Tea in the Sahara - The Police

Philae 3
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Aswan 1-16-07

Long day with a longer one on tap.  I grabbed the sleeper train down to Aswan last night and was pretty happy with my first long rail experience.  Controversy ensued at first when my roommate appeared insisting she reserved a non-share single.  Not that I blame her but this is Egypt and after navigating the ticket purchase and subway again to Giza station I wasn’t moving my boney butt until told to do so by a large Egyptian in authority.  Last thing I needed was to be stranded in Giza at 8pm with no train seat or hotel.

philae from boat
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She was pretty rude to the conductor while he kept telling her to calm down.  Turns out her group had dates for last night and tonight’s trains.  You could see the smug smile beam on that Cairene a mile away.  After her group left the train (I did actually feel bad for her) I then got the sleeper car all to myself, saving me a cool $20.  The ride was a long 12 or so hours but I got 2 decent meals and slept well for about 7 hours, arriving fairly awake at 9pm.  Not a bad deal.

philae group
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So I found an okay hotel near the station for $14 a night, just walked right by the touts I’m happy to say, and headed out to see the sights.  The Nubian museum was nice and modern, while Aswan is definitely more laid back than Cairo.  Touts try to get you on all the felucca (small sail boat) rides and they eventually did get me.  I took a little ferry across to Elephantine Island (it has a bunch of rocks that look like dumbo on it).  I got off at the Nubian village by mistake but was glad I did.  It was like stepping back in time.  Little mud brick homes surrounded by palm groves, the mud bricks actually being made nearby from mud, chickens and goats running around, and a little boy that really did look like an Ancient Pharaoh with big oval eyes.  Very cool.  I then took a beautiful felucca ride near sunset, circling the island near the huge desert dunes across the Nile with ancient tombs, churches and moques built into the wall of sand.  All was well until the end of the ride when the fare turns from the 15 promised to 100.  After arguing for a while I just gave up and paid the damn money.  I was pissed and flustered for a while.  Sitting here a couple of hours later I don’t know why I got so upset.  100 pounds is about 25 bucks, still way cheap by US standards for a nice boat ride, but I guess I just hate getting ripped off and every time I think I’m used to this place another curve gets thrown my way.  Well, tomorrow I’m off to Abu Simbel.  The bus leaves at 3:30am (yeah, I know but it’s a desert thing) so I better get some sleep.

Philae isis
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Abu Simbel, Philae and the High Dam 1-17-07

Great day.  No complaints or tout whining at all today, I promise.  Caught a bus down to Abu Simbel from the hotel.  I booked with the hotel, trying something easy for once, and was pleasantly surprised.  It was a three hour ride but I got a solo seat and slept most of the way there.  I woke up just as the sun was rising over the empty desert.  Very cool.  First stop, Abu Simbel.  This is the site you see all the time with the four statues of Ramses II carved into the mountain, with one of the colossi broke in half.  Well, pictures don’t do it justice.  I had no idea it was built right off Lake Nasser.  I also had no idea they had to move the whole thing when the High Dam was built in the 60’s.  How they did it (and about a dozen other temples and such) I’ll never know.  The thing is huge.  They had to create a man made hill stone by stone just to reproduce the original site away from danger.  Definitely a head shaker.  Anyway it almost rivals the Pyramids on the wow factor.  A few people on the bus thought it was better and that Giza was a disappointment.  I think they’re tripping.  Even being sober I still really enjoyed Abu Simbel - Ramses Temple of Ra.  Right next door was his wife Neftiti’s temple.  Both have the big statues out front but I thought the temples inside were much more interesting.  Ramses had 4 or 6 more smaller but still monstrous statue/pillars of himself  inside, but both sites were just jammed with wall reliefs telling the history of his Pharonic reign and depictions of all the sacrifices he made to the gods.  They are all dimly mood lit which helps for the spooky factory for certain.  No pictures were allowed inside so I can’t post how cool they were.  I tried to sneak a shot without a flash but it came out lousy.  There is one relief I have to describe so I never forget it.  I think I saw it in a book or a movie like Stargate but in person it was truly awesome.  On the left hand side on the Ramses in the middle between the statues was a relief of the Pharaoh attacking a Hittite warrior with a spear while his enemy cowers on his knees.  You turn a corner and see this image and all at once you’re, in awe of its beauty, skill and more than a bit chilled by the ferocity.  It wasn’t meant to be warm and cuddly.  The whole temple was built right on the Nile near the southern border with Nubia to let any would be invaders know exactly who they were thinking about getting into it with and just how powerful a leader the Egyptians had.  Sort of like putting the Pentagon in San Diego.

philae 16
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So after a three hour ride back we hit our next stop the High Dam, the culprit that forced the move of some and drowning of many historical relics.  The Dam is big and has a nice view of Lake Nasser which it made/made bigger.  The Russians helped build it and together they also built a big cement lotus flower in tribute to the men who died in the construction.  That’s about all there is to say or do at the High Dam.

So, moving right along to Philae.  This place was also very cool and also had to be cut into thousands of stones, carried to a higher ground (or in this case island) and reconstructed down to the last rock.  UNESCO and all those archaeologists in the 60’s must have broke their butts, because they also had to do it while the water was rising.  I guess China is going through the same thing right now with the Three Gorges Dam, but that blog is about 3 months away.  Anyway, Philae is one of the last pagan temples built before the Ptolemic Pharoas fell to Rome and Christianity and then Islam took over the region. It is specifically a temple for the goddess Isis who if you know your DaVinci Code Isis was a very popular goddess/mother cult during early Christianity and possibly the motivation for the Catholic church to deify Mary (relax, I’m just quoting the guides).  Well, Isis is all over this place and it’s very cool regardless of the God /goddess you ascribe to.  What’s even more interesting is the mix of history documented there.  Pharonic/Greek and Roman architecture mixed in the original temple and then Coptic Christian crosses and alters built over, Islamic carvings (and unfortunately mutilation of many goddess reliefs) and grafitti from Napoleon soldiers and even British WW2 troops.  All that history built on a pretty island in an azure blue lake.  No wonder some people think Philae is the most beautiful of all the great Egyptian sites.  I won’t argue.

Philae 9
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Luxor 1-18-07

Took the train this morning and found a nice little hotel with no problems.  Off to see the Luxor temple and the big Karnak Sound and Light show tonight.  I’ll tell you all about it in a day or two.

Take care,

Bill