Diary Travelogues - Egypt - The Nile & Pharaohs - 1996 - April 08 to 27 - Part 2

Hi Friends,

This is part 2 of my 1996 journey down the Nile in Egypt.

If you are just coming on board, you can read Part 1 here.

If you are following on from part 1, welcome back 🔆

Thanks for reading
🚣

Thursday, 11 April | 17.30 | Kharga Oasis

Was woken up at 9am this morning in Mallawi with the info that the Tourist Police were downstairs and waiting for me. Got dressed and descended 10 mins later, but they had left, so I had to wait until 10.15 or so. The same hefty jeep pulled up, with its bullet-proof windows and machine-gun sockets. I was given the choice of either going on to Asyut at once, or waiting 4-5 hours for a foreign couple who were visiting Beni Hasan and would return to Mallawi in the afternoon, after which we'd all go together under police escort.

I certainly didn't want to hang around so they drove me 20 km to the province border. One of the two 'bosses' was a typical movie stereotype secret-service character – balding, dark glasses and had spent 6 years in the US on 'private business' (probably training by the CIA!). They put me on a bus to Asyut and noted down the registration number.

On the outskirts of Asyut I was dropped off at a police checkpoint and loaded onto a waiting van. We had a following – heavily armed of course, and were driven rather aggressively to the minibus station, where I was put on a van to the Oasis of Kharga, my chosen destination.

^{Kharga desert | source 1 source 2}
3 hours and 235 km out into the sandy sandy desert. We passed through a sandstorm, which descended suddenly and obscured everything for a few minutes before passing on again. Kharga is a bleakish place, hotel for 6LE and the porter trying to make not-so-subtle sexual advances with his body and hands as he pointed out the window, door and other useless and time-prolonging bits of info.

I left the hotel at around 4pm and visited the largely reconstructed Temple of Hibis, built by Darius I in the 6th Century BC. Friendly guide and nice view from the roof. The temple is 2-3 km outside the town and is very lush, with palm trees and water. The sun is pale white and there is a strong wind blowing which has prevented me from visiting a village called El-Nadim, because it is 500 meters across the sand and would be hard going.

I'll probably head back to Asyut tomorrow and would like to find a quiet place by the Nile where I can relax for a few days and maybe cycle around.

^{Oasis of Kharga, Temple of Hibis | one two three four five six}

Friday, 12 April | 20.20 | Asyut

Slept early yesterday, caught up on my sleep and didn't get up until 11am. Got the bus to Asyut at 14.00 and had a very pleasant ride, looking up Arabic words in the dictionary and staring at the sandy expanse of the Western desert.

There was a moment at the Asyut police check-point where I gloomily thought that I might once again be confined to an armed escort. The bus stopped and people were paying me more attention than I wanted. But the engine started up again and we drove away. I got off at the bus station and walked away a free man, at liberty to choose (as far as my mental conditioning and circumstances would allow) the direction and frequency of my footsteps. These led me to Hotel Mekka, where I got a nice room with a balcony for 12LE.

Walked along the Nile for a bit and have now been sitting in a cafe for an hour and a half, eating, smoking an apple Shisha and writing a letter in Hindi. I'm undecided as to tomorrow's programme, but as usual, all powerful time will reveal what's in store!

^{Asyut | source 1 source 2 source 3 source 4 source 5}

Saturday, 13 April | 16.20 | Train Balyana to Qena

Woke up 7.30 and got an 8am bus to Balyana (3 hours from Asyut) in order to visit the Temple of Seti in Abydos, 10 km further West. Slept for a while and then talked in Arabic to a couple of Turks on the seat behind me. Everything is distinctively South Egyptian.

Arrived Balyana around 11.15 and took a Peugeot to the Temple of Seti. Spent a couple of hours inside and around. 5000 years old and the 'Mecca' of the Pharaohs. There were 2 busloads of tourists, but they left soon enough and I had the place much to myself. I liked the second temple (Osireion) best – not nearly as elaborate as Seti's (which was built by Rameses) and half fallen down with nobody else around. There were passages, chambers and stone ponds filled with rubbish and rubble, and strange cat-fish in the water. Reminiscent of an Indian temple and very peaceful. The whole place had been excavated from beneath 20-30 meters of sand!

^{Abydos | one two three four five six}
Once again I found pleasant, friendly policemen everywhere! After visiting Seti's temple in Abydos, I sat down in an open-air cafe next to two policemen who had their guns and walkie-talkies laid out on the table and who had beckoned me over. One was a plump, good-natured cop in uniform, the other in plain-clothes. We talked for a while and then the owner of the cafe came over and it turned out that his name was Horus, like the bird-headed god of the Pharaohs. He said that he was also a high priest at the temple and that he worshipped the old gods in the tradition of the Pharaohs. He has a following of a few foreigners who turn up from time to time (none were there today) and said he conducts ceremonies at full moon. He also said that he smoked hashish – the police didn't seem bothered and even jokingly suggested I smoke with him! Indeed, I'd love to have spent a night in one of the tents he lives in, see him worship at the temple and get stoned. But he didn't explicitly invite me and I felt he was too sincere for me to just play along!

Rest later, the train movement makes it difficult to write.

...later | 22.20 | Qena

The train got me in to Qena for 17.10 and I checked into a hotel – also called Mekka, for 10 LE. Was walking out towards the Nile to try and catch the sunset when I saw Günther and Petra, a German couple from Bonn whom I had briefly spoken to whilst waiting for the bus in Kharga.

I showed them to the hotel, they checked in and we left for a walk. They wanted to ride in a horse-drawn carriage so we took one out to the Nile and sat for half and hour in the dying light. After that we walked around for a few hours, ate and talked. I liked them – late 20s, early 30s, both students doing research and refreshingly unaffected in their ways. They had also been to India a few times!

Going to visit Dandara to see some more Pharaonic remains tomorrow. Been smoking too many fags for comfort!

Sunday, 14 April | 23.17 | Qena

I've decided to spend another night in Qena! Woke up 9.30, breakfasted with Günther and Petra, and after looking around for means of transport, got to Dandara Temple, 6 km away, by 11ish.

^{Dandara | one two three four five six seven}

We were there till around 2pm. Dandara has certainly been my most rewarding visit to a site. Useless describing the temple in detail – it was amazing, as are all these structures with their intricately carved slabs of stone. I sat on the roof in the sun and with the view of the fields, modernity and antiquity, and the ever-present sand. Very absorbing! Walked around; talked with G&P; explored on my own, and with them; all very laidback.

We walked back to Qena through fields and villages, talking with people and just soaking in the atmosphere. G&P enjoyed the experience too. We crossed over a newly constructed railway bridge with an excellent view of the Nile and surrounding countryside.

^{Walking back | source 1 source 2 source 3 source 4}

On the way we met some villagers (met millions actually!) in a field. One of them went away to get me 10LE worth of Bhangu¹, which later turned out to be crap, but there is promise of plenty in Upper Egypt. Günther and Petra rode donkeys to everyone's merriment.

Returned very tired and sat in a cafe talking. I discovered a new kind of confidence and spontaneous social performability (to an extent). Had a nice meal and desert and then a cold shower when I returned to the hotel.

I'm feeling very very proasaic at the moment, my intellect feels dulled and I don't know why. I don't think I have a genuine interest in individuals – but what does interest me then?
_{1. Bhangu = pot, weed.}

^{source 1source 2}
If you would like to carry on reading click here for Part 3

Other @barge diary travelogues:
The Levant - 1996
Eastern Europe - 1994