Adrift on the Nile...

"Adrift on the Nile" is the novel I am reading now, so appropriate, no? The author is the Egyptian Nobel prize winner Naguib Mafhouz. It takes place in the late 60's and centers around a group of friends, mid forties, all very successful... that gather every evening on a houseboat on the Nile, to smoke kif from the water pipe and chat about nothing really except the matters of seriousness versus absurdity... the meaning of life or lack there of... appropriate, no?

It been a little bit and we have had a lot of kinks in the journey, so many to tell. I promised myself that I would only convey the positives in this blog and it has come very naturally until... The "touristy" places in Egypt, can be a real scam. The entrance fees for "backpackers" like us are extreme. Averages are between 50-80 Egyptian Pounds... considering the cost of living here, it is extreme.

Instead of going to Aswan as I had left off last time, we headed to Alexandria for 2 days and 1 night... we met an Egyptian who is a limo driver in NYC, on the beach and he hosted us to a very lovely day. We ate some excellent seafood until we could not move... It was so good... Even Rue that isn't a seafood fan, was licking his fingers. We saw many things including the majestic Montazah Palace. Alexandria is lovely seaside city and very modern.

When we came back to Cairo, plans to go to the beach in Sinai were postponed once again and instead we packed our bags and headed for a train to Aswan... we knew the last overnight one was at 12:30am... a 12 hour journey. When we arrived at the train station... that only posts signs in Arabic.. after waiting in 3 separate cues... we were told the train was sold out... this process took 45 minutes... we were then sold first class tickets, double the price of 2nd class, because 2nd class was "sold out", I don't believe it... we were overcharged even though the price is right on the ticket... the train left the following night at 12:30am.

Finally on the train... 1st class sucked. our seats were right next to the slamming door and the very stinky washrooms, that were overflowing. Did I mention that there are only certain trains that foriegners can ride? and that there are foriegner prices and Egyptian prices... its all a big scam. With all that said, I did sleep most of the way to Aswan... except for the 3 extra hours it took because the train ahead of us had broken down... yes folks 15 hours on the train.

We found Aswan to be a quiet relief after the intensity of Cairo... until we walked through the market. I only wished that I had a video camera attached to my face somehow... one stall after the other, the men/boys jump in front of you draping their products on you, or grabbing you... repeating over and over... Hello, my friend, where from, look my shop, no buy just look, I make good price... and of course to spice things up we also get... WOW... Beautiful... Lucky man... How many camels?... While rue was bargaining for his scarf a boy no older than 16 was practicing his English with me... the converation went a little like this...

Boy: Hello
Yaz: Hello
Boy: WHere from?
Yaz: USA
Boy: AMERICA!
I smile
Boy: Wow... Very Beautiful (gawking)
Yaz: Thank you... Shukran
Boy: Nice Body
I smile
Boy: NICE BREASTS
Yaz: WHAT! LARUE!
Larue: Hey! That's not nice...

Unbelievable.

We got scammed a few times in the last few days. First off the trip to Abu Simbel, that is supposed to visit the High Dam, Philae and the unfinished obelisk on the way back.. The ride to Abu Simbel is 3 hours... and you must leave with the convoy at 4:30am... not sure why because there is no police escort and as soon as you leave Aswan the convoy splits off, all the drivers speeding off, I don't know maybe they want to see who gets there first. We were told the entrance fees were separate from the cost of the drive but we asked what those prices were and were told fractions of what they were actually. We did not have enough to get into Abu Simbel which was what Rue wanted to see and was the only reason I had woken up at 3am! I had to beg for the student rate and passed our Hawaii drivers licenses off as student IDs, even though they required the International Student Card... whatever that is.

The others on our bus told us the High Dam was a joke for the 20 pound charge and it was 5 minutes while the driver kicked the rest of us off that hadn't paid him the 20 pounds.... we did not see Philae or the obelisk and we argued with our hotel rep when we got back and refused to pay him the other half... we came to a deal and then hesitantly bought our Falouka trip to Luxor.

Before I describe that ordeal, first let me reiterate... do not pay for the tour to Abu Simbel... take the public bus that leaves at 8am and costs 20 pounds versus the 80 that the hotel thieves try to charge you and then herd you around like cows while yelling absurdities...

