Written 27th June

Hello!

So the fun has continued and I am now writing this chilling on a Felucca sailing North on the river Nile!

Since my last post we have left the desert and oasis' behind and have rejoined semi civilisation in Luxor and Aswan. We arrived in Luxor and checked into a fab hotel overlooking the Nile and for the first time saw some other tourists! In the evening we went to the market, I purchased my first tour shot glass and a tea towel hat! Now I am Egyptian! In the evening we went to an Irish bar! A pretty poor effort as they didn't even have Guinness or Cider! The day after we headed towards Aswan, we met the other group, 1 American, 3 Australians, 1 Singaporean. We spent an afternoon in the pool chatting which was really cool and then we went to visit Philae Temple with Nuuubieeeee, the coolest tour guide ever! This place consisted of 3 temples, an Egyptian, Greek and Roman which we climbed all over to take yet again more jumping pictures! After this we headed towards the Nubian Island. This was one of the best parts of the tour so far! The Nubians are Sudanese Egyptians and are only 2% of the Egyptian population. We boarded our little boat and after our first swim in the Nile docked on the Nubian island which seemed to be covered in camel poo! I was then taught how a man should ride a camel, 'the safe way!' The camel ride was awesome, island on the right, Nile on the left, sun setting! J Then came the surprise… we were met by Mr Morad, a teacher from the Nubian school. The classroom consisted of a few rows of benches, a white board and cane! Mr Morad chanted the Nubian and Arabic numbers to ten at us and we chanted them back, I was loving it! Then came the test, I was ordered to the front and asked to say them out loud! I messed up, had to bend over and was caned!! Then the problems started….

We enjoyed our evening meal a local's house, again this was chicken, rice and bean stuff J I finally managed to get a Henna Tattoo!! Many years spent crying in numerous cities in France and being told over and over again, 'Your not having one!' were all put right in about 30 seconds for 20 Egyptian pounds, about 2 quid! I now have my name in Arabic and the Ankh, key of life, on my left wrist. Yet again, sorry mum! J Unfortunately after this, lets just say I experienced my first travel sickness, you can guess the issue but the tablets Mario gave me worked a treat!

Abu Simbel Temple was a 3 hour drive from Aswan so it was an early start, leaving our hotel at 3.30am! I am sure this is the hottest place ever! We spent two hours there, yet again took more jumping pictures and drove back to Aswan.

In the afternoon we boarded our Felucca! The boat has one big deck covered in cushions; we have spent the last two days sun bathing, playing cards, listening to music, eating and sleeping on board, occasionally stopping to find a bush and ……… Last night was awesome, we had a camp fire and spent the night chatting and toasting marshmallows. We are heading back from Aswan down the Nile (North) back to Luxor and boarding the overnight train back to Cairo. Today we created our own assault course consisting of a swim and a run and were all beaten hands down by a member of the crew! I can see locals working in their fields, donkeys rolling in the sand, the occasional Nile cruise boat pass by, best of all….. my Bolton Wanderers Flag is flying high above a Felucca on the river Nile, you can do anything was cable ties Dad!

Tom x