Marhaba Palace Hotel Aswan

... Dam and Temple of Ises. Spent the day with 3 students from Columbia, South America who spent the last 10 months studying English in Britain. They are really friendly, here with me now at the hotel. Tomorrow I am going to Abu Simple with them - leaving at 4am, ugh, but should be very fun. Tomorrow evening we are going on flucca (an egyptian sail boat) to Luxor. <br>I spent this evening in a market in Aswan ...

... back to Aswan and rejoined the group for a Nubian tour. We took a motorboat around the islands in the Nile to a Nubian coffee shop where they made us Nubian coffee, freshly roasted coffee with ginger, cloves and cardomon.<br><br>From there it was on to camels and we rode back across the island to a Nubian villiage where we had dinner with a family. There was another Intrepid group there as well and the local boys came and played music and sang for us ...

... lacks interpretive information and is packed to the ceiling with stuff that you have no idea about as a result - they are building the new museum in Giza with all the bells and whistles, so any future visits should be better - but given the schedule has been pushed back 5 years, its completion date is in Allah's hands. However, for sheer quality of exibits, its amazing and well worth fighting the crowds to see.<br><br>We had a rough first few days as this tour ...

... they were, but to see them encased and shining in their white limestone covering (long since stripped for other uses) would have been even more mind blowing. The Egyptian Musuen was incredible; to have the opportunity to see Tutankhamun's mask and sarcophogi, to stand next to the mummies of Ramses II and many other Pharaoh's and Queens of Egypt, where you can se the battle wounds that killed one, the marks of smallpox on another, where their hair, teeth and fingernails are still visible ...

... so we motored unfortunately! Our destination was a little island I think, on the West side on the nile with a beautiful sandy beach. <br><br>Pete played chess with Gabriel and lost, I caught up on the blog and everyone just relaxed and lazed about for the arvo. Lunch was served which was salad, rice, tahini, pita breads, yummy pieces of fish and fruit. It is pretty hot and draining. Pete went below for a sleep and the rest of us decided to swim in the Nile! This took a lot ...

... an island in the Nile River. The entire temple complex was actually dismantled and rebuilt on a different island than where it was orignally because it was under threat of being flooded after a dam was built on the river.<br>Philae Temple was not built during the ancient pharaoh era in Egypt but during the time when Greek and Roman rulers controlled Egypt.<br>It was nice to see but I admit the heat made it a bit difficult to appreciate. I walked around having a ...

... with a big group of English ??? and we stood out like a sore thumb, being the only Asian among the caucasians. They then left and we were still around like dufus until a guard called us and asked where we were going. We then realized that we were at the wrong area - Sharm El Sheikh and the Aswan gates were in a different area.<br><br>We are tired and didnt really felt like dinner. Got Chris some hot water (paid about RM2 for ...

... We then had some time to explore the town&#8217;s central area on foot and, much to my appreciation, we seemed to be the only tourists there. In fact, it felt like an open air zoo where it was us that were the exhibits. Older school children sang out choruses of &#8220;Hello&#8221;, younger children crowded around us wanting pens and old men studiously stared at us as we wandered the streets while they argued amongst themselves. The ...

... the Water. <br><br>Before dark we tied up to a grassy bank alongside another two of JJ&#8217;s feluccas and enjoyed dinner. Then the crews got together to put on a Nubian drumming session around the campfire, and we had a fantastic night joining them in singing and dancing, having a couple of beers and a sheesha, before capping it all off with a midnight swim in the Nile under the light of a full moon.<br ...