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Questions About Travel
Travelling the way we do, in regular lengthy stretches, is not something everyone is fortunate enough, well enough or even inclined to do. Whatever your chosen style of travel, there are some questions which all of us who do so are asked on a regular basis. Like… What do you miss about home? Answer: very little. My stock answer is “proper English ale” which is true, I do find myself craving a good pint sometimes. Michaela meanwhile goes straight for the roast lamb and mint sauce. With both of our families being scattered around the country, we always make a round of visits on our return and probably don’t see…
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Further South: Luxor To Aswan
Luxor is definitely quieter as Saturday morning dawns and heralds the start of the sacred month of Ramadan. We’ve been told several times that the first day of Ramadan is a time for families, as first they fast together, and then later celebrate the passing of the first day with a convivial family meal as soon as the sunset call to prayer sounds. True to form, in the last few moments before sundown, the previously bustling streets of Luxor are akin to those of a ghost town: no tuk-tuks, no taxis, no horses, litter blowing down the market street which yesterday was rammed with people. Then, two hours or so…
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Luxor: Days By The Nile
Being a visitor to Egypt brings with it one absolute certainty – you are going to have to live with the utterly constant pestering by would-be guides, taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, boatmen, tour operators, shopkeepers and individuals selling everything from tissues to tat and from jewellery to junk. And of course there’s those selling nothing and just asking for money. It’s a constant barrage that you have to conquer in order to do anything or go anywhere. Add to that a complete mishmash of haggling over prices, blatant attempts at scams and a complex “baksheesh” (tipping) protocol and you have a cauldron of unfamiliar financial dealings which takes a certain…
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Southwards: From Cairo To Luxor
There is a map of Egypt in a street in Old Cairo which displays all of the ancient historical and religious sites across the country. Amusingly, there is a big section coloured red which is labelled “A large area of desert with nothing in it”. As the plane starts to descend on the short flight from Cairo to Luxor, and we drop below the ever-present haze, the vast nothingness is there laid bare for us to see: the entire landscape is one single colour. Yes there are contours and elevation changes, but there is not a single break in the ochre blanket. That same map back in Cairo also had…
