A Cruise on Lake Nassar, Egypt. Day One

Our big outing this winter in Egypt consisted of trip to a spot near the southern border of Egypt where we had booked a four day cruise on Lake Nasser from Abu Simbel to Aswan.

Aswan is a quiet town in comparison to Cairo with only 379,000 residents in the metro area compared to Cairo's 23 million.  We have been in Aswan several times, usually at one end of a river cruise between Luxor and Aswan.  The last time we visited Abu Simbel, we noted cruise boats on the lake and decided it would be interesting to cruise the lake behind the high dam at Aswan.

We purchased a tour from Travel Trails Tours located on a quiet street in a neighborhood not far from the new Grand Egyptian Museum.  In the photo below, you can see the "brain trust" in their office endeavoring to complete our credit  card payment. Or how many Egyptian men does it take to make the credit card machine work.

We left the office with a printed itinerary containing the telephone numbers of Hazem, the General Manager and the company's representatives in Aswan and Abu Simbel. It is comforting to have this kind of information before setting out on a trip in Egypt.

Our first day consisted of travel to Aswan.  A car from the travel agency picked us up at our apartment and drove us to Cairo International Airport, the domestic terminal (Terminal 2), where we boarded an Air Cairo jet for the one hour flight south along the Nile to Aswan.  This map shows the general plan of the trip:

 

We left our apartment around noon and arrived in plenty of time for our 3:00 p.m. departure on Air Cairo.  As we glided along the Ring Road to cross the Nile and swung north toward the airport, I had another chance to grab some photos of the numerous billboards hanging from buildings that form part of the "Giza Visual Identity Project." (see previous post.)

 

At the airport while waiting for the plane, I noted the pillar with an Aswan travel poster featuring the mausoleum of Aga Khan high above the Nile. Note that the font uses the key of life for the "t" in Egypt. A nice touch.

Playing on the nearby television screens was video of Gazan refugees streaming north along the coastline, on Egypt's cable channel "Extra News" -  a frequent image here.

  

 

We flew south via Air Cairo, a new airline to us as we have previously made the journey via Egypt Air.  Flying aboard a Brazilian Embraer 190 with 2x2 seating, we had a comfortable space and I had a window seat.  The one hour flight gave us a good overview of the geography of Egypt as we followed the Nile to the south.  It was interesting to see how much evidence of water flow is present in the hills of the desert.

  

 

As we neared Aswan, we saw considerable agricultural activity along and near the narrow strip of green that borders the river.

  

 

Approaching the airport, numerous Aswan landmarks appeared.

A: The city of Aswan lies to the south of the High Dam

B: One of the Lake Nasser cruise boats

C: The giant lotus shaped monument to Russian-Egypt friendship.

D: The High Dam holding back the waters of the Nile to form Lake Nasser

E: The Aswan airport

F: The Kalabsha Temple on an island in Lake Nasser - one of our destinations.

 

On the ground, the airport has a small-town 1960's feel.  We stopped at the statue of the Egyptian goddess Selkit before claiming our bags and proceeding out front to meet our travel representative.

  

 

We were met by Ashraf, a representative of the travel agency who drove us into town to the Basma Hotel.  We spent two nights in the lovely hotel before flying the additional one hundred and fifty miles south to Abu Simbel to begin our cruise aboard a Steigenberger cruise boat, the M/S Omar el Khayam.

The Basma Hotel was a delightful place for a stay with marble columns, beautiful artwork and nicely appointed and comfortable sofas.  It was approaching dusk as we arrived at the Basma so we decided to dine in the hotel which was serving a buffet dinner.  After a satisfying dinner, we strolled across the garden, noting the view of the city and returned to the attractive lobby.

  

More photos at this Flickr Album, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annual Gasoline Price Post

Annual report on gasoline prices in Egypt

Well, price not prices; the government sets the retail price and all stations charge the same amount. As usual we check the price of 92 octane, the grade used by the vast majority of motorists.

 

This year the price is up 22% over last year for the Egyptian motorist, rising from 12.5 EGP per liter to 15.25

Doing the conversion from Egyptian currency to US Dollars and liters to gallons we arrive at $1.15 per gallon. This is unlikely to garner much sympathy in the minds of Americans for the 22% increase.

 

Note that gasoline is pumped by a smiling attendant at the Taqa station where we stopped near our apartment to fill up our friend Roshdy's Toyota.  You might also note that he holds a wad of cash in his hand to provide change.

 

The window washing is not exactly a free service since the driver is expected to tip the employee doing the washing. I handed over a 20 pound note (about 40 cents) for the service, thinking back to "the good old days" when a 5 pound note would handle the job.

Below is a summary of  gasoline prices for the past few years.  In shows the relative stability of price in dollars as high inflation constantly hammers the local buyer.  The annual inflation rate in the Egyptian economy is about 24%.  (More details on that can be found here.)

