Aswan & Abu Simbel
Awesome panorama of Abu Simbel
While walking around and getting harrassed in Aswan, Jim asked one of the guys following us, in Spanish, if he was hot. (The guy was wearing one of those long robes). The guy smiled and said, “No, strong. Nubian!” And pointed towards the other side of the Nile at the Nubian town.
Anyway….yesterday in the souk (bazaar) one guy asked Jim how many camels he wanted for me. It’s good to see they at least have a sense of humor. We chuckled.
Nice picture of the souk (closed during the day for Ramadan)
We also saw a teenaged-looking tourist girl wearing a little camisole dress, with a lot of cleavage showing – totally inappropriate. A couple younger boys openly ogled her and almost fell over each other to look at her. Obviously the locals dress very conservatively, but there are enough stupid tourists walking around wearing shorts and tank tops that I don’t feel out of place wearing short sleeves and a knee length travel skirt. It is hot as all get-out, though. But it’s a dry heat.
So we walked through the souk a zillion times yesterday because there was nothing else to do. We booked a tour for the next day (today) to Abu Simbel, Philae, the Unfinished Obelisk, and the Aswan Dam.
We didn’t really have lunch because it seems hard to find places there are open because of Ramadan. We ended up taking a cab to a place called the Nubian House restaurant, and in one of those crazy lucky travel moments, we got there just in time to grab a table on the edge of the hill overlooking the Nile for sunset. Tourists everywhere were snapping photos. I looked forward to trying some Nubian food but after drinks and a snack, they told us the chef was going to be late. We were ravenous so got a cab back to town and went to a little place called Al-Sayyida Nefissa in the souk recommended by our hotel and the guidebook. It was definitely a local dive and I was the only female there. We got falafel and chicken; it was decent.
Sunset and Jim drinking tea at the restaurant
Later we went to a nice bar on the water and I had fresh mango juice, Jim had the Egyptian beer Stella (not Artois) and we smoked the hookah.
This morning we got up at 3:30am to be picked up for our tour. The minibus was packed, as usual. On the long 3-hour drive to Abu Simbel, we got to see the sun rise over the desert. Did I mention this is my first time seeing the desert?
We finally got to Abu Simbel with scads of other tourists and I was pumped to finally SEE SOMETHING!
As we were walkig in, Jim tried to eat some of the food our hotel packed in a box for us–while walking–and tripped over a small post sticking out of the ground. It was great. He never trips on stuff.
I anticipated the first view of the huge statues with glee and finally the first glimpse of their faces came around the corner… Jim said it perfectly, “Are those real?!” They looked like a photograph – not like they were actually in front of us. Just crazy.
Pictures of Abu Simbel (not my pics)
We had 2 hours at the site and they went by quickly – I would have liked more time. It was nuts to see these giant statues and beautiful pictures carved into the walls in the interior of the structure. I guess I thought it would have a more profound effect on me, since I used to be obsessed with ancient Egypt as a kid, but once you are there, the mystery is sort of gone. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing and huge and awe-inspiring.
I forgot to mention I wore my horrendous pink shirt today – it’s a great shirt for hot weather, with vents in the back and all, but it’s a horrible ugly pinkish-salmon color. I wore it with a khaki knee-length skirt and SNEAKERS. And, a big travel hat. And, to top it all off – I have a new navy bandana that you soak in water and put around your neck and it stays cool for hours. I am pretty sure it beats my previous record for “most horribly touristy outfit” AKA the “I-don’t-give-a-****-what-I-look-like,-I’m-traveling! award” which you can see here, from Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2004.
Anyway. We got back in the van and drove a long time until we got to the Aswan dam. We spent 10 mins there and it was boring. Not even worth it.
Next we went to Philae, which is a pretty sweet temple. However, but this time we were getting pretty hot and worn out.
A guy posing at the Philae
After that, we drove a bit more to the Unfinished Obelisk, and the entire van of people agreed loudly NOT to leave the van to see it. Then it dropped us off at the hotel.
We then went to dinner/lunch at the Aswan Moon cafe. The food was decent, nothing great, but god, it felt good to eat. Since 3:30am that morning until 4pm, I hadn’t eaten anything but 2 granola bars and a couple pieces of bread. The tour was a typically semi-unorganized affair and one of the biggest problems was that lunch was not provided and we didn’t even get a chance to buy any food or even eat.
Prior to posting this, Jim and I spent a very long time researching our flights and hotels for our next locations. I booked flights from Luxor-Cairo and Cairo-Sharm el Sheikh. He booked hotels for both. Tomorrow we will take the train at 6am to Luxor and there we will see the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Luxor as a town is supposed to suck, and the touts are supposed to be the worst in Egypt.
I can’t lie, I can’t wait to get to Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab to snorkel and hang out in the water!!!
To chunk’s comment: a tout is a guy who comes up to you in the street or outside a shop, or anywhere, and tries to get you to buy something. They try to get you to come into their shop, their restaurant, their cab, take a cruise, or purchase whatever junk they have. They will call out to you from their car, from the other side of the street, from their store, anywhere. And sometimes they will keep walking with you even when you tell them you are not interested. They will ask you if you want a cab as they see you GETTING OUT of a cab. Jim was speaking Spanish to a few of the guys to throw them off. He said he figured like he was helping them since they should know Spanish. In Turkey, all the touts seemed to speak every language – it was seriously impressive. It is a little surprising to us, then, that almost none of the touts here know Spanish. I think my list of worst tout experiences would go worst to not-worst: China, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey. But then Egypt has a lot of time to climb higher on the list…
Tags: Egypt, Petra, Jerusalem 2007, Travel
Kelly
Hey Kelly,nr It is so fun reading about all the adventures you are having. Some of us dont even get out of Bay City that often!!! nrAlthough Me and Uncle Ken are traveling to Battle Creek for a 3 day conference then on to Martis in Kentuckt.. she is having the labor induced in about a week and then after that it is off to Cleveland to drop Ken off at Daves for a week. so I get to do a little traveling. Keep posting the info.. I find it interesting and fascinating. Oh, yeah.. Hi Jim!nr