Egypt Day 1

I have arrived in Aswan, after a long day. The 10 hour flight from Toronto to Cairo wasn't bad. The plane was only  60% full, so I had two seats to myself. The food was not good. I had a 6 hour layover in Cairo, and arrived in Aswan at about 2, local time, 25 hours after I got up on Monday.
Seeing Egypt from the sky is quite the sight. There is the Nile, with up to a km of green space along it's shores, the rest is desert. It looks like a long green stem on a background of sand and rocks.
The taxi ride to the guesthouse was interesting. It is across the Nile from the city, and my cabbie got lost. We drove about 15 minutes, although it seemed longer, through desert country without seeing another car. We came across a bus, and a guy came into our car to show us the way. We still had to get another local to come with us and find the guesthouse. It's close to the Nile and just below one of the tourist spots, The Tombs of the Nobles.
It's in the Nubian part of town.
Aswan, for millenia, was on the border between Egypt and Nubia, which is now Sudan. Nubians are Africans, and have a distinct culture. Many of the men wear the long robe, and lots of women wear the complete burka. While I was in Jordan last year I only saw about 10 burkas in the 3 weeks I was there. I have seen several dozen, just this afternoon. I wonder whether this will be the same further north.
I took the ferry across to Aswan. 15 cents. I got on the boat and sat at the front. A European couple also boarded, but he sat in the back, she in the front. She is from France, and spoke some English. After a couple of minutes she whispered to me that I should move. I was sitting in the women section. Things you learn.
I walked around the market, which is quite large, and sells everything. The smells are intriguing, incense, and lots of spices. Hibiscus is popular brewed as a tea, or as a cold drink. It has an interesting flavour. The local garlic is amazing, it's the size of a medium onion.
On the way back we faced the Tomb of the Nobles, which is spectacularly lit up at night.
Thus ends my first day in Egypt.

Egypt Day 2

The weather has been a pleasant surprise. Today was a high of 32, but there is no humidity and a constant nice breeze.
Jet lag set in, and I didn't wake up till 10, and that's because they woke me up to get breakfast.
I spent the day sightseeing. My first stop was at the Temple of Isis on the island of Philae. There have been temples here for millennia, although the present one "only" dates back to  about 700 BC. It was one of the last temples that was active until Roman times.
While the Aswan dam was built in the 1950's it was taken apart and rebuilt at its present location. The setting is beautiful, and I have to admit it's impressive. I've seen a lot of photos and films about Egypt, but the real thing is so much more impressive.
The one sad thing is the many of the figures and hieroglyphs have been marred by Christians and Muslims.
I've done a lot of studying for this trip, and I was happy to recognize several of the gods. My favourite is Bez, the god of childbirth and merriment. I'm not quite sure how those fir together. Bez is a short, chubby god, with a rather unattractive face. My kind of God. I can now say I have the physique of a god.
I also visited the site of the "Unfinished Obelisk". Aswan has several granite quarries, where many obelisks originated. This particular one was the be the largest ever, 42 m high, 1200 tons. The process used was staggering. Visualize a 42 rock. You start to pound it with rocks, until you've removed all the rock around. It took several hundred men several months to do this. You then smooth the surfaces with sand until it is very smooth. Then You engrave it with inscriptions. Finally you move this 1200 ton 42 m long obelisk 100 K up the Nile and stand it up.
Unbelievable!
After many months of working on this stone a crack developed, and it had to be abandoned. Bummer!
Street hustlers are more common here than in Jordan. I had a guy try to sell me a 10 Euro note. He started at 150 Egyptian pounds (about 12 Canadian dollars) and after following me for a couple of blocks it dropped to 50. I was almost tempted, 4 dollars for a genuine fake Euro bill. I resisted the temptation.
I don't know about the rest of Egypt, but this part is much more conservative than Jordan. Lots of burkas. I saw one funny thing today. A woman, completely covered, was explaining something on her iPad to a man. Lots of women have mobile phones. Quite a sight, a woman in a burka using her cell phone.
I hope I have caught up on my lost sleep.
Till tomorrow

