Abu Simbel Tourist Village /Hotel Abbas

Got up at 3am to catch a bus to Abu simbel. The ride was rather long and i got through all of the Temple of Ramases II and Temple of Hathor in about an hour... and then 3 hours back to Aswan. I did get to see the sunrise in the desert which was cool and the sights of Lake Nasser are really amazing too ...

... our guide's favourite temple in all of Egypt. By the end of the tour this still ranked as the number one experience for most of our group. We were able to stay a bit longer and leave with the second convoy back to Aswan. We are done touring the site by 9 am and back in Asawan for noon. Lunch at McDonalds on the edge of the Nile, pool time and then an evening walking around the market buying fresh spices. <br><br><br>

... breat away, words are just inadequete to describe it. Its such an impressive structure even today you can only imagine the sense of awe some native tribe would have 3000 years ago when they saw it.<br><br>Apart from that we have both been unwell today with Taita's revenge but I'm hoping its just a 24 hour thing but we have spent most of the time after the trip in our cabin sleeping it off.

... t just take you to Abu Simbel, it also escorts all the buses back to Aswan and that meant we only had a couple of hours there. I was disappointed by that as I could have spent half a day there. After having our guide explain some of the history behind the complex we were looking at, we had maybe an hour to wander around on our own. Not nearly enough time.<br>What is also amazing about this place is that the entire complex was moved in the 1960s. The entire complex would have been ...

... stopped at an icecream stand and ordered before asking the price. Usually ice cream costs 2 LE. When we got ours the man smirked and told us it was 10 LE each. Despite our anger at the evil cheat, 10 LE is still less than $2. Luckily, we learned our lesson rather cheaply. Unlike the Korean couple we met in Dahab that had been chargecd 600 LE ($120) for a hookah that we paid 100 LE for (around $18)<br><br>We could not find the restaurant. Lindsey and Sarah saw ...

... from Aswan airport. The flight was rough as..as Dan says the downside flying in the dessert in the middle of the day is the heat rising and turbulence! The oxygen masking fell down again on another poor passenger and they basically fixed it themselves after cabin crew couldn't! I felt rather ill and listened to my music and pretended I wasnt going to vomit (considering there was no vomit bags provided!)..we caught our first glance at the pyramids as we came into Cairo.and ...

... scenario, other than taking apart the ruins block by block and moving them up to safety above the water line - to make the rood they constructed a dome so the mountains weight would not crush the amazing images in the stone.<br><br>The temple is dedicated to Rameses 2 and has his image everywhere. There are 2 temples next to each other cut into the mountain and both are absolutly stunning as you can see from the pics. I just spent ...

... but she did get to see it from the banks of the Nile. The temples still have some of the original colour on the walls and they are covered with heaps of hyroglyphics.<br><br>After having a good look around Abu Simbel we were back on the bus to go back to Aswan. When we got back we had a bit of a rest (from the early morning and all), we caught up with a few of the crew and decided to go and have a drink. I had my only alcholic drink for the trip it turned out to be, Egyptian ...

... all, a UNESCO-funded effort totaling $40M USD raised the wonder above the risen water line. <br><br>Temple of Philae <br>Just south of Aswan is another site that was relocated to escape flooding in the 1960s. The Temple of Philae was dedicated to Isis, who found the heart of her slain brother, Osiris on Philae Island (now submerged). The mythology is interesting and all but it was very kewl to jump on a felucca to the island and wander around looking at the temple complex.

... of hieroglyphs along all the walls. It seemed, to me at least, every person, animal and god depicted in the impressive scenes were grasping onto what looked like microphone stands. Perhaps they were all on stage belting out their favourite tunes in a fierce competition to win fleeting public adoration and a chance at a record deal. Maybe American Idol and its numerous international offshoots are not such a recent phenomenon after all.<br> <br ...