Asyut and the Po Po

Today we woke in the hotel, the one place that seemed ok with police officers sticking us here. Our bathroom is just outside the door, but heck for $6 I can't complain.


Our fancy $4 hotel room in Asyut

As we finally left the building in the late morning a group of police officers were downstairs waiting. They said wait one moment, as if we should also be waiting around for them to ferry us to another check point, but we walked on. What's this? We are in a big city, abiding by normal tourist roles. Chris and I walked in circles for an hour, partly trying to ditch the team of cops trailing us (actually walking with us, taking the orders not to leave our site quite literally), we finally got a group of guys to help us find an internet cafe. Several people we asked refused to help or talk to us because of our entourage.

A little worn, but classy hotel entrance in Asyut (which we were turned away from)


Two of our police escorts waiting outside our hotel

Asyut itself is incredibly unremarkable. As a city it is dirty, crowded, and loud, but can also give a quick urban injection of the bright lights and restaurants and shopping plazas most tourists crave. Quite a change of pace from the tranquil Nile villages. Culturewise there is clearly a large population of Coptic Christians, with several enormous churches and equal numbers of uncovered women. There are also many gargantuan, overgrown estates tucked among the neighborhoods (we explored extensively, trying to lose our officer pals by darting down narrow and one way alleys...), giving the illusion of a once-opulent bourgeois class...

Asyut architecture

From the overpass above Asyut's train, connecting Cairo to Aswan

Chris and I decided to stay another night and take a morning train, so we booked our tickets and ordered a pizza to take down to the riverfront. Such a break from endless falafel and bean sandwiches-- and surprisingly well made! I am suddenly a little nostalgic for Albanian-Italian cuisine.

Feluccas-- still used to cross the Nile

Before takeoff, courtesy Chris' camera

Around twilight we sat by the Nile, watching as a few feluccas drifted between banks, and listening to the chirpy chatter of thousands of birds overhead before heading back to a quiet night in our fondouk.