In Aswan

Well that was a breezy 16 hour bus ride.

Military checkpoints were everywhere, and whenever we got out in a town the military briefly took me into a compound to prevent Gamaat Islamiyya from getting to me first. Then we would wait. I tried to play a game of card with them but they refused.

Come on, people: there's no reason protective custody can't be fun.

So now I'm in Aswan in southern Egypt. It feels a lot more like Africa here (by the way, the people here are Nubians, not the Namibians posted below). The geography is basically the Nile and its floodplain, and then sandy desert on either side.

And it's really hot. Which is a bad thing, because that nifty little daypack I bought in Cairo is ridiculously hot on my back. When I take it off, there is a sweatmark down my back in the exact shape of the backpack (including straps).

Yea, it's pretty gross. So each day, it's all-or-nothing: I either don't wear the pack at all, or never take it off.

Anyway, on the agenda for today is to explore Aswan with some cool people I met at my hostel. And then tomorrow, I am contemplating taking a felucca (basically a cheap sail ship) down the Nile river for three days. I'll update tonight or tomorrow morning with a more definite itinerary.