Temple Time
My guide collects me early in the morning and we head off to Hatshepsut Temple. This is an amazing temple. I spend quite some time here looking around and listening to my guides informative commentary. The temple merges with the sheer limestone cliffs of the eastern face of the Theban mountain. It is partly cut out of the the rock and partly freestanding structure.
Excavation began in 1891 but wasn't completely excavated until 1896 and is still in the process of being restored. Unfortunately, over the centuries the temple has been vandalised. This was done by the successors of Hatshepsut, who scratched out her name where they could. A fate that befell other pharohs who fell out of favour with future rulers. Akhenaten rememoved all references to Amun before taking his court off to Tell al-Amarna and the early Christians who took it over as a monastery also defaced pagen reliefs.
After leaving, we continue to the Ramesseum which is not very well preserved due to a earthquake that destroyed the huge statue of Ramses II. This temple was built to impress Ramses II's priests, his subjects, his successors and of course the gods, so that he, the great warrior pharaoh, could live forever. My guide and I leave here after an hour but I stop by the archeological site next to the Ramesseum where a team of Italian and German's are doing a dig. I ask to go onto the site and to take a few photographs. They are very accomodating even though it's against Egyptian law to walk around the ruins I am allowed to look at some of the findings and have a picture taken.
After this, I head off to the Tombs of the Nobles that were discovered in the last 15 years but only opened to the public for the last five years. This is pretty interesting but it costs me an extra 100 EP because it was not in the program. I hand over the money but am annoyed because the guide says that he will give a cut to the driver but I know it will go straight into his pocket for himself. It's not the fact that I am getting ripped off its the principle and I know that he will expect a tip. This whole idea of baksheesh is really annoying and I am getting peeved off having to pay a tip for everything. At the end, the guide says to give the driver 25 EP as a tip. This pisses me off even more cause these tours are all inclusive and included with the cruise. I have to remember to complain to the travel agent.
I quickly get my stuff organised in my room and head out again to get some supplies for the cruise, which leaves at 1pm. I pick up some cokes for 2 EP each, small packets of chips for 50 P and some bottles of water at 2 EP for 2 litres. This will save me a lot of money on the boat. The boat charges 7 EP for a 200ml bottle of coke and 6 EP for the water. The beverage manager sees me drinking a can of coke on deck and tells me that I can only drink these in my own room. I ignore what he says and continue to drink what I want and where. I prefer to support the local economy rather than these cruise boats. They will rip you off for everything because a tourist is $$$ signs for them.
We set sail after lunch and I have learnt that we are a half day behind scedule. The group of Hong Kong people have arrive too late and caused a disruption to the whole schedule. This means that we will have to stay outside of Esna and the lock when we are supposed to be staying at Edfu so that we can see the Temple of Horus in the morning.
I am not too worried because I don't realise the consequences. I grab my swimmers and head upstairs for some sunbaking, reading and writing. A wonderful way to relax. The waters of the Nile drift slowly past as we literally dog paddle down towards Esna.
