There was a knock at the cabin door as room service delivered breakfast. Ev had bread rolls and tea but Dan still couldn’t eat as he still had a headache and his stomach was still churning, but at least his temperature was gone. We were about 10 minutes from Aswan and packed up our bags. We hopped off the train at about 8am and were greeted by 42 degree heat. It didn’t feel as bad Cairo, though. We shared a taxi with Graham and Helen and were dropped off at the Nile Hotel, oddly enough, overlooking the Nile. We left our bags in the lobby as Hoda told us to go to the restaurant area while she organised the rooms. The restaurant looked very nice but very empty due to Ramadan. We kept thinking throughout the trip that it must be very hard for the chefs and for people in hospitality in general to be preparing food when they are fasting. We felt guilty eating in front of them.
Hoda joined us in the restaurant and told us about our itinerary for the next two days. We had free time up until 5pm were we due to go on a motorboat to of Elephantine Island and then have dinner with a Nubian family. There was also the option of going to Abu Simbel in the morning either by plane or mini-bus. We chose the mini-bus as it would only cost us 360 EGP = $71 AUD each as opposed to 1250 EGP = $250 AUD each if we flew. The only problem with that is that it was a 3 hour bus ride compared to 30 minutes by plane. We would have to leave the hotel at 3:30am and figured we would sleep most of the way anyhow.
After the meeting, Hoda handed our keys to us and we went straight to our room. Ev updated the journal as Dan slept. Hoda had kindly sent up some medicine. Finally at 1pm Dan woke and was feeling much better. His headache was gone but his stomach ache hadn’t. He had to eat and had a muesli bar and a big drink of water. We stayed in the hotel room in the air conditioning for most of the day trying to recover. Dan finally got a chance to see the view from a our hotel room. It was beautiful. It was more like the Egypt we wanted to see.
At about 4pm Dan made the decision not to do the motorboat tour so he could fully recover. Ev still planned on going. She headed downstairs at 4:45pm and went down the road with Richard to get some money out. She too started to feel ill. Richard could see she was getting pale and asked if she was ok. It had reached a top of 47 degrees today and the heat was now getting to Ev. 10 minutes later she was back in the hotel room and also decided not to go.
We both took it easy for the rest of the day and had an early night as we had to be up at 3am for the bus ride to Abu Simbel. Hopefully we would both be fine in the morning.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
Hoda joined us in the restaurant and told us about our itinerary for the next two days. We had free time up until 5pm were we due to go on a motorboat to of Elephantine Island and then have dinner with a Nubian family. There was also the option of going to Abu Simbel in the morning either by plane or mini-bus. We chose the mini-bus as it would only cost us 360 EGP = $71 AUD each as opposed to 1250 EGP = $250 AUD each if we flew. The only problem with that is that it was a 3 hour bus ride compared to 30 minutes by plane. We would have to leave the hotel at 3:30am and figured we would sleep most of the way anyhow.
After the meeting, Hoda handed our keys to us and we went straight to our room. Ev updated the journal as Dan slept. Hoda had kindly sent up some medicine. Finally at 1pm Dan woke and was feeling much better. His headache was gone but his stomach ache hadn’t. He had to eat and had a muesli bar and a big drink of water. We stayed in the hotel room in the air conditioning for most of the day trying to recover. Dan finally got a chance to see the view from a our hotel room. It was beautiful. It was more like the Egypt we wanted to see.
 |
| The view of the Nile River from our hotel in Aswan |
At about 4pm Dan made the decision not to do the motorboat tour so he could fully recover. Ev still planned on going. She headed downstairs at 4:45pm and went down the road with Richard to get some money out. She too started to feel ill. Richard could see she was getting pale and asked if she was ok. It had reached a top of 47 degrees today and the heat was now getting to Ev. 10 minutes later she was back in the hotel room and also decided not to go.
We both took it easy for the rest of the day and had an early night as we had to be up at 3am for the bus ride to Abu Simbel. Hopefully we would both be fine in the morning.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
No comments:
Post a Comment