Ghost Town

Today's flight took us from the luxury of the Old Cataract in Aswan, to the more'family friendly' accommodation of Seti Hotel in Abu Simbel. Our arrival was one of confusion....something we are becoming familiar with...as organization isn't, well,...very well organized!!! We were told it was easy to get a shuttle from The Abu Simbel airport to the Hotel. Well, it WOULD have been easy if the buses were clearly labelled 'HOTEL SHUTTLE' or 'SETI HOTEL' or some such thing. It would also have helped if there had been a map or signpost, but no,obviously there aren't enough independent travellers who arrive in this airport to make it worth their while investing in such things!! There are herd after herd of group tours coming through, most only being here as a day trip. We had chosen to spend 2 nights here, so that we could not only see the...allegedly...impressive temples, but we also wanted to see the sound & light show, which had been recommended to us as THE one to see. I chose this hotel because the DK Egypt bk describes this Hotel as being at the foot of Rames ll, the closest hotel to the sculpture. BALDERDASH! Whoever wrote that was clearly on another planet...as a fair amount of exercise today has proven!! The Hotel is fine otherwise though, but it is woefully empty...in fact the whole town is. It is like a ghost town, as people are just not staying here they are whisked in & out without giving the locals a purpose. This Hotel has been around for a few years & looks it, and once again, regardless of how many 'stars' it rates, there appear to be more staff than guests! Very sad. (It also means that our eating options are consequently limited!!) The view out of our window, although theoretically still the Nile, is known as Lake Nasser. It is a man-made lake, born from the whole dam building exercise to control the flow of the Nile. This is where the crocs are, so we wont be swimming here! One of the sad things about 'controlling' the Nile, is that although the farmers are getting regular, irrigated water, they are NOt getting the nutrients that used to come from the yearly flood, consequently crop production is down! Where does it settle now...Sudan! Some say that in the next few years, Sudan could be the bread basket of the world...if they get their act together. We will have to wait & see!