Leaving Cairo we drive through the thick evening traffic to
the Giza train station. The Cairo station is enormous and gives last minute
warning about which platform to get on, the Giza station is much more civilized
apparently. We arrive with plenty of time and chill out on the platform. As we
wait a group of 250 Chinese tourists show up with all the tea in China worth of
luggage. The size of the group is unusual and hopefully a sign that tourism is
coming back.
The overnight train itself was as good as the first class
experience we’d had in Europe. A private room for two, dinner and breakfast
included and a comfortable mattress to sleep on. We’re all pretty excited to be
getting underway so we’re up late chatting and hanging out in the halls of the
train. When we awake in the morning the scenery out the train windows is
beautiful. Bright green grass framing a wide river that can only be the Nile.
Palm and date trees are frequent flashes as the train glides beside the river.
Our breakfast comes and it’s bread. Six different pieces of bread products, a
croissant, a chocolate croissant, a piece of cake, a plain roll and some other
thing with almonds on the top. It’s all plastic packed and not that fresh. We
manage two pieces and when the conductor comes back he asks ‘you don’t like
your breakfast?’ we reply that we’re too full from dinner last night trying to
be polite about not liking stale dry bread.
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| Wakey, wakey, carb overload! |
We get off the train and the temperature and humidity slap
you hard in the face. We are driven to our hotel in Aswan, it has seen better
days. The group decides to head to the Philae temple, we go
without our guide, deciding to tackle this on our own. We head out of our hotel
and the heat is overwhelming and your mouth goes instantly dry. We haggle and get
a massive 7 seat wagon taxi, all taxis are ancient Peugeots. None of us are
sure how this thing is still holding together, with every bump on the road we
become even more concerned for its wellbeing, and unsurprisingly it provides a
lot of laughs and entertainment.
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| Our group: Simon, Amy, Nathan, Ollie, Alex and Jaione (Haio). |
The Temple of Philae is on an island so we negotiate with the
captain to get there, it would be so good at times just to have a fixed price! The
temple reminds us of something like the movie set from Cleopatra. We did not
actually believe that something like this was real outside of movies, this is a
feeling we would come to have often in Egypt. Unfortunately we had arrived at
the same time as the 250 Chinese tourists, otherwise we would have had this
magnificent sight to ourselves! The Temple is incredible covered in beautiful
hieroglyphs. The heat is intense and finding shade is critical but tricky, our
well needed icy poles melted in minutes.
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| Prayer time on the job |
In the afternoon we take a boat ride to a small beach and
paddle in the Nile. It’s colder than we thought! We continue our boat ride to a
Nubian village and meet Jay Jay. He takes us to his house and on the way Amy
makes a small habibi/friend. He grabs my hand as we wander the back streets. I
take a quick snap and he looks pretty
puzzled about what this whole camera thing is… its pretty clear from his face
what he thinks of a camera.
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| My habibi!! |
At the house Jay Jay takes us proudly through their home. We
have a feast of lentil soup with croutons, baked chicken, baked Nile fish, rice
and vegetables. Delicious! Jay Jay tells us of his Australian connection. His
brother met an Australian girl on a felucca cruise and they fell in love.
Eventually moving to Australia where he has two children and a bakery in
Melbourne, he gives us the bakery details so we can go and meet him when we
return. We promised him we would go and see his bakery, and it’s a promise we
intend to keep. We get a wonderful insight into small Nubian villages and there
cultures. Jay Jay tells us about the weddings in communities like this and how
its not uncommon for 2000 people to attend, the food preparation is a big deal
as you can imagine. People from around the village make their contribution by
supplying a few chickens or a goat. Jay Jay has done well for himself, he has
many goats and owns a felucca company which provides jobs to many people in the
village, as such he is well respected.
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| Jay Jay on the right |
One of the best sights in Egypt is a place called Abu
Simbel, which is about 20kms from the border of Sudan. The only way to Abu
Simble is by convoy at 3am in the morning. We need to leave so early for a few
reasons. 1. To beat the heat, it’s a three hour drive so going in the ‘cool’ of
pre-dawn is good. 2. Safety, there is a tourist convoy escorted by tourist
police, we cannot go if we are not in the guarded convoy. The drive to Abu
Simbel is very long and very dull. It’s a straight line road through sandy
desert, we sleep rough but get a little rest.
