Day 29

THURSDAY 7th JANUARY
One week to go!!!

Synopsis of day: A leisurely visit in Aswan

Highlight of the day: I liked almost every part of today.

Lowlight of the day: Getting in the pool was a shock – it was the coldest water I think I've ever been in. Once I was in it was great and the view was fabulous.

Favourite photo:

View from the felucca ride on the Nile.

Cultural-shock moment: Lack of OHS. Constantly bewilders me.

New food consumed: A caramel syrup with banana and coconut.

Random act of crazy: The number of ways towels can be manipulated into different shapes, These housekeeping guys are hysterical. Something I want to remember: Looking out over the Nile from the pool.

Number of times I was mistaken for being Dutch: Still not as common as British or American (and someone asked us if we were from Oklahoma too – um, hardly!)


Our full day in Aswan, the largest city in upper Egypt commenced with a drive to the Upper Dam, which was created to assist with more constant irrigation of the Nile etc. It was all sparkly and nice on one side, and all engineering on the other.

Moving back to more ancient times, we saw a granite quarry with an unfinished obelisk. It was such a hot day and we felt like billy goats stepping up and around it.

A tourist policeman beckoned to Kerri and I and personally showed us another example of carving into the rock of a huge shape – it might also have been intended for an obelisk but was not as complete.

We've been having an excellent run with kind Egyptian men showing us or doing things that we didn't expect, or which others have not received. They generally also beam at us and call us beautiful. It has been quite unnerving at times because that would never happen in Australia, and we don't believe it either.

It was nearly the middle of the day and we spent it sailing down the Nile on a little felucca. There was no pier for boarding, we just walked up on a fairly rickety thick plank. Kerri was most unimpressed I think, and was strongly considering not going. Again, I seemed the more adventurous one and largely enjoyed myself, though sometimes it felt like we were very close to the water.

Our guide Amro on the ropes.

Sailing down the Nile as we watched our tanned and barefoot sailor navigate the water was an enjoyable experience, and once again I was so thankful that we have had such useful guides the whole way through. I really see the value in bilingualism, because the language divide can sometimes feel so intimidating, even in mild and quite safe circumstances. Navigating the country and organising things would make this trip so much more complicated.



When we returned to our boat I took a dip in the seriously icy waters of the plunge pool on the roof. Looking out from there to the Nile river, to numerous feluccas and the desert beyond was a really special experience, and I listened to some podcasts and read for a while after that, packed my bag and just generally enjoyed the relaxed feel of the afternoon. Again we had free time but we spent it on naps!





We briefly stopped at a memorial signifying Egypt's co-operation with the Soviet Union which was shaped as a lotus flower and quite enormous.

View looking up from the centre.