Mum will never show her shoulders again

  Aswan, Egypt
Saturday, March 15, 2008

I can't believe that I have seen another Egyptian sunrise!  Not by choice!  We were woken this morning at 4.30am by the worst call to prayer I have heard.  Matthew said I sounded like a strangled crow when I sing but I have finally heard someone who sings worse than me and that's saying something!

It sounded like the loud speaker was outside our bedroom window and I woke with a fright.  We had to get up at 5am anyway as the convoy of buses was leaving from Sohag to Aswan at 6.30am.

Mum couldn't work out the taps and bathroom fittings.  She had a cold shower.  She wasn't happy.

We had a toilet stop on the way to Aswan.  Mum forgot to cover her shoulders.  Firstly a man trying to sell scarves was rubbing against her boob and then another man started undoing his belt (police intervened).  There were som crude remarks too.  The cigarette got put out and she got back on the bus very very quickly.  She said that is the only time she has felt threatened since we've been in Egypt.

She hasn't (and wont) forget to cover her shoulders again!

Our boat - Melodie

We arrived at Aswan and checked into the boat.  The rooms are very small but it is nice and the staff are very friendly.  It is such a pretty place with the Nile so blue and huge and the sand dunes coming right up to the edge of the Nile.

Spices at Aswan Souk - refer top left corner

We went to the markets as mum wanted to buy another shirt to cover her arms.  Our first adventure was getting there.  We were walking and refused several offers of a lift.  Eventually when a horse and carriage driver said said Five pound we accepted a lift but only have I ensured that he meant for the three of us not each.  He took us past the markets to a private shop then wanted 5 English Pound.  He got upset when we wouldn't go in the shop and wouldn't take the money.  I just left it on the seat and we walked off.

 The first place we stopped in the market was selling imitation Egyptian cotton and when I picked it, he initially denied it but then didn't stop us leaving as he knows I was onto him.   I am hopeless at bartering but got the next guy to accept 30 Egyptian pounds instead of his initial asking price of 210 pounds.  How they mark up prices!  It was only because I bought one last time I was here.  It's such hard work though.  I don't enjoy bartering but understand that they are having fun with it and it's their livelihood.

The markets haven't changed at all.  Everyone wants you to come in and they stand in front of you so you can't keep walking.  Normally, once I used a few Egyptian words they would leave us alone.  I have to learn to enjoy the bartering process and to have fun with it but I'd really prefer to have a fixed price.  It is such hard work.  I suppose I need more practice!  More shopping!

As we have a free day today, I thought that Mum would like to go to the Botanical gardens on Kitchener Island but she said she is too tired.  I think she got a bit scared today with the propositioning and then at the markets.  She didn't want me to go alone to find the internet.  I walked alone through the local areas without a problem.  It is understandable that they would stare at me but beside a hello from the odd person, it was only the kids that followed me and asked my name. 

We are going on a sunset felucca (local sail boat) ride this evening.  Tomorrow we have an early morning again (leaving 3am) to go to Abu Simbel then we start cruising back down the Nile to Luxor.  There is no internet on the boat so there wont be any entries for three - four days.
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Later...... I had more people hassling me when I walked along the water front compared to walking the back streets.  Having a limited knowledge of Arabic really seems to help though.

While walking in the back streets, I saw a line (over a block long) of locals lining up for food.  Our guide told us that the government has a program of giving old food to poorer people.

Felucca on the Nile Aswan

We went on felucca ride on the Nile and saw the sun set.  It was very peaceful and relaxing.  We stopped at Kitcheners Island and walked from one end to the other through the

Kitchener Island Botanical Gardens

Botanical gardens.  It took all of 30 minutes and the plants were not that much different to those we have in Australia.  There were fake guides picking flowers and leaves and telling you what the plants were.  They were wrong alot of the time, that's how we knew that they didn't work there and just wanted a tip.

The boat (Melodie) is smaller than many other that cruise the Nile but it is clean and very comfortable and moves along at a faster pace than many of the bigger cruise ships.