The big smile on my face is because we are in the boat and actually headed for the island where the Temple of Isis is located. One problem with traveling on your own is that the boatmen always want you to pay for a private boat. Luckily we asked a group of Chinese tourists if they wanted to share a boat. One of the girls in their group quickly organized everything including a reasonable price and tip and had everyone in the boat before the owner could change his mind or his fee.

While we were visitng the temple, an Egyptian girl asked to have her picture taken with me. Of course I was delighted but wondered why as, unless she stumbles upon this website, she would never see it. She spoke no English and I no Arabic, so we did not get very far in communicating.