After visiting many sites in and around Luxor our boat set sail heading south towards Esna. Sailing on the Nile is perhaps one of the most relaxing activities I've ever taken part in. The exquisite scenery and warm sun create an amazing atmosphere. Refer to my previous post for photos of the scenery.
We had been given a heads up by Gigi that once we set sail, smaller boats would attach themselves to ours and try to sell us their goods. It was a cool sight to witness. These touts offered many different dresses and such and if you showed any interest at all they would stuff the goods in a plastic bag and throw them up onto our deck. If you wanted to buy the item you just bargained for your price and threw your money down to their boat in the plastic bag. If you didn't want the item you had to throw it back down into their boat. Most people were able to hit the target, but at least once I witnessed somebody miss the boat and their rejected goods landed in the river. The boat guys promptly untied themselves and rescued their wet goods.
We spent part of our afternoon listening to reports given by fellow travelers. If a particular report wasn't site specific then we tried to fit it in on either the bus or boat in order to maximize our time at all of the sites we visited. Below, Simon (a Regular Member from New Zealand) gives his final report of the year. As you can see he went all out and dedicated his presentation outfit to a fellow Regular Member who was celebrating her birthday.
Just before sunset we arrived at the Esna locks which are about 55 km south of Luxor. Most of us had not experienced locks before so we waited on deck to watch the action. We had to wait about an hour for our turn to go through but it was well worth the wait. Once we entered the lock and got into position the first gate closed and it started to fill with water. Just a couple of minutes later the second gate opened and we were cruising a bit higher than we were before!
We had been given a heads up by Gigi that once we set sail, smaller boats would attach themselves to ours and try to sell us their goods. It was a cool sight to witness. These touts offered many different dresses and such and if you showed any interest at all they would stuff the goods in a plastic bag and throw them up onto our deck. If you wanted to buy the item you just bargained for your price and threw your money down to their boat in the plastic bag. If you didn't want the item you had to throw it back down into their boat. Most people were able to hit the target, but at least once I witnessed somebody miss the boat and their rejected goods landed in the river. The boat guys promptly untied themselves and rescued their wet goods.
We spent part of our afternoon listening to reports given by fellow travelers. If a particular report wasn't site specific then we tried to fit it in on either the bus or boat in order to maximize our time at all of the sites we visited. Below, Simon (a Regular Member from New Zealand) gives his final report of the year. As you can see he went all out and dedicated his presentation outfit to a fellow Regular Member who was celebrating her birthday.
Just before sunset we arrived at the Esna locks which are about 55 km south of Luxor. Most of us had not experienced locks before so we waited on deck to watch the action. We had to wait about an hour for our turn to go through but it was well worth the wait. Once we entered the lock and got into position the first gate closed and it started to fill with water. Just a couple of minutes later the second gate opened and we were cruising a bit higher than we were before!
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