Egypt/Jordan part 4: Aswan and the Nile
Part 3: https://medium.com/@timothyteoh/egypt-jordan-part-3-alexandria-459b24dffefd
Egypt — Day 9 (26 Oct, 2014)
It is famous for the majestic Abu Simbel temples which were built at the southern border of Egypt to intimidate any would-be attackers. Being in the south it also is closest to the origins of the Nile.
The Aswan Dam which was completed a few decades ago gave Egypt the very important power to determine the water level of the Nile. In millennia past much of Egyptian life depended on when the Nile would flood its banks.
Anyway background lesson over. This is my Airbnb host Gasser. He was waiting for me with my “welcome drink” — a Coke.
This is his cousin Mohd who works on a felucca. I kept staring at him because he looks like a tv star.
Danny Pudi or Abed from Community. Same or not! My friends always say I have a weird eye for such things.
I am staying in Elephantine island, which separates the west and eastern banks of Aswan.
You may have noticed that Mohd and Gasser look quite different from other Egyptians. This is because they are Nubians.
The Nubian people came from Sudan and identify more with Africans. Other Egyptians typically identify more with Middle Eastern people.
Nubians don’t seem to like other Egyptians very much (and dont bother hiding it). Other than the identity thing, they had to relocate when the Aswan dam was built.
All this background might be a bit boring to some but bear with me.
I seem to get in the middle of odd situations and places to stay and this time was no different. From the Airbnb description I had no idea how relatively isolated Elephantine is from the rest of Aswan. It is basically an enclave of Nubian people who primarily own coffeeshops or feluccas.
Every time you need to get in and out of Elephantine island, you need to wait for a ferry to drop you off at the other side. This seems to be free for the Nubians but I pay 5LE just in case.
Everyone is pretty friendly and unlike other Egyptians many Nubians speak good English because they (used) to interact with tourists a lot.
I was sternly told to go to the other side of the ferry the first time I took it on my own though. Apparently I was on the female side. Woops
Elephantine Island is very narrow — about 1km in width max. There are no proper roads here, just alleys so Google maps is useless. When I asked for directions to the ferry one time I was told “walk straight until you see a tree then turn left”.
And no kidding they are really friendly when I was walking out to the ferry I passed by this uncle who was having a conversation with his relatives by the side of the road. He insisted I sit down and talk to him.
I know by now what to say though. Especially when not in Cairo. I have a list.
1) say how much more beautiful it is here than in Cairo
2) Cairo very noisy
3) Here very safe
4) You speak good English
5) I have many Muslim friends asalamualaikum
Tadaa instant friends.
Oh and at least three Egyptians have commented on how good Mahathir was when I mention I am from Malaysia. Good to note.
Gasser was doing this thing where he was calling everyone we met his cousin. I started to think he was either pulling my leg or that Nubians = hillbillies but he finally told me that its just a term they use. Like “bro” or “buddy” or “uncle”. So they call their village people “cousins”.
It may be an old village but the place I’m staying in is awesome. Apparently it belongs to Gasser’s sister (his actual sister) who married a German guy. He built it himself.
There are two bedrooms
With high ceilings done in a Nubian styled dome just with normal brick and cement instead of mudbrick
Living room with a TV
Fully equipped kitchen
Full sized bathtub
A dining area.
Air conditioning which is more important here. Aswan is hotter than up north so it isn’t cool at night.
But best of all is that it is right next to the Nile.
Seriously nice la! There is a Movenpick Hotel in a walled off section of the island but it costs USD100/night, this was only RM100ish a night
I intentionally set this day aside to spend on a felucca and nothing else. Most people combine their felucca trips with visits to the Nubian temples around the area but I felt today should just be spent doing nothing.
Muhd picked me up in the morning and brought me to the pier. Passed by a group of sheep who seemed to know exactly where they were going
You need to walk the plank to get on the boat.
Captain Ahmed set up the sail.
Feluccas are traditional Egyptian sailboats which are unpowered. Meaning you can’t really estimate when you will arrive at point X because its up to the wind. When you sail against it you need to zigzag to harness the wind which isn’t very efficient speed-wise.
What some people do is to take feluccas from Aswan to Luxor. Id planned to do that but I didn’t have a group and decided to spend more time in Jordan.
Ahmed steered the boat against the wind.
Felucca trips are more popular in Aswan than in other parts of Egypt. The waters of the Nile are clearer and cleaner because Aswan is very close to the sources of the Nile.
I was told the same sad story though — there used to be large numbers of cruise ships and feluccas sailing in the Nile from Aswan to Luxor.
Today I saw only two cruise ships and two other feluccas the entire day. That’s pretty bad. Such a waste too the Nile is so beautiful!
Stopped for lunch which was prepared on the boat.
Captains are expected to cook for their customers so they are decent at it.
Muhd was very proud of this shot because you can see the sun.
They love getting pictures of themselves and their customers. Ahmed was showing me his “cabin” and he had an envelope full of photos sent to him by ex customers addressed to a PO box that represents Elephantine.
Egyptians have this weird thing where they have both rice and bread in the same meal. Don’t really understand all the carb loading.
The second half of the trip was easier on them because the wind was blowing the right way.
A good felucca costs 80k LE in case you were wondering. 40 donkeys.
Caught a beautiful crescent moon while the sun was setting.
And that was the end of a nice relaxing day. Had to go out to find dinner in the evening and actually brought my compass because I was scared I would get lost wtf
And the verdict is in: KFC Egypt sucks!
#travel #egypt #aswan
Stumbled on this on the way back. Nubians are religious but they keep beautiful pet dogs #justsaying
