On the Nile

The last couple of days I have spent sailing down the Nile on a traditional Egyptian sailboat called a felucca. It has been a very interesting experience. Sometimes it has been wonderful and other times I have really missed the luxury of modern facilities such as toilets.

The view from the felucca has been beautiful and breathtaking. The banks are lined with palm trees and other greenery and in the distance there is always the desert with Nubian villages in bright colours scattered here and there. It is also fun to see the camels, donkeys and water buffalo that come to the water edge to drink.

The felucca would stop at different times of the day when we would eat and swim. Swimming in the Nile is the best relief from the heat, which becomes rather intense after sitting for a long time on the boat. The food was amazing too! The felucca boys who sailed the boat for us made some lovely traditional meals, usually swimming in fat, but who thinks of their cholesterol intake on a trip like this? One night they even made a fire on the beach and pulled out their drums and entertained us with traditional music and dance! I tried joining in but I do not think I will make a good Egyptian entertainer...

There are no pictures for this blog. I am sitting at a tiny internet cafe in Luxor since the hotel does not have any wi-fi, so they'll have to wait till I come to Dahab in a couple of days. I am super excited for Luxor, this is where the valley of the Kings is! We drove past the Winter Palace, which is a hotel in Luxor. I think that is the hotel that Amelia Peabody stayed in, a character from my favorite book series.