Luxor Egypt. Nothing is easy

13/3/10.   After days of going to the promenade to get photos of the Nile valley sun  bird and being hassled by all but one of the boat guys.today  I decided I would take a motor boat ride  on the Nile.  the first guy I met asked for 200 egp.   saying how expensive benzine was and how much he had to pay his  captain  who was one of the best captains in Luxor.  on refusal to pay such a vast sum of money,  he said " you will not get no one cheaper,  I know,  I am the boat manager,  so I said"   if I find a captain I will get the two hours for 50 egp.  as you like and gave some verbal abuse  like;   fufin tourist.  14/3/10 The next day I saw this guy  he said to some other tourists  I was with,   he is the manager for the taxi's??  these guys have one thing on their mind money, he did not recognize me,  even though the day before we had a very heated discussion over prices?  and as soon as he remembered he walk off with his tail between his legs,shouting,  no photo!  no photo!

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Getting A boat was the easy part getting it for the right price was the hard bit,  and I ended up  getting a boat to  banana Island for 50egp,     or so I thought? 

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As we where leaving one of the cruisers decided to give its engine a few revs  to make sure the pollution in the Nile stayed at its normal level,   see this on nile pollution.  http://www.myegypt.co.uk/index.php?f=data_home&a=1
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As we set off it was overcast  but the Nile was quite calm  passing  Pasha house  and the Luxor Temple this huge sand boat passed  leaving me in a tither as to being capsized  so put my camera away  and held on for dear Life as the wash  started to rock the boat.   its not that I can not swim but after my blogs on  Nile pollution,  I had no intention of taking in a mouth full of its polluted contents or getting a nice oily skin wash like the birds do.

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Why the captain went direct across the river is  not known to me  .  other than He does not have papers as a boat captain. and had to avoid the police.  when I asked him why?   he said  we go to banana Island .
    not on this side I said,  by this time we had exchanged names,   Told me his name was Adel,    no"   I want to know your real Name.  you are Muslim  not Copt.  how you know Mr tony.  well you have beads and a prayer mat on board  . ah they belong to the other man,    the owner  !  I said"   no the Captain,  oooh,  getting more interesting by the minute I thought, so I was ready to take our little liar  for a trip.   knowing he would have an answer too all my questions  on his lies.  where is this place,   I asked,  with all the horses.
 not horse  Mr Tony  Camel.  and how much for Camel ride  like those tourists have??   100 for one hour. you want to go?
Not today   Whats your name again  ?         usef,    well usef  thats a new muslim name to me   usually its muhamed abdul  or so and so.   my real name is  Ahmed  afiz,  but I like usef  its a muslim name  you know.  Already this guy has forgotten what he told me his name was.   and I am hoping he has not forgot where he is taking me  OK   I said no more talk  I need to concentrate on taking photos ,  until we reach "Banana Island " when the real hassle was going to start,
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twenty minutes into the boat ride the Nile was getting really choppy  and all the birds where leaving  as the mist started to come in the win also started to get a bit blustery  and one of them times I was glad I took a motor boat not a felucca sail boat that I normally do  on my Nile trips.



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 the scenery along the Nile is just awesome  I have loads of photos  from my cruise last year  on myegypt.co.uk website,  
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By the Time we got to what he said was banana Island I was ready to disembark  for Terra ferma.

And this is where the hassle started   Ok Mr Tony I take you on Banana Island . but this is not banana Island  this is the new banana plantation,  but mr tony you say you want to go banana island .  yes,  so take me there!
And I pointed to banana Island  across  the Nile.  but the police  will not let us go there .  oh" since when   about 2 years ag,  thats strange I said" does the guy who rents the Island know about this,  because a month ago when I lived there he took 1 euro from me to visit the island  there was no police to stop us going on the island,  Ah but Mr tony he does not pay bachsheesh to us for taking you there.   and how much does  mustafa pay?    who is mustafa?   the owner of the banana plantation.  friend for Sheihk Abru nassr.
how you know all this,  because as I said to you i live here,  but all you listen to is how much can you make from your 50  pound boat ride,  so please take me to Banana island!  but that is more money how much more?
50  more  ok"  I said.    not forgetting I had not handed this little liar any money yet.   mistake I made was not making sure before I left I had plenty of change. as we  arrived on the island I went to my wallet and realized I only had a fifty  and 200 notes.. so getting off the boat rather hurriedly  I gave him the fifty. and told him  I take the fifty for only one way trip.  and left him speechless.

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 and there he goes a rather pissed off Muslim  driver  who has no papers so he has to head back to the other side of the river in case the police stop him.  the boat that is docked has just brought 20 people to the Island
 each person will pay 1 euro to ahmed the guy who rents the place leaving a nice commission tip for the captain.  not worth bringing one silly guy with a camera.