Monday, November 1st. Today was very different from Sunday in that it was more relaxing and the schedule wasn't as packed. We received our "wake up knock" at around 6:30am and Lisa and I were off to get ready in a cabin the size of a closet. What made the cabin that much smaller was our two luggages and day bags but we did manage to get ready without too much trouble. Then we had our "breakfast is here knock" and which was nice because I was starving! Breakfast was served in a small blue tray which had the following: three pieces of bread (a croissant, some sort of French toast, and some sort of roll), butter, jam, and cheese. Sherif had warned us not to eat the butter so I assumed if the butter was not safe then the cheese wasn't either. I tried a piece of each of the breads and two were really good but the third was very dry (don't remember which is which). After breakfast, Lisa and I enjoyed the views of Aswan from our window as the train rolled on to the Aswan train station.
The moment you step outside of the train station, you notice several differences between Aswan and Cairo. The air is a lot more clear, the city is a lot less crowded, and there is obviously a lot less traffic. We board our bus and head on over to the Aswan High Dam which built between 1960 and 1971 with the support of the Soviet Union. The dam is 12,562 ft across, 364 ft high, and 980 ft wide. The construction of the dam created Lake Nasser, the largest man made lake. The lake covered a lot of towns and historical sites which is why before it was built, there was a lot of archeological activity in Southern Egypt so historians can grab as my artifacts and information before the area became flooded. A lot of the important temples and structures were actually moved to higher ground. We got off the bus and walked around for about 10 minutes. It was a beautiful cool morning and the views were just breathtaking. Lake Nasser was a lovely shade of blue and the sand dunes in the distance provided a great backdrop for some wonderful pictures. We then headed to visit a monument, a lotus shaped tower, that was built to commemorate the Soviet Union's support in the dam construction project. The tower was interesting but there wasn't much to see so after 5 minutes of posing for pictures we were back on the bus.
Next stop was the unfinished obelisk! A lot of the stones used for the pyramids and temples came from the stone quarries in Aswan. The unfinished obelisk dates from the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom and was never completed because after they quarried three sides of the shaft, the Egyptians discovered a major crack in the stone. Had the obelisk been completed, it would have weighted 1,197 tons and stood 134 ft high meaning it would have been one of the largest obelisk in history. Shane (who is a big Egypt nerd like myself) and I likened the experience to a theme park ride. We first saw a short documentary on the obelisk, then we visited the "attraction", and afterwards, there were stores at the end of the "attraction". The documentary is actually something that we had seen on TV before but nevertheless we found it interesting. The quarry itself is very interesting since you can see how the Egyptians carved the massive stones, how they removed the stones from the rock walls, and how they moved the stones down ramps. Shane and I also found areas were other smaller obelisk were created. In the market, we came across a bookstore from the American University in Cairo and I did some serious shopping there. It was great in that they had a good selection and everything was a fixed price meaning no haggling. By the time Shane and I arrived at book store, the majority of people were already on the bus and Sherif was a stickler for people getting to the bus on time. But when Sherif saw his two fellow Egypt nerds in the store, he actually joined us and said we could have a few extra minutes. He knew I was very interested in purchasing good books and that this might be my last opportunity to do so on the trip. Sherif helped Shane and I pick out an awesome book titled "Historic Egypt" which has tons of pictures and information. I also purchased the "Official Guide to the Egyptian Museum", "Christians in Egypt", and "Los Dioses de Egipto", a Spanish guide to the gods in Egypt (yes, I'm fluent in both English and Spanish). In total, I spent roughly $80 which isn't too bad for the amazing books I purchased! I also like to think that included in those $80 was a tranquility fee which allows one to browse without the annoyance of haggling sales people.
Now it was time to relax on the Nile! We boarded a boat that went around Elephantine Island and took us to the Aswan Botanical Gardens. Not only were the views amazing, Shane and I had a great time talking about the history of Elephantine Island. The island was home to several forts that the Egyptians used to protect the country against attacks from the Nubians, their neighbor to the south. The island also has a few temples and interesting sites. We unfortunately did not visit the island but Shane and I do plan on returning to Egypt and do have Elephantine Island on our things to see! The boat ride was amazing since we did get to see a lot including giant cartouches (oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end and the name of the pharaoh written in hieroglyphs inside) carved on boulders, the Sofitel Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie wrote "Death on the Nile", Nubian fishermen preparing their nets and gears, plenty of sand dunes, and remains from many temples and historic sites. We also saw the Aga Khan Mausoleum which its history is one of Egypt's greatest love stories (the love story is below the pictures).
