Aswan & Abu Simbel

We arrived into Aswan train station at about 6.00am. I personally felt great after my night sleep but most of the other people had trouble sleeping. As we left the station we all packed into a minivan & threw our luggage onto the roof. Our hotel was called the "Cleopatra Hotel". When we walked in I was quite impressed with it's marble floors, statues & waterfall all located in the foyer.

Not long after settling in with a shower & a bite to eat we were off to the Temple of Philea. It wasn't a long trip, only bout 15 minutes down the road. We arrived at a small concrete dock covered with hawkers & sellers. We jumped into our little boat under the belting sun & headed for the island. It was a lot hotter down in Aswan than up in Cairo. The Temple of Philea is one of the many temples that were moved when they built the High Dam in Aswan. The original island is now under water hence the move. After wandering around & hearing a few stories from our local guide we were back on the boat heading for dry land. This was the first large scale temple that I saw & a nice one to start with.

That afternoon the group decided to head out to the "Unfinished Obelisk" while I on the other hand decided it would be best if I did my "Unfinished Laundry". From what I heard there wasn't that much to see & I had already worn all my underwear inside out so I was out of options. As the group left we decided to wash our clothes before heading around the corner to wander through the bazaar. Just like all the markets in Egypt I was approached a few times and offered several camels for my girlfriend. They sold everything from fake alabaster jars to Viagra powder, which they really loved to push on any western man with a female friend nearby.

The evening was spent on the roof top of the hotel watching the sun set over the Nile while the Feluca's meandered their way along the river. This perspective also made for some interesting photographs of the well lit Bazaar.

The next day we woke at 3.00am to jump on the bus for Abu Simbel. I had decided before I got to Egypt that this would probably be one of the highlights & I must say, I wasn't wrong. After driving through nothing but desert for three & a half hours we had arrived. Abu Simbel is another temple that was moved due to the building of the Aswan High Dam. It's original location is now "swimming with the fishes" as they say.

As we walked around the man made mountain I was sure that I had hit the nail on the head with my prediction, it was amazing! The Ramses statues that line the entrance are the biggest ones they have found still intact. Four 45 meter statues sit on both sides of the narrow entry. As you walk through the entrance you can still see the remaining colour which gives you a good indication of what it must of looked like in all it's glory.

At the back of the temple sit four figures, Ramses, Amun Ra, Ra Horakhty & Ptah the God of Darkness. Twice a year, on 21 February, celebrating the Pharaoh's birthday and on 21 October celebrating the Pharaoh's coronation, sunlight reaches inside the temple, all the way to the inner sanctum and illuminates the Pharaoh and the two Gods next to him. The fourth God, Ptah the God of Darkness never gets touched by sunlight. A little spooky or a well built monument, you be the judge. After spending a few hours here checking out the other near by temples, we made our long journey back to Aswan were we relaxed for the evening.