http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Egypt , Upper Egypt , Aswan en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 06:05:16 +0000 Tue, 21 May 2013 06:05:16 +0000 Well we were out to it almost all night thanks to good earplugs and sleeping tablet each. We were so tired and the sleeper train beds were actually pretty comfy considering what we were expecting from the look of the outside of the train. After eating dinner they came in and converted our cabin to bunks. I feel asleep as you have just read while Ben was writing the blog and then settled in when he http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-781598.html Our sleeper train from Cairo to Aswan was interesting. Apparently its mostly tourists that take it as it is too expensive for most Egyptians to travel on. It wasnt the nicest train ever but it wasnt the worst either. Id say the train I took in Thailand was much less comfortable. We had our own cabins with two bunks in each with a little sink and mirror. A mostly functioning toilet at the en http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-779884.html We awake around 9.30 in the morning. It has been such an amazing sleep. The best I39ve slept in such a long time. The farmers have been by this morning because now there is a donkey and its baby on the grass where we are docked. I try a couple of times to pat the donkey but they don39t really like us getting close. Right toilet time the thing we dread the most. It involves grabbing some TP http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-768247.html Ahmed joined us again this morning when we met Hussein to arrange the transfer of our luggage to the Mvenpick Hotel on Elephantine Island and advise us that our Cairo hotel has been changed from the Hilton in the city to Le Meridien Pyramids out at Giza. Even before we left Australia we thought that this could happen because the Hilton is very close to Tahrir Square. After seeing just how close http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-767885.html The sleeper train was fun very bumpy I am woken in the morning by a man bringing breakfast to my door. As we are waiting to arrive I spend a little bit of time looking out the window. The Contiki guide tells us about the Nubian houses. They are like a box without a lid. Their lids are leaves. They are designed this way to keep them cool in the summer which can sometimes reach 50 degrees. People o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-759486.html October 18 19 20 and 21st. Thursday 18th Nile Cruise ending in Aswan We arrive at Aswan and I am up early as we sail in under the Aswan bridge. We have a busy morning visiting the High Dam Ancient unfinished obelisk site and then a boatride on the Nile over to the Temple of Philae. This entire temple had been moved off an island in the 1970s and took 5 years to move. Difficult to comprehend. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-754173.html ltstrong stylemsobidifontweight normalgtNile Cruise ltstrong stylemsobidifontweight normalgtSunday October 21 Wake up call at 6 am for an enormous buffet breakfast and the trip to the Valley of the Kings. We went into tombs 2 6 and 11. Impressive to be in the tombs and there were some areas that still had vivid colours from almost 5000 years ago. Its hard to believe t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-752400.html 14th Oct I can safely say that I have very little recollection of this day. So I can39t really write much about it. the train journey was fine a bit cold actually as the aircon was blasting. Toilet wasn39t too horrific either although I did fear getting my feet wet On the train there was a slight problem as an older gent who was on our tour started having a go at the Egyptian police t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-738625.html PHOTOS SOONDEUTSCH UND FOTOS BALD...I was washing my toothbrush with that water that39s what I was thinking as I seen the river in Cairo Egypt.Hello everyone for yet another blog. The rest of Istanbul was nice I even got to take a cruise to the Black Sea and you39ll be glad to hear that noone was stabbed on that ferry. I also got to try Raki which tasted alot like Sambucca but wi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-737613.html Are there people out there who feel sorry for me I had to get up at 3 AM to catch a bus that would drive us 3 hours to Abu Simbel. Of course I slept on the bus I tried to at least. But that was not the worst part on our way back our convoy the bus got a flat tire. Guess where In the desert. Yay rolling eyes. But enough about my complaints that just stands in the way of you reading my exp http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-734707.html Spent my last day going around to a few remaining places in town. The first stop was the Unfinished Obelisk. Since ancient times Aswan has been known for its quarries and most of the stone of all the Egyptian monuments originally came from this area. The Unfinished Obelisk was just one day abandoned because of a crack but it would39ve been the single largest obelisk made by the Egyptians. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-731627.html After the pyramids probably my favorite day in Egypt. Set off with a driver at 11ish for the 3 hour drive South to Abu Simbel. The landscape in this part of the country is nothing but desert vast endless plains of sand. At one point it was 115 F outside the car and mirages were beginning to appear on the horizon. They really did look like water and you could see how they could easily lead y http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-731410.html Convenient being already on Elephantine Island since this is the oldest part of Aswan. So today I basically just walked down the island. But some interesting things happened along the way. Once you leave the Movenpick you immediately hit two Nubian villages which are beautiful enough in their way mudbrick houses with some farmland attached to them and a bunch of goats sheep and donkeys wan http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-731173.html Same guy a nice older man drove me down to Aswan today which is about 4 hours away. We stopped at two places along the way. First in Edfu 2 hours from Luxor at the absolutely incredible Temple of Horus. This is so far my favorite temple in Egypt. While the other temples I39ve been to are truly openair the Temple of Horus actually has a roof and the play of light and shadow on the column http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-730976.html Last night the streets were filled with thousands and thousands of Egyptians all of whom came out to celebrate at least where I was the first free election of the new president Mursi. The word is that Mursi is not of a military background but is instead a doctor a thought which brings hope to some though his tight ties with corrected information inserted here Muslim Brotherhood worry othe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-725966.html Option 1 Full day tour to Abu Simbel Temple Abul Simbel was built by Ramses II during the 19th dynasty. It is one of the glories of the ancient Egyptian monuments and it was saved from the inundation of the Nile waters. The temple is built out of a sandstone and it has depicted deities carved on its huge facade. Nearby lies a small temple of the king39s wife Nefertariand it was dedicated to http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-723485.html Wow what an awesome day Started with a 330am wake up call for our 3 hr bus ride to Abu simbel. We travelled in a convoy of 15 buses with a military escort. The reason for the early departure is due to the extreme hot weather. It got to approx 45 today. We arrived at Abu Simbel in which the main attraction is a templ which has 4 statues of the great Ramses 2. There is also a temple for Ramses favo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-718605.html MorningYesterday we travelled on a felucca to Philae Temple which is an island which has three temples on it. One roman greek and egyptian. Its amazing to see how big they are and the detail of the carvings is awesome. Even after thousands of years u can still c the quality of the craftsmanship. The whole site actually needed to be moved piece by piece from its original location due to the dange http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-718405.html hey heyYesterday 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 th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-718260.html The layer of dust lined my skin which glistened in the sun against the sheen of sweat the combination resulted in a gritty exfoliation a treatment available only in Egypt. We were greeted with a barely manageable heat seeing as we arrived in the late afternoon we knew we were in store for foreboding temperatures over the next two weeks. After introductions to the rest of the group and tour lea http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Aswan/blog-716525.html