Sara Hotel Aswan

Our riverboat leaves at 6 AM for the trip up the Nile to Aswan, arriving in Aswan at 9 AM. At first glance, Aswan is the cleanest city we have seen in Egypt (even its side streets) and this is confirmed throughout the day.<br><br>It's cloudy and warm but not hot as we expected (average temperature in Aswan at this time of year is 37 C (98.6 F).<br><br>On the way to see the Temple of Philae, we stop and see the High Dam. The High Dam, located 17 km ...

... but I think its also because of terrorist attacks &amp; kidnappings of foreigh tourists in the recent past - tourism is a huge part of Egypt's GDP and the Egpytian government does not negotiate - the last time the army went to the desert, rescued the German tourists on safari and promptly executed the hostage takers then and there.<br><br>But its worth it, habbibi's - Abu Simbel is magnificent and doubly so for its birth 3,300years ago when carved directly ...

... things independently and not as part of an organised touring group. I'm someone who would happily spend a whole day exploring the wonders of the Egyptian Museum and spend time to sit and admire, not 2 hrs (if that). Plus, some places u pay the equivalent of $10-20 to get in and we're there for 45 mins or less. The tour leader would give free time at the end of his long-winded explanation - most times this was 20-30 mins. At 1 place, it was 5 mins. I was really ...

... one started by Horemheb and later finished by the officials of Ramesses. There is a massive pillar of rock known as the Capstan so called because the locals thought a chain ran between the East &amp; west banks. It actually looks like a big crocodile head on top of the stone pillar.<br><br>After this walk we went back to the Dahabiya which met us at the other end. John, Di &amp; Gabriel decided to walk on further through 4km of farmland and Pete, myself and ...

... His name was Mostafa and he was crazy and loud and i liked him. He said to me 'gameela' which means beautiful in Egyptian Arabic and indicated my face which was the beginning of my experience of being hit on by Egyptian men young and old alike. He wasn't creepy though, just funny. He asked me if i was his friend and i assured him that he was. When i got in the car i couldn't see any seat belts so i asked him where they were and he replied "this is Egypt not Italy" (for some reason he ...

... busy day.<br>First up was a short sail on the Nile River on board a felucca boat. Feluccas are traditional sail boats and are a relaxing way to do a bit of site seeing from the Nile.<br>We spent about 3 hours on the felucca and it was nice but there isn't anything to do on board. So we just chilled out and ate the light lunch provided. We were actually meant to spend 2 days on the feluccas sailing down the Nile but during the meeting on the first night, Mina, our tour leader ...

... must have been 20 or so no&#8217;s to the question of "Do you want to old it?", he finally reassured us that it was young enough that it hadn&#8217;t developed its more dangerous teeth yet. I finally was handed the adolescent reptile and he immediately started thrashing around. I don&#8217;t think he liked me. Finally Katie got up the courage to hold him as well. I must say holding a croc is something I never thought I would do.<br><br>We then ...

... than the night before, and Hoges had to labour more to dig the toilet hole before dark. Evidently this was a common problem for other recent felucca groups too, as the field was strewn with toilet paper lying around that really ought to have been buried. It was an ugly sight, and while searching for wood and palm fronds for the fire, it had me pondering what other damage tourists like us cause to this country. The couple of men we saw ...

... lane not far from the Nile at our hotel and had some time to have a shower, change into some fresh clothes and generally feel human again. <br><br>We spent the rest of the day on the Nile. JJ (short for Jamaica Junior), part of a legendary family known amongst backpackers the world over, picked us up in one of his plastic flower-decorated motor boats for a leisurely lunch cruise along the river. Once off the boat on the western bank we each selected a camel, and with much ...