Aswan and it's treasures

Saturday 12 May 2012  - Aswan High Dam, Phillae Temple, Unfinished Obelisk, Kom Ombo Temple

Day 30 and 129 to go

The first night on the boat was a restful one with sleep easy to come by. We had our wake up call at 6am but I turned over and ignored it for a bit while Paul got up. I followed soon after. We sorted all of our gear that we needed for the day before going down to breakfast.

We met the group in the lobby at 7am and were back into the mini-bus and off to visit the high dam that creates hydro-electricity for Egypt and many other African and Middle-Eastern countries. It wasn’t a particularly impressive structure as you couldn’t really see the dam wall and you could only walk along the top road. The dam is guarded by the military and you cannot take video footage. The Lake Nasser that has been created by the dam is 500km long and 6000m2 in area. It contains many large fish and 9 -10m crocodiles!  We did see some fish.

We were then escorted to the Phillae Temple. We had to take a boat across to a small island which houses the Egyptian temple built in Greek times. The temple was relocated from a spot 350m away as it became submerged when they dammed the river. For a long time it was a dive spot but in the 80’s they drained the water from around it and then cleaned off the silt and relocated the building piece by piece. It was very impressive.

There were plenty of street hawkers around to hassle the tourists. Unfortunately one followed Paul all the way to our van wanting to sell his jewellery. While we sat in the van he kept pushing and placed the bracelets on Paul’s leg. Wrong move. Paul promptly picked them all up and launched them back over the head of the vendor much to his surprise and horror. Well you were told NO!

We then took the boat back to our van and continued onto the unfinished obelisk. This was the ancient Egyptian granite quarry where they carved out their long slender obelisks that acted like lighthouses for the different temples, as they had tops covered in gold or materials that glinted in the sun. 

We watched a brief video before wandering around the rock quarry. It was starting to get very warm and the heat was radiating from the rock. We were glad to retreat back to the bus.

When we returned to the boat we had about 2 hours before lunch. We decided to go up for a swim. The pool was very cool but it was refreshing once we were in. We had a chat to the English man. Paul went off to buy more beers so I stayed with Phil.

When Paul returned we went back to the room before heading down for lunch. Paul took one of the beers he had bought and got told he couldn’t have it, but he told them he would be. They didn’t bother arguing. The meal was again delicious.

While at lunch the boat pulled up the anchor and began sailing north down the Nile. We returned to the room to watch things go by before going up top to enjoy the views further. I sat in the pool with Paul and Phil while we sat chatting.

There were sections of greenery and agricultural ventures along with cattle, horses, donkeys and camels.

We briefly returned to the cabin for a drink and to organise our things for our next excursion before heading up top for views to the Kom Ombo Temple. 

The boat pulled in outside the temple and we met our guide in the lobby before heading up to the temple. We were the first group there so we moved quickly through it to ensure we didn’t have to wait anywhere and we could stay in the shade. After the talk we were free to go back and wander through before going to the crocodile museum attached. They had many mummified crocodiles inside. The Kom Ombo Temple was created to worship the crocodile god Sobek and the Falcon God Horus the elder. 

We returned to the boat after dodging the street hawkers again and returned to the sanctuary of our room. The boat began sailing again, this time for Edfu where we were to stop for the night. We watched the news before dressing up for the cocktail party at 730pm.

We went to the lounge bar where we received a free cocktail and there were a few Hour d ourves it was great to be able to put on good clothes for a change.

We then returned to the restaurant for dinner, an Egyptian buffet. It was delicious. We sat around chatting with our table companions again, before returning to the roof where we watched the boat dock. Soon after we called it a night returning to our room. 

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