TdA Day 8. Battle of the Prayers

115km. Idfu to Aswan.

ALA! Alaaaaaa! AAAAAAALLAA!

It's 5:05am and it seems that there is a mosque on every corner of this town and they have chosen this morning to have a prayer battle. Aaaaaalllllaaa!

ALA!

Yay! Nutella at breakfast!

ALLLAAAA!

I started out with Carrie again. We held a good pace for the morning and (again!) I took off when the peloton came through. We finished the ride in Aswan, which is, in my opinion the nicest Egyptian city that I have seen so far.

There are three Egyptian riders (former national team) that have been cycling with us for the last week. They took us to 'planet island', which is a botanical garden on an island in the Nile. It's a tourist trap, but it was a nice break from the noise of the city. And, after the last week in the desert, it was just nice to be around some green stuff. We hung out on the roof of the transport boat like we had known each other for years; even though we met just over one week ago. I can't believe how quickly a community can form and become close under conditions like this.

Since we will be heading to Sudan tomorrow on a ferry (which means being off the bike for 2 days and then without a drink for a couple of weeks), Carrie and I decided to light it up in Aswan. We heard that there was a club at the Movenpick (apparently they do more than just ice cream). We brought some male escorts (mike-with-three bikes and funny-matthew-from-Edmonton) for company. The hotel is located in the middle of the nile, so getting there involved another boat trip. Wicked view from the Panorama lounge on the 13th floor and some fancy (and expensive) cocktails.

It wasn't quite the evening of indulgence that we had set out for, but it sure felt glamorous for a handful of people who haven't had much access to showers or toilets for more than a week now.