liars thieves and beggars, and a donkey

One of the workers never complains  or turns on its cruel masters. across the street there is plenty of shade and water pipes to tie the beast up. but here it is in 48c and heat of the full sun while its master is in the shade having a siesta

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\\ http://bandungdailyphoto.com/ blogged a few days ago on scales so I thought I would show the scales they have in Egypt  all the shops etc have these scales. Different in Cairo and the supermarkets  but they have not arrived in Luxor yet, where I am sure they will one day and will have electronic scales and tills .

Hard to imagine  electronic gadgets on the back of a donkey cart unless its for the scrap heap  as most of the junk that is for sale here from China ends up  on a donkey cart,

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Glass shards that should be in the rubbish pile end up as  another deterrent for the would be thief of which every body will have as a neighbour,

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This nice young Lady!!!! followed me for a few hundred yards with a barrage of insults  that started when she asked me for money , it ended as I got on a microbus,  with fuck off english. then asked if I will give her 1  euro for taking her photo?/

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  What has this man got to do with donkeys  ,  well he is a Lawyer (liar) one of 1500 here in Luxor that Litter the 8 courtrooms and wherever they can park their fat lazy arses.  this particullar one is the Lawyer for the guy who says I used a knife to attack him.    the donkey!!  I here you ask,

  well these are the guys who tell the Donkeys what to do.  Ie Judge mohamed masoud  and Judge Shaddy 

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Whats he on about   go to http://justliars.blogspot.com  

A trip to the white desert

http://mydeserttrip.blogspot.com/

The water wheel in Edfu Egypt

These are photos taken on Our way back from El-Kab  Near Esna Egypt.
The first time I have seen the Cow being used to turn the water wheel,
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they used to blind the beast at one time,   now they put a blindfold on to stop the beast going giddy.
notice  there is no person with the cow,  it was only a chance that we saw this,   when traveling I do not usually miss things such as this.  but I was engrossed watching the Nile side of the road as I have never seen an area with so many working camels.  as I was trying to get a good shot of the camels my friend  spotted the cow . so we turned back and spent a good 15 mins. at the scene.

Best positions in bed

cool for cats,  Its hot here in Luxor the day temperatures are now in the late forties early  fifty's. here in my flat at 3.30 in the morning its 37.9c. what should be a cool fan is warm but  its a breeze  and I have air condition in my room that belches out 24c.  and here we have two cats who know how to keep cool this is the drinks shop opposite the Luxor Temple entrance  one of the shops that do not overcharge the tourist. and for puss its a free service,even though they will have to move when someone needs An ice lolly or cream.

Even animals have better conditions

I have put today's blog on the wildlife because its the way I feel. this country has more animals on the streets than in the wild.

The main entrance into Luxor law court has a bucket to catch the water from the air condition.

The green rail is where I sat for two hours watching the animals  while waiting for the Lawyer Mustafa Athea to turn up with an english translator. notice they have x on the windows this is  a precaution to stop the animals going through the glass. its not safety glass just ordinary

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These are the first flight of stairs leaving the lawyers offices

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The birds have plenty of places to nest  they can just come and go as they please because most of the windows has had the glass taken out after one of the animals has finished damaging it.

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This is the  latrine  there is a wc on the next floor but there are no signs and most probably the animals eyes have so much water in them from the smell they  cannot enter the shit house anyway.

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This is  the area as entering the main office for documentation  lots of chairs  but like the donkeys the animals are made to stand or sit on the floor.

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Those of a little more importance such as the duty officer may have a seat the guy in the galabeia is the judges man he and only he  is allowed to enter the room when called for,  the yes sir no sir man. 

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My  Lawyer preparing someones papers before entering one of the main courtrooms.there is  different wildlife in this area  as here you can see some of the animals eat and discard any uneaten food  where the smaller animals  the cockroaches can eat at leasure, 

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Five days after the beating my bruises are just about starting to go  so I plucked up the courage to take some photos.  one reason I took the photos myself I am  not used to fuss,  I hate being touched or my body looked at by a male  hence taking the photos of the areas I can see myself  I have 10 bruises on my body  3 0f which are from the fall on the stone steps plus the  head wound that has healed up quite well but left some damage in the head I  have lost all hearing in the right ear  , what little I had has now gone  and all I have is a constant buzzing, 

This is  my arse   not much of a bruise but I am still limping 5 days after.

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Mohamed Masoud

Mohamed Masoud is a Judge, who thought he had a part in a movie,  he must have been real pissed as his only words in the whole of my movie  How not to get swindled in Egypt    was Shut the fuck up.
nice  one Mohamed

Shut the fuck up

The reason I have not been out with the camera over the past few days, click on Here http://nilelife4.blogspot.com/

Policing in Egypt.

