13th Nov - Karnak Temple

We headed out to the Karnak Temple at 9am, the final temple on our tour. It was a relatively short bus ride to get there, but the air-con comfort was highly appreciated. On the way out, we saw these emaciated horses being forced to pull carts with bunches of tourists in them, that had just poured off the docked cruisers. This temple was absolutely enormous, & I think one of the most spectacular on the tour. The statues were quite diverse & well intact. It felt amazing just walking through history in this way.

11th Nov - Edfu Temple

The boat had docked at Edfu & we were up bright & early & headed off to Edfu Temple. On the way, we drove by lots of horse & carts pulling tourists fresh off their cruisers up to the temple. The condition of the majority of horses was atrocious, & the group I was with were amazed that tourists even chose to buy rides knowing the horse were suffering.
The temple was only a 10-min drive away from the dock & we arrived amidst a flock of over-zealous tourists all scrambling to get the best viewing places on their tour. This was the only temple that depicted through drawings the king laying & blessing the foundation stones. This was also the first temple on our tour that retained some of its original colouring, though it was faded & some had been damaged either through fire or restoration. On the sacrificial slab at the core of the temple, there had been laid a replica of one of the original boats that used to be placed there. Big Mo explained the primary drawings then left us to wander about for 30-mins on our own for a look-see.

Eve Visit to Kom Ombu Temple

We returned to the cruiser at about 3:30pm, had lunch, then a chance to relax on the sundeck. At 6pm, we met in the lobby for a tour to the Kom Ombu Temple, the smallest temple on our tour. The cruise parked right in front of the temple, alongside another 20 or 30 other cruisers double-parked at the tourist stop. There were thousands of tourists following their respective guides all over the temple grounds as they explained the meaning & interpretation. The temple was exquisite lit up in the early evening darkness. In front of the temple there is a Nile-o-meter used to measure the height of the Nile water in times before the High Dam was erected (no longer required).
After the visit, a couple of us strolled down to the riverside markets. The guys there were pretty full-on with their selling tactics, one even going as far as to blocking my exit to his stall. I calmly told him how intimidating that was & that he should immediately step away - he did. I did, however, buy a pair of sandals (25EP) & a scarf that I intended to use as a wrap-around on the cruiser (20EP). I was quite happy with my purchases. Kirsten had her blonde hair down that eve & nearly every man made a comment about offering to buy her or just wanting her. It got a bit too much in the end really.

The Great Abu Simbel Temple

It was stinking hot when we landed at the airport in Abu Simbel. Kirsten had lent me a black scarf so I could wear a singlet top underneath & still keep the perverts at bay. Not that they really perved at me cause they definitely prefer blondes over here - thank goodness! The bus ride to the temple didn’t take too long, & after a quick toilet stop, we entered the temple ground gates.
We had to walk about 500m to the entrance of the temple of King Ramses II. This temple & the smaller one dedicated to his main wife, Nefertari, were both moved to a higher level in the 1960's to prevent them from erosion due to flooding. What a massive effort that would have been.

Ramses temple was enormous with many more rooms built into it. It really told an incredible story through the carvings & hieroglyphics which were, literally, all over the temple walls & ceiling & dedicated to various Gods - Isis, Horus, Ibis, etc. The very back room had 4 statues in there, one of which was Ramses. Twice a year at sunrise, the sunlight pierces through the entrance to the very back of the temple into this room & for 18 minutes shines on the statue of Ramses. The last time this happened, the Tourist & Antiquities Police counted over 12,000 tourists on the day coming to observe this phenomenon. Unfortunately, you weren’t permitted to take photos inside either temple, but we were allowed to take photos from the entrance looking in. Of course, the guards wanted a small fee for this & I, of course, completely ignored their request.
Nefertari's temple was built adjacent to Ramses temple, looking out to Lake Nasser. It was much smaller with fewer rooms. This was dedicated to Hathor, the Goddess of love & music, offering many gifts to the Goddess. Neither temple had much colour left, just a few dibs & dabs here & there, generally in areas shielded from the elements.
After an hour of wandering on my own through the two temples, I made my way through the scorching heat back to the café for a Sprite. I completely forgot to visit the visitor’s centre which outlines the process of relocation of the temples - silly me.

10th Nov - Journey to Abu Simbel

We'd been warned previously that the flight to Abu Simbel might require that we get a wake up call at 3am. Thankfully this wasn’t the case as the flight was scheduled for 10:30am. After breakfast, I was feeling quite off colour - feeling a build-up to exploding, possibly out of both sides. So I took it fairly easy. And when we got to Aswan airport & the flight was delayed by 30 mins, it gave me ample opportunity to pay a lengthy visit to the local facilities. Which I did & was even happy to pay 1EP to do.
After a good bowel cleansing, & drinking plenty of water, I felt quite a lot better & was ready to battle the 40 degree heat in Abu Simbel. (Not sure how people cope in the off-season where temperatures can get up to 50 degrees or more here). This was an optional trip on the tour & there were a couple of people who chose not to go. But I’d been told by friends that this was a must-see trip, so it was something I was determined to do.
The Air Memphis plane seemed to date back to the 1960s, its condition reflecting that assumption. There were only a few seats left when I boarded the aircraft - right up the back in a windowless window seat, located next to the engine at the back of the plane. One thing I was extremely relieved of was that my seatbelt worked, cause at the point I sat down, I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to survive the trip. The steward sat in a fold-up chair between the 2 toilets at the back of the plane. I’m sure I saw him praying during the 30-min flight. Cause we could see out the plane from the back row of seats, we thought we’d hit a really rough patch of turbulence when in fact we’d landed. Got there safely!

Philae Temple

After the extra exciting dam visit, we jumped back on the bus & rode out to the pick up point for the Philae Temple, a temple dedicated to the Goddess Isis. In the area where the small boats would take us across the lake, there were a few fairly aggressive sellers showing their goods. But we managed to get through there unscathed & boarded the boat ready for our mini journey. There was a teenage boy on the boat selling his wares at very reasonable prices & I bought 3 bracelets which I supposed could always be given as gifts here & there.
The temple itself had been moved from a lower island that kept on being flooded to a higher island that was protected from flooding. The relocation itself took 10 years, with the temple divided into blocks, numbered, then moved a piece at a time with painstaking effort.
The temple was exquisite, with little nooks & crannies that you could explore. And with the sun setting, it threw some beautiful colours on to the temple walls & surrounding lake & rocks.