Abu Simbel to Cairo

(John) It seems that all my recent blogs have been about travelling in one form or another. This one will be no different. Yesterday we awoke at dawn, around 5.15 am. We were intent on being at the Abu Simbel Temple before the convoy of tour buses arrived from Aswan. We got our wish and had a fantastic visit. By 8.00am our tour was over and the Temple had just started to fill up. We had a few hours to kill before heading out for the 1.00pm bus back to Aswan. The friendly tourist policeman who had helped us to negotiate our rate at hotel cockroach/mosquito/bad plumbing, otherwise known as The Abu Simbel Tourist Village, tried to interest us in a minibus trip back but we were unconvinced that it would be a pleasant trip, given the size of the seats and the rate at which the driver was sucking back cigarettes.

We decided to stick with the regular bus and the trip was quite uneventful, pretty comfortable in fact. Back in Aswan we decided to get off before the bus station as we realized we were very close to the train station. This was a genius idea, provided by Mhari. However the scramble to get off the bus meant that Mhari and I forgot our hats. Lesley was all gung ho to jump in a taxi and chase the bus. Being more level headed I decided to buy new hats. Besides, mine was dirty and Mhari's soon would be. We quickly arrived at the train station, located the ticket counter and asked for four 2^nd class tickets to Cairo. “No place, all full” more questions from us “next window” We asked again. We were told it would cost 165 LE per person in 1^st class, - no 2^nd class. While I was multiplying by 4 and dividing by 5 and coming up with $132 CAN for us all to go 1^st class to Cairo which is a 13 hour journey, Lesley was ready to thump the ticket guy but instead said “No way, we're not paying that”. She told me we'll get someone to buy tickets for us. Moments later she was chatting up three men just outside the station. They happened to be the three nicest guys in Egypt sent by Angels to ensure that we would get the bargain of the century for the trip to Cairo. These three third year engineering students from Cairo were more than willing to help. They stuck around for over half an hour while the ticket office overcame a computer glitch, then one of them took our money, went in and bought four 2^nd class tickets for just 70 LE each. That's 95 LE less than we had been quoted. Lesley tried to baksheesh him but he would not hear of it.

It's worth at this point explaining why we could not buy the tickets we wanted. In the 1990's an Islamic rebellion resulted in thousands of lives being taken from both sides. Tourists were strategically targeted and there were many deaths. For example, 58 tourists were shot and killed at Hatsheput Temple near Luxor. These attacks led the government to impose strict limitations on how tourists could travel, to ensure they would be safe. It means that tourists all travel together in guarded convoys on the roads, and in special scheduled trains. The tickets our new friends bought for us on a train we technically were not supposed to be on. The bus we travelled to Abu Simbel on was officially allowed to carry just four foreigners, although we were six on our way there. Some say that the policies just enable high prices to be charged and helps keep ordinary Egyptians out of the firing line. Also, there has been no apparent need for them for much of the time, but it has been thought that the convoys help keep policeman employed so they just keep doing it. I'm not quite that cynical. The measures were effective at keeping tourists safe and while the prices were higher than Egyptians would pay they were affordable for most tourists. The effect of the convoy was very clear in Abu Simbel. It is a beautifully laid out tourist resort with wide palm tree lined streets and many gardens. Situated on Lake Nasser and with the magnificent Temple as the main event it is a dream destination. But the hotels are decaying, the streets are empty and the gardens are looking pretty ropey. It was like a forgotten seaside resort in the north of England that is long past it's heyday. The only difference being, in Abu Simbel the weather was perfect. The convoys bring in tourists from Hotels and cruise ships from Aswan at 8.00am. They go directly to the Temple and leave two hours later. Local businesses serve breakfast to the bus drivers and we suspect that some of the buses stop long enough for people to buy snacks and drinks, but that is all. We spent a few hours in downtown Abu Simbel and we were the only foreigners there.

We said goodbye to our new friends, but not for long as they were going to be on the same train.

