We woke up at 3am the next day to catch our 5am flight to Aswan, where we would board our ship for a cruise up the Nile. Somehow I was issued a ticket in the name of Khalid Abrahim and even more surprisingly I got through 3 checkpoints with this ticket and boarded the plane!
We checked into our “5 Star” cruise. We are still trying to figure out the rating system here and how many stars there are because our “5 Star” boat was painfully tacky and the food was terrible. This was slightly amusing to us as we were in it for the cruise and not the décor. But, if we (like everyone else on our boat) had flown from Germany for a 1 week cruise on the Nile and got stuck on that boat
we would have been very disappointed.
Our first stop on the Nile was the Aswan High Dam. In 1960 35,000 workers began to build the dam to control the flooding on the Nile, increase the amount of cultivable land and provide hydroelectric power to the country. The dam was funded by Russia and was completed in 1971.
Our next stop was Philae Island, where we visited the Isis temple.
The temple was originally in a different location until the high waters of the reservoir created by the construction of the old Aswan Dam flooded the temple leaving a large portion of it under water. For years (38?) the temple remained underwater until it was disassembled and moved stone by stone to it’s currently location on Philae Island. The temple was impressive and our guide, Sayed, told us stories about gods and Pharaohs in ancient Egypt that were entertaining.
Sayed, told us one story about a god whose body was chopped up into 14 pieces and spread across the land. His wife was able to recover 13 of the 14 pieces and can you guess what part she wasn’t able to find? Of course, it was his penis. Apparently his penis is still at large and many people believe a catfish ate it. Not surprisingly, we have yet to see catfish on a menu… We’ve kept an eye out for the missing penis thinking that if we come across it we could sell it on e-bay.
After visiting the temple we headed back to the boat for a crappy meal, a tacky show that we suffered through 2 minutes of before leaving and Lebanese MTV.
The next morning we boarded a felucca (traditional canvas-sailed boat) to sail on the Nile. The trip was very scenic and relaxing until the locals capitalized on the fact that we were captive tourists. A few minutes after we boarded the boat one of the three crewmen uncovered an array of souvenirs he wanted us to buy. They were all crap, so we didn’t buy anything. Later two small boys in a tiny boat latched on to our boat, asked what language we spoke, then sang to us until we paid them to go away. The topper was when the crew on the boat got out a drum and started singing and dancing with us - all for tips. Carrie, TJ and I have travelled a lot and these are the kind of tourist traps that make us cringe and we try to avoid, but all of this was unavoidable and frustrating as we were stuck on a boat.
We checked into our “5 Star” cruise. We are still trying to figure out the rating system here and how many stars there are because our “5 Star” boat was painfully tacky and the food was terrible. This was slightly amusing to us as we were in it for the cruise and not the décor. But, if we (like everyone else on our boat) had flown from Germany for a 1 week cruise on the Nile and got stuck on that boat
we would have been very disappointed.Our first stop on the Nile was the Aswan High Dam. In 1960 35,000 workers began to build the dam to control the flooding on the Nile, increase the amount of cultivable land and provide hydroelectric power to the country. The dam was funded by Russia and was completed in 1971.
Our next stop was Philae Island, where we visited the Isis temple.
The temple was originally in a different location until the high waters of the reservoir created by the construction of the old Aswan Dam flooded the temple leaving a large portion of it under water. For years (38?) the temple remained underwater until it was disassembled and moved stone by stone to it’s currently location on Philae Island. The temple was impressive and our guide, Sayed, told us stories about gods and Pharaohs in ancient Egypt that were entertaining.Sayed, told us one story about a god whose body was chopped up into 14 pieces and spread across the land. His wife was able to recover 13 of the 14 pieces and can you guess what part she wasn’t able to find? Of course, it was his penis. Apparently his penis is still at large and many people believe a catfish ate it. Not surprisingly, we have yet to see catfish on a menu… We’ve kept an eye out for the missing penis thinking that if we come across it we could sell it on e-bay.
After visiting the temple we headed back to the boat for a crappy meal, a tacky show that we suffered through 2 minutes of before leaving and Lebanese MTV.
The next morning we boarded a felucca (traditional canvas-sailed boat) to sail on the Nile. The trip was very scenic and relaxing until the locals capitalized on the fact that we were captive tourists. A few minutes after we boarded the boat one of the three crewmen uncovered an array of souvenirs he wanted us to buy. They were all crap, so we didn’t buy anything. Later two small boys in a tiny boat latched on to our boat, asked what language we spoke, then sang to us until we paid them to go away. The topper was when the crew on the boat got out a drum and started singing and dancing with us - all for tips. Carrie, TJ and I have travelled a lot and these are the kind of tourist traps that make us cringe and we try to avoid, but all of this was unavoidable and frustrating as we were stuck on a boat. 
An hour or two later we went back to town and had time to wander around Aswan so
we checked out the market. It was interesting to see the spices, shee-shas (water-pipes), fabrics, etc but again the people ruined our shopping experience with their comments and behavior. We’ve tried to ignore the bad behavior but it is so overwhelming that it cannot be ignored.I don’t think I can convey my frustration with the people here. I have never travelled anywhere where I have to control my urge to punch people! Almost all of the men we have encountered are rude, dishonest, disrespectful and aggressive. Even places where we expect better treatment such as hotels and banks we leave frustrated. We didn’t even trust our guide in Cairo as everywhere he took us was so he could get a kick-back. Thankfully our guide, Sayed, who has been with us since we’ve left Cairo has been great.
The local people have a huge impact on my impressions of a place. I absolutely loved Bali, Indonesia largely because the people were wonderful. Because of the people there I had a stress-free, safe, enjoyable time. The people added to my experiences and made me want to return. The locals here disgust me and as a result I’d rather stay in my hotel room than wander around. Egypt boasts spectacular sites and the history is amazing but the people have made a very negative impression on me and have detracted from my experience here. Every day here I am grateful I was born in the US!
That night we visited another temple called Kom Ombo before setting sail again on the Nile.
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