Slowly, but very surely, Bermudian Robyn Skinner is trekking across the world. Here in her latest report for The Royal Gazette, she reports from Egypt.

Next Stop: The most southern city in Egypt: Aswan.

An overnight train from Cairo to Aswan was easy enough and the two kilometre walk to the hostel with my 20kg bag certainly helped stretch the legs and clean out the pores (Aswan made Cairo feel like a freezer).

After settling into the hostel I decided we had slept too much on the train and really should spend our night heading even further south to the Temples of Abu Simbel. These temples were built by Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th Century BC, are about 290 km from Aswan and have views of Sudan's border.

Perhaps this is why the only way to visit is via Police convoy. While this sounds very intimidating, what this seems to accomplish is merely kill any independent travelling.

The Police convoy consists of nothing more than tourist buses all congregating at 4 a.m. in a parking lot to be accounted for and then sent down together to Abu Simbel. This meant, however, we had to organise the trip through our hostel. I hate doing these organised tours, but what could I do? Take on the Egyptian Government? Not likely.

Before we subjected ourselves to this affair we decided to see Aswan which is comprised of two banks of the Nile (with the Eastern side more developed) and a few Islands in the middle including Elephantine Island. We decided to make this our first port of call since it is a fairly small island to walk around and figured we'd need a little rest before the convoy the next morning.

Getting there, however, was easier said than done. As soon as you head for the Nile seemingly innocent men suddenly jump from the wall and start haggling with you for a felucca rides (the traditional one-sail Nile boat). Before you realise you never wanted a ride you're trying to get the lowest price! We eventually pulled ourselves away from these captains, held strong and headed for the public ferry dock.

What we found was little more than a crumbling concrete slip with what we were told was a ferry waiting (read a punt with a motor on the back). So we jumped on. Well, me in the front and my male travel buddy in the back. Yes, sexes sit separately here and some poor French men didn't realise this, sat with the women, and gave all the Egyptian men a good chuckle.

Ticket prices for the public boat were also apparently negotiable here. From five Egyptian pounds each we got down to one pound each (thank you guidebook and Canadian travel buddy). Ha! No suckers here.

Elephatine Island is so named for the shape of rocks on the front (apparently like an Elephant). Others say because of the ivory trade that took place here. Whatever the reason this lush green, banana-forested Island hosts Nubian villages that are comprised of houses that could have been transplanted from Bermuda with their yellow trims and blue designs.

With zero sign-posts it was also a bit of off-roading 'till we found the temple of Khnum on the Southern end. Of course an unofficial guide at the entrance was more than happy to take us into the temple (while at the same time regaling us about the five children he has at home with no mom). After showing us some of the very obvious hieroglyphics we paid our baksheesh (the one Arabic word I learned, i.e. money) and he left us alone.

We then hit the Island to wander through the Nubian villages where people kept asking us to come for tea. It was hard to know if they really wanted to give you tea or hawk the handicrafts they were selling so we veered away. Many Nubians had also been transplanted due to the Aswan Dam flooding and are merely trying to eke out a living. While tranquil the setting may be, the trash piled up between houses and kids kicking old tires for toys belied a slightly darker side to this Island.

It was definitely a time warp and after spending about two hours on the Island and watching the feluccas lazily go by it was time to head back to mainland to try and catch some snooze before our 3 a.m. wake-up call, which came far too quickly.

Bleary-eyed we headed for our van pick-up with everyone else who was equally out of their minds and headed for the parking lot/Police convoy! Besides lack of independent travel (and sitting targets for any interested terrorists) it also meant when we finally arrived in Abu Simbel, around 8 a.m. we had an hour to see the temples with hundreds of others. Not ideal but yet again what are you going to do?

There are two temples here one dedicated to Ramesses and believed to have been built after the Battle of Kadesh to intimidate his neighbours. Quite a way to do it. His temple has four statues of him that tower 67 feet above regular people though one has been falling apart since ancient times. But these statues only mask what are some amazingly intact hieroglyphics and paintings inside. Incredible to think how well-preserved they were being more then a couple of thousand years old. That and because the entire temple had to be moved 30 tonne piece by 30 tonne piece in the1960s to save it from being washed away by the Aswan Dam at a price of $40 million. It would have been where Lake Nasser now rests, one hell of a jigsaw puzzle.