Our rep took us to our falouka (Nile Sailboat) one hour late the next day and when we turned the corner we saw a small boat with about 12 people on it. We were promised a 3 day/2 night sailing trip, 6 meals, and minibus transfer from Komombo to Luxor stopping at the temple at Edfu. The boat was supposed to have 8 people max on it... we got on anyway because our rep... "Charlie", told us there was another boat coming and that we would get on that one... then he disapearred.... We waited and then a larger boat showed up... 6 people were told to get on that one... naturally Rue and I were last to get on so we got off but I waited because around the corner came another "rep" with about 5 more tourist. When he walked by me I said that boat has 6 people already... that set him off... he started yelling at me... "you dont tell me how many people on my boat"... I said well that is what the captain said... Rue defended us... and then he kicked us off... he said "you go, no problems from you"... we told him to give us back our money since he had identifies himself as the owner of the boat... he said we would have to deal with the hotel... we left... this was too much we were going to get our money back...

On the street a man came up to us and identified himself as CHarlie's brother and that we should wait and he would call Charlie and CHarlie would come to us. We waited... I hated being so angry. our plans were ruined and I really wanted to sail to Luxor. Charlie didnt show up his boss did... what is hilarious is that I saw Charlie down the block hiding behind a tree... he knew he should be ashamed of himself. THe other guy Khaled aka "Jack" tried to rectify and said everything was fixed and we should go back down to the boat... but the damage was done and we did not want to give this guy any more business... we demanded our money and we got it back... even though we had to walk with our packs in the midday sun all the way back to the hotel... and then walked back to find our own captain for the next day.

We immediately met Captain Jimmy(Jamal) and he said he could leave today at the same price on our own falouka.. DEAL!

So we spent the next two nights sleeping and drifting on the Nile... and eating. Yummy yummy Captain Jimmy meals... On the second night instead of meeting with the other faloukas closer to Komombo, we opted to take the invitation of Captain Jabu's baby's mama, to attend a Nubian wedding. (Captain Jabu was our second captain, Charlie's brother, long story, more later).

On our way to the wedding, we gathered an entire entourage of probably the entire population of the village's children... it was dark and very funny... one little boy attached himself to me and would not leave my side... it was super cute. when we entered the wedding, we were quite a distraction and were embarrassed by it. All the men were outside and all the women inside, sitting on mats, playing drums and singing... Rue was the only guy over the age of 10. They called me into the middle and made me dance and they threw things at me and laughed... I think this was tradition and not a mockery of my excellent dance techiniques... of course. We had tea and sang and clapped but the children were making a huge fuss over us and all the mothers from the center of the mats were scolding and yelling at their respective offspring... the Nubian ladies dress and veil themselves in all black... its interesting because unlike the other Muslims we have seen in Egypt and Maroc, the Nubians are black (if you didnt already know) and so so so very beautiful. One old woman kept staring at me, to the point that Rue said we should leave because he thought she was mad at us for causing such a commotion... I smiled at her and she started saying something to me... by the way no one really spoke english (and Jaba didnt come with us). She was holding her hand up pointing at her wedding band and then at La Rue... I told her yes, Larue was my husband and they all smiled and laughed... they liked him... and then she was saying habibi and pointing at the baby next to her nursing and again held up 5 fingers... I thought she was telling me that she had 5 babies... but then one of the younger girls helped me understand that she was telling me that I, yes me, was going to have 5 babies!!! WHOA! Rue was terrified! ha ha ha!

We left shortly after and found our way in the dark, back to the falouka... I slept so well that night swaying with the boat, under the stars waking up only to the sound of Captian Jimmy hoisting the sail at sunrise.

I think that is enough for now... We arrived in Luxor yesterday and have been taking it easy today... Tomorrow we will try to get up before the sun and head over to the Valley of the Kings on the other side of the Nile... I would like to avoid the midday desert sun...

we changed our flight to Mumbai until the 2nd of November so, maybe maybe maybe we will be able to make it to Sinai and the Red Sea.... yippee...

PS. Rue is very very very excited that the Phillies are in the World Series... I wish we could watch it somewhere....

We are well... we miss everyone... we will see you soon... peace, love, peace!

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