March 25 En Route to Aswan by Military Train

We’re now on our way to Aswan. We were supposed to take the train but the government has just decided that no tourists are to take any train except the sleeping train (which is guarded by armed soldiers) until further notice. No reasons were given and everyone is in a bit of a tizzy. Luckily, our representative, Mohammed, has arranged for transport by minivan. It will be a four hour drive (usually three hours but we’ve asked our driver to go slowly).

A couple of days ago all flights were cancelled in the Luxor/Aswan area due to a major sandstorm. Tourists were stranded in Cairo. Fortunately, we had just arrived back to Mara’s when it struck. Joe was putting our bathing suits out on the clothesline when he came in and said, “I can’t see a thing for all the sand blowing around.” He came back in and then we heard a loud knock at the door. It was Sarah. “Close all the windows and doors! There is a major storm! Put the couch up against the window and stay here!” We put a heavy table in front of the doors. We later went down for dinner. The power went out off and on and we ate by candlelight. Other tourists weren’t so lucky and got caught in the storm. We talked to a couple who were at Karnak temple when the storm hit. Scaffolding was blowing around and everyone had to take cover. They had seen a huge black cloud but ignored it as they knew that it only rains in Luxor for five minutes or so once every two years. Sandstorms such as the one that hit are extremely rare.

Anyways, on our way to Aswan, everything was going great until our driver made a u-turn in the middle of nowhere – no explanation. Discussions ensued with what looked like armed farmers – then we started taking the donkey path through a village. At this point our driver was shaking. As the donkey path (which happened to parallel to the highway) passed the military checkpoint (every 10km or so), he was pulled over. Speeding. 100 EL. Naturally he asked us for money as he had just 50EL. Two hours from Luxor. One hour from Aswan. 24 hours from civilization. We fronted him the money without batting an eye. (Epilogue: He repaid us).

Then we arrived at our Menmon hotel. 3rd rated in Tipadvisor.com. A complete dump – 0 stars if you can imagine. A quick tour of the room had us thanking our stars for Muhamed who had met us and the driver upon our arrival. First we visited a couple of 4 star places, and finally settled on a 3-star – the Marhaba Palace. Perfect.

Next stop: Nubian museum. Another major UNESCO project honoring the 6000 years of Nubian life that became submerged after the Aswan High Dam project completion in 1964. This excavated and moved not just Nubian artifacts but the Ramses II and Nefrititi temples/monuments that were relocated to Abu Simbel. Imagine moving Mount Rushmore! That’s the scale of the project! Czech University, Egyptology was a major player in this move and it earned them archaelogical rights at the pyamids as a way of thank you from the Egyption government. Wow.