We had four hours to kill. First we sat at a patio restaurant and tried to linger over a large Italiano. That's a pizza, not a hunk-a-hunk of burning love. This plan was foiled somewhat by the worlds most persistent beggar. A small boy selling beans. He simply would not go away, we tried everything short of yelling at him and hitting him. We talked to the restaurant owner but he spoke no English and thought we just wanted to watch him make pizza. Eventually a previously inattentive waiter came to our rescue and shooed him away. That kid had stuck around with his hand in our face for at least 30 minutes. I had even taken his box of beans and put then on a different table so he had to go and get it - he just came back. We had picked up all our luggage and moved it further into the patio away from the street - he just kept coming. Why didn't we just give him what he wanted? Basically we could see the guys he was working for sitting on the wall by the fountains, they were clearly watching him and he kept looking back at them. They looked more than capable of feeding him and we did not want to be feeding them. Soon after the boy left, Sam arrived back from his mission to find Koshery with his little friend Rahit who ostensibly wanted to sell papyrus bookmarks but we think was really just enjoying Sam.

Eventually we had to leave the patio of the restaurant and found a spot in the square to wait. While we sat we had the usual string of hawkers approach us, and Rahit stayed with us. He was indispensable as our previous persistent beggar returned as did another one and Rahit dealt with them both. He also taught us some Arabic words. We were very careful while we sat and waited as it was clear that Rahit also was working for someone else. Two young men were slowly closing in on where we sat. Just before we left Rahit went to talk to them and then he tried hard to distract us while the two men walked behind us. We must have been attentive enough as nothing happened and we simply said goodbye to Rahit and went in to the train station.

We were far from convinced that we would be able to use our tickets as they clearly did not want to sell them to us. Also we had been approached while we sat at the square by a man wanting to know if we needed a hotel and who was surprised that we were waiting for a train, as he knew that all the trains for tourists had already left. Once on the platform we were immediately approached by an armed army officer and a railway employee who studied our ticket and then directed us to the right platform where we were again checked out and shown courteously to our carriage. As soon as the train was underway the conductor punched and signed our ticket. Then we relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

Life could be perfect but of course it is not. While Mhari and Sam bedded down in their reclining seats, Lesley and I spent the night inhaling second hand cigarette smoke that wafted through the crack in the door we were 5 feet from and also acted as all night door monitors because the door to the toilets/smoking area was broken and every time someone opened it the handle fell off. It would not open or close properly and given the fact that the 20 or so men with serious addictions to tobacco needed to get through the door and they all smoked at separate 20 minute intervals, there was no hope of Lesley or I getting much sleep. It was awful! For the first seven hours, Lesley took the chief door monitor seat, which also did not recline, through which I think I slept for perhaps two. Then at 5am I gave her my fully reclining seat and she got a couple of hours sleep, while I tried really hard to have a good attitude. After all we were not supposed to be on that train.

When we finally pulled into Ramses station in Cairo. Our new engineer friends led us out of the station, which was under construction and impossible to navigate, one of them found us a taxi, made sure we were going to be treated fairly and that the driver knew where to go and after giving us his cell phone and email in case we needed help he and his buddies disappeared in of a mass pf people. What ever we may have said in complaint of Egyptian people engaged in trying to extract our tourist dollars in no way applies to these three men, whom I'm sure are far more representative of ordinary Egyptians.

The Abu Simbel Tourist Village is the only budget option in Abu Simbel. However, when we arrived at this deserted excuse for accomodation, we were told it woud cost 120 LE per room and we would need two rooms. Lesley and I managed after much negotiation and some support from the Abu Simbel tourist policeman who had escorted us to the hotel to get the price down to 150 LE for two rooms. The hotel guys arguement for the high price was basically that we had no choice, he knew he was the only option. Our arguement was we can see the temple right now, and take the 4pm bus back to Aswan and there was nobody else there. So we stood our ground and said we'll pay 150 for two rooms or we leave. We actually walked away twice. The tactic worked, thankfully, as we really didn't want to have to go back to Aswan that day or see the Temple in the blazing sun. The rooms seemed OK. They had air conditioning that worked and hot showers that worked until you had to turn them off. Then I was the only one of us who had the patience to fiddle with the taps long enough to stop the flow. The big downside was that the room Sam and I was in became infested wth mosquitos overnight and we were both eaten alive. We both surmised that if we wanted to get West Nile disease the West bank of the Nile is probably the best place to come. Lesley and Mhari escaped the mosquitoes but their room had a serious cockroach infestation. Lesley had them on her bed.