Day 9 - Jan 17

Woke up this morning and it was so cold I could see my breath in the tent.  There was frost all on the outside of the tent.  Could hardly get the pegs out because my fingertips were frozen.  Never thoughts I would need thermal jacket and ski gloves in Egypt.

We rode 62 miles today and are now about to Aswan.  I have included  a map to show where we are.  It was a cold start but once the sun started climbing it got warm very quickly.  The morning part of the ride was spectacular.  It was a winding rode through patches of lush green where there was irrigation from the Nile and then stark desert.  The road went through many small villages that was so unique to see.  We are in areas that can be described as third world.  The people are nice to a degree.  They certainly are wondering what we are doing, where we are going and why are we in their places.  

The afternoon turned though.  It went from friendly villagers to many encounters with rock throwing kids to even worse.  I got hit square in the hip with a good sized rock.  Hurt like hell.  Stopped the bike and the kids ran off.  One of the tour coordinators stopped in a villages square to direct riders to ensure they didn't miss the turn.  He was swamped with kids who were reaching in his pockets opening his backpack and taking things.  A couple of riders were run off the road by a couple of kids in a Tuk Tuk.  The worst was one female rider was groaped and another had a kid hanging out of a Tuk Tuk trying to cut her backpack off with a knife.  Cannot figure what gets into these kids minds to think that is ok.

This is where we are.  We left Cairo and went southeast to the Red Sea and then cut back inland to Luxor and now due south.  We will be out of Egypt in a couple more days.

The Nile River that makes the land alongside it green and lush.

This is the winding road that we took today.  In and out of greenery and desert scene.

One of the small villages cut out of the desert landscape.