Our overnight train from Cairo to Aswan was pretty uneventful. We've become, if not experts, pretty good when it comes to train travel – we know which bunk we want, we know how to organize our packs so there is enough walking room, we know how to brush our teeth without using running water, and we know how to make ourselves sleep (ipods, earplugs, and occasionally medicine).
We arrived in Aswan around 11am, and boarded a bus that took us directly to our hotel. We really had no idea what to expect as we didn't really know the name or location of the hotel before arriving. We were very pleasantly surprised to find out that our hotel was more like a resort (woo hoo!), right on the amazing Nile river. We had about an hour to check into our rooms and shower before heading out with our tour group for the day.
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| A view of the Nile from our hotel! |
Our first adventure was a cruise on the Nile on a large motor boat that was named the “Roilling Stone.” (sic) The Nile, near Aswan, is beautiful! It is crystal clear, much like a lake – which was interesting to us considering many rivers we have seen are not as clean. After the hour-long cruise, we stopped for a camel ride. Erin had never ridden a camel before, so she was excited for the ride! Both of us survived the incredibly hot ride along the desert. And, interestingly enough, both of us were told, separately, that our camels were named “Bob Marley” - which means neither was.
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| You can see how clear the Nile is - outside the "Roilling Stone." |
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| James and Eugene (one of the gentlemen on our tour) are proud that neither of them fell off the camel during the ride. |
Our camel ride took us to a small Nubian village where we had a homemade lunch. The lunch was very relaxing and enjoyable, as we were extremely hungry after the long day we had already had. During the lunch, we were interrupted by the afternoon “call to prayer.” This provided our tour guide, who is Muslim, a great opportunity to teach us a bit more about his religion. Nearly 90% of the Egyptian population are Muslim, so it was insightful to learn a bit more about all of the people we have been encountering.
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| Our Nubian lunch: baked zucchini, baked eggplant, french fries, rice, diced tomatos, chicken legs, and beef pasta. |
After our lunch we took a truck-ride (everyone sat in the back of the pick-up truck) back to the coast so we could jump back on our boat and head to the nearby Elephantine island. On the island, we walked through a Nubian village. Wandering through the village was very eye-opening as the living conditions are very poor. We stopped at the Nubian elementary school and toured a classroom. Our tour guide attempted to teach us how to count using the Indian numbers (yes, even though they speak Arabic here, they use the Indian numbers).
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| A very-well sun protected Erin riding in the back of a very dangerous truck. |
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| Some Nubian children in a canoe came right alongside our boat hoping to get some money or treats from the tourists. |
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| A market on the Elephantine island - this should give you some idea about the living conditions. |
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| Tabitha makes her way into a Nubian school! |
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| The cruise back to our hotel was just around sunset. In the backdrop, you can see a temple. |
We returned to our room, where we laundered our clothes in the sink and took a quick nap. We were able to have dinner on our own tonight, so we decided to venture out and explore the area. We had been warned not to eat “street-food” because we may get sick. There was an enormous street market across from the hotel, so we decided to wander through to see if we could find something. The Egyptian people, while probably very nice, like to bombard tourists by asking them for money or trying to get them to purchase overpriced goods. Throughout our walk in the market, we were constantly haggled and after about 20 minutes or so, we decided to look elsewhere for food. We were hoping to come across a small restaurant, but were unable to find anything other than street vendors in the market. We eventually ended up at the McDonald's, where James had a McChicken "Big Mac" and Erin had a "McArabia" - a flatbread chicken sandwich - for dinner.
We walked back to the hotel, where James spent some time on the internet and Erin went to sleep in our perfectly air-conditioned room.
