On arrival in Aswan, and after being greeted by our guide Waleed, we were transferred to our hotel ( Basma ). This hotel was the most lavish to date and we were disappointed we would only spend one short night here. In the morning we took a short flight (45 minutes) to Abu simbel to see the Temples of Ramses II and his favourite wife Nefertary. Moved from its original location due to the damming of the Nile it was no less impressive or commanding in its new location. Photos were forbidden on the inside, where a series of highly carved rooms fed off the main entrance down to the rear of the temple finishing with four statues of various gods and Ramses reside. The sun lights up the statue of Ramses and two of the gods ( whilst the god of evil remains in darkness) for two days of the year I'm told.
It’s hard to imagine this impressive structure once covered in sand and remaining lost for 1000’s of years.
From here we flew back to Aswan. We had a short sail on a felucca up the Nile before exploring Aswan further on land.
But this reminds me of a more interesting story – it’s always a good idea to check that you have the necessary Visa’s before you travel to any foreign country. On our second day in Sharm El Sheick at the beginning of this adventure, I noticed some mention of visa requirements for Australians in our guide book ( thanks again Elizabeth!) When I asked our tour guide if we need one – he was instantly shocked and confused as to how we could have got through customs without it! We were immediately put in a car and ferried back to the airport to get the visas’s. We had to take a reverse route through customs which seemed highly irregular and were ushered through various back doors escorted by armed customs officials. It was a bit tense and confusing, but we now hold the necessary visa’s , much to the relief or our guide!
Back to Aswan. On the second day we visited the Temple of Filae and the High Dam before transfer to our cruise boat which takes us overnight to Luxor. Whilst sailing down the Nile we stopped at two temples ( Kom – Ombo and Edfu) both of which had us completely fascinated. We travelled by horse drawn carriage to Edfu after dark and it was interesting to visit this temple under dramatic lighting. For the greater part of these visits we are accompanied always by a guide who spews forth endless information rehearsed from many years in the industry. It’s not usually a charismatic or engaging description and usually with the thick Arabic accent and monotone presentation we are quickly lost and confused. We ran out of time at Filae due to a very long winded and convoluted story on the history of Osiris and Isis so I have started using some cunning steps to shorten these presentations without causing any offence.
1. Never let the guide sit or be in the shade – in full sun and standing the rant is usually cut much shorter
2. Cut them off by learning the history from the Guide book first – i.e sometimes they will throw in a rhetorical question like “do you know why the pharaohs did this?” - Its very good to answer this before they tell you! But you can’t just say “yes” because they will challenge you to elaborate.
3. Use sign language with you wife to suggest you are both somewhat deaf...we haven’t used this yet but its ready to roll out if needed.
Abu Simbel - Awesome!
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