Wendy is a Chartered Accountant living in Buckinghamshire. She is currently working as a contractor ...
Wendy is a Chartered Accountant living in Buckinghamshire. She is currently working as a contractor - this was undertaken to allow her to take time off between contracts to travel to parts of the world she is longing to see.
Member since:23.02.2001
Reviews:29
Members who trust:7
I travelled to Egypt with a company called Explore Worldwide who specialise in what they call "small group exploratory holidays". They are perfect for those travelling alone - as I was - as you get to join a group of other like minded travellers. There holidays are for those wishing to go "off the beaten track" and get a real taste of a country travelling by local means of transport and staying in local style accomodation. This does mean "roughing it" a little but suits anyone with a sense of adventure. When I travelled to Egypt the group ranged from two teenage Australian sisters to a retired couple from New Zealand!
Their website is www.exploreworldwide.com and the tour I went on was The Nile Felucca Sailtrek. This is part 2 of my travelogue days 3 to 4 of a 10 day trip.
Aswan
was probably my favourite of the towns we stayed in during our two weeks. The first morning we arrived and walked through the bustling streets from the station to the hotel I knew I was going to like it. The bazaar with it's bright stalls of multi coloured spices, the people hurrying about their business with smiling faces, it was wonderful.
I'd heard so many bad stories about Arabmarkets,about the hard sell from the sales men who just wouldn't let you go, that I was a little apprehensive but we discovered the truth was very different. That first morning a group of us, mostly female,decided to go out and explore the bazaar. As soon as we walked into the street we were hailed from every side by people shouting "Hello, how are you?". Initially we did feel a little intimidated but we soon realised that a smile and a friendly answer to their enquiries and a polite indication that you weren't interested in buying anything and you were sent on your way with a friendly "Enjoy your stay in Egypt". We quickly discovered that there was something of a pattern to the conversations.
For us girls, the first question was always "Are you English?" which got a great response from my travelling companions as most of them were Australian!. The second question was inevitably "Are you married?" We were later told that a lot of Egyptian men have a fascination with English women and they would love to have English wives. After a while, as we became more used to the Aswan bazaar, we began to give answers such as "Yes, I have 4 husbands at home" and on one occasion when our group consisted 5 girls and one guy we all claimed to be his wives, to which the reply came "Very lucky man!".
During my stay in Aswan I did not feel threatened at any time. The people there rely heavily on tourism so, let's face it, it is in their interest to make you feel relaxed and at ease.
The highlight if our stay in Aswan came on the last night when we travelled up-river past the cataracts to visit a Nubian village for the evening. A local family welcomed us for dinner and then entertained us with traditional songs. This is a real feature of Explore holidays (the travel company I made my trip with www.exploreworldwide.com), wherever possible they try to use local forms of transport, local accommodation and they also try to let the local people earn money without foregoing their traditional way of life. Allowing local families to earn money by entertaining small groups is one such way. For us, the tourists, it's an experience we won't forget and for most of us this is the reason we are travelling - to see different cultures and the way they live.
Later in the evening the daughter of the family decorated us with henna tattoos, the Nubian women use henna to decorate their skin for weddings and festivals. My tattoo,which went around my wrist like a bracelet, lasted for several weeks and caused something of a stir in the next board meeting when I returned to work. As I handed a document to one of the directors my sleeve rose up to reveal it and his eyebrows also rose - I don't think it was quite what he expected from the company accountant!
At the end of the night we said goodbye to the family and headed back down river in the moonlight for our last night sleeping in Aswan and our last night sleeping in a bed for some days - the next day we boarded the feluccas!
Please see my other articles for details of the other main sites in Egypt
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Not crowded, still pretty exclusive, do it now before everyone gets there Disadvantages: Quiet, not much nightlife, limited shopping, not everyone's cup of tea, very very hot
very helpful by (100%):
