Day 2 - Hurghada to Luxor and Beyond... - March 10, 2023
It is now 10 at night and looking out our cabin window we can see the inky waters of the Nile as we glide through them with the silhouette of palm trees on the shore. It is quiet other than the dull hum of the engines, we cannot even hear the water as it laps the hull just below our window. This is our home for the next seven days and thank goodness for that as it has been another long day of travel, starting quite early…5:30 am as a matter of fact. Our pick up was booked for 7:00 am but we managed to arrive in the lobby at 6:30 for checkout after having showered and packed up. The packed breakfast provided by the hotel in a brown cloth bag was quite good – Two sandwiches (cheese and beef as well as cucumber), two pastries, a banana and an apple.
It was quite cool outside so we only moved out to the front entrance at 7 to wait for our transfer which arrived a few minutes later (well, 15) but the small van was quickly filled up with other tourists so we waited a few more minutes for a much larger bus filled with German speaking tourists and their guide.
Hurghada is just one resort after another. We visited a number of hotels, varying in quality, to pick up more passengers. A road travels north and south to the west of the resorts lining the coast of the Red Sea with the occasional exit. Often there would be no exit from the side of the road we were travelling on so we would have to go beyond and make a U-turn using the provided link road over the central median. These are quite common. Once leaving the modern tarmac road the dirt sideroads were quite bumpy up to the entrance of the resort which would be an imposing structure surrounded by tall walls. Once past the modest security (mostly involving a guy just waving our coach through) we went from the dull brown colour of the dessert into a different world of vivid green and luscious vegetation and the ever-present palm trees typically lining the resort roads.
Of course, this is not at all natural with the evidence of irrigation throughout from sprinklers to more targeted narrow black plastic pipes dripping water on the roots of the plants. One resort had a full size golf course with each hole a vivid green surrounded by the brown sand with a sharp edge where the water stops being provided. Another even had a huge water park that looked unused as it might at 8 in the morning.
After several hours of pick ups south of Hurghada we turned off the north-south road sharply west at Safaga towards Qena on the way to Luxor and into a range of dark mountains of rock and sand. The road wound through these mounds for quite some time before they eventually disappeared. I love sitting at the window and watching the scenery as it passes by so we were on the right side of the coach, the outside as they drive on the right, about half way back immediately in front of the toilet. It was mesmerizing looking at the the barren sand and stone scenery we passed through.
About an hour later we stopped for a quick break by turning off the main road and into a small, sparsely inhabited village with a very busy service station where several other coaches were already stopped. Here there were a number of children begging for money including two veiled young woman guiding donkeys on which were perched young goats - Obviously a photo-op if you have ever seen one. At one point an English lady on our bus gathered up some sandwiches from the hotel and walking to the steps at the front of the bus faced an immediate, violent, surge of young children holding their hands out for the food. As she distributed the sandwiches the children put them in the donkey's paniers presumably for later distribution and consumption. This sort of thing greatly disturbs me perpetuating the divide between the haves and the have nots in such a way that is, I feel, quite demeaning.
The rest of the service station consisted of a large covered lounge area with bar and snack stall selling things like ice cream, biscuits (chocolate and plain), crisps (potato chips), (chilled) chocolate bars, and soft drinks. Alongside there were a series of stalls selling souvenirs and handicrafts behind which was the rather ramshackle toilet which, of course, you had to pay to use.
A nearby local, modest mosque attracted some attention from the tourists as well. Mel and I were mostly just observers here but we visited the snack stall with it's impressive selection of biscuits, eventually picking up a packet of “Leibniz” for 2 euros which I felt was a bit steep but things here generally seem to get sold in increments of 1 euro so no such thing as something being priced at 1.50 euro. Here the stallholder showed us a huge tray covered with euros, asking if we had any bills we wanted to change, much like I had been asked at the airport yesterday.
On the coach they were actually selling tinned soft drinks at a modest price of 1 euro so we opted for those.
An hour after our pit stop we arrived at the security checkpoint and gates of “New Qena City”, leaving the desolate dessert behind.
The guide had gone around the coach after our stop, explaining what was going to happen in broken English, taking our names and giving us a slip of paper with the name of our boat on it. Ours is “Sultan Hussan”. As we started passing through the villages the guide started giving details of what we were seeing and introducing us to various aspects of Egyptian life. Unfortunately, this was all done in German so we could only barely follow. To be fair, before starting he did apologise in English about doing this.
We followed an lush irrigation canal that ran alongside the Nile itself with little villages giving way to farmer's fields giving way to yet more villages. It is currently sugar cane season so we saw many carts piled high in the air with their harvest. We also saw many trucks full of boxes of bright red tomatoes. The local people use donkeys and horses as well as motorcycles and small trucks. The houses for the most part are made of grey concrete or even brown clay, often unadorned but occasionally painted in garish colours.
