Aswan

Trip Start Jan 20, 2009
1
5
17
Trip End Mar 03, 2009


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Where I stayed
Nile Sham
(Aswan hotels)

Flag of Egypt  , Nile River Valley,
Friday, January 30, 2009

We arrived spent Wednesday and Thursday nights on the cruise ship Nile Sham. On Thursday morning, we visited the Unfinished Obelisk, the High Dam, and Philae Temple. The Unfinished Obelisk is in a red granite rock quarry. Three sides of the obelisk were completed, but they discovered a flaw in the rock and had to abandon the obelisk. If it would have been completed, it would have been the single heaviest piece of stone the Egyptians ever fashioned. The High Dam is impressive! The dam forms the largest artificial lake in the world - Lake Nasser. It supplies much of the electricity in Egypt and helps to control the annual floods that used to occur.Unfortunately, it also stops the transport of nutrient-rich silts from being deposited downstream, prevents migration of larger fish downstream, etc. Philae temple was moved from its original location, block by block, to a higher location to prevent flooding during raising of the dam.

After dinner, the cruise ship has a Nubian party.  They had drums and dancers in traditional costumes.  Sandi participated in a spoon dance.  Part of the Nubian culture is women that shriek at high pitch in rapid pulses.  It is really interesting.  I imagine that sound carries a long way.  The dancing and music was very entertaining.

On Friday, we checked out of luxury and are back to budget. We had a great day though. We took a ferry over to Elephantine Island and walked through the Nubian villages. The island was one of Aswan's earliest settlements - with a fort built on the island in 3,000 BC. Many of the current villagers have lived on the small island their whole life. There are no roads, just foot trails. All of their food is grown or raised on the island. The people were incredibly nice.

Everyone in Egypt LOVES Obama. The first question they ask is "Where are you from?" When we say America, they get excited and yell "Obama!". A shopkeeper showed me a political cartoon in today's Egyptian newspaper (in Arabic). The cartoon depicted the reign of Bush as hell with flames and destruction, and Obama as a bird of peace. Everyone is very hopeful for Obama.

We will take the sleeper train back up to Cairo, and we plan to transfer to bus for the 10-hour journey on Saturday to Sinai Peninsula in the Red Sea. We plan to do some scuba diving from Dahab, which is claimed to be a laid-back beach town.
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