Blogs from Aswan, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 13

After the past few days felucca bound I feel like an absolute crusty slug! :) Could it be possible to be more rested and fed? Basically the small traditional sailing boat is one gigantic floating bed. A bed for eight people with ample room to starfish. Delicious endless time to read and just fall asleep with no restrictions is ALL we have done. Lying back and listening to the Nile lap the boat is the only thing I have HAD to do. At times as the book chapters merged into one I thought 'I really must turn over to see if the scenery has changed'. Deep breath. More contemplation. Pass me another pillow will you please. Surrender to snooooooze. This has been the pattern of the last three days but now I'm desperate to move. After ... read more

So another night train to Aswan, this one kinda sucked. Very beautiful town on the Nile. All lush in town and then, bam, nothing but sand!!Checked out the unfinished Obelisk. Was going to be huge but broke when they were cutting it out so it was abandoned. Took in Philae Island. The Temple was dedicated to Isis, who found the heart of her slain brother Osiris, on Philae Island. Now Philae Temple was relocated when they dammed the Nile, so they actually found a similar looking island, and cut it into the same shape. The old temple had to be dammed as well, as the Nile dam was already done and water would have been over the temple. So with pumps and walls they dammed the temple, deconstructed it, and re-built it on the new island. ... read more

It was obvious within minutes of arriving in Aswan that it was quite different to Luxor, with the hassle factor barely noticeable. It was possible to stroll through the souk without people blocking your way and trying to force you into their store. The river had more character, with a number of islands midstream and flotillas of feluccas. There wasn't the same price variation as I had experienced in Luxor. Though I was slightly perturbed to see "chicken and herpes" on my dinner menu, and there were the same quantities of policemen dotted around the place standing behind their moveable bullet-proof screens, I felt significantly more at ease here. I had one piece of administration to deal with in Aswan, namely purchasing a ticket on the ferry to Sudan. The information on the web had been ... read more

We got up in good time today and, after breakfast on our rooftop patio, picked up our laundry from the front desk and packed for our two day trip down the Nile. We ended up getting to our departure point, the Aswan Moon Restaurant, a good hour before our twelve o'clock departure time. After loading all of our suitcases onto Mahmod's Felucca, Evy and I went back off to the old town to buy some post cards and oranges for the trip. When we returned we had lunch at the restaurant and met Ramadon, Mahmod's first first mate. Mahmod appeared briefly, but then headed back off to prayers. When Mahmod returned from the Mosque, we all boarded and prepared for sailing. We now were joined by a third man, dressed totally in white, who I took ... read more

With the bustling market next to our hotel, we were woken up early with the sound of traffic. We phoned another hotel and have managed to book two rooms for the next two nights, so after breakfast we got a cab to head over there. As seem to be the case here, the first price the cab driver asked was 4 times the going rate. It was only after we got out and began to remove our bags off the roof, did he bring the rate back down to what I know to be a fair price for the short distance to the next hotel. This second hotel, the Keylany, immediately felt welcoming. The rooms were clean and a decent size and there was satellite TV and free wifi as well. All for $30 a night ... read more