Aswan-Luxor-BeniSuef-Cairo 949km
"Welcome to Egypt."
Aswan was touristic. Big sightseeing boats, yachts, carriages, hotels, souvenir shops, ATMs. So were people. Many told me the phrase on streets.
I didn't know I would hear it as many from policemen soon.
I didn't know about the convoy-system to bikers by the police along Nile river. They follow you about with a police car, and relay you from one check point to another. "Why?" I asked a few of times. The area looked peaceful. Policemen themselves said it was not because of actual terrorism or danger. Then why? They said it was their job, as a matter of course. No room for negotiation.
"Overprotection" I found such comments on web later.
(There seemed to be tension between villages in different religions, or the problem of fundamentalism, potentially. I saw a few villagers with rifles at each entrance of villages along the route. They looked quite relaxed sitting on the roadside. But somehow they didn't like my coming into their villages so much. I had to tell them that I only wanted to buy something to drink.)
They followed me for 30km on the first day. The next day was for 50km. Then they were behind all day. No break freely. It was stressful and tiresome.
They came with me to the hotel, and were waiting at the lobby in the morning. There were other policemen regulary in hotels (so many policemen in Egypt!). I needed their permission or escort to go out.
One good thing was they found a cheap hotel for me easily. It was difficult to find such cheap hotels when I tried by myself, as they were "full". Besides, camping would have been difficult along Nile. Population was dense. I rarely saw a good place along the way.
I had a convoy mate from the third day who the police matched. A sixty two years old Hungarian man. A great tough guy he was who could ride 110-130km everyday, but couldn't stand the heat in Egypt, and became grumpy and uncontrolable in every afternoon. He insisted to have a nap for a couple of hours. No way they would wait for so long, I was afraid. But he still stopped at somewhere and lay down. We waited for a good one hour or so. Otherwise he stopped anywhere for his pipe (he was a heavy smoker). He often told a police car bluntly to keep distance for at least 50m because the rattling engine sound right behind was annoying (that was true).In any case, those policemen never got angry, rarely showed irritation. That was amazing. They ordered tea (when there was no cefetria around, they found a neighbor), smoked and waited naturally. They were really easygoing.
Police, police, police. I don't remember much else unfortunately. We were finally released around Beni Suef. Roughly half the way from Aswan to Cairo was in convoy.
