The blog was typed and ready but this USELESS internet lost the whole bloody thing. Afriad we leave now so it will have to wait another few days.....Harry

Egypt. Part 2.

Well, after ending on a rather uncertain note in the last blog concerning our brush with the Egyptian law, I'm pleased to say that thanks to Alex's hard work while the rest of us were diving with dolphins in the Red Sea, we had our license eventually returned. In fact it was no simple process and without the help of a local taxi driver I think we might still be there! From Hurghada (a Russian built modern resort that has little to distinguish itself from Malaga, but for its diving), we headed South West to Luxor. Luxor is a great cultural city which straddles the Nile and is host to numerous ancient temples as well as the infamous 'Valley of the Kings' and the tomb of Tutankamun. After a couple of days here we joined the 'essential' (in fact far from it, but still a legality) police convoy South to Aswan, spending the three hour journey staring into the grinning faces and barrels of the AK47s in the pick-up in front. We spent three nights in Aswan, Egypt's most southerly city (town really), and spent a good deal of time faffing with the traffic police over the necessary paperwork to leave the country, handing back number plates etc. Otherwise we had a pretty relaxed few days there, sailing on the Nile at sunset in a local feluca, visiting Kitchener's Island and the great High Dam which holds back the waters of Lake Nasser. On our second day we went off for a drive in search of a quiet spot on the river where we could fish, swim and cook up some lunch to test out all the gear before the 'real deal' the following week. We came across a small Nubian village (the Nubian people are actually from the south, i.e. Sudan, and very different in nature to the Egyptians.) I think we provided quite some amusement to the locals who surrounded us, staring in fascination at our every move, before bursting into excitement at the prospect of taking these 'white boys' for a swim in their neck of the river. We spent the rest of the afternoon diving and swimming in this croc free part of the Nile, along with our entourage of local boys determined to show us how everything was done.

So on the morning of Monday the 30th June we drove the half hour to the ferry "port" beyond the High Dam and then spent the best part of the day clearing customs and attempting to get the Land rover onto its barge without rendering it incapable of driving ( which judging by the one attempt made by the local blokes before we realised, would certainly have been the case!) Not only did it have to get over a foot high metal lip and then stop in a space exactly its own length, there was also the problem of getting from the land onto the barge with only make-shift ramps that clanged out of place with each attempt...while the gap between land and hull widened against the straining ropes. At last we got the vehicle on the barge and then left it far behind, being surrounded by a phenomenal amount of food and junk destined for the Sudan, while we steamed South into the sunset and Lake Nasser.