I wrote earlier of our surprise coming across 20 foreigners at Wadi Halfa, Sudan. But, getting off the ferry and arriving at Aswan, Egypt and we were confronted with bloody millions of tourists. Culture shock!
Heat does terrible things to people's dress sense. You need go no further than Queensland to witness that. But crickey! Egypt is an Islamic state, and the way visitors dress is stunning. Some would even shock residents of the Gold Coast. No, I'm not suggesting visitors, especially women, adopt Moslem clothing style, but ... No wonder fundamentalist extremists have made attacks on tourists in the recent past. It must all be such an affront.
Some tourist woman at a Luxor site was dressed in what appeared her underwear, an unbuttoned, low-cut singlet top, prancing in high heels; the singlet read 'Do you think I'm sexy?' Rhetorical question. Shocker. Men as bad. No shirts, beer gutted, wearing poloni-strangler shorts.
But they are mostly package tourists, many staying on the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada. This place is described as the world's worst tourist trap. One guide describes it: 'visit it at your peril, and avoid it if you can.' Sounds none to appealing. They visit Aswan and Luxor on day/side trips. I figure they have packed for the beach and that's it. But they wear what the style police would, or definitely should, arrest for at home.
Call me old fashioned. But, we are visitors. Don't you show a little respect in your host's home? I guess it just seems odd for us having traveled, respecting custom, especially in Ethiopia (not Moslem but has its customs just the same) and Sudan. I know western and islamic thinking is very different, but there has to be a middle ground.
I got a lot of jibes in Aswan walking along with two women. The guys here are first class lecherous. But no chance of feeling big headed, I'm also brought back to size pretty quickly with a little backhander "That a beautiful daughter you have, mister." And poor Deb: "No wonder, she have such a beautiful mother. You very lucky, mister." Gets a tad tedious fairly quickly. The store owners are rapacious. Constantly in your face. But it gets tiresome bartering for bottles of water, or an ice-cream.
We'd been longing for a beer for a while now, all through Sudan. They are available in Egypt, but not freely outside tourist hotels (even ours in Aswan and Luxor didn't have them - but I guess there's tourist hotels and tourist hotels.) In Aswan, we went looking. We found an upmarket hotel, on the river, feluccas sailing, and sun setting, but what a disappointment. It wasn't cold enough by a long shot. I've written of the perils of warm beer. Bugger. Bit of a let down. An internet search showed Luxor at 43 degrees C, and the same for each of the next five days.
Before arriving, the idea of a felucca trip on the Nile from Aswan to Edfu looked appealing. But it's just a tourist trap. People we spoke to that had done it wished they hadn't. Between Aswan and Luxor we visited Kom Ombo, right on the Nile banks, and the Temple of Horus, Edfu - one of Egypt's best preserved temples. Luxor needs no description. With Kanak and Luxor Temple, Valley of Kings, Valley of Queens, Hatshepsut.
All the famous sites of Aswan and, especially, Luxor are truly magnificent. All the grandeur was something else again. It happens time and again as you travel. You visit a site, natural or man-made, for the first time but you feel you know it so well already. You've seen pictures of it before: books, movies etc. But then you see it real for the first time and it just takes your breath away. Abu Simbel, south of Aswan does that. Stunning. In its own way, but also because of the relocation project that saved it from being lost, flooded by Lake Nassar and the Aswan high dam. We got a night time, floodlit view from the ferry as we passed. We just knew we had to get the 270 km back through the desert to see it again. But we had to travel down in convoy, leaving Aswan at 4:00am.
Early Christian visitors earsed faces and any uncovered flesh from the figures.
Recent bombings of tourists means the Egyptian police have become over protective, especially in these high tourist visit places. Travel is supposed to be on over expensive (in US$ fares) sleeper or first class trains; tourist buses in convoys. If I was a bomber, what would I target? The odd train/bus on the off chance there would be a tourist, or go for the convoy or train only carrying tourists? Hmmmm. Anyway, we haven't forgotten our overlanding ways. We 'heard' there was a 7:00am bus to Cairo and get there: no bus. But 8:30am, bus comes: to Hurghada - no thanks. Had also heard there was a train at 9:15am, shoot (Crickey! don't say shoot around here) back to the station and attempt to buy a ticket. Can't do, only a local train, 2nd class. Train comes, and we jump on. Buy our tickets off the conductor no problems, which includes a 'fine' for not having a ticket, but still less than one-sixth of the price of a first class ticket. We didn't have a seat, so a bit of shuffling until we settled. It's comfortable, and air conditioned. Just don't think about using the loos, oh boy. And we got to travel with locals again, share their lunch and cups of tea. This is the way. Lovely.
We travel alongside the Nile all the way. The desert either side of the green, irrigated, strip. Eastern (Arabic) Desert one side, Western (Libyan) Desert the other - this one becomes localised as the White and Black Deserts nearing Cairo.
Arrive at Cairo station. First things first. Goes without saying, the battle with the Cairo taxi drivers. Ah, it's all good fun. And as usual, when you state your destination: "Yes! Yes! I know." then precede all directions, asking people as they go: "Do you speak English? Can you speak to these tourists and find out where the hell I am going?" Of course, they then want to charge for having driven half way around Cairo. Fat chance of that. Like I've said, you have to see the fun in it. Otherwise...
Right. Cairo. Bring it on.
Max
aka Mad
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