Egypt Day 3

I still haven't adjusted to the time difference; I had trouble falling asleep, and would have slept in again, without an alarm clock.
I visited the Nubian Museum this morning. Very modern, and excellent English labels.
Nubia was an ancient region that covered the northern part of modern day Sudan, and southern Egypt. It was a source of gold for the Egyptians, and a trade route for goods from central Africa to Egypt. Egypt invaded it a few times, and the Nubians responded. There was a actual time of over a hundred years when Egyptian pharaohs were Nubian.
I was very impressed by some of the sculptures. They weren't the generic faces, but showed some realistic features. And this was a couple of thousand years before the Greeks.
I wandered through the market, and I have yet to see a price tag on anything. I bought a bottle of water yesterday for 10 EP (80 cents). Today the same bottle, same place..5 EP.
I have yet to get a good cup of coffee, so, in desperation I went to a MacDonalds. I feel guilty saying this, but I had a Big Mac meal, and the coffee was good.
I also introduced myself to two young ladies sitting on the table next to me. It turns out the are in teachers college, becoming English teachers. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
I've been taking a few taxis, and it's different. You have to haggle for prices. My cabbie wanted 100 EP to take me to the Nubian museum. We agreed on 20.
I also think the ideal Egyptian driver should have three arms, one for the steering wheel, one for the gearshift, and a third for horn. That's the one used most frequently.
On my way back on the ferry I hit it just at sunset, a gorgeous sight.
My guesthouse is nice. There is a patio on the top, with couches, and it's nice to meet fellow travelers. There are usually six to eight, and almost every one speaks English. I've met people from Romania, Jamaica, New Zealand, the USA and some Brits. Very enjoyable.
I hope I sleep better tonight, I'm off to Abu Simbel at 3:30 am. It's a four hour drive, each way. Should be fun.

Egypt Day 4

Today was quite the day. I got up at 3:30 to get ready for a 4 hour drive from Aswan south to Abu Simbel. Ramses II, also known as Ramses The Great, is considered to be the greatest Pharaoh of all times. I guess you have to be great to have a line of condoms named after you.

His wife Queen Nefertari was also very important, as a co-ruler. This temple was built at the edge of the Nile, and was basically a statement to anyone travelling down the Nile from Africa.

To show Queen Nefertari's importance there is a second temple right beside Ramses', dedicated to her.

Each of the statues is over 20 m high, and was carved out of a rock face. When the Aswan dam was built the entire temple would have been submerged, so it was moved and reassembled at its present location.

The interiors are covered with striking relief scenes. It is a very impressive sight.

I also visited a local museum. They don't get a lot of visitors, so I met the chief of the village, and got a personal guided tour.

One of the items on display was a marriage contract.i have included it my photos, and I highlighted the part about who has to do the laundry.

My other highlight today was a 2 hour felucca ride. These are the sailboats that go back to ancient times.

Aswan is very pretty because there are numerous islands in the Nile, so the scenery is attractive. I was the only passenger as we sailed around the islands. The owner had me steer for about half an hours, going downstream. Coming back up is a lot trickier because you have to tack a lot. It was hard work.

Today was another beautiful day, and because Friday is the Muslim Sunday there were a lot of boats out, and a lot of parties. Nice to see.

When I tell locals that I'm from Canada just about all reply "Canada Dry!" I can't remember the last time I had a Canada Dry, but it's nice to be known for something.

Egypt Day 5

My guesthouse in Aswan was a great place to meet people. Lynnell and John, from Minneapolis, are two of them. It turns out that they planned to hire a driver to take them to Luxor. I had planned to do that on Sunday, but asked them if I could join the, so we're off to Luxor today. We made arrangements to stop at two temples along the way.
The first one was the temple at Kom Ombo. This temple was at a place along the Nile where crocodiles basked. The temple is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek. The priests would keep one crocodile which become their intermediary to Sobek. When it died they mummified it and buried it with great honours. They replaced it with a young one, and they cycle continued.
There is a crocodile museum at the temple. Not too many of those around.
Our driver then took us to a local restaurant where we had a great meal..best I've had in Egypt, so far.
After lunch we visited the temple at Edfu, which is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt. One of the reasons is that it is a fairly "new" one, only a little over 2000 years old.
We arrived at Luxor at about 6. I decided to stay at the Nefertiti hotel, because that's where John and Lynnell are staying. We plan to do some guided tours together.
The weather has been fantastic, around 30, but no humidity, and nothing but sunshine.
Ralf

