When I'm riding I find myself experiencing new things, new places and new people then thinking, how am I going to explain this in the blog that makes its enjoyable to read and not just a boring timeline of events. Whether riding to blog or blogging to ride takes any more true experiences away from me I don't know. I know one thing though, today's blog focus changed about 6 or 7 times and i could never ever prepare myself for or say that I've had less of an experience than possible, as for me today was most definitely not for the faint hearted. So I'm going to give you a "boring" timeline of events and see if you understand what I'm jabbering on about!
The day started with myself feeling very low to be honest. I couldn't be bothered to sort Nigel out, I didn't want to leave my pad of room number 101 where I had comfortably vedged out and watched some movies in for the last two nights. (don't worry I did leave the room to make the most of Luxor, the movies were on late at night but they weren't "late night" movies which I'm sure some of you are thinking) and I had to really motivate myself to get going. The driving force behind my motivation was beautifully clean socks and clothes. My mind and the majority of my body were not feeling it today but at least my feet felt amazing and they didn't start the day in sandy, cardboard socks like they normally do. (Sometimes they're still damp from the previous days sweat aswell!) I tried to channel the good vibes up my body from my feet to get me going and after another rooftop breakfast, I gave Nigel a decent clean and oil and leisurely packed my bags ready to go.
I said goodbye to Barbara at reception and tried to set out with the same mindset as I ended the day on yesterday. My map is now the Nile, follow that the right way and I will end up at my destination. Follow it the wrong way and it won't take long before I can hear the noise of Cairo and sense the "pyramid people" coming for me again! The ride was good, dusty and noisy but its what I have got used to over the last week or so and I was going through phases of happy smiling waves to energy saving ones.
The first intended stop was going to be for lunch in Isna. Ahmed mentioned there was a temple in Isna that I should just take a picture of and then I could continue to my final destination of Idfu. The road was good and I made good ground. Today would be the most extreme day for roadside experiences though. The first put me in a bad mood, an idiot passenger on a motorcyclist thought it would be funny to grab my arm as they went past. It wasn't hard and it didn't really move me off course but it was a shock and annoying and when they stopped further down the road, and I did not stop to receive what could've possibly been an apology from him or another grab, he flapped out at Nigel and hit my bag. This put me in a bit of a bad mood but then you get the nice thumbs up that puts you in a good mood again. Frustratingly for me however, no matter how much you always try and forget about the minority, it still sticks in your mind.
After this I had the motorbike that followed alongside me just having a chat at first which inevitably turned to wanting money. Ive got used to the kids asking for money (i don't like it but I've got used to it) They lasted around 5 minutes that I could've done without as I thought seeing as they were around 16yrs old they would've grown out of the begging phase. Looking at it from an outsider's point of view as well, who needs the money? The guy on the motorbike in a clean polo shirt with jeans, or the grub on the push bike wearing a layer of dust and no undies! After that I may get the dancing pedestrians and the big smiles that are amazed to see you which puts the smile back on my face.
For some reason today, I experienced the most diverse events and people than I have ever done in the whole trip. Was I experiencing the real Egypt now? Or was this just a one off day?
The up and downs continued when I stopped for lunch. I had the kids begging in my face along with the ones tinkering with my bike as i sat next to it, combined with the kind gesture of an offering of a seat from a shopowner along with the kids getting told off by another man for tinkering with my bike. I had the nice tarmacked road that led me to the horrible sandy one, the shops that led to flats, the flats that led to the slums and the slums that led to the beautiful fields. I had the man on the bike offering me dinner with his family whilst a kid tried to open one of Nigel's bags. I had a road filled with kids playing football that led to a road filled with kids playing kill the cyclist. I had the kid with a stick that almost clothes lined me followed by the lonely child with the best smile in the world absolutely in awe of me. I had the childish adult playing "chicken" with me in his car followed by the responsible teenager stopping his donkey for me. I had the long distance call of encouragement followed by the close up look of disgust. I had kicks and grabs on Nigel turn into high fives and handshakes. I had so many reasons to question why I'm even doing this ride, smoothed over by so many answers.
I felt the furthest from home I ever felt and the most out of depth by far but that is the point of this ride so you could say the ride had eventually begun.
I had all these emotions and I was trying to work out what was going on? Was this just a completely abnormal day or was I going to have to handle this everyday?! Could I handle this everyday?
I've had my history lesson of Egypt, now i was having my present lesson and I really had no idea when or where it was going to end.
Things started to thicken as the day came to an end. It began by a few mischievous kids causing a bit of motor mayhem. You know the saying dont you, give a mischievous 8yr old some sandles and he can be mischievous at a maximum of 3mph but put him in a tuktuk and he can be a right little so and so at upto 30mph and until his petrol runs out. Well I unfortunately I experienced not one but two 8 year olds driving tuktuks, yes you heard me, in charge of a motor vehicle at the age of 8 and following me for a good 5 miles constantly asking for money and at one point, employing the police box technique!!!
What do you do? I was quite annoyed that during the boxing in process where I almost got pushed into the Nile, I had to also swerve around a massive dead lizard and I wanted to take a picture of it but I had two children of the corn to deal with at the time. This must just be a rough town, like cycling through Glasgow I thought. The adults are generally very strict and any shenanigans that occurred with them present and the kids were soon put in their place but there were no adults around. It was like the film "Chuckie" meets Robot Wars but they eventually got the hint or got bored and left me to continue cycling into yet more diversity.
