Temple of Philae and Aswan High Dam

Trip Start Dec 12, 2006
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Trip End Mar 15, 2007


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Where I stayed
Memnon Hotel
(Aswan hotels)

Flag of Egypt  , Nile River Valley,
Saturday, February 17, 2007

The ride to Aswan from Cairo was a 12 hour train ride. It took over an hour to get moving, but after an hour or so, we were on our way. The guy sitting in front of me was a guard and had a machine gun in the seat next to him. It was very odd having him there with a machine gun, but I guess there are many people out there who don't like foriegners in Egypt.

Anyhow, we arrived in Aswan at around 11:30 p.m. We got picked up by Hossaine, who led us to the Memnon Hotel which isn't too bad for a 2 star hotel. Anyhow, I took a shower and we then went on a quick tour of Aswan. We visited the Unfinished Obelisk, the Aswan High Dam, and the Temple of Philae.

I didn't want to spend too much money, so I skipped the Unfinished Obelisk. Based on what I heard, it was just a lot of big rocks. Hah.

The Aswan High Dam is pretty cool. It provides 85% of Egypts electric power and it's about 2 kilmeters wide. Amazing work. The guide mentioned that the dam is the number 2 largest dam in the world, but will soon be #3 since there is a Dam in China that will surpass it.

The last sight for the day was the Temple of Philae. We took a boat to the island where the temple was and I must admit, it's pretty awesome. In fact, after the Aswan high dam was built, the waters started rising and UNESCO had to move the temple, because they feared it would soon be under water. They cut up the buildings and after 8 years, they were done!

I spent about 28 pounds today on entrance fees. Not bad....

Early tomorrow morning at around 3 a.m., I'm heading to Abu Simbel... Ugh... a real long day.
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