Egypt Day 6

I wish I would have done this 10 years ago. Being the eternal optimist I thought I could tour the tombs on my own. Not a chance!
I have been very fortunate in meeting Lynnell and John. Tours are the same total price whether there is one or more. By joining them my cost is only one third.
I did not realize the distances involved, in addition to the heat. Today was probably in the mid thirties and no shade.
The tour was great. We started out in The Valley of the Kings, and visited three tombs. A great experience.
As soon as a pharaoh started to rule he started to build a tomb for himself. If you can imagine going to a rock face, made of solid granite. With rocks and brass chisels you start to remove rock, creating a tunnel, sometimes more than 100 m long, about 3 m high, and 2.5 m wide, going down at a constant slope. Hundreds of labourers would take years to do this. The result is amazing. Perfectly square walls, perfectly straight walls.
After that the decorations start. Depending on the quality of the rock these would be chiseled right in the granite, or a layer of plaster would cover the walls, and the engravings would be on the plaster. Then the colouring would start. To protect the colours they would be covered with beeswax.
Most of the hieroglyphs would be spells and prayers to guide the dead pharaoh to the next life.
Every inch of the tunnel would be covered with figures or hieroglyphs.
The main chamber would be filled with items the pharaoh needed for his journey. All his precious belongings would join him. Nothing left for the kids.
After the death the tomb would be filled in, to protect it from grave robbers.
The most famous tomb is that of King Tut. The only reason is that it was found intact. King Tut started to rule when he was nine, but he died when he was nineteen. During this time he had a regent, who was quite old. When Tut died it was quite unexpected, and they was no tomb for him. So he was buried in the tomb which had been prepared for the regent.
One of the reasons it was never grave robbed is that the spot designated for his tomb was used by his regent, and nobody knew where Tut was buried.
It is quite the experience to see the actual tombs. The art work is spectacular and the original colours are amazing.
Photos are not allowed, so I have downloaded some interior shots.
We also visited the temple of Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut is interesting, because she was a woman and a pharaoh. When her husband died his heir was her step-son, who was very young, so she became the regent. She liked the job, and was very good, so she took over, and ruled for 22 years. During this time she built her funerary temple, which is spectacular, both in its construction and its setting.
It reminded me of something Mussolini would have built in the 1930's.
The disappointment is that, after she died, her step-son tried to eliminate all signs of her, so there isn't much to see inside.
We got back to the hotel at about 4, and I had a badly needed shower.
I haven't been sleeping well, so after an early dinner I had an early bed time.
Have fun

Egypt Day 7

Tough day today. I had intended to visit the temples of Karnak and Luxor today, but after 3 hours at Karnak I had enough, and I went to get some rest. One advantage of travelling solo, a flexible schedule.

Karnal is, according to Egypt, the largest religious building in the world. When I was in Cambodia the claim was the same for Angor Wat. 

Karnak is huge. Successive ruler added on and on, so it's not well organized, but spectacular. Ramses II was a powerful pharaoh, but also a bit of a megalomaniac. There are more statues of him than anyone else, all over Egypt. Sometimes he would alter an existing statue, by replacing the original name with his own.

The most spectacular monument at Karnak, though, are the granite obelisks created during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut. Only one remains standing. The tip was lined with gold, and must have been quite a sight in the morning sun. The gold has been gone a long time.

Karnak Temple was not only a religious site, but an important political organization. As more and more pharaohs donated to the temple the temple became more powerful than the pharaoh.

Luxor was the religious Capitol of Egypt, and had a population of 3 million. The temple had 450 000 head of cattle, owned 63 villages, 2700 acres of arable land, and employed 81 000 people. There were 68 000 priests.

You can see where this is a real drain on the finances of Egypt, and the power of the pharaoh.

This would eventually lead to the collapse of the country.

The weather has warmed up, mid thirties, no shade. After 3 hours at Karnak I need a break, so I am now resting.

Enjoy