3W6D Camera Toting Tourist in Abu Simbel

Lake Nasser

I am continuously waking up in the middle of the night or staying up all night to go visit sites. Awakened at 3am to make the bus ride to Abu Simbel with a police convoy, I’m extremely tired and easily irritable. I somehow make it onto the bus and sleep the whole way from Aswan to Abu Simbel.

Abu Simbel is located on the west bank of Lake Nasser and is 40km from the Sudanese border. The great Sun Temple of Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II to show his power and majesty on the Nubians, hence the four gigantic statues staring at those who entered Egypt from Africa. A little egotistical don’t you think?

The temple was actually meticulously dismantled and reconstructed over a period of four years at a cost of 40 million USD due to the rising waters of Lake Nasser damaging the structure. Its artificiality is apparent but beautiful nonetheless.

I became a complete tourist for the day, running around the temple and snapping pictures due to the ridiculous heat and my lack of motivation for sketching. I guess it’s okay to do that sometimes. :)

After less than two hours at this temple, we then took the 3.5 hour bus ride back up to Aswan, stopping at the high dam and Philae Temple along the way. The high dam is only impressive if only that it was built to secure Egypt’s future and was funded by the Soviet Union because the World Bank took back its promise on a loan due to pressure for the US.

Philae Temple is reached by motorboat, which we unsuccessfully haggled on a price for since all the motorboat owners worked as a team and decided to set their prices artificially high. This temple was also reconstructed due to rising waters of Lake Nasser. In my opinion, the only interesting thing about this temple is that it sits on an island, so the approach to the island with the temple standing before you is impressive. The hieroglyphics are in good condition too – but I have to wonder how much is reconstructed vs how much is just looked after.

Upon return, I immediately took a shower and a nap until the evening, where I enjoyed the sunset on the rooftop of my hotel, which had a highly chlorinated pool and a great view of the Nile. It seems that my nightly ritual is watching the sun set over the Nile – but I’m not complaining. I rarely get to do this back home so I will savor ever moment of it. Sorry for the slightly boring post but I am quite tired and creative skills are drained. :)