Abu Simbel

This is really a fantastic temple, three hours south of Aswan, on Lake Nasser, which supposedly has the highest concentration of crocodiles in the world.

We were supposed to depart at 4:30am, to meet up with the convoy that makes the trip with police escort (you can't go any other way). Well, we all dutifully met in the lobby at 3:45am, drank tea, nibbled on breakfast, waited...and waited...until around 5am Khaled informed us that the bus hadn't shown up, he couldn't get a hold of the bus driver, and the convoy was leaving as we spoke. Awesome. So we agreed that we would try the 11am convoy, even though the heat would be oppressive and the lighting a little less beautiful.

But it turns out we got lucky!!! There were maybe 10 other people there in total, the whole time we were visiting, and in the morning convoy, even in low season, there are hundreds and hundreds of tourists getting in your way. We all were thrilled with how things went. Khaled had never gone on the 11 o'clock convoy before, and he thinks he's going to sugggest to future tours, I love it when things that seem awful turn out fantastically!

Ramesses II had these built into the rock in the 13th century BC. They had to be relocated in the sixties to preserve them from the rising height of the Nile in response to the construction of the Aswan High Dam. So the temples were cut into pieces and reassembled a couple hundred meters back. I can't even fathom how that kind of project actually happens. It cost 80 million US dollars.

Oh, tree friends. I thought they were cute.

This is a temple to Ramessses II's favorite wife Nefertari. She is the only wife to get such a lavish dedication. Most wives would just be represented as mini-statues between a Pharaoh's feet or something.

The only bad portion on the experience was the three hours each way on the bus. The bumpy bumpy, bumpy bus. And even thought the air conditioning was on, it still felt a bit like an oven.

The landscape was interesting on the way down, but really not at all on the way back. I liked seeing the bus stops in the middle of absolutely nothing that would periodically pop up. And I did get to see some desert mirages...it was eery!