More Egypt

Day 3 (22/12)

Arrived mid morning in Aswan. It was a long tiring bus ride. We had a little time to freshen up at the hotel before we took off again. Aswan is an interesting town. Apparently it is a bit of a destination for Spanish tourists, so it was common to find many Egyptians that spoke a little and even some signs written in Spanish. Different areas in Egypt are popular with different tourists. Aswan - Spanish, Hurghada - Russians/Eastern Europe, Sharm El Sheik - English and Dahab - anyone who dives. Each of these towns does have a distinct bit of flavour due to those crowds. However don't expect to see a lot of American tourists, I saw very, very few. But again - Kiwis and Aussies tend to infest everywhere! Then it was off to Abu Simbel.

Abu Simbel is a temple complex that consists of two large temples that had been carved right into the rock face. In that regard it looks a bit similar to Petra (Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail) and are the only ones like that in Egypt. The two temples are of Ramses II and his wife. They were built away from everything because the statues and decorations fo the temples elevated Ramses and his wife to God status, something that he priests and religious sects in the heart of the kingdom would not have tolerated. The things were huge… But they also weren't in their original location. They were originally built into the rock face about 60 meters below were they are now. When the Aswan dam was built, it flooded a huge area, now called Lake Nassr. The temples were moved to try and preserve them. There were some great carvings and hieroglyphs, but again we couldn't take photos inside the temples. After visiting the temples and running the gauntlet of the ever present touts, it was back to town. (BTW - it’s a 3 hr drive each way to Abu Simbel from Aswan, so its wasn't just a "pop around the corner" kind of visit).

About midway back, some people went to a second set of temples (Philae) and the High Dam afterwards, but I went back to the hotel. Supposedly for a nap and regroup but really just killed time around town. Later we went on a short motorboat ride up the Nile to a Nubian village. We had a traditional dinner and wondered a bit. Some of the people went on a short camel ride, but I didn't think it was worth it. Besides, the camel/horse/quad bike rides are the same wherever you are. Done it in one place, done it all the same. We did get to hold a 4yr old Nile croc! The Nubians have their own language (that is not written) and own cultural identity. However there is little localised discrimination in Egypt and no issues (so we are told). Then a evening ride on the motorboat back to the hotel to crash out. The views of the Nile both to and from the Nubians were really cool. It was awesome just cruising up the river and I have two more days of it!

Day 4 (23/12)

The next morning it was back to the docks to board our feluccas. Our tour had two feluccas that were supported by a motorboat (that’s where they cooked, some of the crew slept and it towed us when we needed it to!). Each felucca could hold near 20 people. The feluccas have benches down the sides. The crew placed board across those, covered it with a big sheet and stowed our packs below. That platform was our home for the next two days.

We divided ourselves up into a party boat and a calm boat. Guess which one I was on. Feluccas have one huge mast and we had to tack back and forth across the Nile. Unfortunately the winds were very high and we were limited in the amount of sailing we could due. It got a bit troubling when the freeboard on the tacks was less than 10 inches! Capsizing is not unknown, but we were told we had an experienced crew so not to worry. So we put into the shore and hung out a bit. We did have to get towed by the motorboat in order to keep moving. We put into shore at one point for lunch and then again at dinner.

Needless to say all day and well into the night, the music was pumping from various IPods. And since we weren't driving, the drinks were flowing. In the evening we sang to the MASSIVE floating hotels (cruise ships) that range the Nile. And generally to anyone listening, whether they wanted to hear us or not. But everyone appeared a bit amused and usually waved. We were only within earshot for a minute or two anyway. Think there was even some bad renditions of YMCA and the Macarena on the bow…

At night we built a bonfire on the beach and the crew hung sheets to create a walls to keep the wind out. Either way it was still very cold and I was happy to wear long pants, long-sleeved shirt, fleece and hat when not near the fire! There was some sun and virtually no clouds, so we were able to get a bit of sun from time to time. However latrines were, well basically like camping… They did erect a little walled area on shore to provide for some privy privacy.

Day 5 (24/12)

Christmas eve! The annoying hats we bought became very useful today. The wind was still really strong so we had to get a tow. Then we had to go under a bridge. That normally is ok, except that our mast was well over the height of the bridge. We helped the crew to raise the sail then lower the top section of the mast. Once on the other side we sailed for a bit and then stopped for a dip in the Nile. Only a few of us swam, it was really, really cold, but well worth it. After a few dives off the boat and a little liquid rejuvenation, we went further down river (remember that down river is actually heading due North on the Nile).

That night we had a party of sorts and everyone was in a good mood for Christmas. We actually stopped at a

sizable island in the middle of the Nile. They said in good weather that there can be up around 50 boats there! Unfortunately, our two occupied the middle alone with one boat a bit South and two on the North end. A few people from the northerly boats came down and partied for a bit. I imagine with 50 loads of travellers that that island is one massive beach party! The crews of our boats plus a few other Nubians setup another bonfire. We all gathered around and they played some drums and sang. All the while teaching us the chorus and a little bits here and there. They let us drum along with them, so you know I did for a bit. Ok more than a bit, but it was fun. Most people tucked off to sleep as they got tired, a few of us managed on until 3 or so in the morning… But I was up to see the sun rise and take a morning swim in the Nile.

