egypt: aswan and abu simbel

We arrived in Aswan in the middle of the night, I didn't wake up when the boat docked. Breakfast was a buffet as usual, and as usual I overate.

I met up with my guide, then we met our first driver of the day. Our first stop of the day took us to the Aswan High Dam. To get there we had to drive over the old British dam, which has military checkpoints on each end. If it weren't for those checkpoints I would've asked to get out of the car and take a few photos. The British damn looked more majestic to me, or maybe just more photogenic.

This dam still works, and is necessary to the functioning of everything in the area, including the High Dam. The British Dam was built in 5 years, starting in 1898, and is occasionally called the Low Dam.

In 1960 construction began on a bigger dam, called the High Dam. 11 years later construction finished, and the creation of Lake Nasser began, as the area flooded due to the dam. The dam itself is 3 kilometers long, but you can't see the full length unless you go up high, with a drone or plane or helicopter. I'm pretty sure that isn't possible, due to security concerns. There is a small parking area, and an entry fee! I never did figure out what limits there were to how far I could walk on the dam, though I'm sure the area probably wasn't all that big. Certainly not the entire length of the dam, even though that would've been fun.

There is a small area in the middle of the road on the dam that has been turned into a garden.

Quite pretty, even though it doesn't really match much of the surrounding scenery. The gardner was pruning and watering while I took my photos, and the gardener even gave me a flower. Then he helped me rinse the mud off my feet.

We got back in the car and continued back in the direction from which we came. On the way back we stopped at the Soviet Egyptian friendship monument, it's hard to miss. Ive seen these kinds of monuments all over the world where the Soviet Union worked with another country to build something. More than anything, they're BIG.

I hopped out of the car, and went to walk a bit closer. The monument is at the end of a walkway in the middle of a man made pond. As I approached the walkway and realized there was a group blocking the other end, as they organized themselves to take a group photo. I wanted to slide through them, but that might've taken a while. Waiting took only a couple minutes. I got to the monument and immediately looked up. I'd say the memorial is like a really rall flower, maybe a tulip? When you look up, you see each 'petal' leaning in toward the center.

The next thing I knew, everyone in the group wanted to be in a photo with me. I haven't been in that many selfies in a while.

It was fun, and for the most part people seemed to be in a queue of sorts. As that group finally left, I asked one of their leaders to take my photo with me standing by the area that had both languages, saying what the monument was all about.

Just as that guy took my photo and walked away, another group arrived. This was a group of schoolkids, they wanted photos with me too. More fun, more selfies. One girl put my camera in her selfie stick and took a couple photos so I had a few for myself. Fun :)

How often do these groups come? Is it ever quiet at this monument? Eventually I got back to the car, and we continued driving.

The next stop was a small marina. We walked through a small gate, down to the boats. Along the way, we passed a bunch of vendors with souvenirs no one really needs. Tamar took me directly to the boat he'd already arranged, and we climbed aboard. It was a small boat with a small motor on the end. We were the only customers but it could've held another 10-15 people I think.

Our ride took us out to a small island, and on the way we went past several other small islands. The lake on which our boat was floating had been created by the dam I'd seen earlier in the day. I wonder what the landscape had been like before the flooding of the lake.

We arrived at our island and climbed off the boat. The dock was small, with a few steps to get us up to the level of most of the island. There were heaps of boats hanging around, waiting for the customers they'd dropped off before we arrived. I don't know how they kept themselves organized, so that the right one would be able to leave when they needed to leave.

Philae temple was originally in a different place. If it had stayed in its original place, it would've be covered by the water of the newly created lake. Philae Temple is like Edfu Temple in that the only fully Egyptian part of it is a small area near the front. The majority of the temple was built by the Greco Romans who wanted to rule the country way back in the day. This temple was similar to the others I'd already seen in that there was a front courtyard of sorts, as well as an area filled with columns. Unlike Edfu, there was no throne left in the holy room at the back of the temple. There was a pink granite stone, the offering table.

Philae Temple had briefly been used as a Christian Church, you can still see where the crosses were carved in a few places. I found that fascinating, as I always do when I see a mix of religions and faiths.

Off to the side of the temple was another temple. Tamar told me this was where some of the later leaders came to relax after being in the temple. It's a small temple, but is right on the edge of the island so it overlooks the water. Very nice.

We took a short break at a cafe, which had a fantastic view of the bigger temple. I bought postcards there, the price was totally reasonable.

After relaxing for a few minutes we walked back to our boat, which brought us back to the same dock we'd come from earlier. A different driver picked us up and took us back to the boat, in time for another buffet lunch. I was still eating too much, but it was all so good.

Not long after finishing lunch, I joined my guide for another afternoon tour. This time we hopped on a boat really close to our cruise boat. This boat was just like the boat we'd been on earlier in the day, in that it could've held more people than it did, and had an engine to get around. I saw something written in Arabic in one place on the boat, and asked my guide what it said. He took a look and burst out laughing. Apparently it said 'leave me alone.'

