From the Felucca

Aswan, Abu Simbel, Felucca 033
Originally uploaded by susiebarber

I’m writing from the felucca while thoughts are still fresh and will post when I get to Luxor.

Yesterday began with a 3:30am pickup at the hotel in Aswan. We traveled by caravan to Abu Simbel, a temple down near the Sudani border. Security was tight, but really didn’t hold us up too much. This was another temple that was moved because of the building of the High Dam. This one was much more difficult to move, though because it was carved into a mountainside. They actually broke it up into blocks (mountainside and all) and moved it to this area with a big man-made hill behind it. Ramses II had this temple built (and I’m beginning to realize what a narcisist he is) and dedicated it to the gods Ra-Harukhty, Amon, Ptah and himself. Next to it is the Temple of Nathor dedicated to his wife Nefertari. This temple was the first time that a pharoh depicted his wife as large as himself – they were usually depicted much smaller. The interior of both had some wonderful carvings and heiroglyphics, but photos were not allowed on the inside.

After returning to the hotel to collect my laundry and baggage, I was taken to my felucca. Soon after I started lounging around on deck, I was joined by two others. Andrew is a Kiwi who lives in London and his friend “Roof Top” (AKA Roof, Mr. Top, Bruce, and many other names but his real name I found out late last night is Darren) who lives in Oxford. They met 10 years ago while trying to cross the border from India into some very small country that no longer exists that I have never heard of. There had just been a political assasination, so the border was closed. They decided to travel to Nepal together and the rest is history. We sailed down the Nile together about 90 minutes or so and then went ashore to pick up 3 others: a young French couple and Uta, a German archeology student at the University of Munich.

We had a ton of fun yesterday and last night. We talked, told lots of stories, and Andrew played music from his iPhone on a portable speaker system that he brought with. After lots of silly dancing on board, loud sing alongs to Don McClean’s American Pie and some Neil Diamond (yeah, I know) we finally got to sleep about midnight. During all those hours, though, it all happened again. Turbo bonding. At least that’s what Roof calls it. Let me explain. When you travel, you are away from all of your friends and family, especially if you’re on your own like me. You meet people and with some you just instantly click. You become friends so quickly and often develop deep bonds. Andrew said that it was like turbo dating, only with friendships. The problem is, you make these big connections and then it’s time to say goodbye. If you’re luckly you get a couple of days together. In our case it was less than 24 hours because the boys and Uta both left the boat this morning to head off on other journeys. You pose for photos, hug goodbye, exchange email addresses and info for Facebook and then you’re all on your own again. It’s both wonderful and extremely sad all at the same time. I’ve had a few of these along my journey (some of the guys from The Beach, Anand, Sarita, Prem, my Romanian friends in Nepal, the Longhorns from Laredo, and now the Brit, Kiwi and German). It’s weird how you feel so lonely after you part with the turbo friends. But I only have 3.5 weeks left!

Uta and I had a talk last night about Egyptian men and I thought I’d share. When I got to Cairo, my tour operator spoke with me about the men here and how they were going to try be a little hard to take. He suggested that I wear a wedding ring and not give out my phone number. Here’s why: The men here are desperate to meet a western woman and get married. They all try to be your best friend and want to keep in touch. Not just one or two, but all. The cheap fake ring that I was wearing started putting a rash on my finger, so I took it off. Before I was pretty much left alone. Now it’s constant. When I tell them that my phone does not work here, they want an email address. I’ve been giving out one that I rarely use and after 1 day I had 8 emails from one guy alone who kept talking about how he was dreaming of me. I’d give out a fake email, but they all seem to talk amongst each other and know exactly which hotel I’m staying at and where I am going from day to day. Poor Ute has even worse problems. The tour operator who signed her up for the felucca called her and sent 3 text messages last night talking about sunsets and dreams of her. Wherever she has gone, all the men already know her name, where she’s staying, and what her plans are. While I don’t think we’re at danger for any physical harm, it’s annoying at best and just makes you want to run and hide. After reading the text messages last night, the boys were nice and stuck a bit close to Uta and myself. Our captain has been asking a lot of personal questions and had started getting overly friendly with the two of us. I explained the situation to the French couple this morning and they’re going to help me out if things get too uncomfortable.

Sailing along the Nile is very peaceful and a good change of pace. We all get off the boat tomorrow morning, so we’ll spend the day lounging around in the shade provided by the canopy, reading, sleeping and just plain relaxing. Tomorrow morning I get picked up on the side of the river, taken to a few temples and then to my hotel in Luxor. I’ll be there 3 nights – plenty of time to explore the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens and lounge at the hotel pool. After that, it’s back to Cairo. I’ve got some things to do and see there and probably an extra day or two for Alexandria.

I’ll write more later today or when I get to Luxor and put up photos and post everything. Later.