*woot. this post was in my drafts for a couple of days now* Just added the images that’s why. =)
The alarm sounded. The call came for us(me and my roommate Miss Cecil) to hurry up and leave the hotel. The airport was an hour away from the hotel and so we have to be early to catch the early morn flight. We slept soundly and did not heed our alarms till late.
And so we were the last in the group to hop on the bus. And to make it worse our room was located soooo far from the lobby.
The smell of the aircraft was different from what we are used to. It is not pleasant to us and you know how Pinoy’s are when it comes to “smell”. So, we had to endure the 1 and a half hour flight to Aswan.
When we arrived to Aswan, we were then toured to Aswan’s High Dam where you can see the Nassir Lake(refer to the picture above) which is the largest man made lake in the world and the Nile River on the other side.
We rode a motorboat to visit Philae Temple.
Philae Island was a rocky island in the middle of the River Nile, south of Aswan.
It was called in Hieroglyphic “Apo” which means Ivory.
Ancient Egyptians built a magnificient temple for Isis but the Temple was submerged after the first Aswan dam was built in 1906, and it was not until the 70’s that many nations attempted to save the Temple.
All these countries, together with UNESCO, selected a suitable place in 1971.
The new island was called Egilica (also called Agilika, refer to the picture above), and it was completely reshaped to imitate Philae Island as closely as possible.
The picture above is my favorite spot in the temple. I don’t know, I was just drawn into it. After the tour guide, finished explaining…. I went back to this place just to take one last picture. Hehe. =) It is just soooo nice. 
The Temple of Isis is my favorite among the many temples we visited.
It is very picturesque and you can find a lot of beautiful scenes.
There’s also a cafe in the island with trees as your shade and you can see the temple and the Nile River on the other side.
I enjoyed the cafe because the tour around the temple was once again HOT HOT HOT.
We were then transported to where the unfinished Obelisk is located, but my being tired (the heat of the sun gets you, plus the lack of sleep)got ahead of me, and I did not bother to check the place out.
Call it conformity, because only 5 among the 25 went up.
*can’t show any pictures on this part*
After that, we had a Felucca Ride in the Nile. Felucca’s are Egypt’s traditional sailboats.
A felucca ride is very relaxing, though they say it’s best if it is done at night.
The felucca doesn’t have an engine and relies entirely on the breeze and the Nile River’s current.
Felucca’s have a table at the middle and they have seats on the sides with cushions.
I like the “type of carpet” (red carpet above us) they use as shade for the ride because the heat could not penetrate.
It’s a good one, really made for hot places like Egypt.
During the ride, the assistant of the captain gave a dance number using a local drum (I don’t know the name). He sang some songs and made us sing along(Oleri which means Welcome) and even dance. It was a fun ride. After that presentation, he then took out some of his goods (like a Badjao selling necklaces/earrings). Some of it were beaded necklaces, some camel bone necklaces and bracelets.
During the ride we can see from afar the Aga Khan Mausoleum. The Mausoleum of the spiritual leader of the Ismailis. It is not open to the public though.
What I enjoyed at the Felucca ride was when a few kids were riding beside the Felucca and were singing. They have cute voices. You know how it is when kids sing.
The Felucca ride was a long ride. It was past 1pm when we docked near Crown Empress (the cruise ship we will be in for the next four(4) days.
We took our lunch aboard Crown Empress. It was a late one. We were relieved when the tour guide announced that it’s “free time”. No scheduled guided tours. She just told us that teatime would be at 5pm, dinner at 6pm and a Nubian Dance Show at the bar around 9pm.
After lunch, we all headed straight to our rooms to REST. and rest we did, we overslept!!!
Dinner was supposed to be at 6pm. But, me and my roommate Miss Cecil woke up from a call my mom made and told us that it’s already 8:45pm, and dinner would end around 9pm. We hurried downstairs and when we arrived, only 4 out of the 25 were there. And so, Miss Cecil called each of the rooms one by one to wake them up. Seems like it wasn’t just us who overslept. Whew. *because if it’s only the 2 of us who did.. then that’s our 2nd strike for the day*
After the dinner, we went to the bar for the Nubian Dance Show. The Nubians inhabited the Nile Valley to the south of Egypt. The Nubian people were uprooted from their land by the year 1971 when one of the world’s highest dams, the Aswan dam, was built on the Nile. The Nubians’ traditional homeland was flooded and many of their communities resettled north of Aswan in present day Egypt. They brought their colorful culture with them when they resettled. The Nubian culture is passed from generation to generation, and it resonates strongly in its music. Drums and clapping hands dominated the music of old Nubia. The guests who were watching and that includes us were asked to join and dance with them and so we did.
We went and had red wine afterwards at the deck to celebrate the birthday of a colleague.
to be continued…
