Ah, overnight trains. Can't say I love them. We arrived at the Giza train station for our overnight trip to Aswan. Mike observed that some of the trains had bullet holes in the windows. Not overly reassuring, lol! We had two people per compartment which was great but the seats were very rigid so the beds weren't great, but hey, we've been in six person sleepers so this was awesome. The main problem was Mike's pain. It was a pretty rough night, the train ride was constantly jerking so it was a jarring and rattling 14 hr ride. Very little sleep for the two of us but we survived. Peter(a doctor) recommended a course of steroids. He deals with these sorts of things on a daily basis. He recommended a course of steroids for Mike, so Mayer took us to a pharmacy in Aswan where we were able to get some. It cost ten Egyptian pounds which is less than two Australian dollars.
We are staying in the Nile hotel . Not the greatest hotel in the world but my god, the views of the Nile are stunning. We had a bit of free time. Mike found the spa on the roof top. After a bit of sign language we were able to get it going so that's where mike sat while I went out for a walk with a few of the others.
The hotel is nestled between the police headquarters and the courts. Because of the revolution where police became targets for attacks, there are concrete barricades around the police station. Because the courts are on one side of us and the police on the other, there is melodrama that occurs every day. From our room on the fourth floor, we watched men who were handcuffed to each other being loaded into vans while family members remonstrated with the police. There was wailing and crying. I cried too! There was a rather large man who wouldn't get into the van even though he was cuffed to the guy in front of him. There seemed to be a bit of a stalemate going on until they let his young son through to give him a big hug, then he got into the van . It was just such a public arena for all this to be played out. These things go on at home, it's just behind closed doors.
In the evening we got on a boat and cruised the Nile. We had a look at at Elaphantine island which in ancient times was considered the border between Africa and Egypt, then we headed to the Nubian village called Sohail village. To get to the village we were transported in the back of a ute like the locals. Lots of small groups of men selling water from big clay pots on the side of the road and going about their normal routine such as farming. The locals were very friendly calling out hello, even some of the women waved. The women here all wear headscarves and robes. First stop was an amazing spot to get beautiful photos of the Nile. Mayer had us all do a little jingle for G Adventures here...we might get our 15 seconds of fame yet!
We were hosted by the Sahlool family who prepared us a traditional Nubian meal. We ate in a large open quadrangle with some carpets covering the sand floor in the centre. There was a table in the middle, about the height of a coffee table . The walls of the quadrangle were whitewashed and had a painted bird design on the walls. There is practically no rainfall here.
The meal started with the traditional hibiscus drink. It's a reddish liquid, mildly tart with the option of adding sugar. Then came soup. It was a pasta soup. Half of the pasta is browned in oil before being added to the soup so there is a brown and white pasta through it. The English name for the soup is canary tongue soup, so named because of the pasta used. Next followed a lovely spread of fried chicken (Nubian style), meat kofte, mixed vegetables, a pastisi type pasta dish, tomato and coriander salad, beautiful rice, bread and of course hot chips (which apparently are cooked worldwide). It was all lovely but a little oily. The meal was finished off with bananas and oranges. I then had a little henna artwork painted on my foot by one of the girls. It was a pleasant evening. We then got back in the back of the ute to go down to the boat. I had a little doze on the way home!