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Temperature range was again 9° C to 28° C today. Last night, the police and security guarding us in our camp were incredibly loud. Even though they were only a few meters away from the campers, they were not mindful at all that we were trying to sleep. There was a lot of shouting at 3 AM, in addition to road traffic, as we were parked right next to a busy road.
The chefs always manage to prepare a great breakfast. They hand cut all the vegetables - true artisans at preparing food.
Leaving Idfu, the police wanted us to ride in one big convoy for safety. They kept us together for about 16 km, before they broke off. We rode through parts of town that had rampant poverty.
We traveled again through villages and the countryside. The young children up to about age 9 are very friendly and sincere in their greetings. They have big smiles when they see us. The kids from ages 10 to 14 are more problematic. In groups, they are more threatening with a mob mentality. They crowd the bikers, try to touch or grab us, brandish sugar canes and sometimes threaten to hit us with them. Jeff did get whacked on the back with a sugar cane by one kid. We also had rocks thrown at us. To add to the difficulty, the roads in the villages are in extremely poor condition, with many unpaved segments, potholes, and speed bumps. There is the usual unregulated mix of motorcycles, tuk-tuks, cars, trucks. There is no way to get through a village quickly. One of the riders misread a tuk-tuk's intentions going around the curve in a village and crashed head on into it. He fell off his bike, but fortunately this was a low speed accident and he did not have any major injuries. All this made today's riding very mentally taxing, maddening, and frustrating.
The Egyptian countryside is awash in an unbelievable amount of garbage. The desert landscape is literally a dry ocean of non-biodegradable plastic and other accumulated trash, mounded like snow drifts due to the gusting winds. Stray dogs and cats prowl through the garbage, and they obviously don't find much, as demonstrated by many with protruding rib cages. It appears that every female dog is lactating. We witnessed a dog sniffing around another dog carcass; cannibalism is undoubtedly a way of life. Added to all this is a thin smoke pall from burning parts of the crops at the roadside that the Egyptian farmers can't use.
View of the bridge into Aswan. We crossed from the west to the east bank of the Nile.
Aswan bridge crossing.
The Nile is very broad here.
Large mosque as we entered Aswan.
View of the Nile from our Obelisk Hotel room. Although we are in a desert climate, we awoke this morning to condensation on our tents. Upon arrival at the hotel, we set up our tents to dry them out, because they will be packed away for a week or more.
After seven straight days of camping, it is a luxury to get into a hotel room with a real bed. Our bathroom had a steady drip from under the sink. There was a sizable puddle in the bathroom, draining into the bedroom. That took about an hour to repair and clean up, before we could occupy the room. For a 4-star hotel, there are many notable deficiencies and defects.
Because of the challenges riding through many villages, combined with restless nights due to noise, the riders today were universally exhausted.
114 km course today. Gentle tailwinds all the way. This completed our eighth and last day of riding in Egypt. This stage was termed "Pharaoh's Delight". (In a Chinese restaurant, I envision that "Emperor's Delight" would be a sumptuous dish.) We have finished 10% of our 77 riding days. At 871 km, we have ridden slightly less than 10% of our total distance.
The chefs always manage to prepare a great breakfast. They hand cut all the vegetables - true artisans at preparing food.
Leaving Idfu, the police wanted us to ride in one big convoy for safety. They kept us together for about 16 km, before they broke off. We rode through parts of town that had rampant poverty.
We traveled again through villages and the countryside. The young children up to about age 9 are very friendly and sincere in their greetings. They have big smiles when they see us. The kids from ages 10 to 14 are more problematic. In groups, they are more threatening with a mob mentality. They crowd the bikers, try to touch or grab us, brandish sugar canes and sometimes threaten to hit us with them. Jeff did get whacked on the back with a sugar cane by one kid. We also had rocks thrown at us. To add to the difficulty, the roads in the villages are in extremely poor condition, with many unpaved segments, potholes, and speed bumps. There is the usual unregulated mix of motorcycles, tuk-tuks, cars, trucks. There is no way to get through a village quickly. One of the riders misread a tuk-tuk's intentions going around the curve in a village and crashed head on into it. He fell off his bike, but fortunately this was a low speed accident and he did not have any major injuries. All this made today's riding very mentally taxing, maddening, and frustrating.
The Egyptian countryside is awash in an unbelievable amount of garbage. The desert landscape is literally a dry ocean of non-biodegradable plastic and other accumulated trash, mounded like snow drifts due to the gusting winds. Stray dogs and cats prowl through the garbage, and they obviously don't find much, as demonstrated by many with protruding rib cages. It appears that every female dog is lactating. We witnessed a dog sniffing around another dog carcass; cannibalism is undoubtedly a way of life. Added to all this is a thin smoke pall from burning parts of the crops at the roadside that the Egyptian farmers can't use.
View of the bridge into Aswan. We crossed from the west to the east bank of the Nile.
Aswan bridge crossing.
The Nile is very broad here.
Large mosque as we entered Aswan.
View of the Nile from our Obelisk Hotel room. Although we are in a desert climate, we awoke this morning to condensation on our tents. Upon arrival at the hotel, we set up our tents to dry them out, because they will be packed away for a week or more.
After seven straight days of camping, it is a luxury to get into a hotel room with a real bed. Our bathroom had a steady drip from under the sink. There was a sizable puddle in the bathroom, draining into the bedroom. That took about an hour to repair and clean up, before we could occupy the room. For a 4-star hotel, there are many notable deficiencies and defects.
Because of the challenges riding through many villages, combined with restless nights due to noise, the riders today were universally exhausted.
114 km course today. Gentle tailwinds all the way. This completed our eighth and last day of riding in Egypt. This stage was termed "Pharaoh's Delight". (In a Chinese restaurant, I envision that "Emperor's Delight" would be a sumptuous dish.) We have finished 10% of our 77 riding days. At 871 km, we have ridden slightly less than 10% of our total distance.
Tomorrow, we will be busy packing up our bikes, and re-organizing for the next stage, which involves a flight back to Cairo, and then a separate flight into Kigali, Rwanda about a day later.
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