| Submitted by: Mark NowakUnited States |
| Submission Date: 11 February 2005 |
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Our bus dropped us off at the banks of the Nile. We had to take a ferry to Elephantine Island where our hotel was. As we walked up the stairs to the hotel, Cate and I asked Ahmed if he could arrange it so that Cate's, Shelley's and my room could be next to each other. His response was 'Why not?' When we checked into the Hotel Aswan Oberoi, we were greeted with some kind of fruit drink. It was pretty distasteful, and more than a few wouldn't finish theirs. I finished mine -- perhaps viewing food more so as a means of sustenance has its advantages. Fortunately, my Hard Rock Cafe glasses were still intact when I got to my room. Shelley, Cate and I sat at the same table for dinner. We asked Ahmed to join us. Ahmed turned out to be a fantastic tour director. He was very helpful, fun and had a great sense of humor. He was particularly fond of saying 'No problem' and 'Why not?' Cate, who used to bartend and work security at a bar, convinced us to try drambouie. We had some more Ruby of Egypt rose with dinner and once again were hysterical with laughter -- we loved this stuff. We wanted to know what we could see in the area, and Ahmed jokingly said he'd take me to Crocodile Island.
Shelley's, Cate's and my room were all in a row. We talked to each other from our balconies. The hotel had a pool, and we decided we wanted to go swimming. Unfortunately, the pool was closed. I voted for just going swimming, but Cate wanted to get permission. The truth was her back really could have benefited from a swim, and we went to the manager with that story -- including a part about me needing to be there to serve as her life guard. I had doubts this would work, so I brought bribe money just in case. Well, as it turned out, she pulled it off with me nodding behind her that I could save her life if need be.
Shelley joined us by the pool but didn't want to go in. The water was quite cold, and we didn't stay in all that long -- maybe 30 minutes. Cate said that it had helped her back. Back on our balconies, we decided to get together in Shelley's room. Cate was seeing a chiropractor for her back problems, and they both tried to convince me how helpful they are while Shelley massaged Cate's back. Shelley also tried to demonstrate some chi exercises to (on) me. We were up very late talking. Eventually, Shelley turned in and the party moved to Cate's room. We watched a little TV until eventually my eyes started rolling, and I went back to my room.
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Tuesday, March 7
ABU SIMBEL, AGA KHAN MAUSOLEUM, TEMPLE OF ISIS
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I got less than four hours of sleep. We checked out in the morning. Cate was short some space, so I packed her jacket in my bag. She and I sat together on both flights to and from Abu Simbel. At the airport there were quite a few Japanese tourists. It looked like a university group. Shuttle buses ran from the airport to the site. This was definitely a great day to wear shorts. We were very close to the southern border with Sudan that it was pretty hot. When the High Dam at Aswan was built, it threatened temples with flooding. The two temples at Abu Simbel were transplanted to safety at a cost of 36 million dollars in 1968. The huge temples are at the edge of Lake Nasser which was formed by the dam. They were placed at the southern border of Egypt by Ramses II to show the might of Egypt. The Temple of Ramses II has four gigantic seated statues in sandstone of himself in front. Rabie, our local guide for this part of the trip, took us inside and explained many of the hieroglyphics. It was neat to walk around and into the many rooms there. At the very rear of the temple are four seated figures. Light shines on three of them at sunrise twice a year.
Next door to this temple is the Temple of Hathor dedicated to Ramses' favorite wife Nefertari. This one was fun to explore too. Afterwards, we went into the false mountain of the Temple of Ramses II to get a behind the scenes look at how the site was dismantled and reconstructed. We actually went out through a tunnel in the back of the artificial mountain. The scenery was breathtaking. Cate bought a couple of packs of mediocre postcards for ten Egyptian pounds and a tip for the young salesman. I got the same deal just before I got on the bus but skipped the tip. I bought the postcards because we couldn't take pictures inside the temples.
There seemed to be some trouble getting all of our group who had gone on this excursion on the plane, but it all worked out. Ahmed had given us tickets for both flights before we got on the first plane. Cate held onto both of ours while we were sightseeing. When we got back, we boarded the Oberai Shehrazad which would be our home during our cruise down the Nile for four nights. This time I was in the middle in cabin 206, Cate was in 204 and Shelley was in 208. During our lunch on board the captain or manager introduced himself and warmly welcomed us on board. Afterwards, we boarded feluccas to sail across the waters of the Nile. It was fun. Our sailor was a Nubian with darker skin. We sailed past ruins to the site of the Aga Khan Mausoleum. We were anchored/parked at a spot where many souvenirs could be bought. We had to climb a hill to reach the mausoleum. I found out just how out of shape Cate was on that trip. During our stay on the boat I'm not sure if she every made it up all the stairs without taking a break to catch her breath. She attributed it to all the inoculations she received before starting on her travels.
