• The journey to Aswan
September 4, 2004
There were two sets of experiences for the team in the past two days. The majority of the members took a passenger ferry from Wadi Halfa to Aswan whilst another 12 went with the cars on barges. Those on the passenger ferry took 18 hours to reach their destination – it was hot, there were only two toilets for about 100 people. Finding space for their sleeping bags on the deck was a real challenge - the members were forced to make the best of their situation.
On the other hand, 12 members including myself, were entrusted with the vehicles. Cooking and sleeping on the barge was not a problem, after all we had all the cars with us. We set up a fly sheet between the cars and voila!…we had a home for the next two days.
Toilet facilities on the barge were not the greatest but at least they were clean and airy. Actually “airy” means no roof! Better still, the door wouldn’t close! It didn’t really matter too much as the walls were only about 3 feet high, just enough to cover the important parts!
The boatmen were very accommodating, constantly checking whether we were okay and offering us sweet tea and a puff at their shisha pipes. On the first day, we were rewarded with a perfect view of the Sun Temple at Abu Simbel. The sunrise and sunsets were quite spectacular, and the stars at night were magical.
Our slow cruise also gave us an opportunity to catch up on chores that were left undone in the past few days. The mechanics gave each car a thorough check and worked on some. The others sat down with Semut Merah (Anuar Mushadad) for a refresher course on their GPS’s.
After another long day on the barge, we finally arrived in Aswan. Four hours later we cleared customs and immigration but our cars had to remain at the port. Halim, the expedition leader, was on hand to receive the team and to brief us on the situation in Aswan.
The hotel was a welcome break for everyone. The food was great and a certain soda drink with ice was heavenly after two hot days on the barge. We will be moving on to Luxor as soon as we get the cars out of the port, where we hope to visit more famous temples and the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
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