A usual start to the day with a hotel breakfast of pitta bread, ful, yoghurt, apricot jam, dairylea triangle, feta cheese and a boiled egg. I've now combined the apricot jam with the yoghurt as opposed to the pitta bread and I'm having an egg sandwich instead of just eating it straight. All in all I'm happy with my breakfast developments and I don't think I could combine the ingredients any differently. The ful stays in its bowl, no amount of salt, pepper or spices can make it taste nice!
I went and checked out the bike shops today that are all conveniently laid out next door to each other, Egypt must've had the same designer as Turkey! The racks they had were strong but the joints weren't and I feared if I bought another, the same thing would happen again! I must note the price though. A rack that looks the same as in Aswan sold in England would probably cost easily £20. Here it costed £2!!! If my rack lasts me till Khartoum then I'm pretty sure it will last a lot further. If it doesn't last me till Khartoum, then I can just buy one there as they are all very simply designed.
After this I had nothing to do. I have done every touristy thing that I've wanted to do and now I am getting just a little tired of doing anything touristy as its more hassle then its worth. It's a shame but that's the way it is. Philae temple is a possibility but after you've payed and tipped over the odds for everything leading up to it, I could just save myself a weeks food bill and miss out on one or two pics. If I want to come back then maybe I can save a few things to do with someone else!
So instead of spending money on things that I didn't really need to see, I thought it would be better to pay for some things that would be put to good use. On Sunday when I found out I was staying a while I thought I would struggle to find things to do but I wanted in some way to give back the good feeling I instantly got from the locals on Elephantine island.
I thought it would be good to buy some colouring pencils and some paper and go give it to the kids on the island. There were only around 30 kids so I jumped on the ferry, (at the back) armed with some paper and pencils, and hoped they would take them in good heart. I had a poem that my Aunty coincidentally sent me at the same time ringing in my ears. One line writes, "if you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives, be kind anyway" I did not want them to think I wanted something, I was happy just to see a smile. (So yes technically I did want something but I've said it before, there's no such thing as a selfless good deed)
Most of the kids were in school but I managed to find a group of mums that were all busy cooking food together and there were a couple of kids so I gave it to them. No pictures, no videos, no fuss, I was happy to give and walk away. One lady looked at me as if to say, "where's mine?" I laughed about this and tried to make it known that it was for all to share. Hopefully they understand that and as I walked away I had a smile back, which was nice. The Nubian village on Elephantine island is by far my favourite village/town in Egypt. I carried on walking and had a good conversation with a man in tourism called Mohammed and the owner of Nubian house who I think is his father.
After that I went for a walk and explored more of the island and got talking to a man called Mustapha. This man optimised my original thoughts on the people of the island. His smile, his passion and his zest for life was clear to feel just by how he spoke. As I felt a few days previously, he loved his life, he was living his dream and he didn't want anything more. Isn't that the aim for everyone in life?
I sat on the beach and watched the sunset in perfect peace. Elephantine island was my oasis, my chill out area away from the busyness and complications of mainland Egypt.
I enjoyed today more than any day that is planned or tourist related. Today I met real people, had real conversations with no ulterior motive and it didn't cost me a thing compared to what could've been spent around a temple.
As I walked back to get on the ferry through the winding mud walls and forest, a huge amount of poo flew over the bushes and just missed my face. (If my head was up and not bent over I would've caught it square in the mouth)
My instant reaction was that I may've discovered a rare characteristic of one of the islands animals or birds. I felt just like David Attenborough as I jumped to one side of the walkway to get shelter behind the bush and then creep up on the animal. I've heard of monkeys throwing poo, what other animals did? As I crept along the bushes it became apparent that when humans are shovelling their vegetable patch and don't know you're there, they can also launch poo at you!
We both laughed when he realised he had very nearly splatted me with Daisy the cow"s finest pat and I carried on to the ferry.
I got some dinner and went back to the hotel to finish off what was a good day. Hopefully I will find lots of these great villages along the way and moreover, hopefully I can receive more smiles!!
No comments:
Post a Comment