The Wonders of Ancient Egypt are Awesome

I don’t mean awesome like “Dude, that’s awesome!”  I actually mean the dictionary definition of the word.  It truly leaves you in awe when you see what the ancient Egyptians left behind.

I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Egypt with my family before, so coming back gave me the opportunity to try to do things differently.  Instead of flying from Cairo to Aswan and then taking the Nile cruise up to Luxor (which is what I did with my family previously) we took the sleeping train from Cairo to Aswan.  It was a comfortable ride and we met some cool travelers.  Di was pretty excited too because it was her first sleeper train ride.  We got our own private cabin with 2 beds and a sink, all in all pretty nice.  In Aswan I decided to skip a lot of what I had seen previously since I was pretty sure Di would not have been impressed (stuff like the high dam).  Instead, I made sure we got a seat on a bus to go to Abu Simbel where the great temple of Ramesses II is.  In order to get there you have to be part of the tourist convoy which either leaves at 4 or 11 am.  We chose 4, not because we like to get up at 2:30am but because it was a 3 hour drive away and seeing it in the early morning is a lot better than in the sweltering heat of afternoon.  Most of the passengers, myself included, passed out once the bus started driving.  The convoy consists of a lot of different buses and cars, depending on the type of service you paid for.  We were with a bunch of other independent travelers, so our minibus was not the most comfortable or luxurious.  Because of that, I was waking up every 30 minutes or so with a sore back or neck.  This did allow me to catch a glimpse of the sunrise though which was beautiful.  I was going to wake up Di so she too could see it, but her mouth was cranked wide open with her mandible deviated slightly to the left which indicated to me she was in deep slumber.  I decided to let her sleep.  We did meet our first Vancouverite traveler on this trip (the Canucks T-shirt kind of gave it away) on our bus.  He’s currently working in London (UK, not Canada), and it was nice to be able to talk about home again with someone who was also missing the same place.

The temple itself is incredible.  It was carved out of the mountainside as a tribute to some important Egyptian gods and to Ramesses II himself (he very humbly gave himself god-like status).  Three of the four 20 metre high statues remain as you can see in the picture above.  There is just something magical and serene about them as they sit there overlooking the waters of lake Nasser like they did over 3000 years ago.  Only two times a year the rays of the sun slowly penetrate the temple and illuminate the back wall (apart from the god Ptah on the wall, who stayed in the dark as he was related to the underworld).  Though this is debatable, those 2 days are supposedly his coronation day and his birthday.  That is a truly unbelievable engineering feat!  Though he was Egypt’s greatest warrior Pharaoh, the statues leave an aura of peace over you as they stare into eternity.  I’m sure Ramesses II thought the temple would be worshipped forever, but what is also amazing is the fact that this temple was eaten up by the sands of time, forgotten for over two thousand years.  The biggest accomplishments by the most powerful and ambitious of men are still fleeting when compared to nature’s infinite timeline and supremacy.

I could write a paragraph each about all the other sites we saw, but that would make this entry way too long.  By Luxor we went to the Abydos and Dendera temples (luckily highly recommended by the passionate owner of the guest house we stayed at).  These mystical temples are not as popular on the tourist trail and are remarkably well preserved.  I returned to the Valley of the Kings, and actually enjoyed it more this time as there were almost no tourists there.  Last time with my family we had to line up to go into every single tomb which can definitely take away from an experience.  This time we had the tombs to ourselves.  Awesome! (In a “Dude that’s Awesome” kind of way).

On our train ride from Aswan to Luxor we ended up chatting with a couple Egyptian university engineering professors for 3 hours.  We were sitting in their seats, and that initial apologetic exchange evolved into a fascinating discussion.  One got his PhD in Texas and the other in Japan, so it was really interesting to be able to chat with these guys and get their perspective on things.  Voluntarily moving from 2 of the most developed countries in the world back to Egypt can tell you a lot about what people find important in life.  Not surprisingly they insisted on providing dinner for us on the train and any future assistance if needed.  In Luxor, we went to eat at a popular restaurant and beside us were 2 guys eating alone.  A little bit of small talk resulted in both of them joining our table for an engaging dinner.  One was a young Australian architect taking 4 months off work to travel, and the other was an older Frenchman in Egypt on business.  Egypt has been good to us and I think this blog sums up well what you can expect for those who may want to go there someday.  You will definitely see sites that will be among the most mysterious, mind-blowing, and powerful in your life.  You will have ample opportunity to meet other interesting travelers as Egypt will always attract people from all over the world.  And if you’re willing to get away from the tour groups or wander slightly off the beaten path, you’ll get a chance to experience the wonderful friendliness and hospitality of Egyptians themselves.  Though we’re now in Turkey, we will return to do the Red Sea portion of Egypt in a couple of months as we slowly make our way back down from Istanbul to Cairo.  I have high hopes that Egypt will still be good to us when we return.