Aswan and Abu Simbel

Farmers on the banks of the Nile
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Another early rise for our journey to Aswan, the journey itself was 4 hours.  It was interesting trip as we got to see life along the Nile, lush green farmland of Sugar Cane and Banana plantations.  The number of Donkey and Carts we passed was evidence that farming here was still very simple.  Aswan itself was smaller than Luxor and very much 3rd world, it seemed the further south we got the more simple the way of life.  This part of Egypt is also home to a large Nubian population a tall black and slender people.  Our Hotel was right in the city centre which was handy to get around.  Like Luxor the pavements were a foot of the ground ! Kimo took us to a nice Pizza place for lunch which didn't somehow fit in with its surroundings, nevertheless the food was excellent.  In the afternoon we took the ferry to Philae Island to see the temple of 'Isis'  The temple itself is a mixture of ancient Egyptian and Greco Roman architecture.   Drawings were large rather than the smaller symbols which we had encountered so far.  It was a lovely temple and was minus the crowds which made it a joy to go around. Inside the temple was carvings and drawings depicting the New Kingdom.  Outside on the banks of the Island overlooking the Nile was a large Roman looking structure called the 'Kiosk of Trajan'  it looked liked it belonged in Rome not Egypt.  We spent a couple of hours here exploring the temple before taking the boat back to the mainland where we were met with market touts head on !! I ended up buying a wooden mask but had to be rescued from the sellers shop by Vaughan because I wouldn't pay the final haggling price  !  In the afternoon I went to the market and decided to tackle the spice man, that didn't work to well either so I thought I would save myself further pain and get Kimo to get the spices for me instead ! I was over market people !

Taking the ferry to Philae Island
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In the evening we had been invited to a Nubian Village which was not part of the tour.  We all opted to go as it was an experience not many tourists get to have.  We were met at the river side by our Nubian hosts who were going to ferry us to the village.  We were 5 minutes or so into our boat ride when one of the Nubians starting banging on a drum and singing 'She will be coming around the Mountain when she comes !!'  we all got up danced and joined in !  some of the sentences of the song were changed to say 'She will smoking Marijuana when she comes' which I thought quite amusing for people who were religious !  The village itself was simple mud brick buildings mainly painted white.  We were invited to a house where we would be treated to a wonderful banquet meal.  Half the rooms of the houses didn't have roofs, I guess not needed in a place that doesn't rain much !  We all piled into what was the living room which was roofless and had simple mats to sit on.  The food was brought to us by the lady of the house and she brought the dishes out balanced on her head.. great photo opportunity.  The food was delicious and their was plenty of it !  later some women came around with books of Henna Tatoo drawings and offered to paint tattoos on us girls.  Another lady brought some local wares to sell !  It was a good night and great experience.

Abu Simbel was worth the 300km journey

Temple of Isis on Philae Island
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4AM we arose for our trip to Abu Simbel.  No tour company was free to travel the road to Abu Simbel for safety reasons so all tours had to travel in a police escorted convoy.   There was  a  set time to leave and if you weren't there then it was tough you didn't go !  The journey was over 300K's and was interesting because after 100k's or so we left the lush Nile Valley behind and was back in the desert and the sunrise over the desert was wonderful.  Our first surprise was the town of Abu Simbel, I didn't know there was one !  and it was picturesque.   We met our guide at Abu Simbel and after the introductory speel we got to see the real thing.  Our first impressions.. WOW what a temple the facade statues of the seated Ramses II were immense in size,  seeing it in pictures in one thing seeing with  your own eyes is worth the 300k journey.   To the right of the temple was Queen Nefertari's temple with equally enormous statues of the queen herself.  We couldn't take camera's inside either of the temples so I will have to describe what we saw.  As you walk through the entrance of the Sun Temple you are faced with a Hypostyle Hall which are flanked either side by 4 pillars fronted by 2 meter high statues of Ramses in the Osiris position carrying the crook and flail.  The walls of the hall have large etched drawings depicting Ramses campaigns.  There are 8 chambers off the hall each highly decorated with scenes of gods etc.   Queen Nefertari's temple is also decorated with scenes of offerings etc.   Both temple's were built into false hillsides and the museum near the cafe and ticket office details the  move of the temples from the Nile on higher ground so when they constructed the high dam.

Temple of Isis
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After half a day exploring Abu Simbel we were back in Aswan by the afternoon  where we headed to the river to meet our next three days of floating Hotel.. The Felucca !  we all looked forward to three days of doing nothing as we were all very tired by this stage from all the early rises and site seeing.  We had lunch and set off into the sunset, I think we got less than 2k's when we moored for our first nights stop, not a particulary romantic stop as it was right by a bridge home to a very busy road !