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Sunday 6th February Unlike the previous day, it was a very early start the next morning. We awoke at 6.30am to find the boat drifting out on the current towards Kom Ombo on the opposite bank. Everyone had woken in desperate need for the toilet. For the girls in particular, it was very difficult, as they couldn't just stand at the side of the boat and go! Not that any boys took this emergency course of action that morning! We know we're complaining again but our captain just never seemed to think. As we drifted we were served breakfast which consisted of two small omelettes between 10 people - pathetic! At 7.30am we met our driver for the day on the opposite bank. We could see the Temple from the river but it was overshadowed by black smoke belching from the sugar cane refinery. It still looked impressive. Our first stop though, was the toilet! We ended up not going inside the Temple as the half hour we were given before the bus left seemed hardly worth it and we had many temples yet to visit. Instead, we sat and had a relaxed coffee with Arthur and Sharon with the temple towering over us. From here onwards, our little bus was in a police convoy. We stopped for an hour at the Temple of Horus in Edfu. Compared to everything else we'd seen, it was a huge well-preserved temple with amazing hieroglyphics and large statues of the falcon god Horus. It was a shame that due to the police convoy on the stretch between here and Luxor we were unable to stop at some of the less visited sites or spend any time in the small villages with real Egyptians. The bus dropped us outside the Nubian Oasis Hotel where we hadn't planned to stay but it was cheap so we thought we'd take a look. The rooms, though, simple were actually really nice and staff were friendly. For a double with ensuite and breakfast we were paying less than two pounds! We had got on really well with Sharon and Arthur and so agreed to meet up with them for food later that evening. Beforehand, we went to Luxor Temple. We visited it in the dark and the various plays of artificial light made for a different experience to visiting a temple during the day, and the hieroglyphics and reliefs were accentuated in this different setting. We really enjoyed it. Along with Arthur and Sharon there was Zak and Josh, their two American friends (they were the ones supposed to come on the felucca) and we went to a pair of cheapish restaurants and played them off each other until they gave us a reasonable deal. The food was quite nice although nothing to write home about but the company was very good. We got on really well with all four of them and there was a lot of laughter. The supposedly relaxing felucca trip had left us quite tired though so we all traipsed off to bed reasonably early. Monday 7th February Despite the hotel being so cheap, the breakfast the next morning was wonderful and it set us up well for a morning of sightseeing. The objective for the day was Karnak. The Lonely Planet says "...more than a temple, Karnak is a spectacular complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks, all dedicated to the Theban gods and to the greater glory of Egypt's Pharaohs". Everything here is on a gigantic scale - the site measures about 1.5km by 800m, large enough to contain about 10 cathedrals, while the first pylon is twice the size of the one at Luxor Temple. Built, added to, dismantled, restored, enlarged and decorated over a period of nearly 1500years, Karnak was the most important place of worship in all Egypt during the height of Theban power and was called Ipet Isut, meaning "the most perfect of places".'. We spent nearly three hours here trying to absorb the sheer scale of the place, whilst attempting to dodge the massive tour groups so by the end of this we were quite exhausted. The 2km walk back into town was pleasant enough but we were getting more and more frustrated by the felucca sailors and other hawkers who were hassling us along the way. After such an exhausting morning of being typical tourists we felt that we deserved a break, some food and a drink. So we sat down at a restaurant not far from our hotel. 'Travelling' seems such a small world because soon after sitting down we were greeted with a 'G'day mate'; Chris, the Australian from Cairo, was there and sat down to eat lunch with us. We were also joined by the 'nice Dave' from the felucca. It was really great seeing Chris again, he's so laid back that you can't help but feel relaxed. As the day gradually turned into night, we soon met up with our slowly expanding posse at the same restaurant for some more munchies! Oh the simple life of eating, drinking and merriment we lead! Tuesday 8th February It was another early start the next day as we'd arranged with our hotel to go on a tour to the West Bank. We're not normally keen to on tours but it seemed the most convenient and cheapest way of visiting these sites. Over breakfast we met most of our companions for the day (Marco, Caroline and Marina who were travelling together; and a Chilean guy called Carlos). Chris was also coming with us and on the bus we also met Shahid from Pakistan. It was a fantastic group, and later we found that only working together could we have the tour we wanted! Our tour guide was awful! The information she gave us was often inaccurate, memorised and less detailed than the guidebook! She seemed really keen on getting the tour over as quickly as possible so, determined to spend more time at each site we stuck together, knowing that she couldn't leave until all of us were back. Obviously, she wasn't impressed with our tactics and remained grumpy throughout the rest of the tour! We seem to think that her taking us to the Alapasta, sorry, Alabaster Factory was a form of punishment for our blatant disregard for our time keeping! Oh well! It was a good day though mainly because of the group we were with. We went to the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut, the Valley of the Queens and the Colossi of Memnon. The highlight of the day was at the Valley of the Kings where we took a high-level off-road route to the Tomb of Tuthmosis IV; the views down the valley were stunning. The tomb itself was well off the tourist track so very quiet, which meant we could appreciate one of the most well preserved tombs at our own pace and in relative peace. Inside was a beautifully decorated and completely intact sarcophagus. The tomb was discovered by Howard Carter of Tutankhamun fame. It was our last night in Luxor and from here our gang was going it's separate ways. We went out to the 'English' pub, The King's Head to say our goodbyes. They'd done quite well in making it resemble an English pub but the prices were sky high! Just the one then! It was a nice night though with everyone there and we chatted for hours. That's one of the few good things about Egypt - we've managed to meet so many wonderful people, and despite the constant hassle and the 