Lots of Police Check Posts - 16 Hours Overnight Bus Continues | Cairo to Aswan

Overnight Bus to Aswan | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 3 (Part 22) 01D20

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

After a couple of hours, long bus ride fatigue started to kick in. I can never sleep when I am on the move. I noticed most of my tour mates were sleeping comfortably.

It felt like a never-ending, long, dark night. What was annoying was that every hour or so there was a police check post. Our bus had to stop and get approved by the police to pass. I haven’t seen this type of stringent police checking anywhere else. This pointed to Egypt’s large-scale problem with terrorist threats. However, this time-consuming process also in place for tourists’ safety.

At one check post, the police took the armed officer inside and hold the bus for so long that I got worried. I had a bad feeling about this long holdup. After endlessly waiting, the officer came back and the bus started again. Later on, I was told the long wait was a result of an expired bus permit, but it was resolved, and that’s what caused the wait.

We had 3 breaks overnight, usually every 2 hours. The Highway Rest Areas or highway service plazas felt different in Egypt because of their location in the middle of the desert. The first service rest area was big with lots of stores and eating places. As we moved further, the services stops were small with minimal facilities.

I got off at each stop to walked around, used the washroom, and had coffee or tea. One of the 2 armed officers kept a strict eye on me and escorted me when I walked back from the plaza to the bus. Most of the other passengers stayed on the bus and slept.

What do stars look like in the middle of the desert? Coming in the next post!