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Aswan

From Dahab I caught an overnight bus to Luxor. It took 17 hours and is something that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. From Luxor I caught a train. It was brilliant. Cheap, air conditioned, what I would call business class seats (never seen them so wouldn't know) and it followed the Nile all the way to Aswan. I booked into my hotel and got a few hours sleep before traveling another 3 hours to Abu Simuel with the police convoy. This left Aswan at 4 in the morning and contained 64 buses. Which was a bit of a joke as when we got their we were there with 1000 or so other people crowed around the site. The site itself consisted of two temples which were once carved into the face of a cliff but with the completion of the High Dam were taken down and reconstructed into purpose built mountains. I think because of this it all seemed a little fake to me and I wasn't as impressed as I may have been otherwise. The trip back took us past the high dam which also wasn't as impressive as you might expect given that it holds back the longest river in the world.

The next day I spent walking around Aswan. I never realized I had so many friends here. Everyone I spoke to "Hello friend, please visit my shop, very cheap, only 100 pounds, really no hassles."
"Really I don't need a Hard Rock Cafe Aswan T-shirt but thank you."
"Friend please no business today, for you special price 90 pound."
By now I usually would have left but he had me by the arm and there were two others blocking the exit.

I had more friends on the water front.
"Hello my friend felucca ride, very cheap."
or "Friend, friend horse ride, very cheap, please he is very lazy and needs the exercise."
What he really needed was a decent feed and for him to lay of the whip for a few days.
It was here, when trying to remove a nail that had protruded through my thongs and 1/2 an inch of my right foot, that i was approached by a Chinese lady in her sixties who was staying on one of the cruise boats. I guess she was sick of having so many 'friends' and asked if she could follow me around.No reason why not so I became a body guard for the day. There wasn't a lot to see in Aswan so i spent most of the day talking to this lady over a cup of tea.
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