Overnight at Minya
Trip Start
Mar 08, 2008
1
11
25
Trip End
Mar 24, 2008
El Minya,
Egypt
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The population of Minya is approx 1.8 Million. Minya is on the West bank, which is normally for the tombs. Most of the main cities are normally on the East Bank.
Driving into the town was an experience and very humbling. The outskirts are so poor. We saw ladies washing clothes and dishes in stagnant green water, which stunk so badly that I had to get my perfume out for mum and I to try to cover the smell.
My first impression of Minya was that it is a "mini" version of Cairo but not as dirty.
We went for a walk around town but needed to have a police escort
Common Street Stall at Minya
. He got quite annoyed if we lagged behind. He was often giving mum and I dirty looks as we were often at the back of the pack.While travelling in these rural areas, there is really no where that we can buy food, which is suitable to our stomachs so we need to stock up on water and food at major towns prior to travelling.
We went to a supermarket and bought supplies for the following day. For 2 X 1.5 litre bottles of water and 2 packets of dry biscuits, we paid 6 Egyptian Pounds, which equals about $1.20! Mum dropped her water bottle and cover in the street. Two young girls came chasing her and calling "Madame". She hadn't realised that she had dropped it. The majority of people are really quite honest. I gave the two young girls Aussie badges. They kept smiling at us.
I handed out quite a number of badges as we walked around and always received a favourable response.
We seemed to be the only Westerners in town so we really became the tourist attraction and everyone stared.
Minya and Nile by Day
If we leave the hotel, we need to be in pairs but no more than 3 people or we need a police escort.
The room we are staying in, is the smallest yet. There wasn't even enough room to put the suitcases on the floor and we need to be contortionists to get into the bathroom. As mum said "You can sit on the toilet and wash your feet in the shower"!
We have a balcony, which looks over the Nile and when the sun went down, the view was magical. The whole town is lit up. There are flashing colored Christmas lights along the street and near the traffic lights (which are mainly ignored), there are lights on the pavement which change from red to green with the traffic lights. Of course there are the street and car lights as well. The lights are all reflected in the Nile river and make streaks across the whole river. They have also put spotlights on the desert hills across the Nile, which look like mysterious clouds. It was really beautiful. You also had the silhouette of the Felucca's (local sail boat) as well. The whole thing was like a giant carnival and the noise wasn't much different either.
The Nile here is more than half a kilometre wide. There is an island in the middle, which is about 200metres wide and 3 km long.
There are more motorbikes here than other places. We saw one, where a family of five was on board.
In the main street it is normal to see donkeys pulling carts laden with produce. The old style carriages, which we only see in museums are still used too.
