Ramses II and a dreadful roadtrip
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2005
1
11
149
Trip End
May 22, 2006
Abu Simbel,
Egypt
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
The drive there, or should I say Indy 500 Race there, was an experience all its own. Picture it: Sahara desert, 2 lane paved highway (one in each direction), dark...desert dark.
Periodically, our driver would turn off his headlights and drive in the dark for many miles, including when meeting oncoming vehicles
G and T in front of Ramses II
! In addition, he would drive on the left side of the road for a few miles, not too pass other buses or mini vans, but just because and then sometimes because he didn't want the vehicle behind to pass. Ordinarily, in Bermuda, there is nothing wrong with driving on the left side of the road, but here in Egypt, there could be oncoming trucks or local traffic. Of course, this made Tamalyn & I both at ease and we were able to sleep to make up for our very early start. Not!About an hour after watching the sun rise over the desert, we arrived in Abu Simbel. We paid for our ticket and a guide's ticket (not that we ever found a guide, but hey, if we did, we paid for him!) and set off around the hill to see the Great Temple of Ramses II.
What we came upon is really hard to put into words. Amazing, colossal, awe-inspiring, breathtaking, incredible, shocking, none of these seem to do it justice. Imagine, carved into the sandstone hill, 4 huge statues sitting on giant thrones separated by a massive doorway into the temple. What is even more amazing is that this "mountain" was covered in sand until it's chance discovery in 1813. One head was sticking out of the sand!
The statues sit against a façade that is 30m high and 35m wide
Temple of Ramses II
. This would put the statues at about 20 some metres high. Now, originally the two on one side would be mirror images of the other, however one of the statues lost its head. No really, it has fallen in front of its feet. In front of this are life-sized statues of his mother, his wife and their children. The temple within follows along the typical temple theme. With 2 large rooms supported by huge columns, smaller antechambers along the side and finally ending in the sacred sanctuary where the four gods of the chamber sit on thrones awaiting the sunrise. Originally, the sunrise would shine directly on them every 22 of October and February, however since the temple was moved (yeah, they moved this thing too when the Aswan High Dam was built!) it happened a day earlier.Next to the Ramses temple, is an amazing temple in its own right, the Temple of Hathor. On its own, it would have looked simply massive, but being next to Ramses temple, it dwarfs in comparison. This temple is dedicated to Ramses beloved wife, Nefertari. It is fronted by 6 massive statues, each about 10m high.
Both temples are decorated with beautiful hieroglyphs depicting Ramses as a strong and victorious pharaoh in many battles, one of which was a battle with the country now known as Syria
Train to Luxor
. After visiting each temple, we sat back on the stone bleachers (set for the evening sound and light show) and just looked at their magnificent beauty. The heat was already starting to envelop us (just 9am). Gerald had a quick nap and I enjoyed looking at the temples and the variety of tourists (and clothing) milling about.
Unfortunately, we missed the interpretive center (a combination of lack of sleep and good signs). We made our way back to the van hoping to sleep all the way back to Aswan.
Once again, at the designated time, the buses and mini-vans assembled for the convoy trip back to Aswan. Our driver for the trip to Abu Simbel took a seat in the back of the mini-van, and he was replaced by a young chap who slept all the way to Abu Simbel from Aswan (I think he was the only one who slept the entire way to Abu Simbel.) At first, when this young chap jumped in the van early in the morning in Aswan, we thought he might be the guide for the trip. Upon arrival in Abu Simbel, when he disappeared faster then a shot of rye at the Pouliot farm on New Year's Eve, I knew something was up. He was no guide this one.
A convoy is typically defined as a procession of land vehicles traveling together. In Egypt, I think a convoy means "Mini-buses lined up bumper to bumper driving along at 100 km/h, so that those in the back may make use of the slipstream to maximize fuel efficiency." Some of you may laugh, the front of our mini-bus was literally a max of 2 metres behind the back bumper of the mini bus in front of us. We were terrified that if the driver in front of us had to stop suddenly for any reason, our mini-bus could do nothing but rear end the one in front of us. All of this at 100 km/h. When we would be passed by another mini-bus or coach bus, our driver would speed up just to get right behind it again.
In North America, and most of the world I would presume, the signal light (or indicator light for those of you with English backgrounds) is used to communicate your intended path of direction to other vehicles in the vicinity. In Egypt, when in convoy, the indicator light is used to warn the vehicles behind you that there is oncoming traffic on the side of the flashing light and that you should not pass (or overtake for those of you with English backgrounds). Seeing how close we were following the vehicle in front, it makes sense to communicate in such a way, but WHY NOT BACK OFF AND SEE FOR YOURSELF IF TRAFFIC IS ONCOMING! There is no 2 second rule here, dad. (Vic)
Finally, you would think that the purpose of 2 drivers was to have an alert driver for the way home...you'd think. For the first hour or so of our trip, our driver kept looking at his lap. With a stretch of the neck, we finally figured it out. The guy was text messaging on his cell phone. Yeah, while driving, bumper to bumper at 100km/hr. Also and unfortunately, Gerald and I had a clear view of his eyes (occasionally closing...nodding off) through the rear-view mirror. A while later, he ate a couple of times...we think to try to stay awake. We were really freaked out and must have started to get on his nerves because with about 40 minutes left to go, he pushed up his rear-view mirror toward the windshield. (He didn't need it anyways since the back window was covered with a curtain!).
Fortunately for us, we returned safely to Aswan around 1:00 pm. We were left to our own devices to kill away the afternoon. Our train to Luxor was set to leave at 6:00 pm.
Boarding the train to Luxor, we found out that although it was quite comfortable in the 1st Class air conditioned car, it would have been quite long to sit like this for 12 hours from Cairo to Aswan. I guess it was a blessing in disguise that there were no such seats for last Saturday night's voyage. For today's 3 hour trip to Luxor, these would be more than sufficient. The only complaint that we had was the state of the toilet in our car. It was not functioning, to be politically correct, and we had to hold it until we arrived at our hotel in Luxor. The German family ahead of us (who shared our opinion of the bathroom) had young children that couldn't "hold it". They resorted to a plastic bag. A few more hours and who knows?
We were greeted by our tour representative for Luxor at the train station (the busiest, darkest, dirtiest-piles of dirt we'd seen yet). He collected a few other passengers and we all boarded a mini-van for our very short journey to the hotel. We were offered the requisite cup of hibiscus tea as we filled out our paper work in the lobby. Once the paperwork was filled out, we ascended to our 4th floor room.
AAAGGGHHHH!
This is the grimiest room that we have had yet. The sink and the bath tub (which for us would only be a shower stall!) were covered in more grime than the dirty tub in the Mr. Clean commercial. I could have done the electrical much better then the exposed wires that we saw, and as Tamalyn's brother and father (both electricians) can attest, I sometimes need help attaching two extension cords! The lights over the beds did not work (the lightbulb was hanging sideways in the lamp). The only functioning lights were in the bathroom and in the doorway (which we left on for fear of night time visitors). Aah, the joys of independent budget travel in Egypt!
Regardless, we had to get to sleep as we were off to the Valleys of the Kings and the Queens at 7:30 the next morning.