There are a lot of multi-story apartments of 3 or 4 floors often with the roof having the corner supports for an additional floor if one is ever built, leaving their construction slightly “open ended”. As you might expect there are also a lot of chickens and children running around. Despite it being the middle of the day most people are out and about, after all, it is the cooler part of the year - In the summer they would be likely inside or under a tree somewhere to escape the ferocious heat. Any bridges across the canal would often be covered with the haphazard stalls of a small local market. These bridges were often at villages so we would also stop at the local security checkpoint.
Ours was the third stop so we kept our ears open for “Sultan Hussan” to be announced as we entered Luxor and the security checkpoint sporting a few automatic weapons in sentry towers.
The first two stops were at quite nice looking boats with the expected clean tourist look to the dock area. Finally we passed by a large concrete overpass beside a large bridge over the Nile just before pulling off the road down a steep bumpy narrow road past a somewhat lax security guard, winding our way around an abandoned building of some kind with gorgeous purple and dark red flowers growing from it's ruins.
After a wait for another coach in front of us, we came to a stop on the shore beside a rather decrepit looking boat though we didn't have a lot of time to sit and contemplate as we hurried off the coach to pick up our bags from the hold to allow the coach to continue on to it's next stop. Staff from the boat took our bags we carried our rucksacks across a narrow gangplank onto the moored hulk of a ship. As we entered the dark interior we could see there was no electricity, the floor was unwashed, cables were hanging from the ceiling and a few of the staff were sitting in a corner watching a small, ancient television. But, thankfully, we passed straight through this boat to the next which was moored alongside. Much better, carpet, glass, electricity, no dirt in evidence…but then we were guided further on to the next boat…with each getting better than the last, we felt. Finally, the forth boat in, was ours, the “Sultan Hussan”. We passed through a nominal metal detector (beep ignored) into a grandiose lobby with a dark red, plush carpet with gold borders over wood floors, baroque furniture off to our right, the main desk to our left and a circular opening above our heads into the floor above where a small souvenir stall had cloth and clothing draped over the bannisters.
Our luggage deposited in the lobby by the German speaking crew, we were told in broken English to meet our English guide in the lounge on the second floor. It was not difficult to get lost with the first floor being the gift shop (and rooms), and the second floor consisting of only a large lounge area and the dining room. The lounge has a number of large areas with huge sofas lining their edges where you can sit, chat and drink.
As we were shown to an area on the far side near a window overlooking the Nile we were given a welcome drink of (non-alcoholic) hibiscus while we waited for the guide to finish up with some other English passengers. Eventually Ahmed came over to introduce himself - An Egyptologist based in Luxor who would not be on the boat with us for our cruise but would be providing us with our tours while in Luxor at the end of the cruise. After normal checks of our purchase he then had us write down what would happen on what day, pointing out early mornings as he went along. We had purchased pretty much everything we could purchase but he had a few more that we took him up on: tips for the crew (£27 per person per day), a Nubian village visit in Aswan (£250, and an early morning hot air balloon trip over the Valley of the Kings (85 euros). We passed on a Luxor light show as we have heard that the light show to see is at the pyramids in Cario. All in all, another 320 euros but, well, we are here and he had a machine for our credit card. We were already going to be busy, this will mean we are even busier. Ahmed was lovely and immediately was attracted to Mel who happily provided a hug or two…
Directed back to reception we dropped off our passports for the staff to copy and picked up our key for our room: 121. Immediately at the bottom of the stairs from the lobby, at water level. Basically, we are in steerage class. The room is quite small. As you enter there is a small counter on your right with a fridge and the bathroom opposite. The bathroom is quite basic and a bit grungy with sink, toilet which seems to perpetually be running, and a small 3/4 length bathtub with glass barrier and shower. In the rest of the room, there are two single beds separated by a small table with phone on the left and another counter with chair and mirror on the right along with two small wardrobes on either side. After this area there are two small steps leading up to a small lounge at the two enormous windows (with two heavy blackout curtains which can be pulled across). Here there is a love seat, tea table and a bureau with a television on top (which, when turned on, only says “please connect antenna” or some such). The whole room is decorated in light pastels so is quite pleasant and cosy.
We Have been disappointed to learn that there is no WIFI on board and we declined to purchase a local Egyptian SIM so I guess other than phone and text we will be cut off for the next week…not a huge hardship we felt.
We were pleased to see our bags had been deposited in the room already as we dumped our rucksacks and headed up to the second floor dining room (beside the lounge) for lunch. We were assigned seats at a table near the buffet with several other people we recognized from the bus. The dining area is quite large with a number of big dining tables. The buffet itself consists of a long counter all along the end of the room, behind which is the kitchen, where the hot dishes are served. There is a small island of deserts to the left while alongside the seated area is the salad section which had some interesting salads which seemed to feature pieces of processed meat. I had some small pieces of fried fish, rice, beans, boiled chicken, stuffed pasta, bread sticks, ring pasta and for desert some fruit that seemed a bit like a pear, pastry, and cookies. All drinks are extra and billed to the room for settling at the end of the trip, including water, so we ordered a couple of (plastic) bottles for the afternoon.