 

 

		EGP	US$
Year		per liter	per gallon
2007		1.50	1.04
2011		1.42	0.93
2013		1.85	1.04
2014		1.85	1.01
2016		2.60	1.26
2017		3.50	0.74
2018		5.00	1.11
2019		6.75	1.46
2020		7.75	1.83
2021		COVID	COVID
2022		8.50	2.05
2023		9.25	1.19
2024		11.50	1.41
2024		11.50	1.09
2024		12.50	1.00
2025		15.25	1.15

 

 

Another Visit to Champ Pet Shop

We've been back to the Champ Pet Shop a few more times to buy more canned cat food for Kitty Kat, our building's cat that we feed and take care of during our three month stay.

  

 

Here's a better look at the shop and it's neighbors. Located on the busy Lebeny Street across from the old and long abandoned Siag Hotel, the shop is sandwiched into a block anchored by the Angogo auto dealership and a building supply shop. There's a radiator store and a "Magic Kids Station" at the end of the block also.  Across the street are a number of medical offices.

 

These small shops are typical of the older neighborhood where we live. Out in the suburbs, an auto dealer would look much like an American dealership - large and brightly lit.

Our friend, Roshdy, dropped us off and drove on to attend to another errand while we shopped. We picked up about a dozen cans of cat food this time and waited for the return of our ride back to the apartment.  Abdl Rahman, Champ's manager and gracious host, offered us two chairs to sit in while we waited and sent his assistant for tea and coffee for us, of course.

 

While we were waiting for the tea to arrive, Abdl Rahman showed us a few items that he thought our cat might enjoy: a laser pointer to chase, and also a robotic mouse that rolls across the floor dragging a tail.  What cat owner could resist this example of twenty-first century robotics! Of course, I bought it - at the reasonable price of just over four dollars. It's rechargeable through a USB port just like a mobile phone.

    

 

Kitty Kat was intrigued and a bit wary at first but now loves to chase it. She needs the exercise and diversion. Now that she is getting regular meals, she has begun to put on weight - or does that weight have something to do with the large Tomcat that has been hanging around the front door to the building. Time will tell.

More pictures at this Flickr album, of course (along with sign translations by Google).

New Windows for the Cairo Condo

Last year, we installed a new door to the front balcony. It worked so well at reducing traffic noise from the Ring Road that we decided to replace the two windows on the same side of the apartment with similar technology.

We contacted our window contractor, Mr. Ramadan, who came to measure the openings on a Thursday night.  While the old units are "sliders" which work well for easy opening, we almost never open them.  The cold air, noise and dust leaks in around the edges of these units.

 

The new units swing inward to open but seal very tightly and have triple-pane glass.  They arrived with a protective plastic coating on the frames.

We agreed on a price and I paid a three-quarters deposit.  A week later Mr. Ramadan called to tell us that the new custom made units were ready and we scheduled the installation for the following night.

He arrived with his two assistants and they went right to work, removing the old window near my office area.

 

The procedure for each window is to drill anchor holes in the frame, fasten the window unit in place with screws, use foam sealant around the exterior of the unit and then seal the interior with silicon caulk.

The hardest part of the job is to seal the outside with spray foam. This is a two-man job. The young man with the yellow hat does the actual sealing. Since we are on the eighth floor, the job of the second man is to hold on to the belt of the first man so that he doesn't fall out. It's important to stay on friendly terms with your assistant.

 

After about an hour and a half, with the job complete, we all had tea and I counted out the remainder of the cash.  Price for the two window units was 16,000 EGP - about $320 - with three-quarters of that paid in advance.

The crew did a nice job of cleaning up (OUR broom, glass cleaner and rags, of course) and left the two old window units by the front, door while Mr. Ramadan supervised and I took his picture 

    

 

While the windows hold out any cold air and dust, the principal advantage is noise reduction. We can now easily carry on a conversation between rooms. They do all that and add some personality to the room.

 

Later, the" rubabekia" (junk man) picked up the windows and gave me 1500 EGP for them, bringing the total cost of the project down to around $290. A real bargain in our eyes.

Ragab Sons Supermarket Is Open Again

Last year, I posted a blog entry noting the closure (for two years at that time) of the local Ragab Sons supermarket on Lebeney Axis - the very busy road that passes behind our apartment.  Some Googling and asking friends didn't produce much explanation for the closure of this and other Ragab stores beyond, "they were having some trouble with the government."

We were pleasantly surprised this year to see this neighborhood store open again - and some new Ragab signs on it.  The signs were missing last year.  Here are pictures from 2013 and 2024.

  

 

Since we were in need of a few items, particularly eggs, we walked the quarter mile or so up the street to take a look today.  Of course, we had to pass six convenience stores along the way where we could have bought eggs.   The aisles are wide and brightly lit, although customers were scarce.

It was easy to see that the re-opening must have been fairly recent as the lady weighing the vegetables and applying price stickers was receiving on-the-job instruction.  By the way, those are eggs on the right-hand side of the picture above - packaged in convenient Egyptian 30-packs.  30 eggs for 177.95 Egyptian Pounds - that is about $1.42 per dozen.

