Cairo to Aswan

On the way to our “Pharaoh’s” Nile dinner cruise we went past Embassy Row.  The Saudi embassy had multiple armoured personnel carriers surrounding it – apparently tension is high between Egypt and Saudi. The Israeli embassy was equally well guarded. There was an election rally held along the median strip for quite a distance but was a peaceful display.

The Pharaoh’s lived up to expectation.  It was completely over the top in decoration and there was plenty of food and drink.  Cairo at night looks pleasant and from the Nile with a welcome cool breeze blowing it was lovely.  Sat with 2 American couples who were very entertaining so all in all very pleased with this excursion.

Up and packed bright and early for our visit to the museum which got changed at the last minute to the original programmed day of the pyramids of Giza, Memphis and Sakkara. We met up with Lynette and Henry from Melbourne who are the only couple traveling with Trafalgar, so they have combined the tours and we will be spending the week with them.  Our guide for the trip is Mohammed who is a trained  Egyptologist and incredibly knowledgeable with a good sense of humour, he also fancies himself as a bit of a heart throb which was evidenced by his deserting us on the train in favour of 3 pretty young girls.  Thankfully there were very few tourists around and we got plenty of time at the Great Pyramid which was rather spectacular.  Alan went into the tomb of one of the minor pyramids and reported not much to be seen as these pyramids predate Egyptian hieroglyphics.  Alan went for a camel ride (camels name was KFC) and the Egyptian camels seem to be much better behaved than the Dubai ones and he enjoyed the ride.

This was followed by a trip to Memphis to see the Sphinx, again without the crowds which was good as there is only a small viewing area.  Left here to go to Sakkara where the oldest pyramid is.  It’s a step pyramid which you couldn’t get too close to as it is under repair. 

Our nextlast stop was at a Carpet School.  This is a school that runs normal classes but trains and pays the children to make silk carpets.  All carpets are hand made and the childrens’ nimble fingers are essential in this craft (from 8 yrs on).  At first I was horrified at the thought of child labour but when they explained that they are only allowed to work for 2 hrs a day and must have a break every 20 minutes and must do school work and that they are paid extremely well I changed my mind as it is better for them in this environment than begging on the street.  All of the children in the school came from parents who were also carpet makers.  The skill and beauty of these carpets is incredible. Naturally we got sucked in and spent an incredible amount of money on two silk carpets the size of placemats.  Another heirloom for the children.

Further out of the city they have a small museum which houses a colossal statue of Ramses II.  Absolutely mind blowing to see these incredible statues, the size of them is astounding and they are carved out of one piece of granite.

Of course you are inundated with people trying to sell you things and we were very grateful for our guide Mohammed who shooed them all away. It would foolhardy to try and do Egypt without a guide.   We still had 4 hrs to fill in until it was time to catch our train so Mohammed took us to a resort so we could have a swim.  This was where he informed us that even though we were going first class on the sleeper train it didn’t have ensuites – only 1 toilet per 10 rooms.  Not real happy about this!  So off to the ‘resort’ we went.  Mmmm Egyptians have a different idea of what resorts are to us!  We had fabulous food at a very shabby open air restaurant and we ate lots as this is where Mohammed informed us that even though we would get dinner on the train it would be inedible.  Had a lovely swim but didn’t dare sit on the lounge chairs as they were filthy, the toilets had no paper and didn’t flush and the showers had no water – definitely differing views on ‘resorts’.

Eventually off to the train with another trip thru Cairo suburbs.  Fascinating to be driving on a main road with flocks of sheep weaving in the traffic and feeding on the edge of the road in amongst the shops.  Apparently Butchers keep there own flocks and bring them back to the shop at night and corral them in the street.  Stopped at a kiosk to get bottled water, soft drink and chips and these were to be our dinner.  Got onto our 1^st class train and managed to squeeze our luggage in, tried not to look at the dirt and when our steward put the beds down tried hard not to shudder at the look of the blanket, which I think would have kept a forensic team busy for a month.  Like sleeping on a lump of concrete with a pillow that should have been thrown out 10 years ago and telling myself I was not itchy and nothing was crawling on me.  Dozed for most of the night, Alan got no sleep and thank god for antibacterial wash as again toilet had no water or soap and by morning no flushing was happening. It was a long 14 hours which added a stiff neck and sore back to the ever colourful camel bruises.