Abu Simbel
 T'was an early start (4am) as we opted to go to Abu Simbel temple, whereby there is a convoy which is a mass movement of vans and buses altogether heading in at one time of the day. If we missed the time, we miss the entire trip. Talk about great security!

We had to wake up early to get a head start as the journey took 3 hours. Wouldn't you know as we arrived, we were the first! And so we had a security guard on board (with a gun, o.O). We had our breakfast in the bus but saw the sunrise on the way as we drove pass what I would think it would be a dessert.


Zizo told us not to look left as we head around the temple, so that when we actually see it, we would be overwhelmed. Hehe. Ramses II was the King who built this temple and the 4 statues shows him from young to old. Inside the temple, it had 4 sacred statues: God of Darkness (Seth), Ramses II, God of Underworld (Osiris) and his wife God of Love (Isis).


An amazing thing about this temple is that twice a year, the sun would shine into the temple and 'lit' the 3 statues except for the God of Darkness. This was done on the 20th on two months (I forgot).

Oh and I forgot to mention another couple of things to spot in a temple

• If you're lost, look up and you'll see a bird spreading it's wings. The head faces into the temple, so the exit is on the opposite way.
• As you go into the temple, the ceiling drops.
  

This temple was also under water as the dam was build so the World Organisation made the effort to gather a few countries to disassemble the temple precisely to another place. When I mean precisely, it's to the final decimel number. But after the movement was done, the dates of where the sun shines into changed. This really proves how impressive the Egyptians were back in the days.

Next to this temple is Ramses's wife, Queen Nefertari


By noon, we had to board the bus to leave. Again, we were the first =). We head to our next place: The High Dam.

High Dam
This Dam was recently built and caused trouble to the Nubians, as it flooded their entire village and culture. So there is still a resentment to the Prime Minister that made the decision. But because of this dam, Lake Nasser was born (in which it flooded the lands of Philae and Abu Simbel temple).


We headed back to our hotel where we had one final shower before heading to our Felucca boat in which we'll be spending 2 nights in a traditional Egypt boat.

Felucca
Name: The tower
Journey: 39km through the River Nile
Our luggages were packed under the boat. It was a boat with a small kitchen, a bed for 18 people and pillows. We slept in sleeping bags.

There was no shower nor toilet on the boat...but an amazing experience!! A couple of us were abit too adventurous and started drinking before we set sail. So we had to force a stop to drop them off so that they can find a bush.

Our meals were quite simple: mainly pita bread served with sorted veges, potatoes and some meat. It was amazing as we saw endless flock of birds flying over the River Nile and enjoying the lovely warm breeze. We are not allowed to sail at night, so we dock at the river bank after the sun set. A few of us collected branches to create a fireplace to keep warm as temperature dropped to 8 or 9 degC.