Day 101
Sleeping location: Taharka Nubian House, Aswan, Egypt
Distance (km today/total): 119 / 7902
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 58600
Local interaction: low
Day in three words: Done with Egypt
We got up pretty early to go and see the famed Temple of Horus, which was geographically close to our hotel but actually inaccessible as we were nowhere near the only entrance. We tried for a bit to get in, but it was confusing and we could see from our high vantage point that it was already rammed with tourists, and looked the same as all the other temples, so we decided not to bother. On the way back to the hotel we tried to buy some fruit but everyone in the market tried to pull tourist prices on us, so we didn’t bother. Being constantly treated like some kind of cash machine is getting tiring. On the upside, our knowledge of Arabic numbers helped when we left with our bikes: a pile of figs that we had been quoted 20 a kilo for now had a sign saying 10. We bought a kilo with great satisfaction, even though this was way too many figs.
We made slow progress throughout the morning due to a combination of endless speed bumps and both feeling ill. Everyone seemed to be aggressive towards us, even the hellos were said in an unfriendly way. Everything was a demand for money or a picture or attention. Some of it was hilariously shameless: a fat kid asked for money by saying “I am hungry”* and another kid demonstrated what he wanted by showing me a crisp 200 note (a tenner). The second kid reacted to not getting any money by trying to drive his tractor into Rebecca’s back wheel. As yesterday, I tried to keep myself to myself for the most part, especially because I had borderline lost my voice due to my cold. There was at least some nice riding on this section, some bits had us squashed between the Nile and the desert hills (therefore no room for aggressive kids) and some bits followed rolling hills through the desert (therefore too hot for aggressive kids). We also managed to avoid the police for most of the day; they seem a little more relaxed down this way and mostly leave us alone.
The final straw was a solo side trip to the temple at Kom Umbu. The detour down village streets had lots of aggro and some running kids trying to grab my bike. I didn’t even go in the temple (it was expensive and looked the same as the other temples) yet still got hassled by about 5 people at the site. Then on the way out of town I was hit on the legs by something heavy and hard. I didn’t want to give the thrower the satisfaction of reacting so I didn’t look at it, or them, but it felt like wood and was almost certainly chucked by some teenagers. It hit both my shins and drew blood (a bit). If I hadn’t been done with Egypt before, I was now.
The last 20km before the town was a very beautiful ride between the river and the desert, although we were both too mentally and physically drained to properly appreciate it. Aswan was actually a relief despite its reputation for hassle, our ride in was surprisingly relaxed (perhaps because you can’t sell a taxi/carriage ride to someone on a bike) and the riverside was very nice. We booked a hotel on Elephantine Island, which was a minor pain to get to but turned out to be a blessed haven of peace as it didn’t have any motor vehicles or touts. Getting to sleep wasn’t difficult.
Distance (km today/total): 119 / 7902
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 58600
Local interaction: low
Day in three words: Done with Egypt
We got up pretty early to go and see the famed Temple of Horus, which was geographically close to our hotel but actually inaccessible as we were nowhere near the only entrance. We tried for a bit to get in, but it was confusing and we could see from our high vantage point that it was already rammed with tourists, and looked the same as all the other temples, so we decided not to bother. On the way back to the hotel we tried to buy some fruit but everyone in the market tried to pull tourist prices on us, so we didn’t bother. Being constantly treated like some kind of cash machine is getting tiring. On the upside, our knowledge of Arabic numbers helped when we left with our bikes: a pile of figs that we had been quoted 20 a kilo for now had a sign saying 10. We bought a kilo with great satisfaction, even though this was way too many figs.
We made slow progress throughout the morning due to a combination of endless speed bumps and both feeling ill. Everyone seemed to be aggressive towards us, even the hellos were said in an unfriendly way. Everything was a demand for money or a picture or attention. Some of it was hilariously shameless: a fat kid asked for money by saying “I am hungry”* and another kid demonstrated what he wanted by showing me a crisp 200 note (a tenner). The second kid reacted to not getting any money by trying to drive his tractor into Rebecca’s back wheel. As yesterday, I tried to keep myself to myself for the most part, especially because I had borderline lost my voice due to my cold. There was at least some nice riding on this section, some bits had us squashed between the Nile and the desert hills (therefore no room for aggressive kids) and some bits followed rolling hills through the desert (therefore too hot for aggressive kids). We also managed to avoid the police for most of the day; they seem a little more relaxed down this way and mostly leave us alone.
The final straw was a solo side trip to the temple at Kom Umbu. The detour down village streets had lots of aggro and some running kids trying to grab my bike. I didn’t even go in the temple (it was expensive and looked the same as the other temples) yet still got hassled by about 5 people at the site. Then on the way out of town I was hit on the legs by something heavy and hard. I didn’t want to give the thrower the satisfaction of reacting so I didn’t look at it, or them, but it felt like wood and was almost certainly chucked by some teenagers. It hit both my shins and drew blood (a bit). If I hadn’t been done with Egypt before, I was now.
The last 20km before the town was a very beautiful ride between the river and the desert, although we were both too mentally and physically drained to properly appreciate it. Aswan was actually a relief despite its reputation for hassle, our ride in was surprisingly relaxed (perhaps because you can’t sell a taxi/carriage ride to someone on a bike) and the riverside was very nice. We booked a hotel on Elephantine Island, which was a minor pain to get to but turned out to be a blessed haven of peace as it didn’t have any motor vehicles or touts. Getting to sleep wasn’t difficult.
*I cycled by too quickly to employ any of the hundreds of pithy remarks this warranted, including my favourite “eff off you fat effing cee”
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