Sinai Kite Trip – June 2003. My girlfriend and I were in Israel this summer visiting family and I hoped to show her some of the country I was raised in for some years during my more interesting youth. Due to political pressures, it wasn’t possible to travel to the historical and archaeological sites that she was eager to explore. We made a decision not to go to Jerusalem on this occasion, which was just as well because a few days later, the terrible news came out that another suicide bomber in the centre had exploded another bomb. The alternative was easily found. Once all the family reunions, weddings and such were done with, I suggested to my cousins that we take a trip to the Sinai Peninsula for some intensive relaxation and of course some kiting. Firstly I’d like to say something about the Sinai. The place itself is a barren dessert, it receives on average about 8 mm of rainfall every year and its terrain is some of the hardest and least forgiving of any. It’s a rocky dessert with very few dunes, In the morning and evening, the sunrise and sunset cast an amazingly eerie purplish hue to the already beautifully coloured landscape. Often in nature, the things of the most beauty harbour the most dangerous experiences.