Middle East - Anthony Ham [138]
Click here for details of the daily convoys to Abu Simbel.
Felucca
Aswan is the best place to arrange overnight felucca trips (see also boxed text Click here). The most popular trips are to Kom Ombo (one night, two days) or Edfu (two to three nights, three to four days), but some people go on to Esna (four nights, five days).
Prices are usually based on six people travelling on the felucca; if there are fewer passengers the price per person will be higher. The standard cost is E£36 per person for one night, E£65 for two nights and E£80 for three nights. Be sure to pay at the end – trips have been known to be shortened for so-called ‘breakdowns’. All passengers must pay an extra E£5 per person for a permit, plus the cost of food and drink supplies. Some tips before you head off: check the river-worthiness of your vessel; establish what the price includes and try to go along for the food shopping; and try to meet fellow passengers beforehand – you’ll be sharing a very tight space with them for a few days.
Service Taxi
At the time of writing, the police in Aswan were forbidding foreigners from taking service taxis between Aswan and Luxor, often turning them back at the checkpoint just north of town. In general it’s better to take the bus or train, or else get a group of people together and hire a private taxi (which can travel with the convoys). A taxi to Luxor will cost E£200 to E£250; or E£250 to E£300 if you stop at Kom Ombo, Edfu and Esna en route.
Train
Aswan Train Station (Map) is at the northern end of the As-Souq. The Abela Egypt Sleeping Train ( 230 2124; www.sleepingtrains.com) services leave at 5pm and 6.30pm, arriving in Cairo at 5.45am and 6.45am the next morning. Tickets cost US$60/80 per person one way in a double/single cabin. Children four to nine years old pay US$45. There are no student discounts and tickets must be paid for in US dollars or euros. The price includes a modest dinner and breakfast.
Other air-conditioned tourist trains to Cairo (E£110/56 in 1st/2nd class, 13 hours) via Luxor (E£42/26 in 1st/2nd class, three hours) leave at 6am, 6pm and 8pm, with tickets booked in advance. Extra Luxor-only trains also leave at 8am and 4pm; tickets for these are bought on board the train. A student discount is available on these tickets for both classes.
All of these trains stop at Kom Ombo (E£21/12 in 1st/2nd class, 45 minutes), Edfu (E£27/18, 1¾ hours) and Esna (E£35/21, 2½ hours).
Getting Around
To/From the Airport
Aswan International Airport ( 248 0333) lies about 25km southwest of town; the taxi fare into town should be no more than E£30. A service taxi between the airport and the centre of town costs E£1.
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THE HIGH PRICE FOR EGYPTIAN COTTON
World over, high-quality Egyptian cotton is revered among textile merchants and savvy cloth connoisseurs alike. Unbeknownst to most fabric-fondling cognoscenti, but knownst to us, the humble cotton plant was single-handedly responsible for bankrupting Egypt and ushering in nearly 70 years of colonial rule.
The story goes back to the thriving cotton plantations of the USA’s deep south. During the American Civil War, the Confederate government froze lucrative cotton exports to Europe in an attempt to blackmail Britain into supporting the Confederate cause. Snubbing their collective noses at this, British and French merchants turned to Egypt for their supplies. This consortium invested heavily in the region’s plantations, enticing Egypt’s leader Ismail Pasha to borrow heavily from European banks. The end of the Civil War in 1865 resulted in a crash in cotton prices as cheap exports from the USA resumed. As a result, Egypt’s spiralling economy soon found itself facing bankruptcy, and by 1875 Ismail was forced to sell his 44% stake in the Suez Canal to Britain. A year later, control of Egypt’s finances was completely relinquished to its debtors and the country watched helplessly