Heading Down to Upper Egypt

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The train ride went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on… A train that was meant to arrive in Aswan at 10am at the latest, we arrived at 5pm! This was the longest train ride of my life, but I managed to hold on for the toilet the whole time, because you don’t even want to know how bad they were. Whatever you are thinking now, multiply that by about 10. Apparently the toilet that had spew in the sink was the best option of them all.

One nice point of the train ride was trying some fresh sugar cane while the train stopped one of its many times. Mohamed, our tour leader got off the train to get some. Much to his delight, we could all only manage a very small amount, because as you would imagine, it was very sweet. Mohamed was an absolute sugar fiend. He told us when he was a child, he and two friends used to eat 20 sugar canes a day. That is insane. Unfortunately for Mohamed, his sugar addiction still lives on to this day, and became one of the ongoing jokes of the trip.

As the train was so late, we missed out on doing a lot of our Nubian Tour. Luckily some of it was still doable. First we caught a boat across the Nile. This was as the sun was setting and we had a view of the Tombs of the Nobles, which were all lit up. Once across the Nile, it was time for our camel ride! This was a lot of fun, with my camel being called Oscar. The best camel name of the group was definitely Bob Marley. We rode up to and on the Sahara Desert, and then down to a Nubian family home for dinner. This was really good, as we got to see how they live in this area and taste their food. And the food was awesome! We had a whole range of dishes, the soup being one of my favourites, and also fish from the Nile. We then sat around the family area, having some Hibiscus tea, while Megan got some henna done. It was then back across the river and ready for an early start to Abu Simbel in the morning.

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Photos

Tombs of the Nobles
On the boat, crossing the Nile

My camel Oscar
Isn't he loverly