Our wake up call came at 3:00 am for a 3:30 start. Tim and I dragged ourselves out of bed and showered but were still a little late meaning the mini-bus full of sleepy travellers was waiting impatiently of us outside our hotel door. Unfortunately for us being the last ones on meant we got the worst seats. Every "real" seat was occupied so Tim and I ended up sitting on fold out seats in the aisle with low backs and no let room. We had been hoping to catch a little more sleep on the three hour drive to Abu Simbel - but now it seemed unlikely. The bus needed to join the government convoy and we sat around cramped, sleepy and uncomfortable for another 15 minutes waiting to get underway.
It was a lovely clear black night and once we got out of the city the sky was alight with stars and a bright crescent moon. We did manage to doze off for a little while on the trip but with our heads wobbling all over the place we were jerked away too often for the extra sleep to relieve our tiredness. Abu Simbel itself was good and worth the effort of getting there. We had the first 15 minutes relatively tourist free before the big tour busses started to pour in and we found ourselves crowded and uncomfortable in the inner rooms. The temples themselves had been moved in the 1960's due to the rising waters after the creation of the second Aswan Dam (the "high" dam). It was certainly an engineering marvel both originally and what they went through to move it - but the mystique of the place was damaged by the knowledge that the hillside it was in was man made and that it was encased in a steel dome to protect it. The wall carvings and painting were in excellent condition and you had to wonder to what extent they had been "touched up" in the restoration process.
We miscalculated the time of our return to the bus too and found ourselves to be the last but one back - thus we were again on the uncomfortable fold out seats.
The next stop on the tour was a visit to the High Dam itself - we decided to save our selves the entrance fee and wait outside for the bus to return. It was only 10 mins and basically they just got to drive out across the dam - look at a map, the hydro electricity station and across lake Nasser. The story of the dam and the politics etc that were involved is very interesting - as is the story of the mixed outcomes of it. Half Egypts electricity is generated there and it meant an extra 30% fertile farm land because of the lower flood levels. But it also meant less silt in the water and therefore a greater need to use fertilisers down stream and the contamination of the water with parisites etc. Interesting story , but not that interesting to look at really.
Next stop was the temple of Isis that was formally on Philea Island. This was an interesting temple though it too had been moved to a higher island as it's old location was now covered with water. We had to take a ferry across to the island at our own expense and there was a funny scene as the 16 odd participants of our tour went through a collective bargaining process to get the price down to that which the tour guide had told us was reasonable. Still seemed a high cost to me.
I sat out the last site too - which was an unfinished obelisk that I had read about and seen the photo's of and really didn't need to see. I was just getting sick of dishing out the extra few dollars entry every time to see one more ancient monument. That state of being "all templed out" had arrived.
We got back to Aswan around 2:00 pm tired but reasonably happy with the day. We'd met some nice people on the bus, seen some interesting sites and half an hour later had forgotten the discomfort of the bus. There was no rest because half an hour later we were due to head off again this time downstream towards Luxor.
