The Land of no Top Floors, Sat, 05 Mar 2022 | written by Simon
Jemma and Simon at a City, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site in Africa, Egypt

We got up at 4:30 today to go to Abu Simbel and see it while the temperatures are still bearable. To be honest, I’m not sure this was necessary, but it seems that this is how things are done here. We were surprised by how few people were there – it seems that it was a good idea to come a day after all the cruises landed, because they all must have been here in the last days.

  • We had our own driver for the 3h drive through the desert – not sure it was necessary, but Ibis organised it this way.
  • Sunrise over the desert is pretty great, even from the car.
  • Ramses II was a pretty naughty boy! The temple commemorates him winning a battle he didn’t win, recognising him as a living god which I dare say he wasn’t, and even though he did build a second temple to his wife, it’s really mostly for him, since most of the imagery in it is him.
  • The engineering involved in the moving of the temple to rescue it from the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser is really impressive – we need to watch a documentary about it when we get back.
  • It’s amazing to see a temple that’s not been hacked at by the Christians or Muslims…
  • There are a lot of pyramid-shaped mounds and mountains all around and we wonder if they were the inspiration.
  • We saw mirages on the way back!
  • The farms on the desert are quite amazing – suddenly, in the middle of the sand, a circle of lush greenery with a watering arm.

On the way back and after some arguments and misunderstandings with Haggag (the Ibis rep), we got stopped of at the Nubian Village. It turned out to be mostly a market and guesthouses. After some time there, we got really tired and caught a ride to town with an Egyptian family, who decided to crank up the music and throw an dance party on the boat, obviously pulling us into it. Jemma was once again the dance star – what a fantastic time!

Back in the hostel, we ended up going to sleep at 8pm, listening to donkeys and surprisingly many cruise ships signalling. The West Bank is pretty noisy…

  • We expected the Nubian market to have more stuff in our style, and it was better, but we still didn’t find that much we wanted. Especially the clothes are quite shapeless and not great fabrics.
  • There is A LOT of stuff here, which makes the experience stressful, not fun. So much better buying the scarves on Elephantine.
  • Jemma is getting fed up with the haggling and everyone telling you things are handmade by their sister and then you see identical ones on the next stall… Makes you question everything and you just constantly feel like you’re being cheated. We want to trust and give money to local craftspeople, but they are not making it easy.
  • Still, the Nubian vendors are a fair bit less insistent than the Egyptian ones.
  • Some of the best lines we heard so far:
    • I don’t know what you want but I have it.
    • Welcome to Alaska!
    • Scotland? Aaa, William Wallace! – (me) Yes, he’s my brother – No way, he’s my cousin!
  • We love the Nubian architecture aesthetics.
  • OMG donkeys are loud!