The Curious Incident of the Tickets in the Train Station

I am currently in Aswan, in the south of Egypt, preparing myself for a 3AM wake-up for a trip to Abu Simbel.  I'm going to chronicle my journey here, along with my continued attempts to navigate the Egyptian Railways system.  WARNING:  This will get complainy.

Starting in Luxor - I went to the train station last night in an attempt to buy tickets (I decided against the dramatically overpriced ticket for the car tour, discovering later that it should cost 2/5 of what she named).  The story of train travel in Egypt is you can only buy tickets at the train station.  That, so far as I could tell, was the only rule.  Most stations have no posted times or destinations, if they do they are in Arabic.  Interestingly, the station in Aswan does have times and trains listed in English and Arabic.  Sadly, they made no sense.  I could take a Spanish train, or a Spanish Special train (???) - there was first and third class but no second, and clearly the times were negotiable as they were all crossed out.  Mind you, that is the station with trains posted.

It is advised by everyone to buy longer trips in advance (these will get booked out, and if you go first class rather than a sleeper you want to book a seat, so you won't be moved throughout the night by people with booked seats).  To buy tickets, like I said, you need to be at the station from which you are departing (unless you ask at the Luxor station for a ticket from Aswan to Cairo, which they might tell you is 109 EL and available - not that you purchase it of course, wanting to be a bit more clear on what 109 EL buys you on an overnight to Cairo).  Sometimes when you go to the station, every ticket is 'sold out for seven days.'  This is because (as our Hotel owner explained to us) the salesmen (all men) hold tickets so people buy from scalpers.  Sometimes you can buy regular tickets, sometimes you (tourist) can only buy first class tickets, sometimes only sleeper tickets (about 6 times as expensive as regular, 3 times as expensive as first class).

This knowledge, I'll have you know, was hard won by waiting in the ticket 'line,' which is not so much a line as an opportunity for playground-rules pushing and shouting.  Like Morocco, there are not many lines in Egypt.  This morning I hopped onto the train for the three hour ride to Aswan, paid a tidy 31 EL (about 6 dollars), and felt good enough about myself to tour Kom Ombo (which wasn't really worth it, aside from the adventure).  To set the scene, I didn't really sleep last night, felt belly-lousy this morning and didn't really eat, but after a brief nap and a good chat with a guy who invited me to a family wedding here tonight (but thought it was dangerous for a woman to live on her own before marriage), I made for Kom Ombo.  I taxied from the train station, the guy wanted more than we agreed on so I walked away from a shouting honking Arab to the temple.  Which was neat, but a little lack-luster after Karnak - though maybe it was me.  I taxied back to the station (5 EL each way, about 1 dollar) and was trying to figure out when the train would come when a guy asked if I needed help.  I cautiously explained myself and he said a micro bus could have me there faster at a fraction of the cost (1.5 EL - 25 cents - for the 40 km trip - the temple was about 1 km, oops).  I walk with the guy, a little leery, but turns out he went to school at the U of M for EMT training and was an EMT in Aswan.  He found me a bus, talked the driver into letting me on (the police don't like tourists on buses for some reason), and paid.my.fare.  His name is Mostafa and if he crosses the Atlantic again I am hosting him like the prince he is.  It was a HUGE break.

I switch buses near Aswan - loosely making my way onto the right one, as always being guided by kind Egyptians who speak very little English, and of whom I am constantly suspicious, which is too bad.  I get to a hotel I picked, drop my stuff, poop for a while (my gut kind of wrecked once again), and head out for water and food (both sorely needed) and a train ticket for the trip north tomorrow.  This is where things get hairy.

I wait in a ticket 'line' for about 20 minutes until the guy shuffles the ten of us to the next line (his is broken maybe?), where we all wait another 30 minutes or so.  I eventually give up for a spell to sit and read up on Jordan.  I return to the line for another 20 minutes, make my way to the front and, feeling triumphant, ask for a train ticket from Aswan to Cairo.  The man, without looking at me, tells me to buy my ticket on the train.  I ask again, a ticket from here, Aswan, to Cairo - he says the same thing.  I start to lose my shit and walk away, across the station, to the tourist police.  Feeling a mixture of hot rage and tattle-tale shame, I try to explain to him the situation - no English, no dice.  I go to the sleeper car line, which is always open (at 6x the cost - 60 dollars to 20$ in first class reclining seats), and talk to the guy there (sleeper salespeople speak English) - he says to talk to the guy in the line where I just was.  The tourist police guy shows up, gets the scoop in Arabic, goes to talk to the ticket guy - I follow, feeling a bit more ashamed than angry at this point and they talk for a minute.  However the tourist police have nothing on the ticket salesman, who I am convinced are part of a powerful cartel of some kind.  The tourist cop tells me to try again later tonight or tomorrow morning.  I walk off and take this picture, slowly regaining my sense of perspective.

This is me - very, very, very frustrated.  

I walked back along the main souk to my hotel, listening to Wilco, then, when Wilco was opening more than closing, Outkast.  I got some food, more water, and decided to eat some of the home baked cookies I've carried with me for this very reason.  Thoughts of Ben Tierney.  I ate, washed up, and wrote this, and now I feel a better.  I'm going to bed now (1730), as I am tired and have to wake up at 3AM for temple times (which I am excited for, and am confident will justify the lot of this).  

I'm pretty sure I could have been a bit more fluid today - next time I'm sure.  I do have some photos of Aswan (which is really lovely, more laid back than Cairo or Luxor) and Kom Ombo, which is still pretty damn cool.  I'll wrap with those and promise to be more cheerful in the future.  Thanks for reading!