Friday, July 25, 2008

Exotic Enigmatic Egypt! Part 9

After the trip to the Temple of Philae, we went back to the cruise ship for lunch and rested a while. Soon, we were off again! This time, we had another tour on a felucca around Elephantine Island.

Feluccas
Some feluccas we saw along the way. The feluccas are mainly used to bring tourists around the island.
Felucca "Captain"
Our felucca Captain is from Nubia. They are of a darker skin colour (due to the strong sunlight for sure! The heat gets to scorching level!)
Elephantine Island
As we sailed along further to the West Bank, there were some strange structures on hills at several areas. Turns out that these structures were actually tombs of nobles (note the stairs). Most of the them were tombs of priests or high officials.

We gladly retreated back to the cool comfort of the cruise ship after the sailboat ride. After dinner, we went to Aswan Bazaar to see the sights which is smaller as compared to Khan El Khalili Bazaar in Cairo.
Spices
A spice shop at the Bazaar - the bright blue powder at bottom right is some washing detergent additive. I asked the shopkeeper as I had not seen such a colourful spice before! Hahaha...
Shoe maker
A cheery shoe and belt maker

We called it an early night as we were informed that our wake up call the next morning would be at 2.30 am!!! Yes, you read that right, 2.30 am!!! Abu Simbel was our next destination; 290 km away from Aswan. Due to some terrorist attack on tourist before, all tour buses met at a specific point (there were 3 time slots to choose from - 3.30 am, 4 am and I couldn't remember the third time slot) and had to travel by convoy complete with police escorts!
Journey to Abu Simbel
The line of buses goes all the way back! Tourists alighted from the buses to enjoy the very early morning air as we waited for the clock to strike 4 to start on the four hour journey. Most of us slept through the journey ;o).
Abu Simbel - Temple of Ramesses II
This is Abu Simbel - Temple of Ramesses II!
Abu Simbel - Temple of Ramesses II

Abu Simbel - Temple of Ramesses II

Abu Simbel - Temple of Ramesses II
The temple was reclaimed from the dam and reconstructed in its present state.
Abu Simbel
Slaves as depicted along the walls of the temple
Temple of Nefertari
Temple of Nefertari - the smaller temple in Abu Simbel

Unfortunately, no photo taking was allowed inside these temples. I was in awe of Abu Simbel's surroundings and felt like I was in a National Geographic documentary (once again!), a feeling that I kept experiencing on this Egypt trip.


To be continued ...



15 comments:

Hazza said...

You got so many wonderful pics here that would not look out of place in national geographic! How many menory cards did you use?

J2Kfm said...

hey, gorgeous pics as usual.
travelling in the middle of the night? with CONVOY? wow ... life's fun with a little risk eh?

btw, was it REALLY hot at the pyramids?

Anonymous said...

Oh that shot of your felucca Captain is great... nice contrast of the white of his robe and the dark of his skin... and then colours in the other pics. This must be your most colourful adventure yet, eh? :)

daphne said...

u hv a talent in photos I think wmw. Those look great..and u r right, the blue spice.. looks..really blue!

Tummythoz said...

How many days were u there again? You seem to have covered the whole country!

Anonymous said...

OMG, I like Temple of Ramesses the most! I think it's the most beautiful temple among them all.

wmw said...

Hazza : Thanks for the compliment. I took a total of 8GB of storage but I did not shoot RAW.

j2kfm : Not middle of the night but wee hours of the morning :o). The weather is hotter down south...Cairo was bearable but going to Aswan onwards the sun was a scorcher!

Kenny : I like that shot too...Colourful and mysterious! :o)

Daphne : Thanks for the compliment, I'm still learning!

Jackson : Make your dream a reality soon! ;o)

tummythoz : I was there for about 2 weeks. We took the Nile Cruise and traveled down south. Journey started from Cairo further up north.

Jason : It's lovely, eh??? More pics to come of other places. Stay tuned!

Shell (貝殼) said...

nice pics!
especially the 3th 1, look secret:)

Ling's Passion said...

You are so talented, your pictures looks stunning. Must learn from you when I get the chance.

Henry Yeo said...

LOL, love the story about the blue 'spice'

as for jap food: to each her own.
what Jap food do you enjoy then? I am guessing Teppanyaki, correct?

Anonymous said...

The pics are overwhelmingly nice...in such a historical place.
The sackful of spices are so neatly stacked and I saw such bright blue powder spices..what on earth is that. You seemed to having some nice adventure....

Anonymous said...

Beautiful beautiful sight!
I'm blown away! :)

Christina Kim said...

WOW...incredible!:)
But the 2.30a.m was a big blow off huh...and those previous terrorist attacks..hmmmm
I am really amazed at the pics you took....such a wonderful place to visit!

wmw said...

Shell : Thanks...yah, looks like an unveiling of a secret.

Ling : Thanks...but I myself still learning ;o)

Henry : Teppanyaki, not really...Wagyu Beef Don? Cold Soba with Tempura? Well, anything cooked and nothing to do with fish :o) hehe

Jencooks : Thanks for the compliment. The blue stuff is some washing detergent additive!

CC : Thanks. Stay tuned ...yet again!

Christy : Yes, kinda scary when one think of it. But one should visit Egypt!

Christy

Anonymous said...

if mdm. chong did not give me such an honest review, I may talk myself into visiting cause it is truly breathtakingly beautiful..wah..temple of ramesses seems so unreal. - mp