coaches snaked through miles and miles of desert scenery on a lonely road. If we hadn't seen the occasional camel, I would have thought we were in Nevada or Arizona. The Sinai is patrolled by both Egyptian and United Nations forces, and we passed through a dozen checkpoints on the way to Mount Sinai. Traffic was light, but we did see a few trucks. After about three hours, we reached St. Catherine's Monastery.

