Day 244 – Aswan to Edfu via Nile River Cruise
Abu Simbel, Nile Rive Cruise and Komombo Temple
Today, we once again, left our amazing accommodation at Abo O Rabi Guesthouse in the Nubian Village, with some breakfast boxes prepared by our excellent host. The reason, was we were going to a temple called Abu Simbel today. Last night we actually found out that some Nubian people still worship the ancient Gods of Egypt, and they were very upset during the Aswan High Dam’s construction, as a lot of temples were relocated, but many more were simply allowed to be shallowed up by the higher Nile River.
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel, is actually one of the temples that have been relocated. The temple is actually more than 280km south of Aswan. It is really close to the Sudanese boarder. We were picked up at 5 am, which meant we were leaving the guest house at 4.30am to get to the Nile River and then cross to the East Bank. Abo from the guesthouse and Omar from the travel agency had arranged the transport, which was very professional.
Views along the 3+ hour drive 
On the van, we met the French/Italian family, who was on our Aswan trip yesterday. There was two drivers, who took turns driving to the site. Once we arrived, we were given a few hours to explore the site by ourselves. There is a large room, which shows how the temple was relocated from the original site to the current location. Its a nice feat of Engineering.
The entrance tickets to the site cost 215 EGP / $18.41 AUD per person, which includes council fees and a voucher for a guide. The guides are just standing around outside of the temples and have tags around their necks, indicating that they are guides. Our English speaking guide, gave us a very basic explanation of the temples from outside, which is nice. Of course, shamelessly he say that we must pay a tip before he began.
The temples are drop down amazing. Its was definitely worth waking up that early. They are actually dedicated to Ramses II. What the guide told us, was the temples were built to bring Upper Egypt (where they are located) into the empire, and to show the might of Ramses as a God. To take photos inside the temple, you have to buy a separate ticket, which we didn’t.
Inside the temples are just as cool. The first temple, has some cool battle scenes that even show a lion. Lions do not live in Egypt. These were very cool temples. The one limiting factor is that it was so hot under the Egyptian sun. We couldn’t stay too long outside, without looking for shelter. Even the electric buggies where struggling. I helped the a poor driver push this buggy up a hill back to his office, for my good deed for the day.
Nile River Cruise
We then had our mystery Nile Cruise to get to. We drove all the way back to Aswan, and were met by our contact Omar. He took us and the other family to the M/S Monaco. We were surprised by how good the cruiser was.
Lobby Dining Room Lobby again Hallways Extra chill area Bedroom Bathroom This actually fell right after we set sail… …and almost hit my wife!
While we were being checked in, and saying goodbye to Omar, we asked him, how we would meet the rest of the tour guides along the trip. Omar replied, there are no guide. Then I pulled out the paper work (remember I said to get everything written down), and he had no choice but to call his manager. After a while they agreed to have a guide. I was not convinced so I made a part payment, saying I would pay the rest in Luxor. I felt bad for Omar, as he was stuck between us and his manager, but it was the only way to ensure we didn’t have any more surprises.
After an average buffet lunch, possibly because the food was cold, as we were one of the last groups on the cruiser, the M/S Monaco, set sail for the Temple Komombo.
Komombo Temple and Crocodile Museum
After a tea time on the sun deck, we left the cruiser, and arrived at Komombo Temple. Here the company tour guide arrived and took us around. This is another amazing temple, but I still preferred Abu Simbel. There is no restrictions on photos here, so we went overboard. Lots of the hieroglyphics are visible and the details look incredible.
After an hour here, we made our way to the Crocodile Museum, which has a no photo policy. Its nothing amazing, but there are skeletons of massive crocodiles and information about crocodile related artefacts. Worth visiting as it is included with the ticket.
We boarded our ship after buying water from the main land. The water was extremely overpriced, but after shopping around and some arguing, we bought 1.5L bottles for 10 EGP / $0.86 AUD each (In Cairo and Alexandria, the bottles were half this price).
We had dinner, which was substantially better than lunch. The staff were really friendly, and accommodating on the cruise. It was actually 5 star service. Everything was included in the tour, except drinks (which also meant no water). There was a Party in the Bar at 9pm, but due to our early morning, we were asleep well before then as the ship sailed to the town of Edfu.