Monday, July 14, 2008

Exotic Enigmatic Egypt! Part 8

Before we left Cairo, we spent a couple of hours in town and ended up sitting in Groppi for coffee and strawberry juice! Groppi is a quaint and rather empty cafe with only a few tables taken up (it was a big and high ceiling cafe). Seeing that it was established since 1891, I decided to Google and found out the story of Groppi.
Groppi, Cairo

Groppi, Cairo
Some of the goodies which we didn't eat cos we just had lunch! They looked really sweet though.
Groppi, Cairo
In the evening, we made our way to catch a sleeper train to Aswan. The last time I took a sleeper train was to Singapore many moons ago and I had no memory of how that went. So, this was considered an experience indeed; coping with the limited space that I shared with my mom and trying not to go to the toilet that often as I don't fancy climbing up and down the ladder.
Overnight sleeper train to Aswan
There's a ladder behind the head rest. Pop that out, take out the ladder and pull the brown area above the head rest. That will be the bed on top, accessible via the ladder hooked on the rack at that top left corner. The little table contraption at the corner (next to the luggage) opens up and it's actually a sink and the metal lid is kept stuck to the wall by strong magnets!
Happy Mom on sleeper train to Aswan
Here's a rough idea of how it's like. Mom's such a trooper, the Egypt trip is really an experience for her!

Arrving the next day in Aswan, we went off to visit the Temple Of Philae by boat.
Journey to Temple Of Philae

Dock
I like the place where we docked. Look at the natural "canopy" they use and how everything seems to blend with the surroundings.
Temple of Philae
Temple of Philae

Temple of Philae

Temple of Philae

Temple of Philae

It's hard to imagine that this Temple of Philae was once submerged under water!!!


To be continued ...




15 comments:

J2Kfm said...

magnificient pic! love the 2nd last pic, with the dim lighting and all, set the mood right for exploration in the depths.

sc said...

the pictures on temple of philae looks like those taken by the national geo team! gorgeous!

daphne said...

wow..still on Egypt? but the photos are fantastic. No complains there!

Xiu Long Bao said...

Your mum is so adventurous, bravo!

The photos look real good. Am amazed :)

SteamyKitchen said...

What a wonderful little vacation you just brought me on! I love the photos. I've always wanted to go ...maybe when kids are little older.

Anonymous said...

The last pic has this great sense of grandeur... I guess one can feel real small with all that space. This might be the best trip I've had through someone else's eyes (if you know what I mean). ;)

Beachlover said...

I always looking at your pix!.I told hubby about Egypt trip,he think they don't welcome American.told him don't worry,as long as we have USD,that matter!lol!

Big Boys Oven said...

this is so lovely! wow! my eye already popped out!

HairyBerry said...

even the pillars were so well-carved...wah liao eh! i'm impressed.

wmw said...

j2kfm : I was not able to take some photos when we're inside certain areas. Missed out on taking some great shots.

SC & daphne : Thanks! ;o)

XLB : Yalah, gotta give her credit for that!

steamykitchen : Maybe when you're doing a TV special "SteamyKitchen Gets Steamier in Egypt"! Hahaha...

Kenny:Make a trip there to see it for yourself?

beachlover : Yes, the vendors kept thrusting souvenirs into our faces and kept saying "1 US Dollar, 1 US Dollar".

BBO : Eh, pop your eyes back, more Egypt posts to come. Hehehe...

Nic : Yes, I'm amazed at what they did back then!

Anonymous said...

Under water!?? O.O

Anonymous said...

What a enigmatic place! Looking forward to your next post about it! :)
Thanks for sharing.

wmw said...

Jason : Yes, click on the link to read more.

cc : Thanks for dropping by...Stay tuned!

FunkeeDeeva said...

this is awesome!!!!!! :-)

Thank you for visiting my page too :-)

wmw said...

fd : See you around :o)