Aswan, Ethiopia

Saturday 8th September 2007. Still Aswan
We phoned Mazar about the Landy and were told it had not arrived, and had only just been loaded!!! Earliest to get here Sunday midday. Damn!!
We took a ferry across the Nile (with Carina and Daniel) to the Tombs of the Nobles on the West side of the Nile and walked up the hill to the tombs. There are over 300 tombs carved into the sandstone. Some had giant pillars inside and some had intricately painted murals and heiroglyphics on the walls. We then climbed to the Tomb at the top of the hill and were afforded magnificent views of Aswan and the Nile River, with all the islands.
We then returned to the hotel, swam to cool down, and came to this internet to catch up.

Friday 7th September 2007 Still Aswan
This morning we took a walk through the cemetery on the hill to the quarry and the "Unfinished obelisk". We wondered around marveling at the way the beautiful pink granite had been mined, and speculating how they had done it. We chatted to one of the many security police (they are everywhere) who gave us an impromptu guided tour and explained that to get the huge slabs of rock weighing over 1000tonnes, they would use dolerite stones to hammer holes in the rock, fill them up with sandlewood, wet the wood and the expanding wood would crack the granite in just the right place (hopefully) This unfinished obelisk had cracked in the wrong place so they had abandoned the task. They got most of the granite for the tombs all over Egypt here, as it is the only place around where there is a granite quarry. The expensive and stunning stuff we put on our kitchen tops is used here for paving the streets!!
We then went to the Nubia Museum. It was full of photos of the sites inundated by the flood waters of the Aswan dam -Lake Nassar. We discovered that the well we had found in Sudan and had partially excavated had actually been a tomb and we now wish we had dug deeper.
The afternoon was spent around the pool at the top of the hotel with the 2 SA men and the 2 Swiss cyclists.
During the evening we and Clive and Mark caught a boat to the rescued Temple of Isis where we endured an hour-long sound and light show. It was very touristy, and we were not allowed to explore on our own outside the roped off area, so wasn't our scene, although we did enjoy the pristine carvings and pertroglyphs and enormous size of the temple. It was rescued stone by stone from its original site and rebuilt on an island above the flood level of the Nile. Quite some feat. We had a really delicious Egyptian dinner in the market with Mark and Clive, who are also waiting for their vehicle and staying in the same hotel as we are.

Thursday 6th September 2007 Aswan Hotel Orchida St George
We enjoyed the trip and prepared to leave the ferry as it arrived at Aswan at 10am. Ha ha.
This was the most chaotic border crossing we have ever experienced. We were all kept on the ferry until after 3pm by the officious Egyptian immigration officer who first had to stamp everyone 's passport, then had some trouble with some Sudanese and kept us all on board with no water or food in temperatures in the 40s. We were fortunate to be able to wait in our air-conned cabin, but the others really suffered. We all voted it the worst border post in the world!!
Eventually we disembarked and under the guidance of Mdhat's brother, Mazar found our hotel and settled in to await the arrival of our Landy sometime Saturday (maybe).
Aswan is like another world! Really commercial and bustling compared with the lovely, laid back hospitality of Sudan. Here we are seen as walking money, and they try every means to relieve us of it legally. The hotel has aircon and a swimming pool and is costing us R80 together with a sort of continental breakfast. The Egyptian pound is EP5.80 to $1.00
We took a walk through the colourful souq (market) which stays open until late in the night (midnight) as it is cooler at night. It is clean and classy and fun, as we got accosted by the sellers with every single line you can think of, and every one different. Hey, remember me from yesterday, or, Don't come in my shop, I have enough money, or, What is this blue stuff? (pointing to indigo, the blue they sell for keeping clothes white, like Rickets Blue of old), or special price for you, or where do you come from? or You just look, no buy, or Everything for free. In fact anything to get your attention, and then stand in front as you try to continue. It is all in great sense of fun and good humour and we had a whale of a time not buying anything.

Wednesday 5th September 2007 ferry cabin
The ferry to load the Landy hadn't arrived yet and we had to leave the Landy behind in Magdi's hands hoping that it was going to be loaded tonight. We bordered the ferry at 2pm, very glad to have got 1st class tickets as we had a double bunk in an air conditioned cabin, the others had to sleep on the deck in the sun amongst hundreds of bodies. We eventually left at 6pm for Aswan. By this time we had become great friends with the SA men, and the Swiss cyclists, who had only arrived in Wadi Halfa the night before. We were glad that they made it. We had been given a meal ticket but had to add R5 each to get a 'special' meal of chicken. We spent much time reading and chatting to our friends, and were having such a good time in the dining room that we nearly missed seeing Abu Simbel lit up at the edge of the Lake as we passed.

Tuesday 4th September 2007 Desert camp again
We spent the day getting tickets for the ferry and met up with two South African men, Clive and Mark, from Durban who had traveled up the Eastern route through the sand desert and who had got stuck in the sand several times and eventually traveled along the railway line. Also met 11 South Africans from the Koi doing a trip up Africa to 'find their roots', a big farce from our perspective, as only two are Koi, but they need to do what they need to do!! Also met two South Africans who had just arrived from Aswan, Bets and Johan, who had been traveling with Dave and Beryl (who should by now be in Lybia).
Bets and Johan were very sad to not have met up with us earlier as he and Nev were on the same wave-length and have great plans for traveling through South America and Australia.
It was extremely hot and we were glad for the breeze in the night and loved to sleep in the silence of the desert.