Day 6 (25/12)

We sailed a bit more and finally disembarked at a place called Kom Ombo. Then we boarded a bus once again and set off for Luxor. We checked into our hotel in Luxor and had a quick bite to eat before it was off to the temples. Our hotel did have an awesome roof top view of the city and Nile. Some of our group opted out of the temples and went to the markets or roamed the city.

First we went to the temple at Karnak (pretty much right in Luxor (which by the way was the ancient capital of

Thebes - why they changed it I don't know, guess they liked it better that way!) like Giza is to Cairo). the temple complex is over .5 kilometre long and was constantly added to by different pharaohs. One of the most impressive parts is the Hypostyle Hall. It is a massive hallway that the roof (long since gone) would have been supported by 136 ginormous papyrus columns. I could say all kinds of intelligent facts about the temple in Karnak… but since someone already did on wikipedia - here you go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnak

After several hours there, we went off to the temple at Luxor. It was dusk and twilight so we got to see some impressive sights as the temples were lit dramatically with floodlights.

We met the others and then went to the markets. Markets are interesting as there are all kinds of stalls/shops. Spices, tourist tat (cheap t-shirts…), silver jewellery, sun glasses, Frolex watches and just about anything. One of the guys was offered 10 camels for his girlfriend… it was worth contemplating. The drawback of the markets is that every single person in there tries to get you to come into their store (see first blog about Egypt). By now we were getting used to ignoring them, saying la shokran or em'shee and if that failed a few explicatives and sterner words. Afraid to say that was only the case once for me. A young kid (9ish years old) had convinced some of the girls I was with to go into a shop. Then proceeded to lock the door behind them. After a short discussion with his older (slightly) compatriot, the younger was rebuked by his friend and we went on our way. As annoying as things like that were, it wasn't really done out of malice and even the touts were happy to let you by unmolested if you went about it the polite way.

To get back to the hotel from the markets, we all hired horse drawn carriages (which are all over the place in Luxor, but can be found in most other cities as well). We had four or five people per carriage. As you can imagine, we ended up having carriage races in the middle of the road on our way back to the hotel. It was really amusing. Even more so since we hooked an IPod up (the carriage had speakers!) and proceeded to play Convoy (much to the driver ire) and then some Bob Marley (the driver was much more appreciative).

That night was our last night as a whole group, so we all went off to a dinner together. The dinner went fairly late but several people were going on sunrise balloon rides in the morning, so they retired early. I ended up walking around a bit, enjoying the city. I stopped in a coffee shop, but it was closed, kind of. It was open but closed, I know, that doesn't make sense but trust me. A short time later I found myself playing dominoes against a Sudanese guy. Pretty random, but not completely out of the ordinary for me. Needless to say he thoroughly thrashed me but I managed to redeem myself by winning one round. Across the street was an abandoned lot that was full of construction debris. And a group of men around a small fire smoking sheesha (again not a completely uncommon sort of thing to see and sheesha is just flavoured tobacco smoked through a water pipe - 100% ok and legal). I eventually walked home and took a short nap.

Day 7 (26/12)

Then it was morning and time to go to the Valley of the Kings and our last temple complex. The Valley is on the West Bank of the Nile and is literally a valley with a bunch of tombs that have been hidden in the face of the walls. On the way there we stopped at the Colossi of Memnon, where we picked up our hot air balloonists. I don't know much about the Colossus, so here is another tid bit from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossi_of_Memnon). We were able to go to 3 tombs plus Tut's. For the most part the area is pretty unremarkable. The tombs tended to descend into the mountains at a sharp angle down. They were very stale, even with all of the traffic in and out, and hot. Again no pictures or touching the surfaces were allowed, the flashes and oils can degrade the hieroglyphs. Some of the decoration of the tombs were extremely impressive and highly detailed. It was amazing how much of the original color was still present, some thousands of years later.

After the Valley, we headed around the corner to the mortuary complex of Deir el-Bahri ,which included the temple of Hatshepsut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_el-Bahri). This is a very imposing structure, even from a distance. Hatshepsut was a famous female pharaoh. It was cool and also provided a good view back east, across the Nile to Luxor itself. Once we got back to the hotel it was time to say goodbye to our friends. But not really.

The realisation was made that since the main highway to Cairo goes right through Hurghada, that if they wanted to catch the bus in Hurghada aws opposed to Luxor, they could. That would allow all of us to hang out a bit longer and have another "last" dinner together. So that’s what we did.

After another long bus ride (see a theme yet?), we had a huge dinner and then our friends from the previous week left. Meanwhile the rest of us got free entry to a huge night club (thanks to our tour leader and I am sure the promise to the night club that we would spend a lot, which we did). The club was Ministry of Sound, which while I am sure none of ya'll probably know, is somehow related to a group that puts out compliations CDs of famous DJs. But then again its really famous house and dance music, about the only places I would expect to hear it in the US would be NYC, LA or Miami. Anyway the club was really cool, right on the beach, awesome lights and a great time. But it was a bit uneven, in a bad way, in the gender split. Oh well, besides it was one of the guy's birthday so we all had fun.