Egypt has continued to be beautiful and challenging and full of something for everyone. I’ve seen retirees, gap year kids, lost souls like me, and families with children from all over the globe roaming the streets and sites and temples in my few weeks here. Even though the media coverage from early in the year painted this country as one in turmoil filled with angry, uncivilized, and violent people, I have to remember that kindness and generosity very rarely make the news. Of course we know that politics should never be used to prejudice our opinions of the people within the country but sometimes it’s hard to get past those TV images that are used to invoke fear and increase the distance between “them” and “us”. Egypt’s people have accomplished an enormous and amazing feat but sadly instead of joining in with their celebrations of that exciting future, we issue travel advisories. A country that is ready to get on its feet is suffering because tourists and travelers are too cautious to come. Tourism is their major export here, of course. If Egypt has ever been on your bucket list, now is the time to come, my friends. Now. Writing was INVENTED here for crying out loud! Archeologists still work around the clock, unearthing new ancient treasures everyday… how exciting is that?! Luxury is definitely an option (the Pharaohs were always very well looked after) if roughing it isn’t your style so there’s no reason not to come. This place has left me giggling and amazed and I thought I had seen some pretty impressive stuff already. Come to Egypt. You won’t be disappointed.
Okay, PR plug complete. On to the stories…
Aswan… While the touts were out in full force doing their jobs with a mighty gusto, Aswan remained a lovely town to stroll around. The day was full of shouts to get you into a taxi, horse carriage, or felucca, and after dark, the chants changed to having a look in their shop and buying their wares. Somewhat annoying if you wanted to stop and actually look at anything as you would be instantly swarmed, but harmless and comical for the most part. The night market in Aswan is beautiful. Typical tacky tourist trappings mixed in with the warm savoury scents of colourful spices arranged in open bowls and brilliant iridescent racks of silk and cotton scarves, shirts, skirts, and dresses. Fruit piled high pyramid style and jewelry shops bursting with Egyptian shaped charms. I bought a legit silver “wedding band” for less than $10 because the cheapo one turned my finger green. Oops! You could find anything here and of course, it’s all “special price for you!”
And as is the case with most of my travels, I’m eating my way through the country. Falafel and eggplant stuffed pita, tahini sauces and strange omelets and kashory (a carb lovers combo of rice, pasta, lentils, and some kind of tomato sauce) and some other random street food that would catch my attention without me fully understanding what exactly it was but I’d try it anyway. If the locals are chowing down on it, I want to try too. There was a lovely little park alongside one section of the river where I could sit on a bench and watch kids playing soccer or families strolling around without being the target of attention at all. It was amazing. I met the same young boy there both nights I wandered down as that was his turf for selling whatever he was selling and although we couldn’t understand a single word of what the other was saying, he was the nicest company. For a city that started with a pervo beginning, Aswan turned out to be so lovely!
I was considering heading south to Abu Simbel, 40kms north of the Sudanese border, but some locals suggested it really wasn’t worth it. My sister said it was, and she was right – THANKS JOOL! Of course, I want local buses as tourist crammed transport leaves you no time to do anything independently. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with tour groups, often they’re the best way to make sure you see all the highlights, but I’m a dawdler. Always have been. Whether hiking or sightseeing or diving or whatever, I generally get distracted by something or other, wander off from the group, and am always running to catch up, feeling like I’ve missed something along the way, then getting a telling off to boot. Not the way I like to see my once in a lifetime attractions.
So with directions from the guy at my hotel, I arrive at the local minibus station and am pointed to the Abu Simbel minibus where the driver quickly makes an X with his forearms and says, Tourist, no, NO! But this bus goes to Abu Simbel? Yes, Abu Simbel, but no for you, no tourists. Harummmph! HOW RUDE! I want to go to Abu Simbel, please. No for you! No tourist! Police! No for you! (small whine in my voice)… but I want to go to Abu Simbel, this bus is to Abu Simbel, why can’t I go to Abu Simbel? I’ve looked in the minibus and see there are other women in there, so it’s not a segregated bus thing, and there are still empty seat available. I’m thoroughly confused and at 7am, not sure what my options are. The bus driver then points me to a big, proper sized tour bus and tells me to go there. *sigh* Hanging my head a little bit, I shuffle over to this big bus and see four white faces around a table. I ask what’s the deal and find out that tourists are not allowed to ride in the small, private taxis or minibuses to areas south of Aswan, some kidnapping and robbery issues, so we must ride in these big government registered buses. Just like the typical Greyhound buses from home. Locals take them too, more comfortable than the minibuses, same same more or less. I’d heard the stories of police convoys and limited travel but it was from like 10 years ago. I guess not much has changed. Then they promptly turned their backs on me and continued chatting away in Spanish. Oh, okay. Thank you.
My first views of the desert on the four hour trip down and many police check points along the way. They never come onto the bus or actually stop the traffic, you just have to veer through pylons and gates and over speed bumps where groups of bored and uninterested military boys laze about with machine guns slung slackly over shoulders or backs of chairs, feet up, hats pushed back on their heads, and tea in hand. Miserable patrol assignment, for sure.
Abu Simbel is a small, quiet town on the Nile that obviously doesn’t see much tourism and as of late, even less. My 30 minute walk from town to the temples was almost deserted and the few people I did see offered hellos of genuine kindness instead of let me take your money. A pretty town that was much more of what I was hoping for. Arriving at the temples, I laughed to see that I was the only one there. I’m not kidding. About 50 security guards, shop owners, and various staff, and me. Sweet. I went to buy a ticket and choked. *side note* While the temples I have visited are cheap by Western prices and worth every single penny, they have been costing me about the same price as a night’s accommodation. It was starting to add up and any budgeting has already been totally and completely bashed. So this entry ticket was the most expensive one by far and was twice the price of my accommodation for that night. Gulp. I just couldn’t do it. So I wandered around out front for a bit, was instantly befriended by a fly/tick infested dog, and tried to figure out what I should do. I couldn’t let money be the issue right now, I'd come all this way and I’ll never be back. But it was a lot of money for this budget travelling girl. They had a student price listed, which was half the regular price, and just as I was about to approach the ticket man with puppy dog eyes and a plea for that student price, he waves me over. You have no money? I have money, just not enough money. You have money for student price? Yes! Yes! I can do student price. Okay, you pay student price. Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And in I go. All by myself is coming in handy in so many ways.
No need to bore you with the details of the temples but needless to say, if you look at my facebook photos, the temples were, as all have been, completely incredible. (I am obviously running out of adjectives descriptive enough to paint the AWESOMENESS of these places!) Oh yeah, and I was there all by myself. The four Spanish people from the bus did come and go, as did a few small tour groups, but I lingered and wandered and waited and had many long moments where it was just me and the big stone statues. For the sake of tourism, I’m sorry that people are staying away, but for selfish me, WOO! HOO! I’ve had National Geographic moments, just me and thousands of years of history. Un-freaking-believable! Lucky, lucky me!
Had a few visits with lovely local families when I stopped in at a shop or for something to eat (shocking!) and was up and gone on the 6am bus the next day. A quick 18 hour visit worth every single minute. Back to my hotel in Aswan where I had a few hours to kill before heading out on a trip I had planned to float down the Nile for a couple of days. I’m going on a felucca!
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