We decided to walk to the souq with Matthew and his family, just to see what the Aswan market was all about. As usual for our bazaar visits, we had to have something to shop for. This time it was traditional Egyptian tunics. Neither of us found what we were looking for, but we had fun browsing and trying them on!
We parted ways with Matthew and family and tried with no avail to find a hotel recommended by our guide book for ferrys to the west bank of the Nile. So we asked the felucca owners where to find a ferry. Eager for business, they of course told us that there was no ferry, so we decided to go back and ask at our ship.
While we were waiting for the hotel receptionist to check on a few options for us, I started to feel a bit woozy, due (we think) to my malaria meds. We decided to change our plans, and I went upstairs to the deck to lay down in the shade for a short while while Karla went into Aswan (don't worry parents-it was safe) to find us a hotel for the evening and get us some lunch from the market.
She returned within an hour, and we had lunch on the ship deck. I felt a lot better, so we decided to try to get to the Noble's Necropolis once again. We bartered with the felucca drivers right next to our ship, and got someone to take us across the Nile in our very own felucca.
We were rowed to a small island near the shore in a tiny rowboat, then escorted onto our felucca. Our captian reminded us of a little monkey: he leapt around preparing the ship to sail, and he spoke in an excited chatter in broken English, making faces and using exaggerrated gestures to make us understand. He was very funny.
We got to the other side without a problem (surprising since he let Karla steer and man the sail a bit), and climbed to the middle of a mountain, where we were let into the tombs of Noble peoples (mostly governors) which dated from around 2200 BC to the 1200's BC. They were little caves carved into the side of the hill, and had remained relatively intact. One of the things that we hadn't seen before was extensive heiroglyphics painted in detail. For example, the heiroglyphic character of an owl had a beak, two eyes and feathers! I can't imagine a written language that requires such detail. It was amazing to see the elaborate designs that decorated the final resting places of non-royalty. Cool!
We practically floated down the side of the cliff, running down the sand dunes, and hopped back in our felucca. This time our captain, after he nicely washed the donkey/camel dung that I had stepped in off in the Nile, started scooping out handfuls of water from the river directly into his mouth. He jokingly suggested that Karla and I should drink out of the Nile too, but we inwardly shuddered at the thought. He has a strong stomach!
On board again, we shared a final teatime with some of our fellow passengers, who joked that we would never leave the ship. We were tempted not to as we sipped our tea and watched the sunset one more time. So we re-said our goodbyes, and disembarked (for the last time!), humming the sappy panpipe soundtrack we had been listening to over and over again for the last 5 days. Our favorite track was Elton John's 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight". You can get the gist of the caliber of the rest of them.
We walked a short ways to our new hotel and checked in, before running a few errands, then wandering through the marketplace, looking for somewhere to eat dinner. Just when we had resigned ourselves to eating at a pizza place, we found a very clean-looking koshiri restaurant. It was perfect.
Once back at the hotel, we rounded out our meal with some beef that we had had leftover from Noha's (it had been refridgerated!), eating it with our hands on the only table we had available-the bed, and bemoaning how far we'd come from the luxurious river cruise.
Tomorrow we have to get up at 3 am for a long bus ride down to see the Temple of Abu Simbel. But we'll be ok...it looks like we'll be in bed by 8:15!
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