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Published: April 25th 2012
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Had an unfortunate wake up call this morning at 6:45am but all for good reason. Today we were off to see Abu Simbel which is offered as an optional excursion but everyone did it as it's a "must see" according to Sherif. We first drove to the Aswan airport and then flew Egyptair for a short 1/2 hr plane ride there. It was by far the most spectacular thing we've seen yet!
As we walked around the side of the huge rock face mountain, we could see the giant carvings of the pharoahs carved into the mountain. The size of them are mind-blowing! Sherif immediately sat us down and gave us a histroy lesson. I was most amazed that they used to be closer to Lake Nasir but have since been moved back. We then got an hour of free time to explore inside as we wished. This was also the first time we were not able to take pictures inside so I found I really appreciated the paintings on the wall more so then anywhere else as I took it all in! It was also amazing that we were the first people there, with no real crowds at all, I found myself in areas of the temple where I was all by myself and just having a special moment. I like to bring my thoughts back to those history lessons and thinking of the stories that all of these paintings told - trying to put myself there thinking what it would have been like. It was amazing to have those moments to myself in the temple just taking it in!
Outside of Abu Simbel temple itself was also gorgeous! Apparently the waters surrounding us are crocodile infested and we also faced Sudan to the south so this was the closest we would be to the border. After our flight back to Aswan we got back on the boat and finally started cruising! We had another great lunch and then enjoyed the sun deck with the rest of the gang, relaxing and trying to get some sun. Mark was crazy and actually jumped in the freezing cold pool! Our first stop was another optional excursion at another temple called Kom Ombo. I wasn't going to go as you could see it from the boat without having to get off and pay, but the sun was about to go down and I wanted to enjoy the sunset. It was a beautiful temple and Sherif once again did an amazing job of explaining all of the heiroglyphics to us! We watched the sun go down as we wandered around and we caught some amazing pics with beautiful colours.
We got back on the boat and had dinner; then had some free time to get ready for an Egyptian theme party night which Sherif planned for us. The dinner was all local foods and so yummy! The older people on the boat were also getting dressed up for a theme night so it was cool that we were all into it! Sherif had warned us if we wanted to buy alcohol to get it at duty free at the Aswan airport so Mark & I got a bottle of rum! Everyone was feeling very happy after getting in their outfits we bought in the markets, having some pre-drinks and of course many photos later before we all met on the dancefloor for our group photo. Sherif then asked me if i wanted to play my Ipod so i did and everyone from our group was up dancing for hours on end! I loved it! Eventually we stopped playing the tunes and ended up on the sun deck drinking and talking all night! It was a late night! Lots of fun! Sherif warned Mark & I that we didnt have to wake up at the 7am wake up call if we didnt want to.....so we went to bed with that in mind - not sure what time we called it a night but I'm assuming it wasnt far off from the sunrise.
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