Blogs from Aswan, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 9

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 ... read more

April 29 The next morning we were already in Aswan when we woke up. After breakfast we headed out to go on our camel ride through the dessert and past the monastary of San Simion. A few of our group now have mummy tummy, my bunkmate included, but I feel fine. So far so good. Our next adventure was a walk through the Nubian markets. I ended up buying a scarf and a couple of wooden dolls. This market was nice, a lot less hassle compared to the others. I think we are all now pretty experienced and instead of being annoyed we are treating it as sport. In the early evening we took a boat ride to a Nubian village and visited their school and had tea with a local family. Back in the 60s ... read more

Galabaya Night It is now 6: PM and time to don our Egyptian galabaya and join the dinner festivities. As you may recall we were each to obtain our own galabaya. Rick purchased a simple one piece gray and white one from the boat. I chose Ahmed who supplied me with a royal galabaya. It is of while linen with deep red designs along each edge. So the ends of the sleeves and outlining the neck opening are all in red embroidery. Over this is a half coat in white and red embroidery. Very stylish. My head piece is also of linen and is a pink, white and black check. I don the outfit and actually feel it looks good. I soon learn something women have learn and many men have not, you cannot simply walk ... read more

1 April 2010 Today we are checking out of the lovely Havana Hotel and going to the King Hotel ready for the start of our tour. We are really enjoying Cairo, the girls have been madly shopping at the markets. Everything is pretty cheap and bartering is a heap of fun. Sarah has bought scarves and Rachel a little Aladdin lamp. The locals are super friendly, even away from the markets. Everybody wants their photo taken which is in contrast to the Peruvian women who did not want their photo taken. Everybody wants to shake you hand or yell out welcome. We have been to the Egyptian Museum, twice and the only way to describe it is overwhelming. It is jam packed full of artefacts. Amazing. We visited the mummy room which was great, and we ... read more

We got into Aswan in the late morning after a nauseous and groggy (thanks for the Ativan, Renee!) train ride. We wandered down to the corniche (riverside road) where we met Abdul who took us for a nice long felluca (sailboat) ride. We spent some time shopping in the souqs (markets), grabbed some lamb and kofta (mmm, the food is amazing!) for dinner and watched the sunset over the Nile from the roof of our hotel. The next day, we took a day trip down to Abu Simbel (just north of the Sudanese border) to see the impressive Abu Simbel Temple, which was built by Ramses II and adorned with huge statues of himself and a lot of symbols referring to his power. We decided that Ramses II (and likely most of all of the other ... read more