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BAK-we-have-no-more-money-so-leave-us-alone-SHEESH!
Nothing in this world is free anymore and Egypt has certainly taken this concept to a whole new level. Every attraction be it an ancient structure, statue or temple has an entrance fee which would be fine in any other country but everywhere you look here there's an ancient structure, statue or temple that we want to visit. On top of this is the dreaded baksheesh, what we mistakenly thought was 'to give someone a small monetary sum for doing something pleasingly'. Turns out, baksheesh is actually more like 'a large monetary sum negotiated by the recipient irrespective of quality of service' and Egyptians are masters at getting every penny possible out of the pockets of tourists. "Sir," stresses the horse & cart driver, "this is not enough" handing back the US$10 to the stingy Kiwi backpacker. Yup, they're certainly not backward about coming forward!
After stocking up our wallets, we took the 'Sleeper Train' down (or up) to Aswan to explore the city and board a "budget backpacker boat" for a 3-day cruise on the Nile. Dodging a mishmash of cars and donkeys we got to the boat to find it fully equipped with a rooftop pool, karaoke bar, buffet restaurant and beautiful private cabins. No dorm for us - woohoo!! Admittedly, it did feel a bit strange swimming in the pool when there were kids swimming in the filthy Nile right next to us!
Aswan is a charming little city of 2 million people, teeny-tiny in comparison with the chaos of Cairo! We visited the Unfinished Obelisk, the Temple of Philae (which was taken apart piece by piece and reconstructed on a new site when the High Dam was built), and a Nubian village where we were taken into a school and taught some of the local language. We were also welcomed into a local lady's home to see her pet crocodiles (apparently this is quite normal as Nubians believe crocodiles are good luck) - turns out this is true; we were 'lucky' that they didn't break through their makeshift cage of wire and chairs and try to eat us while we looked at them!
The stunning Temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel was well worth the 2.45am get-up and the 3hr drive out to see it! It is quite humbling to stand at these sites and imagine what the lives of the people (aliens?) who built them would have been like thousands of years ago. We also stopped to visit Kom Ombu Temple on the edge of the Nile at sunset and the beautiful Edfu Temple at sunrise the following morning.
The city of Luxor has definitely been one of the highlights of Egypt so far - it has 75% of the country's ancient temples so there's plenty to see! The Temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Kings are just incredible - walking down into 6000 year old exceptionally well-preserved tombs was extraordinary. No photos allowed though which was a pity because the colours and designs were spectacular! Karnak and Luxor Temples were also remarkable - the sheer size of the columns and obelisks has to be seen to be believed … and all built by hand!
High: Standing in awe at ancient sites and contemplating how on earth they did this!
Low: Spending half our bloody budget on bothersome baksheesh!
- comments
sandra goedhart it looks like everywhere you go in the world there will always be someone who will try and rip you off. Love the blog many thanks sandra
Mum and Dad Back at work and loving every minute....yeah right! Looks like you having amazing time.
Mum Your photos are amazing! So jealous!!