A Day at Abu Simbel

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Woke up at 3am this morning.. packed my stuffs and went down for breakfast.. The breakfast included by the hotels here are just some bread rolls and jam, and a cup of shai.. dun think interncontinental breakfast buffet..

At breakfast, realized that a group of Chinese youths i met at Luxor are putting up at Hathor and going for the trip as well.. 330am, bus came.. a 20+ seater... bus went around picking up a few more passengers, and as i guessed, the Beijing couple came on board as well.. woah.. Chinese power in this bus! haha...

Fell asleep on bus shortly after the trip started.. wanted to wake up in time to see the dawn light setting in on the desert landscape we're driving through.. i've always loved to watch the sky brightening up during overnight drives on road trips.. but slept too much.. woke up too late.. snapped a couple of shots.. went back to sleep..

Arrived at Abu Simbel temple at around 730am.. bus ride took about 3.5hr on the road.. our driver was slow.. we were always overtaken by those big 40seaters..

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel
The Great Temple at Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II to demonstrate Egypt's might for whoever's sailing up the Nile to Egypt.. it was also a tribute to Ra, Amun, Ptah and of cos, himself.. There is a smaller temple to the right dedicated to the god Hathor. Entrance fee was 80LE / 43.05LE for adults/students. It is located at the southernmost part of Egypt, pretty close to the Sudan border.

The Great temple is pretty impressive.. 4 collosal statues of Ramses II sitting out looking at the Nile.. the smaller statues are of his wife and his children.. In the innermost room, there are 4 statues (Ra, Amun, Ptah, RamsesII) for people to pay their tributes to.. it is said that on 2 days of the year, 22 Oct and 22 Apr (?), the sun will rise and shine directly through the various doorways and illuminate the statues.. there were some significance with the 2 dates.. but i forgot what.. haha..

The smaller temple had 6 statues outside.. 4 of RamsesII and 2 of Nefertari, his wife..

No photos were allowed in the temples.. but I still took some.. and was caught! the plain clothed guardsman wanted me to follow him outside.. but i sheepishly said sorry and deleted those pictures in front of him voluntarily.. phew! no fine..

After spending 2 hours at the temples.. we set off on the long road back to Aswan area..

High Dam
many of us in the bus were not interested in paying 8LE to visit the dam.. so we just waited outside for the bus to come back out with the people who went in.. while waiting, i surveyed the area and saw where I should go tomorrow for boarding the ferry.. 2nd class.. must chiong for seats.. chiong ah!!!!!

The high dam was built to control the irregular flooding of the Nile.. after it was built, it increased the ariable land in Egypt by a whooping 30%!.(MISSING). but it also caused the Nile behind the dam to swell up into a lake.. many monuments and Nubian villages had to be relocated because of this.. also caused some international tension with the Nile countries..

Temple of Philae
The temple of Philae was dedicated to Isis.. who found the heart of Osiris on Philae island.. Entrance fee was 20LE.

The funny thing is, after we paid the entrance ticket and entered the gate, we have to negotiate for a ferry to take us to the island.. but we're in already.. what if we can't negotiate a suitable price? The ferry man can charge us anything and we are at their mercy.. While this jap couple and i were checking our guide books, our other bus companions have already helped us negotiate for 10LE / person.. then we saw the book says the ferry should cost about 3LE per pax.. oh well..

It turned out later when i asked around that there was an official price for the ferry.. 35LE/ferry.. but this official price was not displayed prominently or communicated automatically.. only if you ask the ticket office then they tell you..

The temple was pretty nice.. on an island surrounded by water.. by this time, i was getting a little tired about visiting sights.. and getting sick of wall hieroglyphs.. haha.. so i just enjoyed the island.. walk here walk there..

Back to Aswan
By the time we got back to Aswan, it was already about 330pm. .collected my big pack and walked to Nubian Oasis for a 15LE room.. took a much needed shoewr, and took a stroll by the Nile.. did not bring my camera bag, cos i'm a little tired from taking photos.. at the Nile. finally decided to take the much spoken about felucca ride.. finally negotiated a price of 10LE for half an hour.. just me, the tillerman and the felluca..

The felluca ride was pretty nice.. relaxing.. especially when u take it at sunset.. now i wished i wasn't so lazy and had brought my camera bag with me.. oh well.. took some photos and videos with my handphone.. turned out pretty well.. will post them later if i have the chance..

counted my money after the fellucca ride.. last night in Egypt.. oh yay.. i have enuff for a good dinner.. so i tried out this much recommended resaurant Chef Khalil that specializes in fish.. yah man.. have not had fish for one week.. tried the Nile Perch, 20LE.. 2 of the perches came baked/friend on a plate.. coupled with rice.. tahini.. green vegetables.. bread.. nice spread.. The two fish were extremely fresh.. and tasty.. good meal.. bill came... 24LE.. 20% extra in taxes and service.. that's what you get for going to restaurants.. heh.. oh well, good dinner for a lesser known journey starting tomorrow!

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Photos

The Great Temple
Frontal standard shot

Desert at Dawn
taken on the bus.. ok.. not that dawn cos i woke up a little too late.. was hoping to see the desert with a purple shade..

Everyone's sleeping
Pretty packed.. pity those that have to sit on the fold-out seats..

First View of Lake Nasser
I'll be crossing you tomorrow...

The Two Temples at Abu Simbel
Facing the Nile.. warning those who dare harness evil thoughts on great egypt!

A wall in the Great Temple
The lighting from below is sooo ideal.. i think this is how the ancient artists planned it to look like.. i'd imagine in the past the temples are lit by loq firelight

Temple of Hathor
The statues of Nefertari stands as tall as the pharoah himself.. I guess Ramses II really loved his wife.. so touching..

Me and the Beijing Couple
Taken by a nice German lady

Me and the Great Temple
Ahh.. you can tell the skill difference when i'm in front of the camera.. hehe..

Desert Landscape on the way back
Well paved roads.. phew!

The prodigal ones
that did not want to see any dam..

The main Altar Room at Philae
Nice lighting..

More heiroglyphs
Getting tired of these yet?

A well lit hieroglyph
Nice lighting from the bottom

Comments

[mel]

she looks familiar...
hmm, the girl from the Beijing couple looks like raina?

[Chivalry]

No wonder!
no wonder i find her so strangely captivating...