We arrive at 7am and the sun is already showing its power,
by 8am we are sweltering. Abu Simbel is amazing for 2 reasons 1. It is a work
of art by Ramesses II and this guy was in love with himself so you know it will
be good. 2. This place was saved from being underwater after construction of a
super dam. They cut it into blocks and painstakingly lifted it 20 metre back
and 62 metres up away from the water line, you would never know to look at it.
So it really is an engineering marvel to move this the way they have. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside.
The main temple itself was built by Ramesses II for himself and
another smaller one his to his favourite wife. Naturally his temple has four
statues of himself on it, and the one for his wife has four statues of himself
and two of his wife. Talk about narcissistic.
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| His wifes temple |
Inside the temple is stunning. Massive carvings of the Pharaoh
smiting enemies and making offerings to the gods. Huge columns and ornately
decorated rooms and statues. The whole thing is surreal, and to us it was not
only one of the best sights in Egypt, but possibly of our journey. JUST WOW!!
Easily worth the early morning and the awful trip back in the sweltering heat
that the A/C is just not touching the sides of.
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| The only glimse my camera could get of the inside of his temple |
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| The view from the window through the desert |
When we get back we decide to go with Jaione from our group to
a nice hotel for a swim and relax. Best idea ever. The pool is great and we sip
drinks from our sunbeds and stay cool dipping in the water. Jaione has a massage
and Amy gets a mud mask at the spa there. We stay for dinner at the hotel
buffet and dine like Kings. Well much better than we have been lately. We
learnt a great lesson that if you’re worried about food poisoning then squeeze
some lime over your salad or whatever and the acid will kill any bacteria.
The next day we pack up to board our felucca to cruise down
the Nile towards Luxor. The boat is very comfortable with a massive mattress
under an awning so we can sit and lie comfortably in the shade whilst we cruise
gently down the river. Feluccas are really just relaxing they are not so much a
mode of transport as they are really slow. Ahmed entertains with backgammon and
the crew Abdul and Mustafa start on our lunch with the on-board kitchen.
We stop on the banks to enjoy lunch and go for a swim in the
Nile and whilst chilly at first it is super refreshing. The felucca does not
have an on-board toilet so its nature all the way. The great part was that as
you went away from the river bank you discovered beautiful camels. Ever tried
peeing with a camel watching?
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| The camels have seen more than they asked for |
Our lunch is delicious and filling, baba ganush with
shakshuka and salad. The wind is not good.so we are parked on the side until it
improves. It is so relaxing and chilled to sit on the back of the boat,
trailing feet in the water. We get going only for a short while before the sun
sets over the Nile and we pull over for the night. The wafting smell of dinner
covers the boat, it smells amazing, naturally we are all tired from a full day
of doing nothing.
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| Photo Credit: Alex |
At night after a tasty dinner of stewed potatoes and
vegetables with rice we go on shore and sit next to a campfire with another
group. The captains sing songs and keep the fire going. It’s the perfect
temperature outside to just be out and the almost full moon gives plenty of
light to see what we are doing.
We turn in on-board on the massive mattress in our sleeping
sheets and under the musty blankets provided. We are thankful for our sheets,
the blankets are super itchy. The moon is like a massive nightlight in the sky beaming
down on us, its glow illuminating the river in an almost surreal moment of
beauty. We are sleeping on a felucca on the river Nile. What an experience.
Dawn comes and we wake shortly after, everyone has slept
well even if it got a little chilly. Breakfast is pancakes, bread and fruit.
Our captains row us across the Nile to the opposite shore where we disembark
and say farewell to our boat and crew. It has been such an incredible
experience and probably will be one of the key highlights of Egypt.
Lessons Learnt
- Heat in Egypt is much like Australia, hot and dry
- Yes Abu Simbel is awful to get to, but under no circumstances miss it because WOW!!
- The desert is really boring
- Cruising the Nile is the best way to chill out in Egypt and leave your worries behind
- Squeezing fresh lemon or lime juice over potentially bacteria covered food helps protect you!
Parting Thoughts
The tourism industry in Egypt has been decimated by the
unrest with only 10% of capacity being used. There are dozens and dozens of
cruise ships parked in Aswan that would usually be busy ferrying tourists down
the Nile to Luxor overnight. The hotels are nearly empty and people in the
street tell us ‘welcome’ though we’re not sure if it’s always genuine. This
makes for some great opportunities for us, sites that would normally be swarmed
are nearly devoid of people and there aren’t really any tourist traps around
because there are no tourists.
It is sad to see though and we can only imagine the lasting
damage such downturn has caused to people’s lives and businesses.
Simon and Amy xx
