I then went for a walk through the Nubian village on our island. It was a very weird feeling. First there was a huge wall separating their part with our hotel property. I had to walk a pretty round about way just to get around it. I was all of a sudden in a completely different world.
Yep, that's our hotel.
Some local children playing.
I walked around for maybe 15 minutes, but I felt a little uncomfortable to be treating people living in rough conditions as little more than a tourist destination, so I headed back.
A building up on the hill:
Home of one of Aswan's more famous inhabitants:
Afterward, I went back and met up with Tamer, when we were all ready we hit the boat across and met up with Mo. He introduced us to Sayed who is a Nubian friend of his. Nubian is the name of the people in the south. They have darker skin, making the look of people in the North and South of Egypt look very different. Tamer was treated as a foreigner until he started talking.
Sayed and Mo led us to a boat that we rented for the day. We cruised downriver for maybe a half hour, cruising through the lush forests that were bordered by desert. It was very tranquil and gorgeous.
After a time we pulled over to a small collection of modest buildings.
We jumped onto the sandy shore. There were maybe 5 people lounging around in the shade, some smoking the hookah, everyone with a lazy glazed over yet content expression on their face. One of the buildings was a restaurant that had maybe 12 or more tables. Mo suggested the fish, and we made our orders and then retreated outside to sit in the shade along the Nile and relax.
When the food was ready we headed back in.
After we ate we had a cup of coffee made by the owner of the restaurant.
With the coffee, several herbs were added. I know nutmeg, cloves and ginger were among them, but I don't remember the other. They were supposed to give a slight buzz. Also, the guy making the coffee informed me that it was considered Nubian Viagra. I can't say I felt either effect, although in at least one of the cases, had it been effective I would have kept that to myself.
Afterwards we cruised on back from whence we came.
Afterwards, Tamer went back to the hotel to try and watch a Manchester United match. Sayed and Mo graciously took me out to the shops to help me get a better deal. There I picked up a few things for a few choice people. Thanks to my expert guides, it was super efficient, cheap, and successful. Afterwards we went up to the bar in the hotel and had a drink and watched the sunset.
This is the Nubian village from up in our fancy bar.
We thought about going out to a pub, but Tamer and I were both tired so we called it an early night so we could rest up for our train trip to Luxor.
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