travelling right, travelling light

After a wonderful morning at Abu Simbel, we arrived in Aswan to find that Roger had booked us into the rather decadent Old Cataract Hotel. A beautiful hotel, no doubt, but I just about had a coronary in the lobby when I found out the extent of the damage that our Nile view room would be doing to our bank account. It was a little bittersweet when, to make me feel better, Lloyd pointed out that this was (forthcoming wedding aside) the final hotel bill of our entire World Trip! It was a sad realization but at least we’re going out in style!

Rog wasn’t feeling too good, so – after two consecutive 5am starts - Lloyd and I were tempted to skip our planned evening visit to the Sound and Light show at Philae Temple. To get there, we’d need a taxi AND a boat, and I think we were both discouraged by the prospect of the required negotiations. But we dragged ourselves out nonetheless. It's a very short boat ride to reach Philae - so short in fact that you could probably swim it - but we found ourselves in the midst of a throng of hard neogiations despite the fact that there were less than ten passengers and more than thirty boats.

And then a strange thing happened. The ten of us customers slowly came together as one group in an unplanned action that immediately strengthened our negotiating hand. The price per person fell dramatically and we all headed over to the show feeling that - finally - we'd got value for money in Egypt.

The show itself did not disappoint and actually was one of the better Sound and Lights I've been to. Of course the commentary was hokey, with loud booming voices echoing around the ancient structures. But the story was told well and - as part of the show - we were walked around and inside some of the key Philae structures. It was - completely - different at night, with shadows from the spotlights highlighting the very deep and intricate carvings all around. Actually one of my favourite Egypt experiences overall and highly recommended!

The next morning, we hired a driver for half a day and headed past the old 'low' Aswan Dam to the new 'high' Aswan Dam. The old dam was completed in 1902 by the British who wanted to improve irrigation controls for cash crops, but had to be raised twice - from its original 54 metres - before it was decided that a new dam was needed to keep the Nile from flooding. So, the new High Dam was added about four miles upstream, opening in 1970 at a height of 111 metres.

At the west end of the new Aswan Dam is a very large monument called the Lotus Flower celebrating the joint achievement of the Russians and Egyptians who cooperated on the Dam.

With Lloyd speaking Russian, and Roger speaking Arabic, I thought this was a particularly appropriate picture!

More fun, however, was had by Lloyd who teased the 'guard' on duty by pretending to press the elevator button. The ride to the top is closed to the public and - no joking aside - we tried really hard to bribe this guy to let us go up....

After visiting the Aswan Dam and a driver-directed detour to Kalabsha Temple which simply magnified our templed-out state, we headed back to Philae to admire it in the daylight. It's impressive at any time of day, but I have to say that the daylight viewing paled in comparison to our experience the night before.

We also managed to squeeze in a quick stop at the 1000 ton unfinished obelisk which was abandoned when it cracked during extraction. Pity, as this would have been one of the largest obelisks ever constructed if it had been completed. Still, the quarry revealed a tiny glimpse into the construction of many of the wonders we had seen.

With the gift of more time, we’d have stuck with tradition and travelled south from Luxor to Aswan via boat. I have nothing but fantastic memories of the trip I took twelve years ago on a traditional Egyptian sailboat called a felucca, but – next time – we’d splash out on one of the elegant cruise ships that make the trip in about four days. Today, however, we caught another inexpensive Egypt Air flight down to Aswan, and even managed to squeeze in a detour to magnificent Abu Simbel on the way.

Abu Simbel on approach. The monument is such a tourist draw that it earned its own air strip. The alternative is a four to five hour drive from Aswan.

Abu Simbel is a massive temple that was built during Ramses II’s reign over 3300 years ago. Ramses intended the monument to intimidate neighbouring countries with its four statues each towering to twenty metres. Of interest, the monument was moved in 1960 after an international appeal to save a number of Egyptian treasures that would otherwise have been lost to Lake Nasser with the opening of the Aswan High Dam. It cost more than US$40 million to chop Abu Simbel up into hundreds of pieces and then re-erect it about 65 metres higher and 200 metres back, a debt that is allegedly still being repaid.

Ramses II up close. You can see how the faces were cut off during the relocation.

Our flight to Abu Simbel was full of tour groups who we proceeded to race to the monument. Since there’s only one reason to fly to Abu Simbel, Egypt Air puts on a complimentary bus for the five minute drive which saved us the agonizing negotiation with a cab driver. On arrival, a helpful young man showed us a short cut that ensured we’d arrive at the ticket office ahead of the tour groups (he even declined ‘baksheesh’ for his services!), and with the first tickets of the session in hand we soon found ourselves through security and facing the back of the artificial hill created to house the monuments.

Lloyd spontaneously erupted into a brisk jog, which looked quite amusing as he was wheeling our overnight case (we have proper luggage again now!) through sand and stone in his haste. I understood immediately that he wanted to get there before the gaggle of groups and quickly caught up with him, leaving Roger some distance behind us and no doubt wondering what on earth we were doing exerting so much energy in the heat of the day.

The effort was worth it! We practically had Abu Simbel to ourselves for a precious few minutes.

Though I had seen Abu Simbel previously in 1995, it’s the kind of place that remains shockingly impressive even on second viewing.

