May 7-11: The Nile

We’ve just returned from a four-day cruise down the Nile – the popular Luxor to Aswan route – which proved to be quite a different experience to everything else so far, for a number of reasons.

• Most obviously, the cruiser – the MS Sherry Boat, a floating hotel with capacity of 150 and a pool on the top deck. It’s currently only running at one-third capacity, and there are more staff than guests, which is always a bit awkward. It is one of dozens of similar vessels that cater to tourists to Upper Egypt.
• For the first time we’ve mingled with other tourists. Our party includes two weathered South African ladies, two elderly Aussie ladies and an incongruous Uruguayan. One of the Aussie women – reminiscent of a cantankerous version of Kath of Kath & Kim fame – has had quite a negative attitude to her Egypt experience, and isn’t shy to share it. There is tension between the South Africans and Kath, perhaps because they inadvertently call her “Sheila”. They also called me “Edward”. On three separate occasions they hailed a fellow, African-American passenger, as "Derek", "Kirk" and "Kurt" (real name Dirk).
  
• The extreme heat. On day two of the cruise it hits 46 degrees (Celsius). There is spontaneous perspiration.
• The onset of travel-related health complaints. Details deliberately spared.

Luxor supposedly houses one-third of the world’s ancient heritage sites. In this region we have seen the Valley of the Kings, site of the tombs of many of Egypt’s pharaohs, still colourfully decorated after centuries; the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, impressively built into rock; the ridiculously gigantic Karnak Temple and its neighbour, the relatively small (four-acre) Luxor Temple; and other famous temples at Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae. Needless to say, we are a little templed out.

Most of the damage done to the temples is blamed on earthquakes, Christians and spiteful Pharaohs who attempted to erase their royal predecessors from history by chiselling out their faces and names from the walls and pillars of their temples. We also saw two mummified crocodiles, still intact after centuries. Apparently they turn to dust if touched.

Younger but on a similar scale, the High Dam at Aswan is thought-provoking, in that it allows a country with zero rainfall and 95% desert to have an uninterrupted year-round supply of water and hydroelectricity to its entire population. And they built it forty years ago. If only we had that in Australia.

The most interesting insight into Egyptian life comes from one of our female guides, a Coptic Christian. Far from the picture of civic religious harmony painted by the other (male Muslim) guides, she describes a culture of harassment and segregation that, while perhaps more liberal than neighbouring Arab states, still exists in some parts of Egypt. The Coptic Christians are the minority, and what applies for the Muslims often doesn’t go both ways in terms of acceptance. Inter-faith marriages are rare. Muslim converts to Christianity often emigrate to avoid retribution. Christian converts to Islam are excommunicated. She tells us not to tell anyone “or they might shoot me”. There are exceptions to the rule, and she pains to point out that most Muslims are good people, but she acknowledges she cannot achieve a certain level of friendship with Muslims because ultimately there are differences of belief that are too wide to bridge.

On a lighter note, Vicky is belting Limmy at Big 2, and Limmy has discovered that his T-shirt with the Dutch text contains no offensive words apart from “euthanasia”. And we also managed to win a “Mummy” competition at one of the various cruise “parties”, where Vicky demonstrated her proficiency at wrapping Limmy’s still frame with three rolls of toilet paper. In fact, Vicky was chosen for virtually every cruise party competitive activity – amateur bellydancing, Nubian rituals, Nubian conga-line dancing – much to her thinly-veiled anger, and Limmy’s mirth.