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Published: April 23rd 2009
The Nile at Aswan
Aswan is in upper (southern) Egypt, location of the high dam which protects lower (northern) Egypt from flooding.Tom and I had the choice of taking a 3-hour (each way) bus ride to and from Abu Simbel or taking a flight from Aswan to the archaeological site. Which one do you think we chose? Right - we flew 40 minutes each way. The whole Abu Simbel temple was moved up hill in the 1960s to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, created by the construction of the high dam at Aswan. Tom and I remember the Aswan dam controversy, since there’s no way to know what treasures are now beneath the surface of the lake. The external figures are huge, and the carvings and colors inside are amazing. Tom’s favorite: the huge statues outside; my favorite is a large carved mural indoors with many rows of figures. It’s about 20x30 feet.
The next morning, we took a felluca for two days on the Nile. It’s a small boat with one sail, and the trip was SLOW, since there was no wind. At one point, the boatman was using an oar to push us down the river; at another, they were actually rowing the boat. Everyone reclined on the cushioned deck, listening to the iPODs, playing
Abu Simbel
Corey could tell you much more about the temple, but we did appreciate the history and the art. cards, and sleeping or eating. We had vegetarian meals and slept on the felluca deck and looked at the stars. Our Australian trip comrades are all fun - they’re teaching us Aussie English and tell us there will be a test at the end of the trip. Aussie English has evolved very strangely!
After the felluca trip, we went back to the city of Luxor, called Thebes in ancient times. We’re still frustrated by the Egyptian tradition of screwing the tourists, including surcharges, tourists prices and the inclination to charge us twice the normal amount while giving our trip leader free food. That WILL show up on our feedback form… If only this one thing would change, we’d enjoy Egypt so much more.
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