Abu Simbel

 So our new friend Akmed, who we met in Aswan was primarily a tour consolidator.  He owned a tour bus, or a share in the tour bus, a nice well maintained Toyota, and he offered to arrange a tour for us to Abu Simbel and another trip to Dendera and so on.  I was very skeptical since I read from the tour books, the Lonely Planet being my favorite, that it was better to deal with places like Thomas Cook and the more established agencies.  In addition, most people will warn you against tour touts and such, plus the questionable nature and sales tactics of bigger Egyptian cities insofar as touts in general.

The problem is that Akmed came in with really great prices for every single tour and he kind of reminded me of a younger version of my uncle Jerry, for better and worse.  Next time in Aswan I will get a photo of  him.  Anyway, he starts off with the price on a cruise ship which is very reasonable per night, counting food and everything, but I am not a big fan of cruise boats and besides, there are seven of us.  A reasonable price for two or three is easily unreasonable when you multiply that price by seven.  However, given the good prices he gathered for the hotel, and the reasonable prices offered on the packages, I decided to give him a go for the tours.  I insisted that I would pay for each at the end of the day for each particular tour.  He agreed, although with a deposit of about 15%.

So with that stated, he informed me that it would be necessary to wake up very early to make it to Abu Simbel.  3AM.  I agreed quickly, remembering how hot it can be in Abu Simbel.  It is really that hot.  You are pretty much on the border with Sudan when you travel that far south in Egypt.  Plus the trip is in conjunction with a police convoy that carries everyone down to Abu Simbel, so there wasn’t much leeway with the time.

So Akmed arranged a wake up call and breakfast for us, all included.  The ticket prices for the actual temple were not included.  This is typically the case when you are not dealing with Thomas Cook or more established tour companies.  Still the price we got was in my opinion, reasonable.  We paid 450 LE, which is about 82 USD for seven passengers, or roughly 12 dollars each for a 280 Km or 174 miles trip each way, 388 miles total.  We could have economized and taken the bus for 21LE each, or about  25 USD total for all, but when I looked over at the kids I figured it might be worth the extra expense.  The breakfast was so so, but I wasn’t hungry anyway, it was packaged in pretty little boxes with string.  It consisted of a boiled egg, cheese, pita bread, and jam.  Not much, but at 3AM I was more interested in sleeping than eating.

The trip was comfortable, I actually slept most of the way, we had the 14 seat minibus to ourselves.  The driver controlled the air, but was just liberal enough with the controls to avoid me complaining.  I think it took about three hours or so to get down to the temple.  There isn’t much around for what I could see.  The site itself is magnificent and actually hosts two separate temples.  It is surrounded by a near park space and majestically overlooks the Nile.

  The entrance in to the temple sites was hefty at 90 LE each, or 16 dollars.  No student discounts, although children under twelve pay half.  Well, sometimes you have to pay to really see things you really really want to see.  So we paid, altogether 405 LE or 73 USD and went in.  I was still thinking about how I was getting it stuck to me and why this site, the most southern cost so much when I looked up and saw the magnificent statues above the entrance.  In addition, this is the only site I have been to with actual artifacts in the temple area.  So maybe it was worth it.  Of course it was.

Ramses II is seen throughout, but the temple is dedicated to Horus, Amen and Ptah.  The second temple is said to be dedicated to Hathor in the form of Nefertari, Ramses II wife.  I couldn’t recommend the temple enough, especially since photography isn’t allowed inside.  Next time I visit I plan on bringing a spy cam however…  Anyways as we made our way from temple to temple and around the grounds I couldn’t help but think that despite the hassles of arriving, it really was worth every cent, waking early and having to wait a few minutes in the baking sun for the van to return.  Of course, like most other sites there are touts and sales pitches as you leave the site, some worse than others.  However, after you have seen Abu Simbel, you probably have seen one of the best preserved temples in Egypt.

• For more pictures of the trip please visit the photo album on flickr.