Well now Susie and I are sailing along on a felucca having just left Aswan.

Our Geckos tour group are great - all friendly, fun and supportive - mixed ages from 22 to 50.

We've just had a great couple of days seeing some amazing sights.

Day 6- We arrived in Aswan via the night train. The train interior was a little shabby but first class seats were very comfy with a wide centre piece and a good recline. The toilets were some of the worst I've seen with the flooring bubbled from constantly being wet with urine, and no running water in the sink or toilet! We were very safe though being in the company of about 6 armed guards in our carriage.

We arrived in Aswan after midday to scorching heat and headed out to try some local food - Koshary which is macaroni, beans, etc and Hawawshe (not sure of spelling) which was like a muffin cooked on the bbq with tasty kebab meat - yum.

Afterwards we wandered round the markets and saw only 2 other tourists - every vendor was keen for our business. Some times they're quite aggressive which is very off putting but other times fun. All are doing it hard and ask us to tell our friends is safe and to travel here again!

We had dinner on Elephantine Island at the Nubian village with a nice boat ride along the water to get there!

The kids surrounded us when we arrived with hands out waiting for pens. Just like the adults they were also very cheeky with one smacking me on the bum and then grabbing my crouch!

The dinner was delicious - tasty vegetables, crunchy breaded chicken, fresh bread and ... potato chips!

Day 7 - We were up at 3am to get the bus to Abu Simbel. As previously there's been trouble we travel on a convoy with armed guards aboard. I slept most of the way and we arrived 8.30.

The sun was not as hot as the previous day and we could wander around and marvel at the amazing 15 metre high cliff carvings.

Inside the temples were many rooms also with walls filled with amazing scenes and hieroglyphics. Unfortunately no photography so I can't share any photos.

It was all amazing to see but hard to conceive it's more than 4000 years old!

It was also incredible to believe that back in the 60s they moved the temple to its current position to avoid it being submerged when they created the dam. They pulled it apart piece by piece and moved it further up the hill.

That afternoon we stopped in at the perfume shop. It was nice to smell all the fragrances but still not super cheap at 170 pound ($24) for 25ml.

We did enjoy our 5 minute free back massage but left a bit sticky after!

Back to the hotel for a quick shower then onto the next activity ... Camel riding!

I was very dubious about this but it turned out to be a lot of fun! We got a boat over to kitchener Island (Susie opted out) where we were mounted on our camels and lead up the hill to a lookout with a view of a monastery then back down the other side. The landscape looked stunning, sandy hills changing colour as the sun receded.

We rode for about 45 minutes with my bottom slowly getting sorer as we went! I'm not sure how they managed to ride for days like this through the desert!

At the end of the ride they had us do some strange dance and the locals were playing drums & singing a chant in their Nubian language (probably something like silly foreigners we'll take your money! ). We then stayed for Nubian tea sitting on Ottoman cushions in a big beautiful billowing tent.

That evening we had another delicious meal of kofta, hommus, mixed salad, beans, stuffed vegetables and flat bread.

Day 8 - We visited the temple of Philae. This had also been moved from another Island to avoid it being submerged and was from Greek times rather than Egyptian. It was a beautiful location with pretty flowers surrounding the temples.

That afternoon we boarded our felucca!