Day Five - Tombs of the Nobles
Breakfast comes and goes without us as we enjoy a good, full nights sleep. We're still to be moored in Aswan until early evening, and I decide that my trip to the Tombs Of The Nobles is definitely on for later in the afternoon. Lisa, though wary of the height and amount of climbing involved finally decides to come too, reassured by me telling her that there are, in fact, stairs leading up. Ben, another guy from our group will join us.
So, after a couple of hours in the sun and cabin, relaxing, at 4pm we set out to find, and haggle for, a felucca. It doesn't take more than seconds as immediately after leaving the boat we are set upon. We haggle him down from a ridiculously expensive price to a reasonable sum of £E50 for the three of us for the whole round trip.
It's so satisfying to travel across the Nile alone, unencumbered by a large
group containing people now knowing when to simply shut up. Whilst the groups
and tours are extremely well run, we're starting to strain at the leashes somewhat.
After docking, we start to climb on what you'd be hard pressed to describe as stairs; we'd checked the ticket kiosk (nope, no places come free in Egypt), which was empty. As we climb, a fat Egyptian comes running out from nowhere, shouting us down. It seems the temple and tombs shut at 4pm (4?!), and he won't let us up at all. No pleading helps, with him and an aide telling us the Tourist Police would jail them for such an act. We decide to try and walk around, and as we leave, the other caretaker comes up to us and quietly points out a way for us to get up reasonably undetected.
We quickly realise this is going to be some trek - no stairs, just a steep climb up to dunes to the top. It's actually quite exhilarating in an intrepid explorer kind of way, but this soon gives way to a general lack of fitness. Out of breath and wheezy, hot under the glare of the still powerful sun we steadily climb, taking periodic rests for water, which turns out to be necessary liquid gold.
The peak is well worth it though. There's an old Muslim shrine, Qubbet el-Hawa on the summit, and from here the view is marvellous. To the south, dozens of feluccas sail around Elephantine island in the centre of the Nile. To the north is a large Nubian village settlement; east we can see the whole of Aswan and to the west, rolling miles of peaceful desert. We drink in the view for a while before making the steep, but thankfully easy descent. We pass a tiny cave-like tomb and hear bats. Ben throws a small rock into the cave as Lisa peers in, only to send the bats into a frenzy, causing Lisa to scream as they flutter around, too close for comfort.
The Nobles' Tombs are regrettably locked, and so, after giving the caretaker
who'd advised us how to get up a healthy tip, we board our felucca for the
return. I'll give it to them, they work bloody hard for their money as they
are forced to row back across the Nile against the current. Amusingly the dock
against the side of the our cruise boat, attracting a large amount of attention
from other passengers, and consternation from the purser who vainly tries to
shoo them away.
We take advantage of the last couple of hours in Aswan by again heading out into the market. Again it's great fun, enhanced by being unimpeded by others. We buy a bong with some accompanying tobacco, which I hope customs won't find, as no doubt their shackles would be raised.
Back on the boat during dinner we set sail from Aswan, starting the long climb back toward Luxor. It's sad to be leaving this enchanting, bustling town.
In the evening, we've had a treasure hunt arranged for us to do in groups. Actually it's more of a floorshow - having to do impressions and the like. It turns out to be damn good fun and we do well after only a half hour's preparation and go on to come joint first. No doubt a vindication of my alcohol fuelled Bill Clinton impression at the end. Or perhaps not...
We continue drinking on into the night and eventually at gone 1am we dock back in Kom Ombo. Max, our ever-faithful Egyptologist is going to pop out for a Turkish coffee and a bong. Lisa, Ben and myself jump at the chance for a traditional drunk in a local establishment and head off.
Smoking the fruit-flavoured tobacco from the bong is a surprisingly mellow and tasty pastime, and we settle back and talk for a long time. The same, however, cannot be said for the foul, sweet and silty coffee that looks as bad as it tastes. We talk with Max at length about Egyptian culture, religion, the past, present and future, and it's good to talk within the levels of intimate conversation rather than the group atmosphere. Max is an intelligent conversationalist and we somewhat monopolise the chat to find out about Egypt and his opinions. He talks at some length about the 1997 shootings where the dozens of tourists were murdered. He was actually nearby in the Valley Of The Kings at the time and heard everything. A guide friend of his was murdered for refusing to leave his party (the fanatics were only interested in tourists) and the whole episode sounded beyond horror.
We eventually return to the bar gone 2:30am and after some persuasion, manage to obtain one last beer. When we eventually get to bed it's way too late and we're way too worse for wear. Thank god there's not going to be any wake-up call.