Day Thirty-four - Aswan, Egypt SPONSORED BY MÃE E PAI

Monday 5th July 2010

I can safely say that I really don't like Egyptians, save for a few that Djalma has spoken to in cafés, they are by and large, greedy, deceitful, begging arseholes and I really resent giving them our money for anything.

I'll explain: Trying to get falafels near the train station, for breakfast this morning was a mission, one we failed at miserably and bitterly. We stopped at one place, the price was five bounds, his neighbours price was ten bounds, although Djalma was sure that he didn't understand what we wanted, so we went to the small shop that we visited on the first day (and paid the correct price - ½ a bound). No such luck this time though, we ordered the falafel without asking the price, because we knew it, ad when it came to paying instead of it being one bound, SURPRISE!, 'five bound' the cashiers hand outstretched impatiently waiting for the “correct money”. A lot of hoohah later, we walked away empty handed feeling extremely pissed off (and hungry).

Amazing, they would rather not do any business than make a sale at a fair price, it was so much hassle and so bloody enraging that Djalma, after asking if it was okay, returned to argue again and told them to fuck off, flipping the birdie just in case they didn't quite get message verbally, I got my tuppence worth by adding that they deserved it (so there!). I did think that they deserved it, the closed, stony faces, the demanding expectant attitude and the total disinclination to listen – if they couldn't charge the equivalent of five times the price to tourists they didn't want any money at all. If tourists do accept the grossly inflated price (it was roughly US50¢ instead of US10¢) whether it be because they accept or tolerate the double pricing or through ignorance to the Arabic language, then fair enough, but if a customer does know, because the price is plain and clear on the walls for all, who understand, to read and doesn't accept it, surely it is better to sell for the real price than stand there and lie, insisting that the prices are old and when that fails just carry on insisting that the price is something that it isn't – as Djalma said 'just because we are tourists, it doesn't mean we are stupid or rich'. The dude was a total cockjob and in the end we were happier without the falafel or paying him for it, getting a big bag of broken chilli pepper crisps from an old man next door.

We went back to the train station and got on our train to the High Dam where our boat was waiting for us, hoping that ere would be people as lovely, warm and funny as Katherine and Steven.
We got off the train to join the throng of people waiting for the ferry to Sudan, it crazy to think we were that far South, and bumped into one of the French guys who was going overland to S. Africa by motorbike. We couldn't see any taxis, only people trying to sell Sudanese currency, so we started walking the 3.8km to the other side, we didn't get more than about ten metres before a car stopped and a friendly guy took us straight to the boat in, what he told us, was the managers car (seeing wasn't believing – the car seats were covered with multi coloured furry material).

We were booked on the M/S Prince Abbas another 5* cruise ship. It was a biggie and actually 5*, the grand reception room was decked out in marble with fancy winding staircases down to the restaurant. It was impressive, in a good way, the staff actually smiled and looked like they enjoyed doing their jobs, a big difference from the Nile Plaza and our room was huge by comparison. After being shown to a twin room (I still don't get it - we are plainly not brother and sister) we were reinstalled in a different room, the bed so big it was square, possibly even wider then it was long and towels with a bit of fluff in them and, joy of joys, good shampoo, conditioner and body cream (heaven!). We put all our clothes in the wardrobe, a pleasure not to be living out of our rucksacks for a few days, lay down on the enormous bed and slept until lunch.

Lunch was excellent, we thought the buffet at the N.P. Had been good but wasn't a patch on P.A, everything was delicious, hot and perfectly cooked. We headed back to our room and flopped on the bed, the beans from lunch making themselves known while we watched T.V and slept some more.

After afternoon tea, with lots of little finger food things and iced coffee I sat and played with photos while Djalma splashed about in the pool on the fifth deck. Dinner time came round and we eagerly headed back down to the restaurant like little piggies to eat. More salad buffet stuff but this time the main course was ordered at the table and came out piping hot, I can't remember what D had but I had fish with noodles and greens, the fish was coated in something that tasted similar to KFCs secret recipe batter (sounds disgusting) it was gorgeous. Desert followed, plenty of fresh fruit, watermelon, cantaloupe melon and ripe cherries with lots of little deserts in tiny portions so you can have a taste of everything without being porky (something now of considerable importance having discovered a whopping 3kg increase when I stepped on the scales at Shayr's house).

The Silence of the Lambs was on T.V so we watched it, with the lights on, lying in bed enjoying the air conditioning despite the tension and the face biting scenes not doing much to aid the digestion of dinner at all. Djalma fell asleep watching old football matches not feeling too well possibly from a little bit of seasickness, I managed to fall asleep around 3am after reading about the following days visit.