'safety' problems they've made our stay in Egypt more enjoyable and endurable! By the end of the night, we were knackered and not looking forward to the 6.00am wake up call to catch our train the next morning. Wednesday 9th February Aswan, Egypt … again! The first class carriage in the train to Aswan was amazingly spacious and comfortable. We're glad we paid the extra 70p a head for the added luxury. It's a far cry from the 3rd class local train! We sat and ate our take away brekkie from the hotel before we both drifted off to sleep in the comfort of the reclining chairs. The journey only took about 4 hours so we were both back in our old hotel by midday. Guess who we met on the way to the hotel..... Kevin and Siobhan, the Irish couple we'd met in Madaba, Jordan before Christmas! It was a strange meeting in the main street of the souq but we were extremely happy to meet up with them again. We arranged to meet up with them tonight for a sunset felucca ride and then some food. And now we're sitting in our usual spot in the teahouse in the souq writing our diary, just feeling like we're back home again.... So that evening we enjoyed our 1-hour felucca trip with Kevin and Siobhan. There wasn't much wind but it was a pleasant drift whilst watching the sun set over the hills. Later, with our stomachs calling, we traipsed off to the Derwesh Restaurant where we again had a brilliant meal, but this time the barbequed chicken was excellent. The meal was such good value and Kevin and Siobhan were ecstatic that they had found potatoes after going for so long without! We then went to our usual teahouse and, as a 'thank you' for our regular custom, the owner gave Paul a free 'sheesha' or water pipe to smoke. He managed 4 or 5 polite tentative puffs before coughing and spluttering and handing it back! Bless him! Kevin also took Paul to a shop he found where you could buy Cadbury's Moro bars for just under 10p! Much cheaper than we'd found before! Cadbury's chocci was serious comfort food so it was quite important to find a good reliable supply! We'd had a really enjoyable and successful evening (although not as successful as far as Kate playing UNO was concerned!) so we went to bed feeling really satisfied. Thursday 10th February We were due to meet them the next morning at our hotel to organise a trip to Abu Simbel with the hotel manager so we got up with enough time to have breakfast before they arrived. Whilst we were eating brekkie two German cyclists introduced themselves to us. They were Stephan and Fritzi who we quickly discovered were the couple that cycled with Daan and Jeroen in Bulgaria. They had already heard of us and knew who we were before we even spoke! We managed to convince them to come on the Abu Simbel trip the next day despite it being a 3.30am start! When Kevin and Siobhan arrived, we agreed a slight group discount with the manager before we all went our separate ways for the day; the rest of which was spent writing up more diary on the internet and carrying out the usual domestic chores. Oh...the interesting life that we lead! All six of us met up for an early evening meal followed by some more cups of tea over some hard games of UNO before an early night. Friday 11th February The alarm at 3.00am was really not welcome and we both stumbled downstairs bleary eyed to meet the others in the hotel reception. Our mini bus arrived late at 3.45am and we all piled into the back to find that we were the last six people and so were lumbered with the least comfortable seats in the cramped vehicle for the long ride south. Oh..to be on our bikes! No hassle! As it was, we missed the first police convoy and had to wait till 4.30am for the second one to leave. It was pointless anyway as the mini bus was so slow that we were left behind after about half an hour so we drove through the desert on our own! As you can imagine and understand, sleep was definitely on the agenda and this came more easily to some (surprisingly, Kate) than others!! It was still quite early in the morning when we arrived and it was obvious that when introducing the convoy system the Egyptians just hadn't thought things through! The place was just so busy with tourists fighting to get into the queue (sorry.... what queue!?), and with tour guides competing for space and audience, when we knew that by the afternoon the place would be completely empty. It was incredible though, and we sat munching on our packed breakfast in front of the famous temple, admiring the sheer size and scale of the statues. Ramses II obviously thought highly of himself as he ordered four statues of himself to be made which were to have pride of place in front of the temple! What was also amazing was the fact that before Lake Nasser was flooded UNESCO moved the whole thing (remember it was carved out of solid rock and not individual pieces) including the mountain to higher ground where it wouldn't be lost under the waters of the lake. We stayed there for a couple of hours before we had to rejoin the convoy heading back to Aswan. Our driver was feeling the affects of the early morning start as we could see the occasional and very worrying nodding of the head as he struggled to stay awake. We were quite relieved when we finally reached the dock for the ferry to the Philae Temple, which is on an island in the lake below the High Dam. This temple had also been moved from another island as it was on a higher level. Again, it was an interesting place but by this time we were beginning to feel a tad bit 'templed out' so didn't spend that long there. When our bus driver turned up sadly none of us were feeling up to visiting the unfinished obelisk or the High Dam so opted for a swift return to the hotel. We'd been out for over 12 hours so were fairly exhausted. That evening we'd arranged for our parents to call us at the hotel so it was a takeaway koshary and a relatively early to bed. This would probably be the last time we would speak to our parents before we reached Ethiopia. Saturday 12th February The next morning, we had an interesting time with Stephan and Fritzi trying to find the ticket office for the ferry to Sudan. We were a little shocked when we arrived to find that the prices had doubled and that we also had to pay extra for our bicycles even though they were lighter and took up much less space than most of the Egyptian or Sudanese luggage! After this we went back to the hotel, wallets a lot lighter, and provided street entertainment by cleaning and checking our bikes ready for Sudan. Whilst we were doing this, a familiar face appeared amidst the crowds - Aussie Chris was in Aswan! It turned out that he was also planning on going to Sudan that week so our ferry posse was getting bigger and bigger! We all ended up at his hotel in the evening, sipping beer watching the sunset from his roof terrace, followed by another meal at the Derwesh restaurant and a few more frantic games of UNO! Paul and Kate x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire