Day 91, 2011/07/31 Aswan and Abu Simbel

Day 91, 2011/07/31 Aswan and Abu Simbel

Day 91, 2011/07/31

Farren, the guide for the truck overlanders, was kind enough to postpone their trip to Abu Simbel to Sunday so I could tag along. Once again, what a great guy. Naomi and Dave on the other hand, have decided to head towards Luxor. They were not very keen on the Abu Simbel temple thing. 
The only down side to the visit to the temple I'd the fact that it involves a 4 am start. Yeah, not my cup of tea normally. However, we have been told that, for security reasons, we need to travel in convoy. I am sure this gets the hair on the back of some tourist to stand on end! Anyway, the bus meets up with other tourist buses a couple of km from the hotel, and at 430 am we all drive off together. Well that is what I thought! I thought we would have the accompaniment of several army/police vehicles? Did not see any! I thought the buses would at least all travel at more or less the same speed, within sight of each other? None of that happened! Thought perhaps an army/police officer would climb on each bus? Did not see any do that! So what as the precise purpose of this so called convoy then? Who knows, but it all looked like a load of crap to me. 
At least we are able to catchup on some lost sleep on the bus, and arrive in Abu Simbel just before 8 am. The heat of the day is starting to reveal its ugly head. We are given more or less an hour to take in the sights and sounds before the "convoy" leaves to return to Aswan. 
For those who do not know of Abu Simbel, it consists of two massive temples cut from the rock face. One is for king Ramessies II and the other for his wife, Neferti. 
The size and scale of these temples are amazing, never mind the art and sculptures inside. To think they date back to 1200 BC. Amazing! What makes them even more amazing is the fact that, in the 60's when they build the Aswan dam, because of the temples location along the Nile river, they had to be moved to be preserved. This was no small task and took 5 years to complete. Both temples, together with their external facades, were moved a distance of 210 m, and up an elevation of 60 m to their new home, on the banks of the Aswan dam. The audio visual display, in the auditorium, gives a brief interlude into how this was done. 
10am soon arrives, and we make our 3 1/2 hour drive back to Aswan. At least the bus has aircon! 
The remainder of the afternoon is spent catching up on emails, journalling and blogging.