On the right: Lloyd looking as if he’s planning on moving into Little Abu Simbel which is next door to the main attraction, and was also moved in 1960.

But new to me was the opportunity to experience the rooms behind the statues which were closed on my previous visit. While getting to Abu Simbel involved some additional expense and - even more precious - time, it was easily worth it. We'd recommend missing Abu Simbel at your peril!

Pyramids aside, Luxor is probably the next most common stop on Egypt’s tourist trek. With two simply amazing temples within a stone’s throw of any hotel in town, and numerous valleys filled with the hundreds of tombs many thousands years of age, it’s easy to see why we were anxious to squeeze in as much as we could in our day and a half in town.

We started at Karnak, a short caleshe (horse-driven carriage) ride out of town. You can quickly get lost wandering around Karnak’s multitude of carved columns, admiring the hieroglyphics and images, some of which still display scraps of the original blues and yellows and reds. With its bold, primary colours, the temple must have looked quite garish in its youth, but I prefer it now with the limestone exposed and faded colours, leaving more to the imagination.

The temple as it now stands is easily one of the most impressive sites in Egypt. Large sections of the temple, however, have not been reconstructed, leaving instead heaps and heaps of limestone blocks strewn around the site. It's simply a massive jigsaw waiting for the next set of overseas-funded archeologists to arrive and progress. That said, many blocks have been looted over the years and used in local buildings, so some jigsaws will never be complete!

For Monday morning, we had arranged a hot air balloon ride to take in Luxor from the sky. We had an early start at 5am to get there, but after crossing the Nile and taking a short bus ride, we were rewarded with a skyline full of hot air balloons beautifully illuminated by the early morning sun.

The Colossi of Memnon - two 60 feet high statues of Amenhotep III. Hot air balloons are a fairly recent addition to their 3400 year old vista....

“Is it your first time in a hot air balloon?” asked our flight captain, eliciting nods from most of the passengers on board. But rather than offering the reassurance we were all looking for, he gave the international standard ‘humourous’ response: “Great. It’s my first time too!”.

Somehow, given the fact we knew almost nothing about the safety record of our Egyptian operator, we weren’t laughing. But the captain seemed to know what he was doing as he changed two 50 gallon propane bottles and tested the four burners, and before we could get too nervous about the combination of gas and fire we found ourselves gliding across the sugarcane field that served as our launch-site.

And, of course, the view from the balloon was spectacular. To the west (in the direction of the tombs), the sky was clear, while to the east (over Luxor) was still a little hazy. Contrary to the sales pitch, the balloons do not fly over the Valley of the Kings, but you still enjoy a very nice view over Luxor, the Nile, and the temple of Hatshepsut.

After our second breakfast, we headed out of town to the Valley of the Kings with a guide and driver in tow. There are actually 63 tombs in Valley of the Kings, of which 11 are currently open to visitors. Our entrance tickets entitled us to view three tombs, and we relied solely on our guide to recommend the most worthwhile. Generally, you should aim for the Pharaohs with the longest reigns because work on the tomb lasted the duration of the reign. As a result, the tombs associated with the Pharaohs with the longest reigns are the most elaborate. Unfortunately, the tomb of Ramses II (who reigned for 66 years) has been closed for some time, but at our guide’s recommendation, we stopped by Ramses I, Ramses III and Ramses IV.

Photography is not allowed within the tombs, so Lloyd adopted this surreptitious approach.

Unlike the temples whose colours have mostly faded through millennia of sun exposure, the tombs have – in many cases – maintained much of their original veneers. In some cases, it seems as though the painting was freshened up only yesterday, and it is Christian, Roman or Greek graffiti that litters many of the monuments.

We couldn’t snap within the tombs, but here is an example of some graffiti at Luxor and Philae Temples.

Finally, we enjojed getting a little closer to the the temple of Hapshetsut. We’d seen it that morning from the hot air balloon and it is a very enjoyable site to visit given its very complete (reconstructed) exterior. This was also the site of the 1997 massacre of tourists which resulted in the massive deployment of tourist police, watch towers and metal detectors at every attraction we visited.

We rounded out an extremely busy and long day with dinner at 'Genesis', a self-proclaimed British Pub that turned out to be the most surreal dining experience of the trip. While we loved the quirky, seasonal decor, complete with giant inflated Santa, two cages crammed full of live birds some of which have the run of the place, the food was absolutely diabolical. We actually witnessed Rog's dinner being delivered as a take out by another vendor which resulted in his meal probably being the best of the bunch. Mine was untouchable. Simply avoid at all costs!

We wished we'd made a faster 'Exodus' from 'Genesis'....

Overall, we had a great time in Luxor. Understand, though, that tourism IS the economy here which means you’re never far from the next Egyptian seeking to extract the maximum amount you're willing to pay. There’s no such thing as the ‘going rate’ for a taxi or tour or postcard. Rather, prices are set according to where you come from, how well dressed you are and – perhaps most importantly – what hotel you’re staying at. Occasional bartering can be fun, but – as independent travelers – its omni-presence was wearing to say the least. With no way to know the fair price, we knew only that the offered price was inevitably grossly inflated.