 I feel very sorry for the police here in Egypt  all this hard work they have to do not to mention  looking and trying to solve the big problem they have with contraband  and the widespread use of drugs. like looking for a needle in a haystack I should imagine,   they can fool some of the people sometimes but not all the people all of the time.
No such thing as fallen off the back of a lorry here,  fallen from a donkey cart as these cigarettes may have done is more like . there is a lot of contraband in Luxor at the moment the police have been raiding the tourist markets confiscating brands such as nike  dolc and cabana , they will most likely find there way again on to the market, knowing how corrupt the country is.

They run about like headless chickens in

the market area here in the street behind my flat,  I know when the police raid is on,   there is a lot of noise and stall holders taking the goods from the street back into the shop  those who have no shop  take the  goods into a back alley  out of view of the police  search team,

once the police have gone,  back comes the stall holder and hangs his stuff up. all the cops have to do is look behind them. but no not these guys. they have had the orders to search and stop illegal trading so they do what they have been ordered,  not their fault the stall holder is a bit more crafty then the cops.

 they can only find whats in front of their nose, the hops are only licensed to sell within the confines of the shop they rent, no one is supposed to sell or Hang anything in the street, the reason is because  the local  council get no rent from the illegal traders.

 Nile river police men one of the many who sits on the floating boarding platform of the National ferry, boots unlaced as all these police seem to have  ready for taking off when they get a call to prayer, they will sit there all day until its time they need money and go after one of the small craft that take the tourist on a Nile scenic  ride,  easy target  as its the tourist who end up paying the cops bribery money. last time I took a boat ride it cost me an extra 50 because the cops stopped the boat.

Having a heart attack

Over the past few days I have been sorting out my diary and trying to put it in form that people will be able to read on a blog,  the diary started back in 2002  my first visit to Egypt,  then got took an the form of being written by a mad person  in the middle of a life's crisis, and if not careful will have a heart attack, reading it myself I get  this eerie feeling that its not something that could happen to  what I call myself a worldly guy ,someone who at the age of 67  has been about seen a bit of the world and must have some common sense, it reads like  a wonderland story, I have   gone  into the wardrobe and into another world,  and that is what Egypt is another world  a world of corruption lies and deceit, and it makes me think what the hell am I doing in such a corrupt country with all these thieves and liars, the first blog started OK  made sense, but then I was told by the police to take it down, on the orders of the eminent, minister of antiquities Dr Zahi Hawass, not going to say what I think and know about him, or his orders to the general of security to stop the corruption in my case, on their promise to look into my case I took the blog   known as egyptscams.blogspot down,  when I realized this promise was false I made another blog,  living in Egypt. that also was taken down with a police warning  saying it will not help your case,  then when I found out corruption was in the making and read some of the police statements,   they had written what they thought not what I said happened on 3 accounts,  one even said I was a trouble maker, corrupt court officials  who were hiding papers from the judges,  etc etc,  I made the blog   Justliars.blogspot,  that has been up for 12 months and been added too each time I  went to court.or something happened or what I have found out,  but problem is with a blog its read last first so the blog does not make sense  like the first thing one will read is what the judge said on the last visit or in this case the new grand Mufti of Egypt stepping in and granting me land because he has found out the hotel is due to be demolished,  what would you say mr Tony if I give you your home back. and find out later its going to be knocked down. the blog  nilelife4.blogspot is also going to be revised as to what I know and why a certain thing happened. such as why was a rent contract put in front of a judge to be stamped,  a rent or lease contract is made between the lessor and the owner with two separate lawyers for each party concerned and is automatically bound by Egyptian law,   another point this corrupt court has not listened to. why is there only one lawyer acting for both parties, a criminal offense in itself, according to Egyptian law,
 3 days ago I went again to see the Sheik  Tyeb  and asked  why after 8 months I had not recieved my land papers, , after the meeting I was told that a man called Achmed who is the Grand mufti's personal aid, will sort the problem out, he phoned Mohamed awad  and said he has to come to the court , The grand mufti's home)
to sign papers to give  me my land . and yet again  the liar says he is in Cairo and will come with his lawyer in three days to sign, the liar was in his home because, I spoke to Allan Jones who acted as my translator . the sheik is a french speaker and Allan is also a french speaker,  and he said while on the way to the meeting  he had just spoken to Mohamed about putting a light in his room.  one hour later Mohamed   said he was in Cairo. and its not the first time he has lied to the sheik, its all about playing for time time to talk to the lawyer on what to say and do in the event of me wanting other than what has been discussed before, they have a simple mind, one thing at a time, one reason being they tell so many lies, if you want to be a liar you have to have a very smart mind and remember all the lies you have said in the past, truth comes naturally. but not to the Egyptian.  the lawyer is also playing for time  on the 19th I have the case for the forged papers,  if I go to court armed with a document that says I have been given the land by order of the grand mufti. this will automatically put me in the right.  If the rent contract is not false  why has he signed the land over , and why has the sheik ordered he give me the land instead of  the  property,  one thing I have found out with these people they only go by black and white, only believe whats in front of their noses whether its a lie or not,
 they also will not loose face,   I will phone you Mr Tony  was the last thing Achmed said as I took his contact number!  three days has gone and still no paper, as its been all along  I am in wonderland  I wonder  when I will get the papers, or is it just another lie to keep the Welshman quiet, and maybe the Welshman will get a heart attack.
 its strange  that I do not get one comment  from  most days 450  people in Egypt come back to this site  some I know are police informers or security ,  keeping a watch on my site if i wrote one lie in my blog. they will comment as  did one guy who owns a travel business,he was worried I hit his pocket, as that's all they think about money!  worried that people will read what the travel companies scams are,

