Monday, October 17, 2022, Aswan

Today we awake, or should I say get up, for there wasn’t much sleeping on the train. The tracks in Egypt are such that at times we felt like we were back on the camels! But anyway, the car steward brings breakfast to our room around 7:30 AM. A slight bit more palatable than last night’s dinner, but mostly bread and weird spreadable cheeses.

We arrive in Aswan Station around 8 AM and we disembark to a Tour Bus that takes us to a river taxi and we arrive at Philae Temple around 10:30. Mo gives us the history of the Temple and turns us loose for a half hour. Our cameras are once again happy and we photograph the Temple and its Hieroglyphics. At one point it is sad to see that somewhere in history, some religious sects have desecrated some of the symbols as apparently offensive to them by scratching out the faces. This is not a unique thing to this temple but is prevalent in a lot of Egyptian ruins!

Feral cats vie for snack droppings and they seem very friendly. But I remember my words about them being feral and all I do is take their photo! Then the boat takes us back to the bus and we visit a Perfume Factory where most of the ladies and half the men go inside. I opt to stay on the bus as perfumes bother me. Vendor ladies outside the bus argue with each other to see who can try to sell their wares to us! The bus then takes us to our Riverboat that will be our home for the next 3 days. Our Stateroom is very spacious and Mo goes into town to pick up some items, one of which is a Power Converter for us since we still do not have our luggage.

We have a couple hours to rest before boarding another small boat (think African Queen) and head up the Nile for a stop at a Nubian Village for dinner where a family takes us in and cooks a tasty meal! On the way, we get to photograph Sunset on the Nile. Lots of Felucca Boats sail up and down the Nile and we are allowed and encouraged to sit on the roof of the boat!

In the Village we see camels and all kinds of vehicle transportation. The streets are lined with aggressive Vendors and if you even look at them they will follow you and hound you to buy something! But we manage to avoid them.

On the way back, there is another river taxi boat full of other tourists from our group and the two boats tie up to each other and the Africans on board start playing the drums and all the passengers dance! How many can say they partied on the Nile?

Back in our Stateroom it turns out the Converter Mo got for us works and we are on our way to charging computers so we can write this Blog! But it is time to turn in as we have a 4AM wake up call for a new adventure! Good night!