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Published: July 17th 2006
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Abu Simbel
Colossal statues of Rameses II at Abu Simbel 245am is really a time for sleeping I've decided. Unfortunately this was not to be today, but we were headed for Abu Simbel which was about the only place I was willing to get up for at that time of morning. We were up and packed and on the bus by 330am and were given our little breakfast boxes to eat later on the bus. We then made our way to the area where our convoy of buses met to all make our way to Abu Simbel which is a 3 hour bus trip there, and then 3 hours back to Aswan.
So, we dozed for a while on the bus until we pulled up at Abu Simbel just after 7am. It had to be about 35 degrees already and we sat down in front of the massive temples where Ameer gave us the run down the the ancient site. It was built for Rameses II with 4 colossal statues of himself (these guys obviously had no self esteem issues) at the front of the temple. he reigned for 67 years and had over 150 children - some of them were mothered by his own children (need I say ewwww....)
Abu Simbel II
James and I in front of Abu Simbel Inside are friezes of him showing how powerful he was and also small statues of his daughters and his favourite wife Nefertari. He didn't have any statues of his sons around as they were always fighting and plotting ways for how they could succeed him afte he died.
Next to the Temple of Rameses is the temple of Nefertari which he had built for her. She died when she was about 40 years old, but he loved her so much that he had the temple built for her years after her death - ain't that sweet?
The whole complex was moved in the 1960s with the building of the new dam which would have totally destroyed the complex. In all, about 16 temples and ancient sites were moved withi the building of the new dam which is now Lake Nasser. It is the second largest man-made lake in the world and is the home of about 65,000 crocodiles, most of them are huge with a medium sized averaging about 9 metres in length - anyone fancy a swim? I think not.
The whole project to move Abu Simbel was massive and it took over 2 years to
Sunset at Kom Ombo
Sunset at Kom Ombo complete and move it about 1.8kms upstream. They did this so precisely though so that still at 2 times of the year, the sun streams into the back part of the temple and highlights the statue of Rameses sitting next to 3 other gods. This happens on Rameses birthday and his coronation day - they still don't know how they figured out how to do this.
After wondering through the temples (no photos allowed as you can still see the ancient colours on the walls) we had a quick practise at bartering before leaving. James just wanted to see what prices where like and how far down we could get a price for. So, we wondered into a little shop after much cajooling and offers and asked how much for 4 canopic jars (stone jars which they used to put the major organs in after mummifcation: stomach, intestines, liver and lungs). The first offered price was 750 Egyptian pounds, and after some bartering and walking away, he managed to get him down to 200. We had no intention of buying though, so we walked away.
As we were actually leaving to get back to our bus, the guy runs out from the bushes and calls 'James, James!' (woops, do not tell them your name!) and gives us the final offer of 150 Egyptian (about $35 Aus) - holy crap are they eager! We managed to shake him off with many la shokruns (no thankyous) and eventually made it back to the bus.
After another 3 hours back to Aswan, we boarded our cruise boat. Now, we were originally supposed to have a 3 star boat, but due to this not being the busy season, we were upgraded to 5 stars - yeah baby!! The room was very nice, airconditioned (all important) our own spiffy bathroom and tastefully decorated in leopard print - noice.
That afternoon we had free to just sleep, chill out and hangout on the boat. They had a small swimming pool on the top deck a well as some sunbeds, but we chose to recover some much needed sleep.
That night we stopped at Kom Ombo to visit the temple there at sunset which was absolutely beautfiul at night and is the only temple to have been dedicated to 2 gods - Sobek (crocodile headed god of fertility amongst other things) and Horus (falcon-headed god). Very cool.
We then had a very windy dinner up top the the cruise boat which was buffet and all you can eat - yum yum!
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