To get to where we were going, our boat went through a reserve area, which Tamar pointed out to me. He told me it is a reserve area because there are some animals here that you don't get to see in many places. These are animals that were hunted by the pharoahs when they came to this area back in the day. Some of the water was pretty shallow, and we skirted around a number of smaller islands in the river.

Our boat docked, we climbed out, and went up a set of steps to get to street level. We'd come to a Nubian village. In Egypt there are several ethnicities, basically two major groups of people. This is where you get to learn about the time when there were two kingdoms in Egypt, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The names are based on the flow of the Nile River, which means Upper Egypt is actually in the southern end of the country.

Upper Egypt/Nubia used to be a separate kingdom from Cairo/Lower Egypt. The Nubian people are quite different from Egyptians as we think of them now. Nubians speak a different language, not related to Arabic.

That being said, many have learned Arabic because they are now part of Egypt; they have also learned English because of the tourist industry.

Architecture in Nubia is different from the rest of Egypt. Everything is a LOT more colorful, and there are far fewer solid roofs. The top of many homes is vaulted in an arch shape, which helps with the crazy heat. This area gets very little rain, Tamar said it last rained in 2010. People sleep on the roof of their home, as it is cooler.

There is a belief that a mummified animal (particularly a crocodile,) will keep your home safe, so I saw a number of those over the front door of various homes. Am I the only one that finds this a little creepy?

There were a lot of market stalls set up with spices, which always look lovely. Too bad I had no desire to buy anything at the time.

While wandering around I got to watch a group of local men playing dominoes. They played quickly, playing again and again. Tamar said they play for hours, almost every day. I don't know what the women do during this time.

We went into one home and had a cup of tea. (It was good enough that I broke down and bought some for myself as we left town.) The lady who owned the home took us up to the roof, which I loved. Since it was dry, and winter, we could see over the land for quite a distance. It was neat to see all the color of the Nubian village, and the brown of the surrounding area.

We went back to the port area to get back to our boat. At the top of the steps down to the port my guide asked me if I wanted to have henna put on my hands. I've had it done before, but I figured why not do it again? Tamar chose one of the girls to do it, but they all pushed in. The next thing I knew, five women were painting henna on my hands. There was no specific design, but I laughed at the experience. They wanted to do my feet too, but I knew there was no way I'd have been able to keep it from smearing long enough to dry while looking good.

Our boat took us back to the cruise boat as the sun was starting to set, a gorgeous time of day.

After dinner that night there was another thematic party on the boat but I skipped it, I knew I'd be up early and I'm not usually a huge party person. I'm sure I wasnt the only one on the boat who was going to be awake early, I wonder how many people attended the party.

When you sign up for a tour in Egypt, there are all sorts of additional options. I turned down most of them, but one I did decide to go for was a day trip to a temple called Abu Simbel.

When I signed up for the tour I wasn't aware that I'd have to get up quite early, and have everything packed to check out before 0500. It wasn't so easy to get up at that hour, but it was worth it.

Since I was leaving the boat long before breakfast I was given a brown bag breakfast. I ate most of it during the drive to and from Abu Simbel. It wasn't nearly as good as the buffet breakfasts, which I'd gotten used to eating. The brown bag breakfast was nearly all bread in some form or another.

Tamer had organized the taxi to pick us up, and get going at that hour. It was a three hour drive through the desert. Not a particularly pretty area of the desert, mostly just flat dirt/sand. I dozed for most of the ride, as did Tamer. At one point I woke up and looked out the window and realized I was seeing part of the sunrise.

With the lack of pollution (there is nothing there, so there is nothing causing pollution,) and flat horizon, the sunrise was really pretty. I should've asked the taxi to stop so I could take a photo or two, but I did it through the window while we were still going. If this driver had done the drive before, I'm sure he'd seen plenty of others do the same thing.

Eventually we arrived. This time Tamer didn't have the ticket ahead of time, but there was no line, so it only took us a few seconds to get the ticket. When he bought the ticket he told me they don't keep extras of these in the office because not everyone takes this tour. You have to sign up for this tour a few days in advance because the road to get there takes you through some areas for which you have to have clearance. Bureaucracy at it's finest, I'm sure.

When we arrived and pulled into the parkplatz I was less than impressed. You can't see a thing worth seeing from the park platz. Instead, you follow a walking path that goes slightly down and around a corner. As you come around the corner you realize why people come to this temple, even though it's far away from everything.

Now that I know how it all works, I'd actually want to get going even earlier, to try to avoid some of the crowds. Or maybe come later in the day. I don't know if it is possible, but I'd love to try. I don't know how early the temple opens though, which probably makes a difference.

Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II, the pharoah who was totally full of himself. At least, that is my opinion. I don't know enough history to know whether he deserved to be that arrogant.

