I had just over a week in Egypt, first stop, overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. The whole carriage was for foreigners, waiting on the platform I also spotted a large Contiki tour getting on the same train. The same Contiki tour took the same train as I going back to Cairo and I had the same roomie both ways.
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| At the High Dam |
Arrived in Aswan, met up with Aleisha to begin the tours that were part of the Nile cruise, day one - to the High Dam, which is a massive supplier of hydro electricity and the world's largest man made lake. Next, to the Philae Temple, that was relocated due to the development of the High Dam and a short boat ride to the temple site. Thought is was quite fun that our guide gave us Arabic names so it was easier for him to remember them, Reim and Aisha, and we gave him a western name, Sam.
In the afternoon, we transferred to our cruise ship, the Crown Empress, which is literally a floating hotel and about twice the size of the other cruise ships. Food on board was a series of buffet style meals. Each meal a slightly different theme, the night of the galibia party there was a whole Egyptian theme to the dining hall, the staff dressed in stereotypical Egyptian outfits and posed for photographs.
All the staff on board were men, the only women I saw was a belly dancer that came on the boat at Luxor. When I asked Sam why there were no women on the cruise ship, 'it's too dangerous for them' was his response.
Leaving the boat, even with the guide, attracted a certain amount of hassle which got pretty exhausting, I clearly looked like a tourist even though I dressed conservatively. The horse carriage and taxi drivers, felluca captains spoke in quite rude sounding Arabic when we refused to take them up on their offer of a ride. There are only so many ways to say 'no thank you', and it's easy to get more aggressive to the next person who approaches you to ask 'where are you from?' which was the most asked question from Egyptian men the whole trip. 'No hassle, just take a look' was a close second.
After the days everyone spent out and about with their guides the boat staff put on a little entertainment each evening. A cocktail hour, a gailbia party - dressing in traditional Egyptian dress was encouraged, a belly dancer and a spinny dancer. Lazing in the pool was fantastic after all day in the sun with tea time in the early afternoon, how colonial. At tea time the staff set up a little table showing their skills at carving vegetables or rolling towels into animals.
It felt we didn't actually spend that much time sailing on the water and when we were sailing, there weren't that many other boats on the water, a few here and there, it definitely wasn't congested on the water.
Visiting the west bank in Luxor, Valley of the Kings and the temple of Queen Hatshipsut was a hot day. No shade, temperatures soaring into the mid forties, climbing down into three of the tombs, phew, hot, hot, hot. You can't take photos in the Valley of the Kings, but there are a whole number of people who are willing to sell you a string of postcards for a 'very good price.' Pretty cool, imagining what it would have been like living like the Egyptians. Last day on the tours was to the east bank in Luxor and to the Karnak Temple, a massive sprawling ancient complex of ruins where The Spy Who Loved Me was filmed.
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| Sunset at Luxor |
There is a lot of history at each site, which I will not describe to you here, there are also men who are very happy about showing you to 'the best' bit of the site for a little baksheesh, or to pose in your photo, again, for a little baksheesh. One of the sites we went to, an older man just stood in the way of a photo I was taking for a couple of guys, we asked him to move, he didn't, we took the photo and he just held his hand out for the money.
Photos from the cruise.
Photos from the cruise.
