Crosspost from Egypt Blog .

While the boat is waking slowly to life, I am enjoying once again the quiet deck. Looking out on the West side of the boat, there are about 30+ horse carriages lined up in front of the boat�s exit. They are waiting for the passengers to get off and take them on a tour to the Temple of Edfou. The carriages have occupied the entire street. Cars that are trying to pass through are honking an echoing horn. There seems to be some order in this chaos though. Every once in a while everyone starts shouting and arguing. Maybe some carriage skipped the line and positioned itself in a more favorable place. I can�t understand what they are saying, but the voices do sound angry.

One man is feeding his horse, while I hear other horses neighing towards the food. The state which these poor animals are in from our point of view is heart breaking. They are extremely thin and you can count each one of their ribs. Although it is still early and the morning and not that hot outside, I can�t prevent imagining how thirsty these horses must get in a few hours after being �beaten� through the streets carrying tourists. None of them seems to ever have seen a brush.

I know that I am seeing just an outsider�s glimpse, just a frozen moment in time of the lives of these people. Everyone is out to earn a living. I have the mind and cultural background of a �Westerner�, we grow up with the notion of animals, such as cats, dogs and horses being our pets and friends. We do not use them to work and earn money in order to feed our families. There is a different relationship with animals than what we are used to.

I am trying to find a way to talk myself into imaging that these horses might actually have a good life compared to other animals. They must be a prized possession and might even receive better treatment than some of the human members of the family, since they are their means to earn their living. If they do not line up early, early in the morning in front of the tourist boats with their horse carriages, they will not be able to buy food.

I can�t help thinking what it must be like to see hundreds of tourists stream out of the boats everyday with expensive cameras in their hand and dressed in shorts and T-shirts. We probably seem just as strange and �foreign� to them as they do to us.

Posted: 11. October, 2007 at 11:27 am. Filed under: Culture, Digital Images, Global Awareness, Travel.
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