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Egypt
Temples, More Touts and Nubia
Aswan, Egypt, December 12, 2006
Today, we rose at 3 a.m. to travel, by police convoy, to the village of Abu Simbel, famous for the great temple of Ramses II. The ride is a fairly long one — about three hours through the desert. By the time we made the rounds of Aswan, picking up people for the ride, we left with the convoy at about 5 a.m., which got us to Abu Simbel, about 25 miles north of the border with Sudan, around 8 a.m.
The temples at Abu Simbel are really beautiful, certainly one of the most amazing things we've seen so far. There are two, one for Ramses II and a smaller one for his wife. Outside Ramses II's temple, there are four gigantic statues, one of which fell down, apparently in antiquity. Within the temples are more statues, and the walls are covered with etchings depicting Ramses' escapades. Of course, the treasure and mummies were moved long ago. Still, it is an impressive sight, to say the least. Perhaps equally impressive is that these temples were moved, stone by stone, statue by statue, and reconstructed, when the Nile was dammed and Lake Nasser was created! We had a short visit to the actual dam, which isn't really much to look at, despite the engineering work that it represents. We also visited Philae Island, the site of another temple with impressive columns and beautiful etchings.
Yesterday, after walking around Aswan for a while and having a wonderful lunch, we took a boat (felucca) ride on the Nile, visiting the Botanical Garden and Elephantine Island, the location of a thriving Nubian village. There really are some beautiful things here!
The problem with all this is that you really have a hard time enjoying all the beautiful things. The reason for this is that wherever you go, you are constantly and aggressively hassled by people trying to sell you things or just asking you for money, as a “gift.” The way they go about this is one of the most irritating things we've ever come across. A typical conversation, if that's what it should be called, goes something like this:
“Hello! Where are you from? What hotel are you staying at? Come visit my store! Only look, no buy! Why not? Why are you angry? Come into my store (repeat this about twenty times in a whiny voice)! Good price …”
If you go to Egypt, you should expect this “conversation” approximately ninety times each day! It doesn't matter what you say. You don't have to be angry to get the “why are you angry” comment. It's enough to make you want to go hide in your room until your outbound flight!