Around the World

 Abu Simbel

Next day we had to go to Abu Simbel. We were told by our tour manager that we would have to leave very early in the morning. The area was prone to terrorist attacks and so all the tourist buses would go along with a convoy (A convoy is a group of vehicles (of any type, but usually motor vehicles or ships) traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas)…..with armed army people…..An army bus will lead…all tourist buses will follow and another army bus will follow at the back.

Since army would accompany…the time would be 2,3…that is 2 Am wake up call and 3Am departure.

Breakfast would be packed. Since it was the convoy….there would be no stops whatsoever…no restroom stops or anything. We were asked to be prepared for such a  trip.

There was a lot of discussion about the convoy.

Next morning we all boarded the bus at 3 Am. Usually I am a little scared about terrorist attacks…but this time somehow I was not worried. I was quite cool about it. But one of my friends (whom I met at the Chennai airport) was very scared. She took some time to calm down.

The bus started to move after half hour. It was very early in the morning…so within 10 to 15 minutes most of us were sleeping deep. When we woke up …we saw the sun raising in the east. It was beautiful….cold…complete desert….sand everywhere…I wanted to walk on the desert sand without shoes. But I dint get a chance for that….they had already announced that there won’t be any stops.

What was surprising was….there was no coach either in front or behind our bus….they told us so much about army and protection and that they would closely follow us etc etc….we could see nothing but sand.

 After about 3 to 3 and half hours travel we reached Abu Simbel. There we visited 2 magnificient temples; the temple of Ramsses and the temple of Nefertari.

The temples were threatened by submersion into Lake Nasar due to the construction of a high dam.

There were 24 such temples that were threatened of submersion…they saved 2 temples by raising it and reconstructing it. The removal and reconstruction of the temples were a historic event in itself. Read more about Abu Simbel at http://www.touregypt.net/abusimbel.htm

 During the salvage operation which continued until 1968, the 2 temples were dismantled and raised over 60 meters up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3000 years ago. The façade of the temple is 108 feet high and 125 wide feet with colossal seated statues about 65 feet wearing the double crown cartouches of Ramsess II. The alignment of the temple is such that twice a year the rays of the sun reach into the innermost sanctuary to illuminate the statues of Ptah, Amun – Re, Ramesses II and Re- horakhty.

After this we went to the hotel for lunch. We were not able to move into the hotel….the smell of fish was too much. We decided to go out of the hotel. D and D were also having a problem with the smell. They asked us if we could go somewhere else for lunch. We said ok. We asked the tour manager for a pizza place and he pointed at one direction.

We thought it must be around the corner and started walking. We walked, walked and walked…it was too hot. At one point we decided that we would go 10 more steps…if we dint find the hotel we would go back. At last we reached Pizza hut. We had pizzas and got back to our bus.

 From there we went to the Kom Ombo temple overlooking the Nile. This unique temple is in fact the fusion of 2 temples set side by side with each side having its own gateway and chapels.

The left side of the temple is dedicated to Haroeris, the falcon headed God. The right part of the temple is dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile headed God and the God of fertility.

 There were paintings on the walls of these temples. There were numbers carved. On one of the walls were the instruments that they used in hospitals …like scissors, forceps etc. Another wall had a picture of a man with a stethoscope. There were many other rooms. Those were the waiting rooms for patients. Another room had a painting of the fertility God.

Some pics of the Gods of Egypt can be seen at http://www.thenileandegypt.com/deities.html

 Next we sailed towards Edfu.

The cruise was very nice. It was not very big….very compact. The bathroom had a Jacuzzi. In Cairo I had a lot of back pain and shoulder pain which I think was because of the bed.. the bath in the Jacuzzi made all the pain go away:)

The room was very cute. We had our room on the 2nd floor of the cruise. So we were enjoying the scenery through the window as we were sailing.

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