hello: it is still hot!!!!!
Abu Simbel Temple at sunrise was incredible!!! we got up at 5 and walked out to the site of the ramses and nefereteri temples. the colour on the temples was amazing and there were hardly any tourists - only two buses with tourists had arrived before us. the temples are on such a grand scale that it is hard to believe that people built these with simple hand toools. the detail in the carving into the sandstone was incredible. going out to the site fo sunrise really paid off as we were even in ramses tomb by ourselves for the longest time.
the eskaleh hotel aka nubian cultural centre was an awesome place to stay for the night. had a great evening meal the night before our walk out to the temple. tripped around the small village as well and ended up trading our pen for a small loaf of bread. this was not quite a transaction we had planned.
middle of the day we took a 5 hour local bus...Upper Egypt Bus Co along with 6 other foreign travellers and local egyptian / nubian folk across the desert to get us back to aswan. the bus was "air conitioned"... not really. it was unbelievably hot but we did get a pit stop in the middle of the desert. we were both exhausted by the time we got to aswan. a couple of the other travellers even told us where to get off the bus so that we did not have to take a taxi from the bus station to the hotel.
it was great to get checked into such good accommodation at such a low price! we have spent the last 4 days visiting sites in the morning and then taking a break in the middle of the day on the roof top where they have above ground pool and then hitting the streets in the evng. we, along with other travellers, have not been overly impressed with the food and sometimes the service. aswan is a major tourist site with thousands of people getting on and off tour boats that are travelling up and down the nile. at times we have felt overwhelmed by the sellers. have found the markets to be nicer in the morning when there are no tourist. we - or should we really say, bridey...has the bargaining down to an art. mostly we/she gets what we want for a fair price. however, there are some times when one just doesn't know what is a fair deal. lots of laughs at the end of a day comparing notes about who paid how much for what...one night we buy 3 falafel for 20 pounds...next day we go back for lunch to same place...and we pay 6 pounds for 2 falafel...go figure. today he said we were his friends!
some of the sites we have seen while in aswan have been totally amazing! the nubian villages and nubian museum have been very special. also the temple of isis was very impressive. thankfully unesco saved them when the aswan high dam was built. you can see 4 of the other temples from the flooded area in museums around the world...interesting trade off ???? we have used the local ferry on several occasions....paid 5 pounds first trip...but then figured out the real fare is one pound. bridey has had lots of interesting interactions with nubian women and their children. lots of egyptian children wearing canadian flag pins.
tomorrow we are heading to luxor (down the nile) via a mini bus with stops at 2 temple sites. we were going to hire a private taxi but have decided to save a bit of money and go with a group with fewer stops.
having a good time...no major problems....and very much in the rhythm of travelling...washing socks, etc at night and taking time to stop and absorb everything.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Egypt / Sudan Border
We are now in Abu Simbel which is forty kilometers from the Sudanese border on Lake Nasser. IT IS NOW REALLY HOT...COULD NOT EVEN GO WALKING AFTER WE GOT SETTLED IN. We had to have a cold (??) beer and a nap! Even bridey had some beer...obviously no cider here!
We got here by overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. One hour before the train arrived in Aswan bridey phoned to Egypt air to see if by chance we could get on a plane to Abu Simbel (we had tried to buy tickets in Cairo on Thursday but they were insistent that we could not make it from the train station in Aswan to the airport in time).
Then we lucked out because bridey was told that there were tickets and we could make it in time. Even with the train being 15 minutes late, we hopped into a taxi anxi0us to get our business and headed for Egypt Air. He waited with me while bridey went in and bought tickets that were cheaper then any price previously quoted... go figure! Mohammad Ali then sped us to the airport arriving in time to sit down and have a coffee. You need to understand that the whole point of this was to be able to fly over lake Nasser. Turns out there were about 15 people on a plane that could have held approx. 200 passengers.
So instead of a 3.5 hour bus trip in an escorted convoy we arrived in 45 minutes. We did see the lake and the UNESCO temple site, which is our destination.
We were greeted at the hotel by the owner and ushered in with great gusto. We were then offered our courtesy drink of hibiscus...ice cold. This hotel is the Nubian Cultural Centre and is built in a traditional style. There are only 5 rooms in the whole place. It is very well cared for and laid out.
Tomorrow we will get up very early in the morning and go out to the site when it is still cool and before the bus loads of tourists arrive from their convoys. Once we have toured the site, we will go back to the hotel and rest up before we head off to catch a bus for the trip back to Aswan.