There was a sign that said we couldn't enter the mausoleum in shorts, but others were doing it, so we did too. It wasn't much to see. We took some pictures outside before going back down. It was quite a sight to see so many feluccas now anchored in the little port down below. We looked over some souvenirs before getting back on board our felucca. A salesman even got on board trying to sell John (I can't say no -- I'm a shopaholic) something else. John actually wasn't feeling too well, but he thought he could make it back to the boat. We set sail again, but we didn't go directly back. We sailed by Kitchener Island with its botanical gardens. Our sailor played a drum and sang and got us to do the same. It was fun. He encouraged the women to belly dance. Apparently Ginger had taken a class in it and was persuaded to dance for us. Others joined in. It was quite memorable.
Shelley had taken ill. Apparently quite a few people had. Many thought it was Rami's cold from Israel going around. Five o'clock was always tea time on the boat. Shelley, Cate and I drank almost exclusively hibiscus tea which is said to have medicinal properties which I heard included helping with hypertension and arthritis. I think I must have had on the order of five cups of this tea at a sitting. It was quite good.
Only nine of us went to the Sound and Light Show on the island of Agilka where the immense Temple of Philae dedicated to Isis (the goddess of magic) and its complex could be found. The entire complex had been transplanted block by block and carefully reassembled. The ancient Egyptians believed that when Isis wept, she flooded the Nile with her tears and created the first people. We took a bus to the docks where motor launches left for the temple. Since the complex was on an island, it was a wonderful experience to glide across the surface of the Nile in the dark -- they don't put lights on their boats like they do in the States. The show was put on in three stages. We stood for two of them and sat for the last part in different parts of the complex. Various lights went on and off while the myth of how Set tricked his brother Osiris at a banquet and cut him up into little pieces which he scattered all over Egypt. Isis, the wife and sister of Osiris, eventually got him back together again and resurrected him. Their son was the falcon-headed god Horus, who battled Set until Set lost. The production was put on very well.
Shelley and Cate waited for me to get back so that we could have dinner together. Carol joined us, and we had some more of that Ruby of Egypt rose. That night I think Cate and I were talking in her cabin until around midnight until I started falling asleep again.
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Wednesday, March 8
UNFINISHED OBELISK, PHILAE, ASWAN HIGH DAM, KOM OMBO
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Still docked in Aswan, after breakfast, we started the day by visiting the great Unfinished Obelisk at an ancient granite quarry. If it hadn't cracked when it was being cut out from the rock, it would have been the largest obelisk in Egypt. There was a good-sized crowd around, so getting a picture of it was difficult. The most frustrating thing was watching people just stand on it and carry on a conversation.
Ahmed had renamed himself and our tour group. We were now the Magnificents, and we should now refer to him as Ramses. At one point I asked him if he ever changed the names, and he said that he did. He did confide in us that doing the same tour week after week was getting monotonous for him.
We went on to the Temple of Isis from Philae on Agilka. I enjoyed being able to contrast its appearance with the way it looked at night. Wanting to keep people out of her pictures, Cate left the group and headed off in the direction opposite that of the tour groups. The complex was massive and there was a lot to see and have described. Rabie pointed out a spot where the Italians who reconstructed the temple actually put in part of a column upsidedown.
We saw the turn-of-the-century Old Dam and the gigantic Aswan High Dam -- the island of Agilka is actually between the two. The High Dam was built with the help of the Soviets between 1960 and 1971 -- probably because the United States made some unacceptable conditions for our aid involving Israel. The High Dam stopped the periodic flooding of the Nile which allowed farmers to grow more food throughout the year. Unfortunately, it also reduced the flow of fertilizing silt down the river as well. At the High Dam it was neat to be able to walk across it and see the river far below on one side and huge Lake Nasser on the other. There were plenty of military people around. No pictures with zoom lenses were allowed but telephoto lenses were okay. I asked about Ahmed about this, and the only answer he gave me was 'security reasons.' I asked about these reasons, and he jokingly told me to just follow the rules. Before we left the area, we visited the large monument that supported a huge ring that the Soviets had built after they finished the dam. I wanted a closer look, so Ahmed took a few of us all the way up to it. It was quite impressive. That was one thing I really liked about Ahmed. He seemed to really appreciate that we might never be back here and how much the trip cost us, so if it wasn't a big deal (even sometimes when it was), he'd go out of his way to make sure we saw what we wanted to see and enjoyed ourselves.
When we got back to the boat, we cast off and started our journey down the Nile as we ate our lunch. I very much enjoyed the cruise. We'd see many interesting sights which included a train that followed the Nile, farmers working in their fields and some amazing sunsets. One night when the sun was going down, I saw a farmer get down on his knees and face Mecca to pray. Near the banks of the river, palm trees, crops and other vegetation were everywhere, but a short distance away you could see harsh desert up to the sides of the Nile Valley.
I bought more film on board because I was taking more pictures than I expected. |
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