Spacefiller day

31^th October 2009-1^st November – Days 33-34 – Cairo and Aswan, Egypt

Getting back from Dahab at 6.30 in the morning, we had 14 hours before the night train to Aswan. Once again, our only mission for the day was successfully pulled off. Not only did we get the tickets for the ferry to Wadi Halfa, but we also jumped the queue to get them. Positioning ourselves at the back of the queue to the ticket window, we were spotted by a man a few places in front of us who called us over, opened the door to the office and waved us in, where we were served before the masses who had been waiting at the window for quite a bit longer than us. The feeling of slight awkwardness was far overshadowed by the happiness of finally getting everything we needed to head to Sudan, and we celebrated with a long day of (wait for it…) tea, backgammon and the odd beer, eventually heading back to the Dahab Hostel for the last time to pick up our bags, say goodbye to Daniel and Megan, and sneak into the shower. The train to Aswan held the entire population of Cairo in it and moving from wagon to wagon searching for seats involved heavy planning to avoid stepping on the people crammed into every little space, but somehow we managed to find 2 empty seats (probably the only ones on the whole train) and fell asleep quickly. Sudan, here we come!!!

The question of what to do all day in Aswan was well answered for us by the Egyptian railway company – the 7 hour delay meant that we arrived in mid-afternoon instead of mid-morning and, after finding a place to stay, we went for the last beer for a while, and food. Richard had got stuck in Luxor but we agreed to meet up for the ferry tomorrow.