After a relaxing ride on the Nile, we visited Aswan's Botanical Garden in Kitchener's Island. This little island was truly an oasis in the middle of the desert! It was filled with trees and flowers from around the world and in the distance, the mighty Saharan sand dunes provided a magnificent backdrop. We spent about 20 minutes in the garden which I felt was not enough. I would have liked more time to really enjoy the variety of plants and to take in the amazing views. But alas we had to move on to our next adventure, a ride on a Felucca, a typical Egyptian sail boat. Unlike our previous boat, this one was more peaceful since there was no sound from a motor and I found the ride to be smoother. Of course, the peacefulness was interrupted when one of my tour mates decided it will be fun to take a "dive" in the Nile. This tour mate gave the impression that she just wanted to bend over and dip her hands in the Nile so Sherif volunteered to help her balance. As Sherif was holding her, said tour mate lunged forward to stick her whole upper body in the river. Needless to say hilarity ensued when Sherif was struggling to not to lose his grip and since said tour mate was wearing a dress, we all got a lovely view of her underwear. It was a moment I don't think any of us will ever forget!! Then things got better. One of the "captains" on the boat brought out this giant tambourine and we all sang and danced. I managed to capture a lot of the moment on video! :)
Then the Felucca docked and it was time to board our Nile Cruise (M/S Norma), the opportunity to live in luxury for three days! I think this is the moment everyone was looking forward to; spacious rooms, lots of hot water, all you can eat buffets, a gift shop without the haggling, and an upper deck with amazing views. Once we boarded the cruise, we met in the lounge to wait for our room assignments and were offered something to drink. It was some sort of tea but it was tasty. Lisa and I were assigned room 323 and much to our dismay there was no elevator on the boat though fortunately, cruise personnel took care of our luggage (I don't think I would have survived dragging my suitcase up three flights on a spiral staircase). But then came the fun part, apparently you needed a PH.D to figure out how to open the cabin doors. It went something like keep turning your key to the right, then you pull the door, and then you push it open. Sometimes you would hear the moans of frustration from a tour mate as they valiantly struggled to open the door. Luckily, Lisa and I were able to figure out the door opening thing pretty quickly. After getting a lesson in how to open a door, we were off to lunch!!! I think a few of us were quite hungry because we attacked that buffet like dinosaurs on the hunt. There were all sorts of salads, veggies, dips, cheeses, hot entrées (rice, potato, veggies, meats), and a whole lot of desserts. Oh, and there was a table filled with a variety of breads and a few bread sculptures. At this lunch, I learned lesson 4...to recap: Lesson 1: Egyptians are crazy drivers. Lesson 2: Egyptians love their bread. Lesson 3: Egyptians love their metal detectors. Lesson 4: Drinks are never included. After lunch, it was time for a hot shower and a little relaxation before an evening of dealing with some very annoying sales people.
This evening, we had the opportunity to visit a local perfume shop and the Aswan market. Not everyone went, a few stayed behind enjoying the luxuries of the ship while I was enjoying the luxury of self-constraint. Sherif told us this perfume shop was owned by a good friend and that he was going to give us a talk about local perfumes and essential oils. What he did not tell us is that we were going to be hounded by people very skilled in the art of pressure selling. And unfortunately, while most tour mates were able to say no and just buy what they wanted, I caved in to one of their so called "great deals". When we walked in, there was a guy giving a quick demo on glass blowing so we stood and watched while he created a perfume bottle. Then we walked upstairs where my tour mates and I sat on these sofas to hear the owner talk about various perfumes and essential oils. We were offered some tea while listening to this guy ramble on in what can be described as a cheesy speech with equally cheesy sound effects. You could tell the guy and his employees had rehearsed the skit for the "enjoyment" of tourists. After the guy finished talking, this herd of sales people came barreling towards us with pads in hand ready to take orders. I was only interested in the eucalyptus essential oil but the guy assigned to me refused to accept the fact that was the only thing I wanted! After about 5 minutes of going back and forth, I caved in and went for the buy 3, get 1 free deal. I bought a bottle of following; eucalyptus, sandalwood, peppermint, and frankincense. I think your experience at the perfume shop depended on your sales rep because some tour mates said they had a great time and that their rep wasn't that pushy. But I survived and to this day I'm still figuring out what to do with my bottles of essential oils.
