Cairo to Aswan

• Posted by: Geo Kearley
• Comments: 2

Cairo is a huge city that shows up as million lights and three pyramids dissected by a swath of black that represents the Nile. At least that’s how it looks at night when you fly over it after missing a flight and delayed connections and you are incapable of interpreting it as anything else. If Cairo was a perfume it’s top notes would be diesel fuel and dirt, it’s heart notes would be skin – not the disgusting B.O. you smell in line at a German grocery store, but a puppy-dog paw smell of familiarity. Finally, there’s a fleeting whiff of rose water and citrus fruit.

Cairo feels familiar and new at the same time. It has the same traffic as Bangkok, the same old families in front of their stores playing with little children that you see in Hanoi, the same markets and donkeys as Istanbul and Meknes and the same river front as the Amazon – wild and over grown until you hit the desert and the pyramids (which, incidentally are right in the middle of town).

We’re a little shell -shocked from our long, delayed journey here, and so far we’ve seen the Pyramids at Giza, the Sphinx, the Egyptian museum, cruised down the Nile from Aswan to Erfu, seen several temples, and taken loads of pictures. We goofed around in the markets in Aswan last night, and tomorrow we will be in Luxor on our way to the Valley of the Kings.

The heat here is like opening an oven door every time we step outside, but the breeze on the Nile is nice. We had coffee with the Nubians yesterday before taking a camel trek out to a Coptic Monastery in the desert. We were up at 3:30 am this morning to go see the Temple of Abu Simel (the one that was moved to keep it from being flooded by the Nile). We have to travel by road in a police-protected convoy – they take protecting the tourist industry very seriously here. There are armed police men with sub machine guns and portable bullet shields on every corner, and at every tourist site. The government declared a “state of emergency” after the 1996 attacks on tourists, and it has never been lifted. Despite this state of “high alert”, the locals are very friendly.

We’re a little too tired to write anything too comprehensive right now, but we want to thank everyone who helped get us here, and helped us with our house disaster, and helped us with our dogs. We miss our family and friends very much, and our doggies (Kylie – please let us know how they are – drop us a line!)

Thanks to everyone – Noel & George

Post Information

Date posted :	Jul 6, 2008
Last modified :	Dec 17, 2008
Categories :	Egypt, Middle East
Tags :	Aswan, Cairo, Hanoi, Istanbul, Luxor