Things have been rearranged since the last time we were inside.  The sign still says "Detergents" here but the shelves contain cooking oil - a widely used commodity.  And most of the aisles were thinly stocked as is the case with these fava beans on the right. We didn't find everything on our list but we have hope that the future will see a return of a better stocked store as it used to be.

  

Our expensive items were butter, cheese, eggs and cream; but the total only came to $26.  Ragab doesn't list the items on the receipt in English at the customer's option as Metro supermarkets do, so we have to rely on Google Translate if we want to check prices.

We did buy a couple of candy bars while in the store - both a Hobnobs and a Katakito. We chose them just because of their names. Katakito is obviously a spin on Kit Kat and Hobnobs is just an amusing name.

The plastic bags for our groceries now read Awlad Ragab instead of Ragab Sons as they did in previous years. (They mean the same thing.) And, it was good to see the friendly reminder to dispose of the bags properly, "Keep our country clean."  Although a better slogan might be, "Make Egypt clean again."

The Ragab website can be found here.

For any MBAs amongst my readership, this webpage from the Boston Consulting Group from 2022 discussing The Future of Traditional Retail in Africa will prove fascinating.  Describing the retail marketplace here, they note the following:

In Egypt, more than 120,000 small grocers and kiosks account for 75% of retail sales. But modern retailers, particularly locally based ones, are emerging rapidly across all formats. Modern formats posted 21% annual growth from 2015 through 2020. Their market share over that period rose from 15% to 25%, one of the highest growth rates across the continent. The Kazyon discount supermarket has expanded rapidly in Egypt since 2014, with small-format stores in underserved low- and middle-income areas. Other successful Egyptian supermarket chains include Awlad Ragab and Seoudi.

 And, finally, here is a survey from 2022 that ranks ten Egyptian supermarkets for perception of quality.  Carrefour ranks number one, and let's just say that Ragab has nowhere to go but up.  We, however, would rank the young man at the deli cheese counter in our Ragab among the friendliest in Egypt.

 

 

Fruits and Vegetables

We decided to walk up the street to our local vegetable market this afternoon.  It's about a quarter mile walk to "Save Mart" which we first described a few years ago.  Just as we reached the very busy corner near our old favorite local supermarket, Ragab Sons, now out of business for a couple of years, we were approached by our young friend, Nour!  We have lived here long enough to watch him grow up from a 9 year old to now being old enough to drive a Tuk-Tuk (local taxi.) 

  

 

Nour and his friend offered us a ride the rest of the way to the market where we enjoy shopping for our fruits and vegetables.

Nour and his friend waited for us with the Tuk-Tuk and gave us a ride home.  Along the way, the Tuk-Tuk began to sputter and run out of gas.  Nour's friend pulled out a two-liter Pepsi bottle of gasoline from under the driver's seat and topped off the tiny tank of the vehicle.  The two-liter bottle is the standard "reserve tank" in these vehicles - and no, the bottles are not red with special caps - this is Egypt!  

The motor started up and ran fine for the final several hundred yards where they dropped us off.

  

 

Here's our cache of fresh food, including a full kilogram (2.2 pounds) of strawberries that I couldn't resist.  Not a bad value at $3.64 for the entire batch.

Update, the next day.

I didn't do justice to the tuk-tuk traffic in this post so I took a couple more pictures today down at this high traffic corner.

  

It's Cookie Time Again

Our Italian made range/oven is not very precise when it comes to temperature regulation. I was aiming for 375 degrees F when I set the gauge at 190 degrees C. You can see by the internal thermometer that it was actually just short of 350F. Oh well, let's bake them at that temp then.

  

 

When all of our friends hear the word "cookie" they think chocolate chip cookies so that's what I make for them.

 

The typical recipe calls for brown sugar which is difficult to find these days but luckily the Internet tells us that white sugar mixed with molasses makes "brown sugar". In Egypt, molasses is called "black honey". Molasses can be found in nearly all shops, including small convenience type shops.

 

I use the recipe that my grandmother used. I can't say it's her recipe since she probably found it on a package of chocolate chips but I refer to it as "Grandma's recipe".

 

Ten minutes at "whatever" temperature will be perfect.

 

Years ago we found chocolate chips readily available at larger super markets. That is no longer the case so I pack a couple packages in my allotted luggage.

 

This recipe typically makes about 80 cookies--enough for everyone.

 

 

When all the chocolate chips are used, I switch to M&M's which can be found in abundance everywhere. I really don't like using the blue ones in cookies. Such intense blue in food somehow feels wrong but I once removed all the blue ones and discovered that I'd have to buy way too many packages to satisfy blue aversion.

  

 

Here they are--packaged to give away with a small bag to keep around to serve visitors.

 

The baking was done under the watchful eyes of our cat, Kitty Kat. No cookies for her. She would rather eat chicken.