Part 2: Cairo to Aswan

Parking: Egyptian style

Some of the group in an LP recommended restaraunt in Cairo, the others were at the Citadel. this place was too expensive, so we ordeded a heap of pita bread and all sorts of dips - the classic hummus, baba ghanoush and some other, meaty ones I can't remember the name of. From left to right: Nicola - currently a teacher at Queen Margarets, Bev - long-haired IT guru living it up in London, Nate 'dog' the token Dingo lover, Mike/Sez always playing with his camera, Marty at the back right: former coach of Seatoun AFC and also IT guru in London, Rach 'the Helminator' 'don't try and bargain with me', and Steve and Kerri from oops...gay little Gore - but we love them for their orange hair. Steve and Nicola are in Wellington, and Marty and Kerri are in London.

The Nile and most of a felucca, no prizes for a well constructed photo eh. By this time we had done our overnight train to Aswan which was not too uncomfortable - just don't go to the toilet without gumboots. We decided that most people actually stood on the toilet and pissed out. Nice. Aswan was cool, laid back and not too big. We spent a few days there, including a night out on Elephantine Island in a Nubian homestay which was met with another sumptuous feast of Nubian cooking.


My camel who had the worst breath you could imagine, being called 'camel breath' is a mortal insult. We rode through the desert to some monastery on these things, and despite all the warnings about not having kids etc...as long as you relax she's not too bad eh boy. They've got the bandiest legs and most ungamely walk. The other photo is from the botanical gardens on Kitchener Island looking over to the desert across the river giving the illusion of a lush desert foreground. Smoke and mirrors amigos. I've got a good short video of me and the camel pulling a similar face so when I figure out how to put it up on the web...

Up next Abu Simbel: probably the best temple on the trip, maybe it was because they moved the whole hillside piece by piece to accommodate the world's largest (at the time) man-made lake (Lake Nasser) created by the Aswan High Dam. then they put it all back together again. No worries about taniwha halting development in Egypt despite thousand's of years of history! They said they recorded everything, but imagine what was buried that couldn't be found? The Temple of Philae was moved also.
Ramesses II 'the Great' warrior and architect of the world's first recorded peace treaty
Abu Simbel