With nearly no tourists in Luxor the price of hot air balloon rides has plummeted. I managed to score a deal for EGP220 (NZD37) by booking at the Bob Marley Peace Hostel rather than my hotel. I was picked up by van at 0500 and dropped off at the river bank for a ferry ride […]

I woke around 0700 again and was offered a slightly better breakfast today as Ahmad was onboard. Today I had an omelette as well as bread, jam, cheese and tea. Ziggy told me that there had been a slight change in plan. Rather than drop me near Edfu where I’d have to take a car […]

We tied up around 0200 near Daraw. When I woke around 0700, I was offered a simple breakfast after which I took a tutuk to the camel market. This is a Sat/Sun event (it isn’t too clear) but there was certainly a fullhouse of camels and camel traders on this Sun morning. Planning is essential […]

I had breakfast with Erich and Ulla. We were going our separate ways today; their Land Cruiser had arrived and will be ready for use today. I picked their brains on various parts of Africa. They talked about Chad and how they had seen some canyons with water there; I thought for a moment that […]

I woke at 0230 for a 0300 pickup for Abu Simbel. Before we left Aswan, we went through a checkpoint where the vehicles were inspected by mirror underneath. It was a 3h+ ride from Aswan and I dozed part of the way. We didn’t travel in a strict convoy in a manner that was prescribe […]

I joined Erich and Ulla today to explore Aswan’s west bank. Our planned activities required a private felucca journey in one direction so it made sense to do it together. We started off in town and found a felucca for EGP50 to take us over to the west bank, getting off underneath the Aga Khan’s […]

Above: On the ferry after a sleepless night. Another sleepless night I rose in the wee hours of the night and wandered around. There were people sleeping everywhere, both inside on the floors, and on the open deck. I went to the restaurant. The atmosphere there, like the rest of the boat was very friendly. […]

Egyptian Museum We took breakfast at the hotel’s Ibis Café courtesy of Pat and Fiona.  We had a fantastic early-bird room rate which excluded breakfast and didn’t see the need to pay for a breakfast buffet.  The selection was excellent but not quite as good as that at the Concorde in Sharm. We walked to […]