Aswan

Its a 12 hour train ride to Aswan and the good news was that the train was on time. Got to hotel in Aswan at 9 am. I had stayed at this hotel before and it has changed for the good, showers with hot water all day, an air conditioner that works, A view of the Nile out the window and now the window has glass in it. In fact the entire town has improved with more hotels being built and the Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie wrote "Death on the Nile" is under going a complete remodel.

Tonight we go up through the cataracts to a Nubian Village to have dinner at a friends house. While some may have a dog or cat for a pet he has crocodiles he caught himself on Lake Nasser. He says they protect the house. They stay in there own pen in one of the rooms. The cataracts are basically rock islands some with only enough room for the boat to get through and at night, with no lights, he will bring us back in the dark. To make it worse the river will be several feet higher and the current much stronger then due to releases from the dam.