aswan, train and back to cairo

on our first full day in aswan dad and i ventured out to elephantine island in the nile. the island has two numbian villages, a museum, ruins and other little touristy sites. as we got off the ferry we decided to venture into the village of siou and see how the nubians live. as we wandered through the mud streets an old man approached us and identified himself as hamil, a local elder of the siou village and he offered to show us around. he proved to be extremely intelligent and dad and i spent several hours chatting over tea and fresh mangoes learning about egypt's history, the role the nubians have played and the pharonic line. this is an experience i will never forget. the following day dad and i wrapped up our time in aswan by spending the afternoon on a felucca on the nile sailing around elephantine island, snagging lots of pictures, eating mangoes and just relaxing. we had lucked out and landed a hotel in aswan with a gorgeous pool and dad and i indulged in numerous swims and spectacular views from the top of our hotel which looked out onto the town of aswan. following a lazy afternoon we boarded our overnight train in aswan and headed back to cairo. i am really loving trains and do think this is the way to travel, i sleep so well on the train and it is such a relaxing way to travel. the trains in india were nice but man the ones in egypt are sweet!! if you ever come to egypt, take the overnight train. the trip down south was very informative and i have definitely never see so many old old things but at the same time i was ready to head back to adam and sarah's home in cairo. back in cairo we have been taking it easy, cruising local shops, bargaining for our fruits and veggies and rewatching all of this season's episodes of the office. today we are heading downtown to the egyptian museum and then we might revisit khan a kalili, we'll see. the pictures are of me and our nubian friend on elephantine island, the huge statues of ramses 2 at abu simbel and one of the statues of the colossi of memnon