Reading JonMW's mind it is the constant barrage from touts, sellers of everything, backsheesh, food, the whole shebang really. You deal with it in your own way but learn the basics of Arabic, fix a price for a trip in a taxi before you get in for the ride, and make sure you can smile.
Cheers.
Simsy described perfectly what I meant. I'm in India now and the hassle factor is nil compared to Aswan and Luxor.
Asyut was an extremely brief stop. I left Luxor on a late morning train thinking I could connect to an 8 pm bus leaving Asyut for the oases departing from the adjacent bus station. The train was late, next bus dep. 10 or 11 am so I was stuck for the night. Looked at a couple of hotels that were full then had the misfortune of running into a police officer at one of the hotels who insisted I needed an escort. I had already spoken to 2 cops asking for directions so this was a surprise. Eventually we found a vacancy at Zamzam hotel - very basic, something like 70 LE, and lots of street noise.
He then took me to dinner and while we were eating I could have sworn he softly uttered, "Money." I must have been imagining it except that he said it again 5 minutes later so I knew what was coming. When it was time to pay he asked me with no shame if I "would help the policemen." No way, José. At that point I figured the escorting was a scam to get tourists to pay for their dinner. He took me almost all the way back to the hotel and I never saw him again.
Forgot to ad that I wish I had ponied up the 300-400 LE for a service taxi straight to Kharga and caught the morning bus from there to Dakhla. I briefly entertained the idea while still in Luxor but my cheapness won out. 2 or more people - do it.
My first response is being screened by Big Brother but the second response went straight through.
What is going on with the TT? And where's the darn edit button?
Thanks for the response. Having lived in India (70s/80s) I can appreciate the contrast. As one fellow once told me the best travel accoutrement for North Africa would be 4 Nubian bodyguards :)
I like hearing off-the-beaten-path travel stories, as I to do such things as well. I just found out a few days ago that I have the opportunity to stop over in Egypt, so I'm in the process of coming up with a trip plan. Thanks for pointing out Kharga.
Back to the OP, if one were returning to Cairo by train after the trip perhaps it would be better to start in Luxor, then on to Aswan to get the train at it's origination point; this may make it a little easier to get a reserved berth/seat, deal with lateness, people who may have already laid claim to what you have reserved/paid for, etc.