This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw.

Sunday November 1, 2015

Egypt: Day 11, Part 2 – Unexpected Nile Shopping

When we got back to the cruise ship, we had breakfast and talked about people’s jobs. After this fortification, we had a group meeting to remind us of the time we should be near the Esna Lock. After a full morning, I decided to go back to the room and rest a bit. I found a towel elephant awaiting us! After resting for a while I thought about getting a massage but ran into some group members who said it wasn’t worth the money.

Around 11:30 I headed back to the top of the deck. The Chinese tourists had staked out most of the good spots in the sun, and the camera crew was roving around. They claimed they were there making a “documentary”, but it was obvious they were making a souvenir video that we could buy later. I opted not to “give an interview”.

The front part of the top deck had the pool, I don’t think I ever saw anyone actually swimming in it. While the other half was tables in chairs in varying degrees of sun/shade. Knowing we’d be coming soon to the Esna Locks, I snagged a shaded chair to read while looking at the scenery.

We passed by towns, and people would rush up to take photos of things along the banks, like minaret towers. I also didn’t realize until looking at photos later, that decaying not-in-use cruise ships lined the banks of the Nile.

As we got close to Esna, little boats started rowing directly towards us. I had read and seen videos of what was about to happen, but others were worried. “Oh no! They crashed into us! Are they okay!” someone asked.

You see, the cruise ships use to stop at Esna to visit the ruins in the town, but after the economic downturn cruises stopped going there. So the locals decided, if the tourists aren’t coming to our town, we’ll go to the tourists! You’ll see dozens of little boats heading towards you, and even at the locks people will stand on the locks showing their wares.

But the sellers aren’t content to just shout and have you look at them waving scarves, towels, and tablecloths.  No instead they’ve figured out a unique way to vie for your attention. They simply throw bagged goods up 4 floors to the deck of the cruise ship you are on! Those who hadn’t jumped up to marvel at the spectacle of the little boats risked getting hit in the head with these projectiles or watched as items flew so far they landed in the pool. This certainly got more people up and paying attention!

It was like a bizarre dangerous Christmas as people unwrapped the clear packages and pulled out what was in there. If you weren’t interested people then played hot potato handing it around to other tourists, or trying (usually unsucessfully) to throw it back. I was looking for something blue and white for my mother, and this tablecloth seemed perfect. Then someone threw matching napkins and I was sold.

I tried to yell down to bargain, but we couldn’t hear each other, so Tara, Elizabeth, and myself went down to the lobby to see if we could find an open window or something. I love Tara, she just used her charm to convince the lobby people to open the door, something at first they were very reluctant to do for safety reasons, but eventually gave into us.

I’m not good at bargaining but Elizabeth stood slightly behind me. I tried to play the “Look I only have 100 EGP” line, but the seller said it was too little. I cave too easily, so started to reach towards my other money before I heard Elizabeth whisper “No, stand firm, do not give him more!” And so instead I started to hand him back the tablecloth and asking him to give me my money back. He suddenly withdrew his hand shouting “No! No! Fine 100!” Before he could change his mind I scurried back inside clutching the tablecloth like a piece of treasure!

After leaving my purchases in my room, I returned back on deck just in time to go through the Lock. It was….boring. I can understand that it is smart engineering…but I didn’t feel anything. I wondered if it was because this was a small lock when compared to something like the Panama Canal (a place I also hoped to visit one day) or if I just found something that I honestly couldn’t care less about. (Spoiler: In 2017 I went to the Panama Canal and also found in incredibly boring!)

We then had lunch, which we had become accustomed to waiting a bit to eat, since our Chinese travel companions would rush up, take everything in sight, cut in front of you, block you from getting plates, etc. It was just too much stress to deal with. Somehow I was able to sneak some bananas out for later in the chaos. Elizabeth and I then bought a photo from the night before (the Halloween/Galabeya Party) for about 10 EGP as we exited and headed back to our room.

I read for about an hour and then started to re-pack. When we docked in Luxor we’d stay one more night on the ship before leaving in the morning. But I was starting to worry about fitting everything in my bag. While packing Elizabeth and I watched two birds sit on the handrail outside our window. After some jigsaw like work I managed to fit everything back in. I headed back to the top deck and once again took in the views.

Most of the group was assembled at a long table waiting for tea.

I joined them and we played some fun games. I remember one game that had something to do with hands, alas I have forgotten the rules! But it was fun to hang out with everyone.

As the sun started to set we pulled into Luxor. There were dozens of old cruise ships tied up here and we had to wait for a fancy in-use one to pull away before we could tie up next to the old cruise ships. But at least there was a view of Luxor temple! We waited for the Chinese tourists to head out before we disembarked.