Through a Train Window

Overnight on a train from Cairo to Luxor we came to a stumbling, shunting halt around midnight.
8 January 2007.
As first light broke I tried wiping some of the ten year old diesel grime and grease from the compartment window. Men with automatic weapons surrounded the train. I counted forty or fifty militia standing around in the cold morning air, smoking cigarettes with their rifles slung aimlessly over their shoulders.
My first thought was that we were hostages and the train would soon be boarded.
Then it dawned on me; they weren't terrorists but private armed guards to protect the train and passengers from bandits and terrorists.
Just then, a group of children walked by led by a muslim woman; probably on their way to school. They paid scant regard to the men  and walked casually in front of the barrels of the guns.

Join Dale Neill at UWA for a Photography Workshop.