velcro bat and greco

Just about ready to go to bed and  closing the balcony doors I noticed a rather strange black creature on the opposite alley wall, when I got it on the computer its a bat.   another creature that has velcro feet.

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Sundown tonight was at 19.15

 

More than I bargained for,

When I leave my flat for my walkabout usually I end up where the wind takes me very rare do I plan  where I am going. I thought first as it was late!  well late for me  leaving my flat at 10.00 to see if the bee-eater was still flying around the avenue of the sphinx,  it was not  so I ended up on the ferry , now I had decided to go frogging  yes you read it right, frogging  I have only seen a frog here in Egypt once and that was when a heron was just about to eat it for diner,  3 days ago  I saw some tadpoles in the flooded fields, and mr clever here knows that tadpoles turn into frogs, so lets go look I thought,

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On the Ferry boat we usually get the shoe shine boy and the tissue seller boy,  this day we also had a beggar girl, what happens is they beg until they have enough to purchase a pack of 12 tissues 5 egp. then they will sell the tissues for as much as the tourist  is willing to pay  the locals pay 50 piestra that is half an egp. first she went around all the locals  on the ferry with her hand out she never had one kind person  give her money,then it was my turn  Rubbing her belly and the gesture to the mouth saying I am so hungry I need food.

 I take no notice  , point being if I gave every beggar money by the time I got on the ferry I would have to go to the bank to get more money out, so I do not give not my place to feed the ones who say they are hungry  the hungry can get bread for 5 piestras,  I have to pay 1 egp  hungry or not,

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 As we got to the other side  The west bank of Luxor I saw there was no taxi drivers waiting and thought great no hassle getting off the boat,

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Wrong they were on the ferry on seeing me board the other side they decided to come over and see if the tourist needed a taxi, as I was getting off the ferry this  one stood right in my path  he already asked if I need a taxi , before he could say anything else I stood on the stairs and said in a loud voice,  and I will not need a taxi  at all thank you all for thinking about me and my old bones, but this one just barred my way, I told him move or you will need to catch a boat  or are you a good swimmer, 

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by this time all the drivers had reached the safety of dry land  , so I decided to give the frogging a miss for a while and go the other way  away from the parked taxies, no point in asking for hassle. but then you always get the donkey in the pack ,   he followed me for a few yards  with where you go?  why you no need taxi?, I take you to valley of the kings! , you know how much,  I got my pocket camera out and turned to face him, as he saw the camera   he put a big smile on, then the cheeky bastard asked for money,  no I said you pay me you want your photo taken I take it so you pay. the smile soon went off his face, as I mentioned no pay I give to the police, he was gone  and on his way he must have mumbled something to his mates  because as I went on my frog march,  no one said one word,  no sail boat mr,  no tax tax, nothing  never knew the camera could be so powerful, 

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Even the shoe shine boys and the ferry man turned  backs no photo  no photo.

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More rubbish for the Nile  the cheeky little git asked for money, You take my picture, I take picture of rubbish,  me no rubbish,  yes you are near the rubbish, I said as I walked on,

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The bougainvillea is out everywhere in all colours. 

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foal training

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 more diesel to pollute the Nile, almost as pretty colours as the bougainvillea 

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The Little bittern 

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a very shy bird sits motionless in the tree when any one is near can you see it,

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This baby donkey recognized me from the other day  it came nuzzling up against me for its cheeks to be rubbed  while I was taking the photos of the Little bittern,

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The Nile has started to recede and there is shawls of fish everywhere one looks in the waters,

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 Mallow plant  bees and bugs

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Female Nile valley sun bird 

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Damselfly are on http://egyptdragonflies.blogspot.com/

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The Little white egret and Turkey

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Laughing dove sitting behind a mallow flower

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Water buffalo calf donkeys dog and egrets,

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I have so many good shots of the Squacco I have said to myself no more photos but I could not resist this one as it was so engrossed in the hunt,

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The butterflies and bugs  will be on http://insectsonwings.blogspot.com/

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The sand bee 

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A bee  from 5ft with the 100x400 lens 

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I told you I was going frogging  well I did

and here it is  taken at the same distance as the bee.

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And here its been cut and cropped.  isn't it a beauty