Hi All, Caught the train to Aswan at 1230am. The train should have been suitable for sleep but...we had tickets next to the door on the carriage; my seat reclined but didn't lock; the tea person came along every hour asking for tea; the egyptians slammed or didn't close the door as they went out for their cigarettes in the entry area. That is enough. We got very little sleep and the trip took about 13hrs.
Plenty of highlight along the way. One was seeing fog on fields by the nile with date palms poking through it. Met at the train station and delivered to the hotel. Much grander than we were used to staying in but glad as we were tired. Wandered around for a while along the nile and in the souq. The taxi drivers and horse and buggy drivers are like mosquitos after blood and don't give up. No to them is a response in speech rather than a directive reply. When walking it only takes a few steps before getting beeped or spoken to by one of them or the many touts trying to flog off felucca boat trips. Souq was over touristy. Buying anything is a reall challenge. Even the essentials in life. The egyptians want to rip off as much money from the tourists. Had to haggle hard to get anything which is a super pain when in a hurry. They just don't get it...or maybe we don't!
Found an egyptian pizza place and that tasted great. While waiting a belt seller came over to us and had a chat, which usually ends up with how many children do you have? after how long have you been married? He then proceeded to ask for some time with Vanessa so he could give her some children. A bit bloody forward! This is coming from a person who was too poor to afford a wife anyway. Probably had a wife and 5 children already. Hard to know as Egyptians are such liars. Next night a young boy selling book marks told us he was 20 but had short legs who wanted Vanessa as his wife. Is good to be popular.
Abu Simbel. 2am start. Looking forward to going back to sleep. Pickup and only one seat in the minibus. Guess who had to ride on the temporary flot down seat in the bus? Vanessa got a nice seat at the front. Had to go in convoy. Buses went at about 140km/h. Trip took 3hrs to get to Abu Simel which is an impressive temple made even more so by the fact that it was winched to higher ground before the flooding of the lake nassar in the area (3rd largest hydro dam in the world). Expensive entry. No pics allowed inside. Really really good temple. Took 6hrs travel for only 2hrs visit. Too rushed again. We weren't impressed. Easy for the tour guides to spend our entry fees, which are seperate from the initial tour cost, and have short visits. Costs them nothing. Might have figured that I was less than impressed with the tours and we specifically asked about the amount of time we would visit at the monuments. We were told that we would have whatever we wanted. Not true. Another lie from the egyptians. Future note. Tours need to be treated as contracts. Get every detail in writing before committing. We were on the japanese/korean tour circuit with our tour.
Back for a quick rest then onto high dam. Should have been hi! we are driving past a dam. But we stopped and got bored. Next onto philae island and temple. Hidden cost for some is the ferry boat AFTER paying for the entrance fee. Not for us. Spectacular and again moved for the dam. Tour guide again lied about closing time. Think that we just didn't like to be rushed. Vanessa said that she had been waiting all her life to visit these sites. Not impressed.
Felucca trip. Told 3 days and 2 nights BUT... day 1 started with a 1130am pickup but no sailing until 2pm??? sailed until 530pm with two old muslim sailors who seemed nice enough. Bit old as they had trouble pulling up the keel. Lovely day with blue sky and a little breeze. Full moon at night. Anchored on the side of the river. Surprisingly noisy with floating hotels passing by and the train regularly passing. Slept on the deck under a cover and a couple of blankets. Quite a nice experience. Woke to strong wind and a sand storm. Others had to leave so we crossed the river with difficulty and then retured to the other side and that was our day getting sand blasted. Was fun watching a couple of local boys playing with a row boat. They obviously had chores to do but played with the boat for hours before getting around to those boring chores. 3hrs to get water from the river! Day 3. Across the river at 630am and waiting. Started getting asked for tips early but ignored them. By the time we got to the mini bus the captain was getting extremely agitated and even pushed me. No tip now for you buddy! Ask and you shall not receive. I tried to explain that the contract was between him and the tour company and we had been advised that it was not necessary to tip.
Bye.
David & Vanessa
