We flew into Cairo and were supposed spend the first day relaxing and recovering from the rather long flight. Instead, we asked a taxi driver – who turned out to be very friendly – to take us downtown for food and shopping. He took us to get Koshari, a popular fast-food in Egypt, and afterward we went to a few shopping and souvenir places. My sister bought a bunch of scarves, my mom bought some scented oils that is used to make expensive perfumes, and I bought a few papyri.
The next day, we flew south to Aswan and before going to our Nile cruise boat, we visited the Aswan High Dam. This is an impressive modern dam, with some seemingly dull history compared to everything else in Egypt. I realize that this “technological marvel” is a source of Egyptian pride (and most of their electricity), but to a foreigner, it is quite boring. Thank goodness our visit was brief. After the dam, we drove to a small port and then took a boat to see Philae Temple. This temple, which dates to around 250 B.C., was initially located on the island of Philae, but because of the rising water caused by the Aswan Dam, it was relocated to the nearby island of Agilkai. There is some defacement of the hieroglyphs on the temple walls and the prevailing theory is that this was done by early Christians who thought it were pagan symbols. (This sort of defacement is common on many of the temples in Egypt.) This was my first glimpse of ancient Egypt, and though still impressive, things were about to get much better. Throughout, I always wondered how magnificent these ruins were after construction.
After Philae Temple, we arrive at the Nile cruise boat for lunch and a relaxing ride to Kom Ombo Temple. Unfortunately, there was a delay leaving due to a late arrival of supplies – some of which included toilet paper – so we arrived at Kom Ombo temple later that evening. There seem to be some argument between the guards and our tour guide Hassan. They finally agreed to let us walk around the temple for about 20 minutes. Hassan tried his best to rush through some of the interesting facts about this temple. For example, the hieroglyphs on the wall contain one of the first recorded calendars, and show some ancient medical tools which surprisingly resembles modern ones.
