"A life spent making mistakes is more honorable than a life spent doing nothing..."
At Aswan train station we were met by the tour rep and transported to Isis Cornish Hotel situated by the river Nile. We couldn't check-in until 2pm but we need to leave our bags at the hotel as the coach to Abu Simbel will leave at 10.30am.
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| (The River Nile) |
Before the start of the journey, there were checks on the vehicles for bombs or explosives. The security was extra tight. We didn't expect it to be like this and have not read anything like this in the internet. There must be a threat of some sort. It is a 275 km journey across upper Egypt dessert, there were more than 10 buses and 20 vans of foreign tourist in a convoy escorted by military vehicles in front and back.
There were only the two of us in the van and we had a soldier and an officer riding with us. It was a start of an adventure with a slight uneasy feeling of apprehension...
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| (Dry Rocky desert) |
Along the journey to Abu Simbel, on a hot day like today, the vast desert was playing tricks on us. We could see water reflections of the sand dunes. A mirage that make many thirsty desert travellers go crazy.
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| (Exploring the man-made lake) |
We reached Abu Simbel at 2.30pm and were impressed by the vastness and blueness of the biggest man-made Nassir Lake. A catchment area resulting from the construction of the Aswan dam.
Temple of Abu Simbel
Pharaoh Ramses II had two temples carved out of solid rock at a remote location near the Sudanese border in sourthern Egypt, a site on the west bank of the Nile south of Aswan in the land of Nubia and known today as Abu Simbel.
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| (The Temple of Abu Simbel) |
The temple built by Ramses was dedicated to the sun gods Amon-Re and Re-Horakhte. The two temple were since moved to a safer higher ground when the area was flooded.
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| (The sunset over the horizon) |
We watched the beautiful sunset on the trip back to Aswan. And at night the sand dunes laid in crisp cool whiteness in luminous moonlight. The night was lulled by soft whispers of past histories of the desert...
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