Tamer told me it took years to build Abu Simbel. They didn't have the technology we do now way back then, which makes the temple even more impressive. Ramses II built the temple to honor himself and his favourite wife, Nefertari.

This temple is different from all the temples in Egypt in that it was carved out of a mountain. Nothing was built in the sense of stacking rocks and bricks together, it was all 'scratched' out of a mountain. The engineering in the temple was incredible, as the sunrise reached to the back of the temple on Ramses birthday, every year. At least that is what I've read and been told.

As you come around the bend, you see four GIANT statues of Ramses II on the front facade of the temple. It's amazing. If I could've taken a photo without anyone else in the frame I would've done so. (This is the reason I want to go back at a different time of day, I want the 'just me' photo.)

Tamer told me what I would see inside the temple, then sent me in. Guides are not allowed inside, booo. I wandered through the main rooms, as well as each of the side rooms. Everything was covered with carvings of heiroglyphics telling stories of the pharoah's life.

One thing I noticed as being different was that of the pharoah in a kilt that looked longer than what I was used to seeing. When I asked Tamer about it afterward he said it was a picture of the pharoah in his hunting kilt.

After seeing everything I could see, I walked with Tamer to the second temple, the one dedicated to Nefertari. It's much smaller, but still really impressive. Since it is smaller, not as many people walk the distance (it isn't far, by anyone's standards!) to see it. There are four large statues of Nefertari on the front of the temple, this is where I took my 'just me and the thing behind me' photo. Yay!

Tamer wasn't allowed in this one either, booo. Since it was smaller I went through rather quickly. In the temple for Ramses, the statues are of him. In the temple for Nefertari, the statues in the interior room are of Hathor, one of the gods.

To get back to the car we walked by a museum that documented the moving of the temple. What engineers did in 5 years (with $40 million) is incredible. They sliced the temple into pieces, taking photos and numbering everything. Over time each piece was moved to a storage area, then a new mountain was carved, and everything was put back in the correct order. To be honest, I wouldn't have noticed anything if Tamer hadn't told me.

The temple(s) had to be moved because of the creation of Lake Nasser, which would've flooded and covered the temple. AMAZING.

We walked back to the park platz, where the taxi driver told Tamer we were late. (There was no specific timing that I was aware of, it was just the driver wanting to get to other business.) Tamer told him he had been hired for this trip, and to please be polite. The conversation was in Arabic of course, I didn't know until Tamer told me.

I dozed during the drive back to Aswan, it would've been hard to stay awake during the flat drive.

When we got back to the boat, Tamer and I split up. We both took our bags, but he went off to the train station, while I was driven to a hotel for the night. I liked the hotel, which was quite grand. Definitely not a place I would've picked on my own, but it was part of the tour. Just like the hotel in Cairo, the only free wifi was in the lobby, and it was awful.

I hung out in the hotel for a few hours, after which I was picked up by another guy working for the same tour company. His name was Mohammed. He took me to the marina right in front of the hotel, where we boarded a falucaa. Finally I got to ride on one of these traditional Egyptian sailboats. It was a sunset ride, very relaxing.

The man who was 'driving' the falucca had clearly spent a lot of his life on the boat. I could see big calluses on his hands and feet, and squinty eyes from all the sun. He was completely comfortable on the water, the constant change in the balance of the boat didn't bother him at all.

We didn't get lucky in terms of wind, so we didn't go very fast, or very far. That being said, it was a lovely ride. It was quiet and relaxing, and I got to see much of the sunset. I enjoyed seeing the sky changing colours against the backdrop of the city lights coming on.

We came back to the dock, and I convinced Mohammed to go for a walk with me. We walked toward the city center, first passing a small park.

There was a fountain in the park, and I thought the weather was downright amazing considering it was winter, but there weren't too many people out and about. I told Mohammed that I really like sahlab, so we sat down at a cafe overlooking this small park. I was the only female in the cafe, which I've learned is pretty typical in an Egyptian cafe that is mainly frequented by locals. The men in these cafes smoke shisha and drink really thick coffee. The sahlab I had here was the best I had during the entire trip. It was really thick, and they put sprinkles on top!! Yum.

Mohammed and I walked a little further, walking through part of the market I'd gone through with Tamer the night before.

I saw more stalls with the same goods, and many more tourists this time. I didn't see anything I wanted to buy, but I loved watching people.

Mohammed walked me back to the hotel, and I went to sleep soon enough. I had a huge room with a nice balcony, part of me wished I had been able to be there a little longer and take advantage of the luxury.

The next morning I had another brown bag breakfast, it was better than what I'd had from the ship. There was still a lot of bread, but it had a hard boiled egg and a couple pieces of fruit.

Mohammed picked me up and along with the driver took me to the airport. Security was not so fun, but easy enough. I had another easy and short flight, landing back in Cairo.