Aswan... Now the Cruise...

  Aswan, Egypt
Saturday, October 20, 2007

I think I am writing a lot more than I would have if we had kept it up while we were away... but like I said, good notes. =)
 
This morning, we got up early to drive to meet our cruise. On the way, we were able to visit the High Dam, and the monument built by the Soviets in recognition of their accomplishment.
 
The monument is huge and is officially called the Soviet-Egyptian Memorial. It is fashioned after a huge lotus flower and can be seen from quite far away. We stopped to get a closer look, and were more impressed by the structure than the dam itself. The insides of the petals were decorated with the glory of both countries, carvings showed clasped hands representing their "close" friendship. I think it might be the world's biggest "screw you" to the Americans and British since they wouldn't support the project, so in the height of the Cold War, President Nasser turned to the USSR. Oddly enough, the western countries weren't big fans of his after that, and he was eventually assassinated. Apparently the events are not linked.

 
There was a "guide" onsite who was more than happy to take our picture and point out some of the finer detail of the carvings. I think he got one of the biggest tips as we were completely out of small bills at this point.
 
The High Dam remains a fairly controversial project, as I assume most dams are (sponsors aside), since the rising waters hide so much valuable and inhabited land. In the Egyptians case, there were many ruins lost to the need for electricity. UNESCO brought the world together to fund a race against time in which they tried to save as many as possible, most of which we will visit a long the lake edge during our cruise. The most famous of course is Abu Simbel itself.
 
The security to get to the boat dock was interesting, and there was definitely some cash passed that seemed to speed up the process.
 
The boat itself was not the original one we had planned, instead it was the Kasr Ibrim, or sister boat-and it was lovely. Our room was great, nice size with a beautiful balcony. The entrance, dining room, bar and decks were all impressive. I can definitely see how it gets its reputation and five-star rating.
 
The first day on the boat, there was no actual cruising. We visited Kalabsha, by traveling in a little motor boat from the cruise and got a chance to check out the other English speaking cruisers. The crowd was certainly a little different than we had experienced earlier in the trip, I can only assume that its price tag makes it a little less of a "backpackers" activity, and more of a trip in itself. We didn't really talk to the other travelers at this point, most people kept to themselves.

 
Kalabsha-I don't really remember anything too extraordinary about it. We has seen a lot of temples at this point, and it didn't have anything too original, except of course for the fact that it was entirely reconstructed in its current site. The name comes from the origin of the site, not the temple itself. (After flipping back through the photos of this particular day, I realized that here is where we took a funny picture of Ben mimicking Ramses II, and it also had some really cool pillars with the God Hathor.)
 
Dinner was amazing-I had to warn Ben to take it easy on the rich food so that his stomach wouldn't get upset after having gotten use to the ten days of a slightly blander variety in the desert. It was nice to have a proper dessert though.

-Ash