Blogs from Aswan, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 23

"We'll be drinkin birra stella when she comes!" "We'll be drinkin birra stella when she comes!" "Singin yi yi yippy yippy yi!" If you had happened to be around a particular area on the banks of the Nile river between Aswan & Luxor, on this particular night! You would have been treated to my singin & dancing around a fire joined by a bunch of Bediwan kids & Cpt'n Happy & crommy bangin out on the drums! Top Craic! We enbarked on our 2 nite falucca journey in the arve with our fellow passangers (An old canadian couple, french couple, japanese gal & another aussie lad) All in the capable..ish hands of captain happy ( how thought that he was bob marley) and crommy the cook/mate(basically Capt'n happy's bitch!) D1- Sailed along, read a book, listened ... read more

High dam stats: # 3.6km in length # 1.0 km in width # 111m high @ highest point # Has 18 x the amount of material uses for the great temple of Khofu # 35000 workers involved in construction # 451 of which died in the process Got into aswan after pretty much no sleep on the train and we got picked up and taken to the hotel. Then went on a tour of the high dam (which provides most of egypt's power) then a short boat ride to philae (Agilkia Is). Where the Isis temple complex had been moved stone by stone after the constuction of the dam left it submerged 6 months of the year. Got a bit of sleep only to get up @ 3 in the morn to get in the convoey ... read more

Sleeper trains are awful. Someone didn't manage to tell me that Egypt actually gets cold- the last minute packing of trousers was invaluable, and should have included a sleeping bag. We were sitting up in the train and I wore all the clothes I could and froze my ass off on the 12 hour trip. I have trouble sleeping on trains and planes at the best of time due as I sleep on my stomach... however matters were made even worse by the fact that I couldn't feel my toes! When we finally arrived in Aswan we were all a bit jaded, and the Imaginative tours cruise boat looked positively luxurious! I was actually surprised because I was under the misapprehension that we were going on Fellucca's. Thank god we were not though, because I would ... read more

Hi all We were up quite early to take the 3 hour bus trip to Abu Simbel. This also meant leaving the ship behind, which was quite sad. To get to Abu Simbel, the tourist buses all go in a convoy with a police escort. The police escort is because of the proximity to the Sudan border, and the military checks all vehicles all along the route, so if you are in the convoy, the trip is much faster and the military do not constantly stop the buses the check the passengers etc. On the way there, on the side of the road, we saw an old tourist bus just covered in bullet holes.. hmm, I was glad for the police escort. The only problem is, when you arrive at Abu Simbel, it seems like every ... read more

Yesterday we sailed on a felucca down the River Nile. It was very peaceful and scenic. The current goes from south to north and the wind from north to south so when you are heading into the wind the breeze is nice... The Nile River goes for 5,000 miles and is the longest river system in the world. When we docked on the side of the Sahara desert, I was surprised at how clean the Nile water was, we bottled some and it was crystal clear.... they say that the Nile refreshes itself everyday by the strong currents. A couple on the tour decided to drink the Nile water, they say that you can drink it but they don't recommend it and I don't intend to try it either!!! guess we'll just check to see if ... read more