The second temple, which also had to be moved, is slightly smaller (typical man his temple is the biggest and his wife gets something after the fact) and is dedicated to the goddess Halkor personified by Nefaertari, Ramesses II wife.

After snooping through the temples, eating our boxed breakfasts, and hoping to see a Nile Crocodile in Lake Nasser we were sheep-herded back onto our bus. Then, as part of this awful package tour, it was back North to see the Aswan Dam. Um.... My travel buddy had seen the Hoover Dam and we were expecting something as spectacular. Yeah, not so much. Though controversial, the Aswan High Dam (As-Sadd al-Ali) contains 18 times the amount of material used in the Great Pyramid of Khufu and created Lake Nasser, the world's largest artificial lake. Too bad it's not even close to as inspiring as the Great Pyramid. If no one had told me it was a dam I would have thought we were still driving over the road.

So after a disappointing dam experience it was onto the Island of Philae. Yet again this was an Aswan Dam transplant after it was constantly deluged by the flooding waters. So from Philae to Agilka Island this temple dedicated to the goddess Isis, the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus manages to awe with it's pylons (read different compartments in the temple) and pillars shaped very similarly to lotus flowers.

We had one more stop on our organised tour before we could crash into bed (it was 1 p.m at this point) and I was an a complete daze when we arrived at the unfinished obelisk. Some poor sap was cutting away at this thing when one wrong chip and the entire thing cracked (a 136-foot long, 1,168 tonne obelisk)! That meant months of work had to be abandoned and what would have been the single largest stone structure was never completed. If he only knew his misstep would now draw hundreds of tourists a day and supply hundreds of dollars to Aswan.

By 2 p.m. I was finally able to crash into bed and, besides some dinner after the nap which was great down on the water, the rest of the day was spent relaxing.

With one more day in Aswan we decided to risk the ferry mafia again and try to get to the Western side of Aswan where the tombs of nobles (former mayor, etc...) rest high on a hill with the best views (of course the best real estate goes to them even when dead). Once there, we had yet another unwanted tour-guide showing us the most obvious pictures on the tombs and then baksheesh, baksheesh!

After paying our unofficial toll we decided to head for the desert and the Monastery of St. Simeon or Anba Hatre which was one of the largest monasteries in Egypt in the 13th Century that was about two kilometres away from where we were sure we could catch a ferry (we planned to get a train.) After trekking the desert we found it closed so we tried to head for what we thought was a ferry dock. Unfortunately all we found was a dock with camel drivers chilling out and not a boat in sight. According to them there wasn't a ferry from here either. Great! It was 4.30 p.m. and our train was at 6 p.m.! My travel buddy's idea? Run along the side of the Island to the ferry stop we originally used. Oh right on a sand dune with the Nile on one side and sand towering above us it was a joy trying to run. (nothing like the backpacker's workout plan).

Realising his plan wasn't going to work, my travel buddy spotted a guy rowing along the shores. After waving him down we offered him ten Egyptian pounds to get to Elephantine Island where we could take the ferry. I felt so bad for him. The current was incredibly strong and it took us almost 45 minutes to move not even one kilometre and this is his regular commute twice a day. He even offered tea at his house, but we just didn't have time.

After running to catch the ferry from Elephantine Island it was already 5.40 p.m. and I decided I wasn't going to even try to run to the train station with my bag and dropped the plan. Plus I was starving after running across the desert! So it was stuffing our faces by the Nile in Aswan for one last time before catching the 8 p.m. train North.

Yet again this was done with Egyptian style-fun. We boarded the train because we were told we were only allowed to buy a ticket on the train. Such humour the Egyptians. Obviously, as soon as the conductor came by he wanted to see our tickets and then charge us double when we didn't have one. After moving back to second class he still wanted to fine us and wouldn't even give us a seat number. Rather than face being dropped out in the middle of Egypt somewhere, we paid the fine, played musical chairs for three hours on a completely packed train (read two children and women per seat) and swore we would not leave a train station again without a ticket. Ha ha silly foreigners.

Next stop: Luxor.