Aswan, Egypt - 2 November

It was another early morning although it wasn’t the obscene hour of 2:30 so it felt like we were sleeping in when the alarm clock went off at 5:00 am. We had to be on the bus by 6:30 to join a convoy of tourist buses heading to Aswan. Because the roads are so narrow, convoys are organized to go from Luxor to Aswan and they get preferential treatment on the road. The other vehicles have to pull over to let us pass when they see us coming. How sweet! Along the way, Eileen wanted to take pictures of people in the villages we passed but in Egypt taking pictures of people like that is considered rude. So Eileen engaged in some stealth photography so that she wouldn’t offend anyone by taking their picture. She pulled the curtains on the bus shut and poked her camera through the gap in order to take pictures. The only problem with this method was that she couldn’t see what was approaching us on the road ahead and didn’t know when to take the picture. My job was to be the lookout and let her know if there was anything interesting was approaching. What a team!

When we reached Aswan at 10:30 our first stop of the day was at the Philae Temple which was on a small island. We had to run a gauntlet of shop keepers and vendors to get to the boats which would take us to the island. According to the guide book, Philae has a “romantic and majestic aura” – that one completely escaped me! I just thought it was pretty. Obviously, I should never consider writing tour books as a profession. Since I was getting temple burn-out by this time, I remember more about the relocation of this temple from one island to another (being the engineer’s daughter that I am). At the start of the 20^th century, Philae and its temples became swamped for six months of every year by the high waters of the reservoir created by the old Aswan dam. In the 1960s, with the approaching completion of the High Dam (which will be visited later in the day) and even more severe flooding, Unesco agreed to finance the relocation of the temple to a higher island. The temple was disassembled and removed from Philae between 1972 and 1980. It was reconstructed on the nearby island of Agilkia and even landscaped to resemble the other island. They did an amazing job putting everything back together. The seams for each stone are barely visible.

Bahgat did a wonderful job of making the history of the place come alive. The sun was brutal though and we darted from shady area to shady area to escape it. It was a beautiful temple but after visiting Karnak and Luxor Temples it suffered in comparison.

When we had taken our quota of photos, we took the boat back to the landing, ran the gauntlet of shop keepers again for a very short drive to the Aswan High Dam (the one that flooded Philae). The Egyptians are very proud of this dam so I think it is obligatory that all tourists visiting Aswan stop there. It was a mercifully brief visit and we continued on our way to the hotel.

Our hotel was located on an island (Isis Island). We arrived at the bank of the Nile and had a ten minute ferry ride to our hotel. It was a very beautiful ride with feluccas sailing around us. Once at the hotel, we were immediately led to the dining room since it was 2:00. The gap between meals is killing me! We ate a very quick meal, tossed our luggage into our rooms and hurried back to the lobby for our 3:00 ride on a felucca called the “Captin Cook”.

It was a very relaxing and serene hour on the river. We lazily drifted up and down the Nile in our felucca enjoying the sun and the small amount of breeze that we were getting. About half way through the sail, the two crew members sailing the boat entertained us with a song and dance that everyone was invited to participate in. Hokey but fun.

We returned to the hotel all mellowed out and had nothing scheduled for the next four hours. So, of course, this meant that Eileen and I had to go shopping. A student overheard us talking about the market and we invited her to join us, which she did. We went across the river on the ferry and then walked for about ½ hour to reach the market. We hit the jackpot! So many shops, so little time.

The vendors are rather aggressive (an understatement). They make the shop keepers in China and India look like pikers. They stand right in front of you with their merchandise and won’t move so we were constantly dodging people. It should be a contest in the Sea Olympics – Vendor Dodging.

We spent two hours walking around enjoying the experience and buying a few items. Prices aren’t as good as India or Thailand but at least they aren’t outrageously expensive. Around 6:00 we decided to head back to the hotel due to tired feet, aching backs, and empty stomachs.

Eileen and I continued our Nile tradition and enjoyed a glass of wine on the patio before dinner. It was such a beautiful night and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Dinner was the usual buffet of non-Egyptian food that was mediocre at best. It fills the empty spots but that was about it. Since dinner was always served late (8-10) we were ready for bed immediately afterwards. It had been a long but fantastic day.