Aswan and back in Cairo

---

Arrived in Aswan after an interesting trip on the train. Apparently it was first class but the seats weren't even bolted down properly.

Anyway, we arrived at the hotel and after about 4 hrs of sleep, we were up at 3.00am to board the bus to Abu Simbel. All the buses leave at the same time and escorted by police. Our tour leader said it was for organisational reasons but our tour guide said it was because terrorists operate in southern Egypt. The bus did the 300km trip in about 2hrs 40mins. Lets just say they were going quite fast and it made us reach for our seatbelts! Anyway, we made it there and back safely.

Abu Simbel is two massive temples which the Egyptians moved 55 metres up and 210m back before they flooded the original spot as part of the Aswan High Dam. It is totally amazing how they managed to do this, considering the chaos of the rest of the country. I think it was because they got help from UNESCO. The pictures show the temples in their original location and the new location.

Aswan itself wasn't much of a place. The locals try to con every cent out of you. It got a bit tiresome until we found a great little shop that charged us 'government prices' for food and drinks. We took everyone from the tour there for the rest of our stay so it was worth their while.

We left Aswan to spend the night on a Felluca. We had a swim in the Nile (our tour leader assured us this was safe). Then headed to a Nubian village for dinner. The Nubians lived in the valley before the High Dam was built but were moved further north after this. The have a very basic life and only 5-7% of children go to school. We had dinner there which was really nice (but didn't agree with us the next day!). We have been battling the usual third world travel sickness ever since but are getting better slowly.

We caught the overnight train back to Cairo. Spent yesterday at the Egyptian museum - saw the treasures of Tutankhamon (not sure if that's how you spell it) as well as the royal mummies. Conveniently located next to the museum was the Nile Hilton so we popped over for a bite to eat. Ended up with the buffet mainly because it meant an unlimited supply of veggies! Food was totally amazing after living on falafel sandwiches and Pringles for far too long!

At night, we headed to the Khan El Khelli markets. They were fantastic. Stuff was really cheap and unlike the rest of the Egyptian markets, they knew what 'no thanks' (la shukran in Arabic) meant.

This morning we wandered around the Cairo Zoo (very old school - lots of cages and unhappy looking animals - only cost 10c to get in though!). There was a couple from Canada who were supposed to be on our tour but had a run in with one of the Tourist Policeman at the Zoo before the tour began. He demanded money before he would let them leave. This freaked them out totally so they were on the first flight out of this crazy place! They missed a lot though because even with the madness of the country, we have seen some amazing things and the historic significance of all the places is mind-blowing. The people are generally friendly once they realise they're not going to be able to sell something to you. Everywhere we go, kids say hello and try their english on us. We get a lot of stares though even though we try and cover up most of the time. There aren't many white tourists about in a lot of the areas we've been so I think we're a bit of a novelty to them.

We are in our hotel in Cairo for one more night before we embark on the Kumuka tour up though Jordan, Syria and Turkey. We have a crazy guy that appears to live in the room opposite us that yells at us in Arabic everytime we leave our room. We have no idea what he's saying so now we try and sneak in and out of our room and avoid him!

That's all for now. Love getting everyone's comments/messages so keep them coming! J&S

---

Comments

[Ben (J)]

Have you guys ever been to a country where someone hasn't tried to scam you?? Looks like a great trip so far. Have fun!

[Judy]

Well done guys - you can probably speak more Arabic than me now. I've really beeen enjoying your updates - keep up the good work. How full are the backpacks now?? Hope your ears have cleared up, Joy.