Amoun Village Hotel Aswan

... By 3:50 we are on our way and somehow we have managed to become the lead dog of the convoy. The driver puts the pedal to the metal and we are the first bus to arrive at Abu Simbel at 6:30 AM. The roads in Egypt are really excellent, the best we have seen in Africa (Egypt’s railway system is likewise and is the second largest railway network after the United Kingdom). Just before arrive at Abu Simbel, we delve into our box breakfast ...

... to bore you with.<br><br>On occassions, Mohamed has also shared his true passion for Egypt both past and present, and he then he lights up and speaks like a poet - we had a session for clients to ask him any questions and he answered them all, no matter how painful. After a litiny of woes &amp; disappointments (eg education is free and compulsory in Egypt, but there is a 30% illiteracy rate) we spoke of his relationship with Islam - beautiful - I asked him what ...

... guide wouldn't let us use the bus toilet (i think because of the smell potential). The cruise ship tho was nice and enjoyable with a dress-up night, dance night. Pool was cold tho. One distinct unsafe memory was unloading our luggage from the bus on the traffic side of the road as the Cairo traffic sped by. It was such a stupid thing for the tour leader to permit.<br> <br>And then there was the diarrhoea. All but 2 of the group got the 'Egyptian Run' as we called it ...

... and we ended up on the dance floor down from the dining table. I was then coerced into dancing like an Egyptian (belly dance, ha, ha) with the chef, who tied a sarong of sorts around my hips and danced me around. It was extremely entertaining and I couldn't have hoped for better. After the dancing and singing stopped, I cut the cake and we ate and drank our wine until retiring to bed around 10.30pm. Our latest night yet! Oh what fun and a very memorable birthday.<br>

... then they started getting more intense and wanting more photos and kissing my hand and kissing me on the cheek and putting their arm around me so i started to get uncomfortable so i said no to them and left but i remembered they knew my room number and i was alone in a room with a bad door. I heard a knock on the door and it was Shehadie and he said something which sounded like 'amil' but turned out he was asking for my email and i just said no and said good bye. I got worried that i'd ...

... islands of the Nile on our way to dinner at a Nubian village! No wasted time on this trip.<br><br>The dinner was really amazing. Simple but excellent food served on the rooftop deck of a Nubian family home. There was a lentil soup, bread, spaghetti, filo meat pies, grilled chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber and iced hibiscus tea and warm mint tea. After dinner we all took a puff or two on the apple flavored shesha pipe (I still ...

... when else am I going to get the opportunity. And no better place to ride a camel then in Egypt.<br>Getting on is fairly simple but when the camel stands up, its a bit scary. They stand up by putting their back legs up first, so you lurch forward. All you have to hang on to is the horn on the saddle. There are no stirrups, so your feet just dangle. Then when the camel brings its front legs up, you sort of lurch backwards. When the camel is standing up, you realize they are much ...

... for our horse carriage trip around Aswan.<br><br>Right on the dot , the little chap was there , all eager to literally take us out for a ride. Whilst we we were riding, Ray then whispered that he wouldnt be surprised after the camel scam, this guy will scam us gor RM30 per person rather than RM30 per ride. I looked at him and while I did confirm with the little guy that it was for five of us - it was just too cheap not ...

... end of us and Mary, but she offered to take us around the city a little. She took us to the souq and to a good spice shop where I bought some Mir incense, while Katie took some great pictures of the huge piles of spices. We asked her if there was a place she&#8217;d recommend for good falafel and fu&#8217;ul &#8211; neither of which we&#8217;d had yet in Egypt. She new of a great spot that only locals went to and had what we thought was the best ...

... back walls of an outlying district of Aswan, we left the camels and returned to JJ&#8217;s boat. Paul was obviously pretty happy with his ride, as when we had all decided that in the interests of fairness and equity we would tip our attendants five pounds each he rather innocently added &#8220;Yeah, and I might slip the camel one.&#8221; <br><br>A little later JJ pulled up at Elephantine Island, a large island in the Nile right across from the middle of Aswan. This was ...