Movenpick Rendevouz

Today we were looking forward to heading to the beautiful hotel across the river and seeing everyone, including the bride and groom!

It was pretty early, so we decided to check out the markets across the road before we left. They were fascinating and I enjoyed them much more than the Cairo markets. Not every seller chased after you, so that was nice. Also, there was a lot of Egyptian people doing their shopping in the non touristy end. Fresh carcasses were being delivered and chopped up in unrefrigerated stalls which dozens of shrouded women were crowding around to haggle for. Again, fascinating.

Martin was enticed into a shoe store and happily bought some sandals to suit the climate. It took a lot of haggling and removing of the wool that was trying to be pulled over his eyes to get the right price. But he was happy with the purchase.
Having exhausted ourselves, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, checked out and tried to locate the free shuttle to the Movenpick hotel. It took awhile but we found it and became really excited about the next few nights accommodation at this fine resort.

We met the others coincidentally in the foyer, as we were all early for check in and there was a slight hitch in the room arrangements. Kahanita was sorting it all out though. There were now seventeen of us I think. Everyone was very excited.

After checking in or storing luggage if rooms weren't ready, we headed to the pool. It was delicious! It was refreshingly cool and so nice to swim in. Those of us brave enough spent a decent amount of time in it. We had just eaten pizza at the pool bar too, so I was happy.

That night we all journeyed across the waters and entered a floating hotel for dinner. We didn't have much time as we were heading to Philae temple for the sound and light show. The meal was pretty average with cold chips and funny tasting fish for me. I helped myself to Uncle Paul's margarita pizza. Actually, to be fair, most others enjoyed their meals. I was just being extra paranoid obviously.

The boat trip to Philae temple was nice. It was so dark. We haggled our boat of course and a couple and a single American guy got in on it as they were having real trouble convincing someone to give them a fair price to the island. They were totally getting scammed, so we sympathetically let them in our boat.

The show was cool. A little cheesy but cool. The lights really showed off the temple ruins. They had the story in English with voices and legends being told etc. There was a bit of Christian bashing as could be expected I suppose when looking at ancient Egyptian history. We left via the same boat and piled onto our private bus back to the Movenpick shuttle boat. We headed up to the top floor for drinks where everyone else was hanging out. The views were fantastic and panoramic. The non-alcoholic cocktails were absolutely delicious. Yum, yum!