That night we caught an over night train from Cairo to Aswan. It was actually a lot better than we had imagined. The seats were like being in first class in an aeroplane. We didn’t miss much sleeping all night, as out the windows was only desert. We got our first taste of a packed breakfast. It was a boiled egg, a couple of buns and a small packet of fig jam. This packed breakfast set the scene for all of those to follow. Although adequate, it doesn’t really inspire.

Arriving in Aswan we checked into the hotel, and set off to explore the city. The city moves along at a comparative snails pace in comparison to Cairo. That day, we choose to do a day trip to Nasser Dam. The next morning we rose at about 4am for a convoy to Abu Simbel, a temple built by Ramses II. The temple carved out into the side of a mountain would have been consumed by the Nasser Dam which creates the largest artificial lake in the world. To preserve it, engineers diced the mountain into blocks and reconstructed on higher dry land. The temple is very impressive, the towering figures over look the entrance to what was our first look at hieroglyphs, and ancient Egyptian statues. This was also our first real understanding that Ramses II had an ego the size of Jupiter, in the fact that there are massive monuments to him all over Egypt. What really surprised us, was that none of the hieroglyphs, paintings or statues were protected in any way. They are so magnificently preserved over the last few thousand years, due to the dry climate of Egypt. But are now just asking to be ruined by thousands of people’s hands running all over the walls.

That night we went for dinner at a Nubian village. The Nubians are the inhabitants of the southern regions of Egypt. They are much darker, and African looking; while further north into Cairo, the people are more middle eastern and lighter skinned. It was a nice little village, with the buildings colourfully painted and closely packed in. The dinner was basic, but nice. Some locals bought out some homemade trinkets that we could buy and provided a Sheisha to smoke on. One of the local woman also provided Henna tattoos for those who wanted them