Blogs from Aswan, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 7

Piti herata ajoissa. Auto nouti meidat hotellilta klo 7. Assuaniin on matkaa jotain paalle 200 km, mutta sinne meni liki nelja tuntia. Emme kylla pysahtyneet teelle kuin kerran, mutta matkalla on muita hidasteita: toyssyja ja tie vei taajamien lapi. Asutustahan oli koko ajan. Kavimme katsomassa Assuanin patoa ja Nasser-jarvea. Sitten parkkeerasimme auton lahelle Assuanin basaaria ja kavimme syomassa. Assuanin kaupunki naytti isommalta kuin Luxor: rantakadulla oli komeita rakennuksia. Kerkesimme takaisin viideksi, eli niihin main kun aurinko laski. Kavin kiertamassa kaupunkia illalla, oluella Ali Babassa, kokiksella Televisiokadun paikallisessa ravintolassa (muut asiakkaat egyptilaisia), farkkukaupoissa. Vasymys iski kuitenkin sen verran varhain etta piti menna nukkumaan jo kymmenelta.... read more

8th & 9th Jan – Days 99 & 100 – Feluccas Felucca along the Nile River. Something you don’t get to do everyday, and we got to spend 2 nights on it. Today we left Aswan, but we did get a nice sleep-in. We checked out of our hotel at 10:30am, ready to get on the felucca’s at 11am. We actually had to get on another ‘water taxi’ to where we jumped on the camels the previous night, as Ashraf was the owner of the feluccas. There were 3 feluccas for 22 people, so we got to spread out across, with our felucca only having 6 people on it. The feluccas are the old Egyptian-style sailing boat as you will see by the pics, with one sail attached to a mast, and a big ‘boom’ that ... read more

A reasonably early start today. After breakfast we were straight on to a Felucca and made our way over to Qubbet El-Hawa, or Nobles' Tombs. Our first tombs!! Mike warned us about the stairs we could look forward to but when I saw them I thought, "Ahh it's not too bad, I can do that easy". Little did I realise that a lot of the steps themselves were quite tall so, for a shorty like me, the top could not come soon enough! Great work out for my legs though and completely worth it once you turned back around and saw the view of Aswan from on high! We made our way to the very end of the lineup so we could work our way back and it was an interesting path - we were essentially ... read more

It all started with the late "drinky" NYE with Dorianne and Jamie. I had intended on a very quiet night but how could you not bring in the New Year with some sort of celebration? We had the house to ourselves; we went in the pool, drank lots of bubbly, made some delicious experimental pizzas from scratch and eventually made cocktails, as the night's plan had intended. I have a small regret about drinking as much as we did, the night before an international flight, but it was a fun night so that definitely outweighed the flicker of a hangover I had the next day! A couple of Panadol solved the problem mostly and I spent the morning cleaning out the rabbit cages and finishing the last bits of packing that needed doing. Stuart and Erin ... read more

Once again two pages of pictures. Enjoy! We decided to stay in a nice hotel in Aswan with a view of the River Nile. You do, of course, have to pay for the privilege! A short taxi ride from the train station and we found ourselves in the imaginatively named Nile Hotel with a stunning vista of the river from which it takes its name. The river may well be beautiful here, but a walk alongside it is hardly peaceful. “Mister, you want boat ride? You want camel ride? You want belt made from camel leather? You want taxi tour tomorrow? You want nice restaurant?” At least they weren’t offering Russ girls too!! A simple NO wasn’t always sufficient and it all became a bit of a hassle after a while. What we wanted to do ... read more