Aswan and Abu Simbel

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Aswan is lovely and laid back compared with Cairo. The Nile here is sparking blue and feluccas glide past creating the picture perfect vista. The souk here is just one long street and much less hassle than Cairo. Whenever Kylie, Dan and I walk down the street we hear 'you very lucky man' shouted to Dan, and he's had numerous offers to sell one of his 'wives'! We're now sticking with the story that Kylie is his sister, so as to save confusion and offers of camels!
Yesterday we went on a boat ride around the local islands. We stopped for a few hours in a beachside cafe and a few people, including Dan, bravely swum in the river. Probably not one to tell the parents given how many diseases one could catch! After a lazy afternoon, when the sun had cooled a little, we rode camels to a monastery in the desert hills. It sounds better than it was! The camels were quite scrawny and uncomfortable and although I loved riding camels in Morocco, I didn't enjoy it much here. It didn't help that my guide was a ten-year-old boy who was more intent on leading the camel sideways than forwards! Dan enjoyed his ride on a camel called 'Ferrari', though!
This morning was an unspeakably early start. We got up at 3am to leave at 3.30 in the armed convey to Abu Simbel - about 3 hours by car. The convoy is intended to protect tourists but the drivers treated it like a grand prix and it was everyone for themselves with no sign of the armed guards once we left Aswan. Abu Simbel is spectacular and well worth the early start and high-speed driving. Aside from the size and intricacy of the temple, the remarkable thing is that they moved it and re-built it in the 1960s so that it wouldn't be flooded by the High Dam. We'd of course seen many photos of the facade of the temple but we hadn't realised that there's also an interior filled with friezes and hieroglyphics depicting Ramses' life.
We had a brief stop at the High Dam, which none of us were that thrilled by. It's undoubtedly an impressive engineering feat but by then we were tired and hungry and in need of toilets. Basic human needs overruled sightseeing.
Our last stop for the day was Philae Temple, set on an island in The Nile. It was mostly deserted so we enjoyed the colonnaded halls and courtyards and the shade they offered from the intense heat.
Finally we reached Aswan and found a local hotel that had a swimming pool we could use. Needless to say it was a lovely reprieve.
Tomorrow we board a felucca for a day of lazing in the sun - with no toilets!

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Comments

[Sam]

Dan what were you thinking!?
No amount of antibacterial handgel will help you now!