It was getting dark and I was heading into Idfu. Come on then Harding, what's your plan this time? The roller coaster of the day had left me exhausted and fed up but craving a good area to ponder on the day's events. No nice bed and hotel waiting for me tonight though was there and as I sat in traffic I knew it was going to be a long ride to get to anywhere that was even close to being remote, and that was a gamble if such a place existed! I pondered getting the lights out and going for a longer ride, then I thought about mosques, I know a few people that said they were the best for safe places to stay the night. The police were a possibility, could I pitch up near them? Then I questioned my ride and what I set out to do exactly. Was I cowering after what was probably just one of those days where the bad points overshadowed the good points! Was my confidence and belief in the kindest of strangers weakening due to a few pesky kids? I couldn't be sure but what I maintained were my instincts, fair enough my instincts had led me to where I was in the first place but I looked to the heavens as I have done so many times on this ride and just asked for a sign or a decent hunch, something that I could follow.
Shortly after this a tomato flew just past my head from the hand of another kid, this time on the back of a truck. Why were there so many naughty kids today? It was wearing me down. The attempted drive by fruiting wasn't really the sign I was after either but I kept going through Idfu and into a neighbouring village. I could see a lot of children with books and more genuine smiles than sinister ones. This feels better I thought, the school was just kicking out and I past it by about 10metres before slamming on the brakes with a positive sensation at the last minute. The school was walled and gated and before I even got back to the gate, I had kids calling teachers and beckoning me in to sit down on a bench in the playground. Not two minutes had past and I had found myself surrounded by about 6 adults, 25 children that had walked back to greet me, a bottle of fanta in one hand and a twinky in the other.
The headmaster came out to greet me and the benches I was sat on were layed out for a village parents meeting. Before I could even hint at the possibility of sleeping in the playground, a parent had already offered me his house for the night. Salem was the first person that sat me down and is a geologist whose son, Sheib, goes to the school. He spoke enough English to explain a lot of things to me and we had to leave the school as the meeting was about to start so I followed him a few hundred metres back to his house (he jumped on the back of a van)
Salem and his wife have 3 sons and 3 daughters. All the daughters have moved out but Sheib 13, Mahmoud 25 and Mohammed 27 still lived at home. His house was fascinating. Lovely and cool, big, and obviously unlike anywhere i have ever been before. There was plenty of room for Nigel in the hall and he took me outside the house to sit on a bench just 200m from the nile to talk. His house was surrounded on all sides by his family. He had uncles, aunties, brothers and cousins all over the place. Everybody seemed to know everybody else in this village anyway but it made it even better that these guys were all family.
As I sat on the bench Salem got a call from a friend and he had to leave but his son Mahmoud would stay and chat with me whilst the mother cooked dinner. Mahmoud was great to speak to, by no means fluent but I learnt some more Arabic words and more importantly about how he lives his life, his beliefs and what he and his family all do etc.
He was just as interested in my life so we chatted for hours before dinner was ready. We went back inside as I was getting eaten alive by mozzies. Dinner was then brought in by his younger brother on the biggest platter you've ever seen. There was sheep, rice, bread, salad, cheese and two Egyptian dishes that I forget the names of (a black eyed pea based one and one made from a certain type of bread and juices from the meat)
The Sheep aka mutton, which I thought was generally quite a tough meat to eat was absolutely melt in your mouth unreal! Along with whatever spices they had put on it I couldn't get enough of it and Mahmoud was more than happy to fill me up!
Together we pretty much finished all the food, in England it would've probably been a big meal for four at a restaurant. After dinner, Sheib wanted to improve on his English ( I could tell he was very mature for his age and it turns out he's in all top sets) I read him a section from his English book "journey to the centre of the earth" rather ironic i thought as I was at least heading to the equator!
I talked some more with Mahmoud but I was really exhausted and he could tell, so he left the living room and sad good night and I got comfy on their sofa. An hour or so past and Saleem arrived home. He had played peace keeper with his friends and he seemed really disappointed that I was trying to sleep already.
He had told his mates he would bring me to play dominoes down the road outside his local cafe. The man has been amazing I thought, the least I could do was go down there, I'm never going to get this chance again! I got ready for the outside bitefest with a long sleeve t-shirt and trousers and walked with Salem down to meet his domino buddy's.
He bought me a tea and the first game we sat and watched and then Salem played but I just enjoyed watching. They played 151 in teams of 2. They seemed to understand my joking advice on showing your teammate what tiles you had under the table. They had a good old laugh at that and I was turning into a right star which I was pleased about. Salem is clearly a very respected man by the way he acted and by how his friends welcomed him in. I knew I was in very safe hands as he linked my arm to pull me from the road every time a car drove past. I've mentioned before that I've noticed how the men link arms and now I was being treated like a son within just hours of cycling into his life.
When we got back to the house Salem slept on the other sofa next to me. I don't know whether he normally does that or it was because I was there, I should've asked, either way it seemed he would do anything to make me feel safe. When you meet a family like his and a man like him its hard to describe how you feel. I will never ever forget them though.
When I think about the day and I think about the change in emotions from utterly fed up and alone to being a 4th son in a family I have just met, its fair to say that no blog can really do it justice and emulate every detail.
The experience was priceless. The lessons I have learnt from my reactions to the good and bad events are priceless. The events themselves will probably not be one offs but for all of it to happen in one day, I think it will go down as one of the most diverse days I will ever live!
All i can say is, This is Africa!
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