Day 45 - 46: Wadi Halfa - Aswan
After spending two days of doing nothing in the morning and slackening off in the afternoon, the team was very happy when 1:30pm finally arrived, marking the start of the great journey into Egypt. The Sudanese customs and immigrations was fairly painless, this was due to Mazar and Waugie, our Egyptian contact who has come over to help us, spending the last few days getting all the paper work sorted out. Once this was complete, it was off to the barge to load our bikes. When we arrived they were still unloading the barge and after waiting a few hours, in this time helping a LandRover to disembark, we were finally able to load our bike. By this time it was less than half an hour till the ferry set sail, with the locals finally realizing that we were pressed for time all mayhem broke loose and after each of the team members drove their bikes on one by one, it was on the bus leaving the bikes still not tied to the barge. On the way to the ferry, everyone was thoroughly praying that Mazar, who had stayed behind to supervise, will make sure that the bikes are tightly fastened. When we arrived at the ferry we were whisked into our first class cabins, first class being relative to the rest of the ship. It was then up to the bridge to watch the ferry set sail. Thrilled to actually have working air conditioning in their rooms the team spent most of the time hibernating in their cool caves, ever so often venturing out to grab something to eat or walk about on the deck. At about 8:30 in the evening the ferry past the Abu Simbel Temple, which is a famous temple built on top of a mountain on the west bank of the Nile. The incredible thing about the Abu Simbel Temple is that when the dam was built, the whole temple, along with the mountain was moved to its current location to protect it from the rising water level. The next morning the team was up at a reasonable hour and after a large breakfast it was back on deck to watch the ferry arrive at the Aswan Port. Even though we arrived at 10:30, it was not until 1:30pm that we disembarked, this was due to the medical officers and immigration officials coming on board to process the passengers. Once through we were met by Waugie's team as well as 'Captian Wally', who is our personnel bodyguard. It was then a short drive into the city of Aswan and then an even shorter trip across the Nile to Movenpick hotel. We have a traditional Egyptian supper planned for tonight and tomorrow we have a bit of site seeing planned seeing that we can only unload our bikes the following day.
Lake Aswan.
The Cabin.
Looking out of the room.
Arriving in Aswan.
Our hotel.
On our way to dinner, by boat.
Paul and Rob really glad to be out of Wadi Halfa.
The team having dinner, with Waugie
COMMENTS
Very concerned that either Craig or Grant has dropped their camera's into the desert sand!! this is the exciting stuff we are waiting to see!!! hope your bikes are ready soon so you guys can move on..... all this waiting is for the birds!!!! Rock on . .more
by Maur Island Fans on July 11 2009, 10:13
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