Aswan

The journey to the airport yesterday evening was easy if I concentrated on what the guide was saying rather than on the scary roads!  We passed by a massive mosque and citadel which is an exact replica of another mosque somewhere.  Mosque building is quite complex and although they may all look the same, each country has it's own distinctive details.

At the airport, I was handed back down the line to the tall man who had met me off the plane from Malta.  He hurried me through procedures and left me with my boarding card at a security gate.  The domestic terminal in Cairo is as chaotic as it was when I flew up to Luxor last year.  I had plenty of time before the flight to Aswan and decided to finish my water in the outer hall before going through security.  Things got more and more crowded so I figured it was time to go through but when I had put my things through the scanner, the guard spotted my boarding card and told me to wait for another hour outside!  He reversed the machine so I could get back my gear.  By then, all the seats outside had been taken so I sat on the floor and read my book with French tourists going to Alexandria clamouring all around me.  Things calmed down after an hour or so and boarding was on time and painless.

The plane was crowded - small, older women twittering in a language I didn't recognise.  The one next to me was Christian (she crossed herself on take-off) and she asked the air steward if she could keep her cup and saucer as a souvenir which she carefully put away in her sick bag and stored it in her copious cabin baggage.  I had an impression of judgement from them all and they seemed to be accompanied by young men speaking the same language who acted like they owned the plane and the stewards indulged them.  When I started to feel tired and withdrawn, I stood up to get my book out of the locker and the woman sitting behind cowered in her seat and put her hand protectively over her cup as though I was going to contaminate it.

The heat was the first impression on arrival in Aswan although it was after 11.00 pm by this time.  There was no guide with my name on a board to meet me, but by the time I had picked up my yellow Sicilian suitcase (already showing signs of battery and dirt smears) I spotted a young man with the board of the travel company in Malta.  The guides here seem more casual than in Cairo and no-one offered to carry my bags so I trundled myself out to the waiting car.  We drove on excellent new roads with very little traffic.  I was expecting to drive straight to the hotel, but after a while we pulled up at a landing on the banks of the Nile and got onto a boat with a Nubian boatman.  There is a complete Nubian village up here and the community hold onto their own language.  

A magical mid-night cruise up the Nile and we landed at the hotel which is on an island.  By this time, I was enchanted by the lights and the massive reception area of the hotel.  My room also looked fine - spacious and with a balcony.  But when I woke up in the morning and looked out of the window, I was really captivated.  The photo is taken from my balcony!