Now back tracking over the past couple of days. Contrary to what we had posted our plans unfolded differently. We did not go to the pyramids. We will do this later. We did spend a half day (Thursday) in the Egyptian Museum when it was not crowded with tourists. We spent Thursday evening trying to figure out Peter & Maureen's washing machine. It had the longest cycle ever and then did not want to let us in. There was a long wait for it to open...next morning!
On Friday which just happened to be Good Friday we had chosen to visit Coptic Cairo. For any who do not know who the Coptics are, they are an early Christian church...part of the eastern orthodox tradition. Needless to say all of the Coptic Christians were out in their finery and were in the many churches in the process of worship. We did not just look at architecture but experienced the real thing.
We have wandered the streets for many hours, frequently lost but have always had help from friendly Egyptians. We have mastered the Metro and it works so well...there is an exception to the mastery. On Friday bridey and I jumped on the train turns out we were in the female only car and I only realized this when I took a look around. I jumped off tried to get in the next car but it too was a female only car...the doors closed and off bridey went with the women. The women in her car were very concerned that I was left behind. They tried calling me on Peter's cell...but I had it turned off. When bridey was getting off they were worried about what she would do. She told them she would be fine...and she was. She just waited for me and I came on the next metro train. bridey has since taken a picture of the "women only" sign for me and I have been studying it!
We will try to post some photos when we get to Aswan where we will be for 4 days.
Having Maureen and Peter's place was such a great base for us to get our "travel legs".
Having an amazing adventure!!! New sights, sounds and smells every moment of every day in this amazing culture!! Hard to believe we have been on the road almost a week now.
We got here by overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. One hour before the train arrived in Aswan bridey phoned to Egypt air to see if by chance we could get on a plane to Abu Simbel (we had tried to buy tickets in Cairo on Thursday but they were insistent that we could not make it from the train station in Aswan to the airport in time).
Then we lucked out because bridey was told that there were tickets and we could make it in time. Even with the train being 15 minutes late, we hopped into a taxi anxi0us to get our business and headed for Egypt Air. He waited with me while bridey went in and bought tickets that were cheaper then any price previously quoted... go figure! Mohammad Ali then sped us to the airport arriving in time to sit down and have a coffee. You need to understand that the whole point of this was to be able to fly over lake Nasser. Turns out there were about 15 people on a plane that could have held approx. 200 passengers.
So instead of a 3.5 hour bus trip in an escorted convoy we arrived in 45 minutes. We did see the lake and the UNESCO temple site, which is our destination.
We were greeted at the hotel by the owner and ushered in with great gusto. We were then offered our courtesy drink of hibiscus...ice cold. This hotel is the Nubian Cultural Centre and is built in a traditional style. There are only 5 rooms in the whole place. It is very well cared for and laid out.
Tomorrow we will get up very early in the morning and go out to the site when it is still cool and before the bus loads of tourists arrive from their convoys. Once we have toured the site, we will go back to the hotel and rest up before we head off to catch a bus for the trip back to Aswan.
Now back tracking over the past couple of days. Contrary to what we had posted our plans unfolded differently. We did not go to the pyramids. We will do this later. We did spend a half day (Thursday) in the Egyptian Museum when it was not crowded with tourists. We spent Thursday evening trying to figure out Peter & Maureen's washing machine. It had the longest cycle ever and then did not want to let us in. There was a long wait for it to open...next morning!
On Friday which just happened to be Good Friday we had chosen to visit Coptic Cairo. For any who do not know who the Coptics are, they are an early Christian church...part of the eastern orthodox tradition. Needless to say all of the Coptic Christians were out in their finery and were in the many churches in the process of worship. We did not just look at architecture but experienced the real thing.
We have wandered the streets for many hours, frequently lost but have always had help from friendly Egyptians. We have mastered the Metro and it works so well...there is an exception to the mastery. On Friday bridey and I jumped on the train turns out we were in the female only car and I only realized this when I took a look around. I jumped off tried to get in the next car but it too was a female only car...the doors closed and off bridey went with the women. The women in her car were very concerned that I was left behind. They tried calling me on Peter's cell...but I had it turned off. When bridey was getting off they were worried about what she would do. She told them she would be fine...and she was. She just waited for me and I came on the next metro train. bridey has since taken a picture of the "women only" sign for me and I have been studying it!
We will try to post some photos when we get to Aswan where we will be for 4 days.
Having Maureen and Peter's place was such a great base for us to get our "travel legs".
Having an amazing adventure!!! New sights, sounds and smells every moment of every day in this amazing culture!! Hard to believe we have been on the road almost a week now.
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