Driving through Asyut, we were all looking forward to passing by the city of Asyut, near which there are ancient tombs and other monuments. However, we were continuously confused by the signs that said how far it was to Asyut and in which direction you were to go to get there. Every several minutes we would see signs, generally going in an order like this:
Assyut 8km →
a few minutes later…
↑ Assyut 150km
Then…
↑ Assyut 180km
And yet again…
← Assyut 2km
The signs continued on in this fashion throughout Asyut Province. There were even a few after we had passed by the city. We made two brief stops, one in Asyut to use the bathroom, which had a rather large fly colony, and once to get gas. Antonio opted for no bathroom break for himself, but still survived the nine-and-a-half-hour trip.
We finally made it to Abydos, took a deep breath of fresh air, and fell upon our food like a pack of dogs.
5 comments:
Ah, the glam life of an archeologist/Egyptologist, LOL.
Glad you are there and safe.
Maybe you should invoke some ancient worship practices so that the DSL god/goddess will smile on you. I don't know which one would handle broken internet connections, but I'll bet the three of you could figure it out. :-)
Love,
Mom
Ok, Explain why you had a police escort?? Bandits? Terrorists?
Mom's Friend, Monica
Monica,
Foreigners are required to have a police escort pretty much everywhere, except in the middle of big cities/tourist attractions, like Cairo or Luxor. It was actually quite surprising that they let us travel the desert road at all.
There is always some worry here that something will happen to a foreigner and people will stop visiting and bringing their tourist dollars, especially since the war in Iraq started. However, the efforts often seem more keystone-cops like. We're not allowed to leave the house without notifying the police (there are several guys posted in guard houses outside the house) beforehand and, usually, taking an officer with us. It gets rather frustrating sometimes when all you want to do is walk into town to buy some coffee or look at the Seti Temple.
I also, am confused. Is this a colony of large flies. Or, as I suspect, a large colony of flies??
They were both, but it was the sheer quantity that was the most disturbing.
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