Aswan, Egypt, Day 290

Christi and I are the last to leave the Nile Story houseboat. In fact we are so popular that staff are sent to our room to give us a proper send off – or something like that. We are tossed – I mean we step gracefully – onto the dockside in Aswan, the last town of any size in Egypt. As usual it is brutally hot and the docks are largely deserted. There is, incongruously, an air-conditioned internet cafe nearby and we finally get to check out e-mail for news regarding travel permits for the Sudan. And the news is…good! Our Sudanese fixer, Midhat Mahir, has sent travel papers for both Christi and me. Yippee! We’re going to the Sudan. I’ll bet there are not many people out there who would be so excited at that news. Just call us crazy. Of course, permission to travel and actually setting foot on the vast arid desert that makes up most of the country are two different things. (Fast fact, before the creation of South Sudan, Sudan was the largest country in Africa by size. That honor now belongs to…Algeria. Nigeria is the largest by population). We still have to secure passage on the ferry from Aswan to Wadi Halfa (a port town on the banks of Lake Nasser in northern Sudan). The Nile Ferry Company is closed today, unfortunately, so that is a chore for tomorrow.

Our most pressing task today is to find accommodation in Aswan. Houseboats are lined along the river for miles and the Nile Story is moored a long way from the center of town. There is no way we’ll be walking with heavy backpacks. Fortunately we are able to flag down a taxi and for US$7 (35 LE or Egyptian pounds. LE is short for livre égyptienne, which is French for Egyptian Pound – so now you know), we are driven to the center of town. Using our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook, we check out a couple of budget options. Unfortunately prices have doubled from those in our guidebook (70LE to 140LE) and the management are not willing to negotiate. Having spent recklessly on a Nile cruise and getting into the Sudan (ferry tickets will not be cheap), Christi and I really need to economize for a bit. A fixer finds us wandering the sweaty streets of Aswan and assures he has just the place for us, and ironically it is called the Horus Hotel. The price is certainly right, 70LE, but boy is it a slum. The rooms are dingy, but they do have air-conditioning and quite excellent views over the Nile to Elephantine Island. And breakfast is included.

Aside from felucca rides on the Nile and shopping in its many souks, a visit to the Nubian Museum is the thing to do in Aswan. Historically,Nubia was a geographic entity encompassing Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan. And this museum is state of the art. This is what the Egyptian Museum in Cairo aspires too. The quality of the pieces on display are quite exquisite, if not quite as extensive as the Egyptian Museum. There are legends in English to help those of us who do not speak Arabic and there are far fewer people. All in all I’d take the Nubian Museum over the Egyptian Museum every time. There is a great exhibit on the creation of Lake Nasser and the associated cultural catastrophe that ensued as many villages had to be abandoned and many artefacts and temples now lie under water. One of the few temples to be saved from a watery grave is the temple complex of Abu Simbel (which that damn fixer persuaded us to visit tomorrow). We continue our cost-cutting endeavors by eating dinner at McDonald’s, but at least it was a McDonald’s overlooking the Nile.