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Published: September 14th 2008
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Aswan is very hot, we were relieved to find out we are staying in a better hotel Orchidia St. George with a/c, but our room's door does not lock properly and took 2 days for them to fix it, quite annoying. We had late lunch at the hotel then went for a walk on the waterfront and touts started harassing us, offering felucca rides, and if you say no thanks, they counter back "why not?", really caught us unprepared to answer back. Early to bed as we have a 3:30am start to visit Abu Simbel, you have to go on a convoy, this is the Egyptian gov't, regulations to protect tourists from terrorist attacks.
The trip to Abu took 3 hours, we got a packed breakfast from the hotel. Either Di or the fixer screwed up but we did not have a guide with us, we requested one, lost in translation maybe. We walked around the temple and try figure out ourselves what does carvings, etc. are all about, sometimes we listen to English speaking guided tours, we got some gist, nevertheless i thought it was superb, very impressive how they were able to piece it back together when they
brought it up in it's present location.
Went to Mcdonald's for lunch then tried internet, a bit slow at first then got better and it is right next to the hotel. After dinner again back to Mcdonald's for some Mcflurries then walked aroubd the bazaar, some have signs that says no hassle but they do anyway.
Funny quotes from the merchants: "Let me help you spend your money", "I'll give you money if you look", "Why Not", "Just Look", "no hassle".
The next day was chill out day , went to mcdonald's again then walked in the bazaar again for some shopping. We signed up for the Felucca sail which leaves the next day. so we try and get ready for it. Chrissy and Jo are going on a Nile cruise, all you can eat buffet, etc. but can't afford it, have to budget for Europe...
So the felucca sail started, it was very slow coming out from the dock, hardly any wind, my eye still bothering me, i cant get rid of the sand that lodged itself on my left eye, trying to distract myself by enjoying the view. The sail is very relaxing and the
meals quite good if not plenty. In the afternoon we had a swim on the banks, again risking the possibility of getting bilharzia. Roy Craig asked the pilot of the boat if he has some wacki backi and before you know it he was rolling for us.. we thought it was quite weak but nevertheless helps us pass the time by, having enormous quantity of beer as well, Sam not drinking after a bad hangover from last night. Much later after sunset and before dinner we docked to camped for the night on the riverbank, Craig went to toilet in the banks of the river and apparently fell asleep, some passerby woke him up, but he insist it was not the wacki backi but maybe the beer... he passed out soon as he returned to the boat, no dinner and threw up. I was planning on having some more wackis with Roy but fell asleep as well and passed out, later that night I woke up. it was all quite in the boat, all asleep needed to go to toilet, made my way down the boat ramp and the dogs barked at me and started chasing me, good thing the
LUXOR
CIGARS FOR ANDY'S LAST NIGHT WITH THE GROUP pilot was still awake and shhoed them away.
After breakfast left the boat and visited Kom Ombo temple, waited a long time for the truck to show up, they were supposed to pick us up but they got lost i think, we were just about to give up when they came together with the Belgians.We drove on to Luxor staying at a camp site but everyone decided to upgrade in rooms as it was very hot needed a/c, except for Craig who erected his new tent. Sharing with Sam in the room, went to shower and the floor was slippery and I fell, Sam apparently was on his way out the room, heard it but did not think i was hurt so did not bother to check on me, I was bruised but alive and took the shower curtain down with me.
Next day was Valley of the Kings, sweltering hot, did not enjoy the excursion, it was not that impressive in my opinion, saw Tutankhamon's mummy, that was cool... Too many tourists and too hot and humid inside the caves. That evening we went to see the Light Show in karnak after the farewell dinner for Andy
and Harriet, the light show was boring and i fell asleep when we sat down to listen. The temple was very impressive though and decided to come back the next day to enjoy it more in daylight.
Cook group shop for me, our last cooking we hope, not after I did the Luxor temple and Karnak with Craig and Sam. met up with Jackie and Jo to shop, we have to haggle very hard, bought rotiserie chicken, if not for Helen who used her charm we could have not gotten a discount. Last cooking we did some curry thing, happy ending to 9 months of cooking...
This place has a swimming pool which we enjoyed immensely as it was hot and sometimes power goes off so no a/c, also me and Roy enjoyed our kentucky fried chicken...
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