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| View from the felluca. Amazing contrast between old and new. These are burial caves on the West bank |
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| Felucca ss the sun goes down |
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| Small boy alone in the middle of the Nile. He looked perfectly at home. |
Yesterday arvo we had a sleep, had a swim, had dinner and went to bed. I tried to work on the tan but the sun sets before 6pm here so while it is still warm there is not heat in the sun after about 3pm.
This morning we decided to go for a walk to get some money and deodorant and hand sanitiser. The paranoia is till going well! What an experience. Most of the women in burkha's, the most run down vehicles we have ever seen (Kev's writing finger twitched away) men everywhere trying to sell us boat rides, horse and carriage rides, food and everything else. Quite intimidating and they force you to be very rude. Several times we nearly turned back but the hotel and the tour guide both said it was very safe so we tried to get over it. Then I found a pharmacy. The lady inside wore a full burkha and was very friendly. All the stuff was just like NZ. I found what I wanted then remembered I had no cash and she didn't take visa. So she kindly sent me to Thomas Cook where my visa card declined twice!! This was the moment I rememberd the travel card was empty as we didn't need euros anymore. So we continued on until we found an ATM, Thankfully it gave me some money. Back to the pharmacy. Funny there was an advert sign hanging from the roof with a bouncing soccer ball. Kevin pointed at the sign and the lady laughed and laughed. It was advertising viagra!! So I discovered that these women I have been too scared to even make eye contact with like a laugh just like us. Just as well her husband wasn't there. Goodness knows what happens to a man who jokes about viagra with a woman in a burkha.
Then we went to the bank to change some money to 10 pound notes for tips Ten pounds is about $3NZD. . First time I have been in a bank since we have been away. They always have people with guns but I have got over that now. As we went in there was a short (they're all short) woman in a burkha standing in the doorway and Kevin nearly knocked her over. Don't think he even saw her coming out of the light. He made a big joke (amazing what you can convey by gestures) and she though it was very funny. So we survived our walk. I wore a light cardigan to cover my shoulders as I didn't want to offend. Was sweating when I got back up the hill to hotel.
Picked up by the tour guide at 11am. There are only 5 of us on this tour, end of season, but several tours using the same boat. So there are 72 cabins on boat. It is really nice. Cabins bigger than I expected, swimming pool with bar, everything you could want really. Settled in, had lunch then we went for a Felluca ride for about an hour, Just lovely sailing and relaxing. We were right in the middle of the Nile when a boy sitting on what looked like a large skateboard appeared right beside the boat. He was about 10 I think. Not sure if he wanted money or just to practise his english. He was there about 5 mins then buggered off.
The skipper of the felluca had some things to sell. We were a bit worried about his level of attention to the boat as he worked on selling to us. All hand made stuff. I bought 3 necklaces for 35 pounds total which is about $8NZD. A small opportumity to support local industry.So if anyone would like a genuine handmade camel bone necklace this is your opportunity :)
Tipping costs on this tour are $14usd per tourist to cover all the places we visit off the boat, $15USD per tourist for people on the boat and recommended $6USD per day for tour guide. At least they take care of that as we hate dealing with it!!!
Back about 3 pm, time to read my book and relax before dinner.
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| Walking the streets of Aswan. Very dirty. |
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| Our cabin on the boat. It is currently tied up 3 deep with other cruise boats. We walked across then to get on board. |
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| Love those pools |
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