27. Aswan and Luxor, Egypt - 11 February to 23 February, 2010 Just before sunset, we had crossed the border into Egypt on Lake Nasser, aboard the ferry from Wadi Halfa in Sudan to Aswan. Once it was dark, we were rugged up in our sleeping bags, very snug and comfortable despite the flat hard deck underneath. Early in the night, we heard some activity around us, and sat up to see the awesome sight of the two temples of Abu Simbel on the western shores of the lake, lit up as ancient temples should be and surrounded by the night. One was the Great Temple of Ramses II, with its four colossal seated statues of the pharaoh looking out over the lake, and the other was the Temple of Hathor, fronted by six ten metre high standing statues of Ramses and Nefertari. A really impressive sight from the ferry.

Our introduction to Egyptian soil the next morning was in complete contrast to the calm and pleasant evening we had spent on the lake. After many hours of waiting for customs officials to board the ferry and process hundreds of passengers, we eventually joined the crazy rush to disembark, with more jostling and pushing than is at all comfortable, and carrying all our gear through endless checkpoints for stamping passports and documentation. So by the time we eventually found our Egyptian fixer, Kamal, we were almost ready to embrace him, but didn't. All eight of us and our gear amazingly fitted into his station-wagon taxi and eventually after a few hassles with overbooked hotels, we found ourselves at the Isis Hotel in Aswan, enjoying our first beer since we left Ethiopia - alcohol is not permitted in Sudan - sitting beside the pool overlooking the Nile River full of feluccas and boats of all descriptions, and life was good again as we watched one of many beautiful sunsets across the River Nile.

We had three nights at the Isis and some time to enjoy Aswan and some local Egyptian food. Brian lost a full day getting the vehicle off the barge, through customs and registered with Egyptian number plates. I walked to the Nubia Museum with Claire and the girls - a wonderful exhibition of the history, art and culture of Nubia, much of which was lost with the flooding of their land with Lake Nasser after the building of the dams.

Aswan has a great souq or market which runs the length of a long street parallel to the Nile and sells everything. The persistent traders are full on trying to entice you to buy, but they also have a great sense of humour - "Come in, everything for free - while you look." "Let me help you spend your money. Ah, you don't need help, you have her." "Hassle free shopping for you." And of course everything gets cheaper relative to the distance from the shop as you walk away, and despite their hard-sell attitude, they often joke and laugh as you drive down the price. We did buy some great scarves, and we were shown how to wear them 'Egyptian style'. And a camel-leather 'pouf' or 'foot-rest', just like the one Brian's uncle, Ron, brought back from Egypt over forty years ago.

The drive north to Luxor was very scenic as it followed the Nile most of the way. We arrived in Luxor after dark but eventually managed to find Rezeiky Camp, a haven in the middle of Luxor with beautiful all-day shade and a wonderful friendly atmosphere. On our first night there was a bus load of people from Sweden staying at the camp, and we were included in a great meal of traditional food as well as some entertainment - a snake handler, belly dancing and more traditional dancing. Good fun. The traditional food at the camp was delicious and very cheap, so that was our choice most nights, apart from a couple of restaurant dinners overlooking the Nile. We tasted kebabs, kofta (ball-shaped lamb or beef peppered with spices) and tajin (a tasty stew served piping hot in little earthenware pots). Muhalabiyya is a pudding mixture of rice, milk and sugar, and most meals finish with at least a small piece of sweet cake. One night walking home after a restaurant dinner, we heard singing and clapping, and saw a couple of weddings being celebrated on the street before they left in waiting cars.

We stayed in Luxor for over a week, getting up early to see the sights in the cool of the morning and before the masses of tourist buses arrived. Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple were overwhelming in their grand style - massive columns and statues that have weathered the centuries. The Valley of the Kings was not to be missed - the decorations in the tombs still vibrant, and the hieroglyphics so much more impressive than all those you see in schoolbooks and beyond. Luxor Museum expanded on all we had seen so far and was really interesting, and we topped off our Luxor experience with a boat ride up the Nile to watch the sun set. We are loving Egypt and next is the drive north to Cairo through the Western Desert.

We will be travelling on our own again now, as the group has different time frames and agendas for getting to Europe. So we have said our goodbyes to our travel companions of the last six weeks. We have so enjoyed our time together, and gone places we wouldn't have gone alone. Wonderful people, wonderful company and we hope we'll meet up again someday, maybe somewhere in Europe or the UK.