After the perfume shop, we headed to the Aswan market. I was a tad worried after all the horror stories I had heard about Egyptian markets but I found this one to be quite tame. Shane and I were "husband and wife" for the trip so we ventured together into the Aswan market. As we were entering the market, a typical crazy Egyptian driver almost ran me over and Shane said "good grief, we just got married, I don't want to lose my wife on the first day". Hahaha...That was a classic and I still laugh at that line! We met up with Matt and Kim, a real life couple, and we went into this store that had all sorts of belly dancing outfits. Tuesday night is theme night were the girls have to wear some sort of belly dancing attire (a full outfit or the scarf with jingles) and the guys wear the tunic so tonight my mission was to find something to wear. I wasn't too fond of the scarves with jingles and then I spotted this awesome belly dancing outfit!!! It was a dark red color and had the jingling coins on both the top and bottom. Shane knew I was looking for a full outfit and he too thought that was the best of the bunch. There were some seriously hideous outfits in that store! I asked the guy in the store to grab the outfit for me and then I went to the back of the store to try it on. The store obviously didn't have a dressing room so I just tried it over my shirt and jeans. It fit almost perfectly!! It was the right length (I had to go Egypt to finally find a pair of pants that were the right length) and the top fit just right. Then the fun part began, the haggling. The guy started out at 400 pounds which is about $70 USD. Way too high! I told him 300 pounds and he was a little iffy but when I saw he was willing to to decrease the price, I said 200 pounds. The guy said "no no no too low 270" and I said "no 200 pounds". I knew 200 pounds ($35 USD) was still a tad high in Egyptian standards (everything in that country including silver is very inexpensive) but I had my heart set in that outfit. It was an awesome color and the fit was almost perfect. Shane was just standing next to me with a smirk on his face watching me haggle with the guy. I kept saying 200 pounds until he brought it down to 240 pounds and at this point, I pretended to walk away. He then said "no no 230 pounds" and I said "no 200 pounds" and continued walking. The guy finally caved in and said ok 200 pounds. Woohoo!! I got my outfit!! I'm sure I could have haggled a bit more but time was running out since we only had an hour and Shane still needed to get his outfit. Either way, I was very happy with my purchase and now I have an authentic belly dancing outfit to wear on Halloween ($35 is not too bad when you consider the average Halloween costume in the US costs upwards of $60). Now we were off to another store for the "hubby's" tunic. Right across the street, we found a place that had more menswear so Shane went at it and started looking for an outfit. He found one right away, a black tunic, and purchased a head piece as well. I can't remember what he paid but I remember he got a really good deal. We wrapped up just in time and headed over to the bus. The market experience wasn't too bad and I was rather happy with my purchase. When I got to the bus Sherif asked us what we had purchased and how much we paid. He obviously laughed and said I needed to work on my haggling skills! Later in the week, he would say that the outfit I purchased was worth the 200 pounds because the outfit I purchased was of better quality in terms of the workmanship and material. To this day, I love my outfit and I can't wait for the opportunity to wear it again!
After a crazy evening, we headed back to the boat for dinner and an evening show. Dinner again was an all you can eat buffet but with different items. I was rather hungry so I piled on the plate especially with the desserts! After dinner, some of my tour mates and I headed out to the lounge to watch the show. The first act was a "whirling dervish" which is basically a guy that spins around nonstop for about 10 minutes (see picture below). He doesn't get dizzy but we all do. I thought it was rather interesting especially since I had never seen a "whirling dervish". Next up was the belly dancer! She was definitely not your stereotypical belly dancer with the great body and beautiful face. Nope, this lady was packing some serious rolls, had a rather manly face, and was wearing the weirdest belly dancing outfit I had ever seen. My outfit seemed more authentic! After a few minutes of dancing, she starts walking towards me and I was horrified; I so did not want to go on the dance floor to dance with this lady. Instead, she picked Shane that was sitting next to me!!! I stayed for a few seconds to watch Shane and then I ran upstairs before I became the next victim. After a while, I returned to the lounge but the show was over. Very short show, maybe lasted 25 minutes. A group of us then headed to the top deck to relax under a sky filled with stars! The weather was great, there was a cool breeze blowing, so a few of us were tempted to actually sleep there. But alas, it was time to call it a night because the next morning we had a 3:30am wake up call to go to Abu Simbel!!!!!!!
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| Aswan Train Station |
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| Lake Nasser |
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| Aswan High Dam |
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| Lotus Momument |
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| Unfinished Obelisk |
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| Boulders with cartouches around Elephantine Island |
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| Nubian fishermen |
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| Aswan Botanical Gardens |
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| Saharan Sand Dune |
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| Trees in the gardens. |
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| Beds on the cruise. |
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| Whirling Dervish |
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| Belly Dancer |
One of Egypt's Greatest Love Stories: Aga Khan III was born in 1877 and went to become one of the richest men in the world as a result of being one of the founders and first presidents of the All India Muslim League. He married four women but his favorite was the fourth, Yvonne Blanche Labrousse whose name changed to Begum Om Habibeh when she converted to Islam. When Aga Khan passed away, in 1957, he wanted to be buried in Aswan next to the house he shared with Habibheh so she commissioned the construction of the Aga Khan Mausoleum. When the tomb was completed 16 month later, Habibeh visited it every single day leaving a red rose for her late husband. She continued doing this until she passed away on July of 2000. For a little over 40 years, without missing a day, Habibeh did this and at times tourists will gather to see her leave the house and walk up the hill to the mausoleum. Today, a red rose still finds its way to the tomb every so often.
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| Aga Khan Mausoleum |
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