The prettiest bathroom I encountered on our travels was certainly this one at the temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, Upper Egypt, We arrived after several hours on the road, early in the morning, just as other buses in the convoy were pulling in. It was peak traffice time at all the loos. The building is a lovely modern facitility but with the usual design problem of the architect not addressing the different time needs of male and female loo users – there was chaos in the narrow corridor from which both loos opened off. There seemed to be a male and female attandant adding to this general clogup, or backup. Our guide, noting the lineup at the ladies’ managed to arrange for myself and some other waiting women to go into the near empty men’s. We politely ignored the backs of urinating males as we hurriedly washed hands and headed out, but not before I noticed that it was clean, functional and did not pong. At the end of our time there before our return journey of several hours, so like the good traveller I am, I went again, this time into the now less chaotic ladies’. Clean, fully functinonal, and even a couple of containers of room deodoriser to hand, this one showed the touch of someone dedicated to her work. Being a loo attendant is probably mostly thankless and often unpleasant I imagine. This lady shares with an attendant in the Mercado del Puerto a cheerful dispositon and pride in a well maintained facility.

During our journey we came across the full spectrum of toilets, ranging from clean, shiny, modern, spacious and ventilated to cramped, dirty, smelly, seatless, doorless, ancient, and all possible combinations of the above. On our camping trip of course, we went perched behind a rock with breathtaking views all round, but requiring balancing and digging skills. There were plenty of stones around to make a little cairn above my copralite.

We in first world countries have been spoiled by ablution arrangements, and when we encounter what we feel are appalling bathroom standards we don’t understand that the differences are more than just about cost or unavailability of toilet cleaners and brushes. From the train between Luxor and Cairo, as the dawn rose we saw several people squatting within metres of the canal and defaecating in plain public view. It’s a matter-of-factness about bodily functions which we have been raised to hide and cover up with spray-pak deodorisers. If travel doesn’t actually broaden the mind, it certainly reminds us of how unequal Life is.

A highlight of our trip to Egypt was going to the area of the khan where these traditional craftsmen work and sell what they and others behind the scenes sew, traditionally tents and the colourful hangings that line them. I refer you right now to the blog by Jenny Bowker, http://jennybowker.blogspot.com posting August 2nd 2007 for some fabulous examples of the work by this dwindling group of people. The largest pieces are over 2m dimensions, and they are quite used to producing works much larger too – we saw one piece being commissioned as part of a large set of hangings(99) and it was about 1.5m x 3? 4? m length.

My pictures show: UL Ashraf seated cross-legged in front of samples of what he has designed and made or had some others make – he is a caligrpaher also, a passionate one, and this shows in some of his designs he explained to us, outlining the koranic content of the design. The protection of individual or special and innovative designs is important, a number of times we were shown pieces by people holding them up with their plain backs to the street and the curious eyes of nearby compeitors. UR is a closeup of the piece in Ashraf’s quick and nimble hands. What a wonderful person to meet and talk with, as were all the people we met in this expedition which took us around just some of the stands where Jenny is clearly a popular friend. We were made very welcome and felt very priveleged. LL is a shop set up as a tent, with a young boy sewing the traditional trimmings with tent lining designs on printed fabric, and many of which will be used to decorate homes and surroundings in the current season of Ramadan. LR shows one way the hangings were/are used -as windbreaks in the desert. I took this photo on our expedition to the Western Desert, organised by Jenny and i naddition to my DH there were a couple of other Australian quilters, Gloria Loughman and Sharon Hall plus DHs, and Esterita Austin from the USA. Our Bedouin guides are setting up the resting/sitting/optional sleeping area in a U-shape formed by the vehicles, lined up against the prevailing wind. The posts on which the fabrics are mounted are unrolled, the ends put in the sand, and the lower edges have sand shovelled up over them, then the huge colourful rag rugs laid down. All done in about 10 minutes. Most of us opted to sleep out under the stars on mattresses on the sand – one or two crept back into the sheltered area during the night as the wind rose a little. I slept out all night and awoke a couple of times in the moonlight after 2-30 am – and then again to see the early dawn and watch the sun appear. At this time, too, a little desert fox, fenneq, was busily scouting our camping area to make sure nothing by way of scraps from the previous night had escaped his notice. DH took a great photo which I might post some time.

The impossible competition from printed fabrics is causing the tentmakers’ number to fall dramatically. Tourism which has not yet recognised the value of this traditional craft, clearly offers hope. Readers of Jenny’s blog know that the exhibition she took to Australia earlier this year was a smash hit, and everything sold. Their art was greated with great admiration. She is currently doing a similar trip to France (read the frustrations of obtaining customs clearance etc in her most recent post) and no doubt when she returns home later this week will get to her blog and report another huge success. Through these exhibitions and the production of the book she has in the pipeline about their work, Jenny aims to raise the level of recognition so that one day arriving visitors will ask their guides and their hotels “Where do we find the Tentmakers?” and, that hotels and guides will know where to take or to direct them, of course.