Aswan

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hey hey!

Yesterday we went to visit the egyptian museum which has over 100 thousand artefacts. Tutankamen wasnt as famous as some of the other pharaohs however his collection of treasure that was buried with him has been preserved and kept together. He had three massive rooms of treasure. It makes you wonder if the more famous tombs of pharaohs like ramses ll hadnt been piliged how much treasure there must have been. The most fascinatingpiece was Tutankamens famous mask which was solid gold and perfectly hand crafted.

Next we were off to see the great pyramids of giza. The sheer size of them is overwhelming, to know that no modern cranes were used during construction. Each block depending on its size was approx 2.5 tonne. Shama got to go into one of the pyramids. The ancient egyptians built the pyramids level by level. When they had completed each level, they used sand to create a ramp to pull the blocks up to the next level. It only took them 20 years to build it.

We then went to a papyrus shop to learn how it is made. They used a papyrus plant which the outer casing was quite strong. The inside was cut into strips and the water needed to be squeezed out with a roller. The strips were then placed across eachother to make it stronger. Papyrus messages that were left in the pharaohs tombs have lasted nearly 5000 years.

Later in the night we boarded an overnight train which has brought us to Aswan. Today we are off to have dinner in a Nubian village, ride a camel, go on a felluca and visit the Philae Temple.

Oh and its 43 degrees!!

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