Egypt Day 7 - Day trip to Abu Simbel

---

So today was the day to head down as far south as you can go in Egypt. Abu Simbel, an ancient site three hours from Aswan. Trips had to be planned with police convoy, due to the security risk in the area.

I greeted my driver once again in the hotel lobby. We set off at around 11am. We passed Philae and the High Dam, and from then onwards it was a proper highway, with nothing but desert for the rest of the way. This made for impressive scenery. This was the Sahara Desert.

Three hours later, after not having much going on inside the van, being the only tourist on board, we arrived at Abu Simbel. Once there I was greeted by a tour guide; part of the package already paid for. So I proceeded with him to check the place out.

Lake Nasser on one side, said to be one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. It connects to the dam in Aswan, and flows from Sudan. The Sudanese border is only 40 kilometres from here.

Then of course, you have the Temple of Ramses and Nefertari, the two temples to see here at the site of Abu Simbel. It was very impressive. Although no photos or video were allowed inside, I couldn't leave this place to be unrecorded. Cameras were not stripped from us, so I was able to record when no one was watching, in some of the rooms of the temple. Far too amazing to not have anything to show for it. Of course, when I was leaving, I was asked to play back some of the tape, to see if I had recorded anything. I got a little bit hesitant, and from that came a little bit of a raised concern. No problem here, I simply pressed play on my video camera, and it showed footage of my previous trip, which I was overwriting. Sneaky tactic, but it worked.

After two hours of having the site to explore to myself, I caught the convoy back to Aswan, to my hotel, and had some McDonald's - a common thing to be eating over here, since it's hard to trust the local restaurants. Hygienic practice is a little poor here.

---