At around 8 in the morning, we arrived in the town of Aswan, in the south of Egypt. It is a fairly nice area, despite the poverty. It is much less polluted here than in the north at Cairo.
The town of Aswan, taken from the train window....the Nile is on the other side of the train.
We boarded our Nile cruise ship to drop off our bags and things. Everyone who boarded managed to get off before it moved. Well, except Richard. He had to to be ferried to shore by a fisherman and climb across several parked boats to get back on land...it was a very funny thing to watch.
Later on, we visited the famous High Dam, and an ancient quarry that contained an unfinished obelisk. After touring by bus to these places, we took a small boat to Kitchener Island to see the botanical gardens.
(To see more of the dam and of the quarry, click on the photo below)
(To see photos of the boat ride to the botanical garden, click on the photo below)
The ancient Temple of Kalabash on the shores of Lake Nasser, which was created after the dam was built.
We returned to our ship, which was extremely luxurious. Definately a highlight of the modern side of Egypt.
(To see more of the ship, click on the photo below)
Later that night we toured the streets and bazaar of Aswan. The vendors here were pushy as usual, but weren't as bad as other areas we visited so far. I bought two "caftans" or "galabayas", which are the robes that most of the the muslims wear. As usual, Richard disappears only to find himself in another situation. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but from what i hear, he was followed back to the boat that night by two men. I guess he made friends and went back to their place, but something went wrong, or there was a disagreement of some sort. But nothing serious happened.
We spent the night docked at Aswan.
