Hello now i am in aswan in upper egypt ...
Trip Start
Nov 04, 2000
1
20
60
Trip End
Nov 04, 2001
Aswan,
Egypt
Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Now I am in Aswan in Upper Egypt.
Things are going well here. Myself and Matt left luxor on Mondy. We had intended to come here by bus, but when the bus arrived en route from Cairo or something, it was rammed with locals, all crammed up against the windows and lying on the floor. It was carnage. We'd waited about an hour and just gave up on it. Instead, we caught the train in the evening which was great. With our ISIC student cards we got a 3 hour train ride for 11EgyPounds, what a steal. Trip was comfortable in 2nd class, with locals and a few cockroaches for company.
Hit the ground running in Aswan. Had psyched myself up on the train to do battle with the touts which always hang around the station... as the train pulls in all the shady looking guys are running down the platform trying to spot tourists to hit for commission. We lay low and let a mob of japanese girls go out first to draw their fire.... Anyway, we belted thru the town just brushing off their approaches, and they were bouncing of us and standing in our way. Quite good fun. Got an ok hotel with good hot showers and comfy beds and breakfast (stale hot dog roll, jam, cheese, tea) for 6EP with is about 1pound sterling. Bangers!
I chilled the first day, and Matt went off to Edfu as he has to leave from Cairo soon. I waited about town, visited the great souq and ran the gauntlet of fellucca touts down the corniche. Nik and Michelle came in on the train the next day so I met them and we had some lunch on the rooftop nice. In the after noon we went across to Elephantine island and just relaxed for a few hours. It was nice to stop for a while.
Met up with Matt later, and the four of us ate at the dodgiest looking rotisery and we're not dead yet. always a good sign. Today we visited the Temple of Philae which was fantastic, but with taxis and boats etc we had to bargain hard to get a decent deal to get there. It was great though, temple of Horus and Isis etc. It had been vandalised by muslims and also earlier travels "Craddock 1881" etc carved on the walls. I think much of the decoration was done by the Romans and Ptolmies.
There were loads of tour groups though, and you'd be looking at some depiction of Isis and Osiris recieiving gift or something, and a swarm of Germans would just goose-step into view and block out the scene. Cheers fritz. Not too bad.
Right now, myself and Nik (or Sal as he calls himself to locals as Nik is very bad word in Egyptian) are loojking for travel agencies to suss out a trip down to Abu Simbel tomorrow. Unfortunately the road is still closed so we can't get a bus but we can fly (what a nice scam EgyptAir have got going). It's 85US for the flight which is about a weeks budget, so i am still in two minds whether to go or not. It looks fantastic, but might break the bank de caire.
we've organised a fellucca trip with the much recommended Captain Jamaica. He's a Nubian (between Egypt/Sudan), but he's got the natty dreads and the rasta beany and stuff which is pretty funny. You expect him to talk the patois, but he's got an incongruous Egyptian accent and a bit of a character. We're going to do 4 days 3 nights just because we're not in much of a hurry. The currents are really weak, and there;s not much wind on the Nile, so we might not get to Edfu in that time, but it'll be good just to chill for a few days. readsome books, write some letters etc.
Except for the constant hassle in the souq and from fellucca geezers, most people are friendly and there aren't any worries for us. Matt cracked a bit the other day when we bought a can of coke and the lady says 1.50, and this guy in the back says, no, 2.00 - we had a bit of a ruck and he admitted he charged more because we were tourists. he got an earful.
thats all for now. i have grown a kind of beard just for something to do. I look like Chuck Norris. Hiii-ya!!
