We arrive in Aswan after an overnight train ride from Cairo. The train is quite comfortable and a great way to travel the long distance south. We arrive in the early hours of the morning and as our rooms are still not ready, we walk outside to orient ourselves to this city on the banks of the Nile.
Emily, Lucy and I wander around the markets and then go over to one of the restaurants on the Nile for lunch. It is lovely to sit there, admire the scenic view and try another Egyptian dish.
We have a long, relaxed lunch and enjoy our Fatta, a hotpot layered with bread and rice, soaked in a spicy sauce and topped with a couple of pieces of very tender meat. It is quite yummy and we enjoy our meal overlooking the wonderful Nile River.
In the evening we cruise the Nile to visit a local Nubian family. Along the way we enjoy the feluccas and other boat traffic on this busy river and pull over for some of my fellow travellers to have a swim. Seeing women in bathers is not something the local boys are accustomed to, so they sit along the banks and take photos of Sam, Emily and Lucy in the water!
Along the way, a Nubian elder of the village we 
were on our way to visit steps into our boat and gives us quite an informative insight into Nubian life along the Nile. He talks about the fact that flooding along these parts is mostly non-existence after the construction of the high dam at Aswan and the fact that once fertile floodplains are now being cultivated with fertilizers that result in polluting the river.
He talks about Kitchener Island which had been taken from him family and given to Lord Kitchener, the British Consul General who being a keen horticulturalist, converted it into a botanical garden with plants from all over Africa.
We travel a little further before pulling in to the local Nubian village. The Nubians were forced to abandon their traditional villages in the 60’s and 70’s with the construction of the High Dam across the Nile. Lake Nasser swallowed up their traditional home lands and these communities relocated to Aswan and Ballana.
We have come to the village to interact with the local family and have dinner at their house. The head of the house greets us and first takes us up to the roof top terrace to look over his neighbouring houses. The call to prayer fills the air as he starts to share more information about his culture.
The Nubians live in houses that are completely open, with no roofs at all. It hardly ever rains in this part of Egypt but recently they had some freak rain and hail storms that completely destroyed many Nubian houses which are constructed of mud bricks. I wonder if I should tell them about the Probable Maximum Floods :) but keep my mouth shut of course!
The houses are very simple with hardly any furniture and a bit of artwork painted on the walls. We remove our shoes and sit on the mats for our evening meal. They have prepared a feast for us with roast chicken, fried fish, salad, pita bread, lentil soup, okra and other side dishes. We tuck in as he explains to us the customs surrounding marriage and courtship in the village.
Marriage between families is complicated and involves getting the permission of the entire family before a boy is able to court a girl. It is the women of the family who are approached first, and if the rest of the clan are agreeable, the family of the boy is invited over for a feast.
After dinner the women bring out their handiwork and we each end up buying a bit of Nubian clothing. My purchase was the pink head dress!
“The true servants of the most gracious are those who tread gently on the earth.” Quran
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