The roof has a large covered area with bar which has a number of sun chairs and sofas arranged into groups that can be moved around as you wish. The area behind the bar, at the back of the boat, is uncovered with a few sun loungers on it and a small tent that we learned was used by the on-board masseuse. The front of the boat has a small pool and much more loungers filled, when we arrived, with sun worshippers.
The pool does not look great, a bit green looking to me and not really being used. The floor of the roof is all wood which looks quite attractive.
We picked a covered seating area on the side of the boat where we could watch the banks of the Nile go by as we were already underway. I made a trip back to the room (four flights down!) to pick up our hats, books and sunscreen. I noticed the toilet seemed to be running so I went in search of someone who could have a look at it. Despite no one speaking English eventually, after three or four people, and after a wait, one was able to come into the room to have a look at it, tinkering and muttering a bit under their breath. They left with the toilet now marginally better but still making leaking sounds…
It was lovely on the roof of the boat watching the world go by. We were captivated by the never-ending fields of banana, sugar cane and other fruits and vegetables, the farmers with their donkeys, horses and chickens contentedly eating under trees. Sometimes fields spread out into the river itself, semi-submerged crops with water buffalo and other animals grazing in the middle of the river. There are lots of birds around as well, particularly small white egrets that are easy to pick out against the verdant green. It is all very green and lush. Even with this there is always something new to look at, a turn in the river, a sandy rock outcropping and the occasional archaeological ruins in the hills. There are also the occasional small towns with their taller, pastel coloured buildings and quiet streets.
The river is perhaps only a half mile wide, at most, with the occasional bridge we easily pass under. It is not as quiet and serene as you might think as there always seen to be at least four or five other cruise boats, all which seem to be about the same size as ourselves, visible up and down the river. In passing we often can see and smell the black exhaust coming out of some of them.
It is not a huge boat, perhaps 100 or so people on board, so it is quite easy to navigate and in no way overwhelming. We are beginning to recognize the staff, many of which look to be teenagers but who are keen to help out and always have a smile on their face.
At roughly 6 pm, the sun set which, of course, caused great excitement for those of us that had just joined the boat (we have learned that different groups of passengers have different itineraries, with the boat simply travelling between Luxor and Aswan on a set schedule). Seeing the dark red circle of the sun drop below the brown sand hills of the dessert was something no one wanted to miss. As the sun set it got a lot cooler but we were content to keep our vigil until dinner at 7:30.
We had the same table at dinner though there were a lot more people around. Pretty much every table was full. I had some stuff chicken, fresh oranges, dates and melon, some salad, spiced rice, steamed fish, and stewed beef. We are getting to know those at our table - three friendly German couples who were on our coach and another Swiss couple to our right who spoke quite good English. At one point in the meal the staff started beating on some drums a singing - It was someone's birthday/anniversary (it was announced in German, what can I say?) so a group of them danced and make a bit ruckus as they processed around the room, finally presenting the birthday boy/anniversary couple/birthday girl with some cake.
Concerned we still did not have our passports we returned to reception to pick them up. They still had not copied them so we waited while they did before taking them to our cabin. We returned with warm clothing to the roof to see what we could see. We passed through a series of narrow locks where the pilot or captain yelled his orders to the crew and those on the docks for ropes to be used to keep us from crashing into the concrete sides. As we finished he threw some food to those on the shore as payment.
A few local people in small boats have been trying to sell us things. They get alongside and tether themselves to our much faster boat then get out their carpets, fabrics or whatever, and yell up to us on the top deck. This caused a bit of anxiety as we entered the narrow docks as they were quite persistent but seriously risked their lives coming very close to being crushed between our boat and the walls. We spent a few hours watching these slowly unfolding dramas below.
There is a lot of smoke around which is the farmers setting light to the stubble in the fields. It does mean it is a bit hazy even at night.
After sitting at the front of the boat watching the very dark scenery and brilliant bright moon we headed down to reception to figure out what our timetable was for tomorrow. There is a board in the lobby presenting the day's agenda but it is in German so we quickly figured out what dinner, breakfast and lunch was in German but Ahmed had told us our English-speaking tours would not necessary be at the same time as the German tours specified on the daily agenda so we would have to check every night with the gentleman on reception what our timetable would be for the next day. Having done this we returned back to our room in the bilge to rest and read and watch the water go by our window…
Surprisingly neither of us have been very sea-sick but, really, the motion on the boat is practically non-existent with the very sedate and calm Nile. The only way you can tell if you are actually moving is to look out the window.
I have a feeling that our days are going to be very full. We will need to relax when we can.
⇒ Continue to Day 3 - Kom Ombo and Cruising - March 11, 2023