Hurgharda - Aswan - 30/12/11 - Bus to Aswan

    Up at 8.15, I went to check out.  I had been a little worried that they would come up with a whole lot of extra expenses as this seemed to be the Sinbad policy, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Once packed, we took our pre-arranged taxi (the same taxi we'd taken to Old Town)  to the bus terminus.  
We were well inadvance of our departure time, it being 9.15 but the idea ws to arrive early in case there was a queue.  Had some falaffel sandwiches for breakfast and sat at a coffee shop where I had coffee.  We spoke with an Egyptian who had married an English woman.  10.30 (departure time) came and went with no bus.  There were a few raindrops from the overcast sky - apparently this was the first 'rain' of the year!


The bus eventually arrived at 11.15 (after having been given a lot of  stories about 'Egyptiam time') This bus was far older than our previous bus but was OK,  No aircon mde if very hot at first until later when someone opened a window.



  The bus went South of Hurgharda to Port Safaga where we stopped for a while and then headed  inland.  I was surprised to see hao many hills there were as I had expected our journey to take us through wide open desert.  We stopped briefly in Quena and after that we were heading south again towards Luxor.  The road was in bad condition and narrow, and every few kilometers there were police stops.  There were roads on both sides of a canal, so we know we must be getting close to the nile.  Every few hours we stopped to use the toilets (disgusting!) or buy  food.  





 After a surprisingly short stop in Luxor - in fact on the outskirts - the bus continued, having lost most of its passengers.  Also meant that we could each have tow seats which was a bonus.  The ticket man on the bus was getting to know us and struck up some small talk. 


 By now we had been on the bus for about 5 hours.  We could see the nile and the big boats cruising back and forth.  Time began to drag as the upside down moon shon over the Nile.  We stopped somewhere to get some food, but it would not get us through the night.  

Then we had a few stops where almost all of the remainder of the people got off.  I was getting optimistic, but the ticket man said that we still had 3/4 of an hour to go.  I phoned the hotel to tell them that we would be late arriving.  Finally we arrived at around 10.15 after 11 hours plus the hours waiting.  A LOT longer than our tour book had indicated.


Of course there ws a taxi right there.  I said 10LE (I had read on the booking site that we shouldn't pay more than this).  He drove us a fair distance to the hotel and when he asked for 20LE there was some discussion after which he drove away in a huff.  The Keylani hotel looks pretty ropey from the outside (as do many of the places one stays in Egypt) but our room was very clean, if a little crowded (we had requested an extra bed).  All the towels on the beds were laid out differently which was a nice touch.

  We went out to feed the beast.  A quick meal was in order as we were tired.  Decided against falaffels and walked through a market.  A man beconed us and offered us some cousherie.  Knowing how cheap and filling this was we sat down for a good bowl each and ordered an extra one for Guy.  also got 2 waters.  Time came to pay and he wanted 85LE (we had paid 36LE in Cairo). We had a bit of an argument but we had made the mistake of not asking first.  Most put out and angry at ourselves, we walked off in a huff back to our hotel.  Life is full of swings and roundabouts!