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We travelled from Cairo to Aswan via the overnight train. What an experience! We travelled first class, which basically meant that I had a reclining seat, but the carriage itself was comfortable. Tip: Other passengers take off the door handles to the toilets to preserve the cleanliness for themselves…so I would recommend bringing your own tool set. My experience on this train was severely dampened by two factors; firstly the train’s breaking system and secondly the drunkenness of the other passengers.
The train (apparently caused by some fault in the air brakes) had several series of massive jolts whenever it slowed down. This caused luggage to fall, people to be thrown out of their seats and whip lash for all. A very unpleasant experience especially when you are trying to sleep. A few members of our tour and members of another tour thought it would be a great idea to get totally smashed on a public train, which kept us up to the early hours of the morning…please note their nationality was Australian. They also tried to get the Muslim passengers drunk as well. Very disappointing. I was so happy to get off.
Aswan was much nicer than Cairo
but certainly could not be called a paradise. It is very hot reaching 42 degrees during the day. The Nile River runs through the city and the sand hills make it very attractive; but this can be contrasted with the rubbish and poor construction of its local housing (as depicted in panorama photo below). Aswan boasts a very lively market place, renowned for its array of spices and salty fish (see photo for full grossness). The market sellers hassle a lot, this is very uncomfortable for Westerners who are used to looking in stores with no interruption. These men will stop you in your path, grab you, and even go as far as throw their goods at you (e.g. scarves); this is complimented by the constant yelling ‘Lady, come into my store. I give you best price’ this is usually followed by ‘you very pretty. I buy you for 50 camels.’ Or quite hypocritically they say ‘come into my store, I don’t hassle you.’ Should you be sucked into purchasing something you have to haggle hard…frequently the sellers will be charging 200% more than what they are prepared to actually accept. These guys will chase you down the street yelling
decreasing prices as you walk. You have to go to the markets with a good mood or else you are likely to get irritated fast.
Although one of the most interesting market experience was in a jewellery store. My mother was purchasing some jewellery and I was patiently waiting. This guy started making comments that I was rather muscular and challenged me to an arm wrestle. My delightful mother thought that this would be a wonderful idea and put a wager on me…If I won I was to receive a piece of free jewellery. I did win the first time and he claimed I cheated. I challenged him again and in turn won again…and I got my free piece of jewellery. He then tried to ask me out on a date, I politely noted (and flatly lied) that my boyfriend was bigger than Bryan.
That night we went on a Felucca ride and had a traditional Nubian dinner. The Nubian’s are the local tribe in Aswan…not quite Egyptian and not quite African. The Felucca ride took us around several islands and showed some great scenery at sunset. At one point this small boat, containing 2 boys aged about
10 years, approached our boat. It progressively got closer and closer until we literally intercepted. For several moments I believed they had gone under, but then this small hand shot up out of the water and grabbed the side of our boat. As this happened the other boy started bailing out the small boat with a coke bottle. Then they began to sing in English…we were treated to the Macarena and several other songs. It turns out these cheeky boys were busking, we all gave them some money I think in sheer relief that they weren’t killed in their efforts!
The Nubian dinner was great. Whilst consisting of the most basic of ingredients, the use spice and balance of flavour made for a fantastic meal. This was one of the highlights of my Egypt experience.
The next morning (3am to be exact) we bussed to Abu Simbel (Note Abu Simbel blog comes separately) and on our return we hopped onboard our cruise boat destined for the Nile River.
Before setting sail we were treated to a camel ride. Despite my track record with large animals not being so flash I decided to give it a go. My camel’s
name was Oskar and he had a very cute pompom hat. A 12-year-old Nubian boy whose family owns Oskar guided me around some fantastic scenery. I learnt quickly that camels are extremely uncomfortable and it is reasonably hard to balance yourself. My little guide sang encouragement songs to Oskar the entire way. Camels are a huge investment for an Egyptian family, costing between 1500-2000 NZD each. I was also told that camels are very patient animals but sometimes they just snap and kill their owners by picking them up in their mouths and pounding them into the ground…eek. I think I preferred my old Honda Civic. After the ride I gave my guide a 20 Egyptian pound tip ($7NZD), his eyes went as big as saucers and it seemed I had given him a winning lotto ticket! But considering the average wage (according to wiki) for an unskilled person is 10 Egyptian pounds per day this certainly put things in perspective.
If you are a culture vulture Aswan is the place to be. Regardless of my experiences being positive or negative I still learnt a lot about Egyptian and Nubian lifestyle here.
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Ruth
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hahah I too arm wrestle in foreign countries! i didn't win any jewellery tho!! Classic katie baheviour!! xoxxo miss you xoxo