Most of you may know that the 15 hour bus we took heading south was actually taking us deep 
into Upper Egypt as the Nile flows north out of the south. We arrived beleaguered in the morning. After resting up a bit at the hotel, we set out to explore Aswan and get some prices for the activities we knew were musts.
The bank of the Nile in Aswan is really beautiful; it is really what you would imagine in your head having never set foot in Egypt. We would experience that serenity first hand in a couple of days when we took our Nile cruise. The city itself is designed for tourists and is a big hassle, the market street is long and intensive and all the shop owners are convinced you want to buy their
crap. We met some people, had some tea and scouted the scene. We decided that we would go the following day on a long day tour to what was meant to be one of the finest temples in all of Egypt. The trip left 
at 3:30AM so we had only dinner and a drink before getting to sleep.
3 AM obviously came round real early and the cramped mini-bus seats didn't help the situation,
but Ramses II's magnificent temple at Abu Simbel 280km's further south along the Nile didn't disappoint and was probably the finest I’d see the whole trip. He built one for himself (including 4 massive statues of himself as a facade) and one for his wife to keep her 
happy. One fun fact about this place is that in the 60's when they built the major damn in the region they had to move the temple complex up the river bank at a cost of 40 million USD.
From there we began the long ride back and we would visit a couple other places closer to Aswan, the Philae Temple and the Unfinished Obelisk (was supposed to be the largest ever, bu
t cracked before transport). The Philae temple was spectacularly set on its own island and is quite important to the Egyptians.
We returned understandably exhausted from the day trip. We rested, booked our boat trip for the following day, had a relaxing dinner and slept.
We awoke the next morning and set off to collect supplies for our afternoon boat trip. We weren't sure what to expect, but we collected a bag o beers and some snacks. The trip was on a small sailing vessel called a faluca. We would spend the afternoon sailing up the Nile and then park the boat after sunset and sleep on the deck.
We boarded the boat in the early afternoon and set sail around 2:30. It turned out to be the
3 of us and four French Canadians, an older couple, a mother and child, so it wouldn't be a party atmosphere. However, the trip was really relaxing; I sat on the bow in the sun and sipping cold beer as the banks of the Nile slipped by. The sunset was equally as peaceful. We ate aboard and chatted amongst each other. I was the only one brave enough to take a swim with the boat crew; 
apparently there is some risk of a crazy parasite that destroys your liver. I later did the research and it appears where I swam is relatively clean and unlikely to have ill effects, I simply felt like I should take a swim in the Nile. After dark, we made on a bonfire on the beach and visited a “traditional Nubian home” in the form of a slightly overpriced tourist coffee shop. We slept aboard with the blankets over our heads to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
The next morning we arose early to eat a hot breakfast aboard the boat before heading to a pre-arranged mini-bus that would shuttle us to a couple sites before dropping us off in Luxor. We visited first the Kom Ombo temple (dedicated to a bad ass crocodile god) and then the temple at Edfu. They were both excellent temples, but we had started to have a bit of temple fatigue, wh
ich is inevitable when visiting so many with limited Egyptology knowledge. It is, however, 
impossible not to continue to appreciate the massive ancient structures.
We arrived in Luxor at a very cheap and chilled out hostel that would be a very pleasant home base for the coming days in Luxor. We briefly explored the city and found some cheap food before heading back for the night.
into Upper Egypt as the Nile flows north out of the south. We arrived beleaguered in the morning. After resting up a bit at the hotel, we set out to explore Aswan and get some prices for the activities we knew were musts.
The bank of the Nile in Aswan is really beautiful; it is really what you would imagine in your head having never set foot in Egypt. We would experience that serenity first hand in a couple of days when we took our Nile cruise. The city itself is designed for tourists and is a big hassle, the market street is long and intensive and all the shop owners are convinced you want to buy their
crap. We met some people, had some tea and scouted the scene. We decided that we would go the following day on a long day tour to what was meant to be one of the finest temples in all of Egypt. The trip left 
at 3:30AM so we had only dinner and a drink before getting to sleep.3 AM obviously came round real early and the cramped mini-bus seats didn't help the situation,
but Ramses II's magnificent temple at Abu Simbel 280km's further south along the Nile didn't disappoint and was probably the finest I’d see the whole trip. He built one for himself (including 4 massive statues of himself as a facade) and one for his wife to keep her 
happy. One fun fact about this place is that in the 60's when they built the major damn in the region they had to move the temple complex up the river bank at a cost of 40 million USD.
From there we began the long ride back and we would visit a couple other places closer to Aswan, the Philae Temple and the Unfinished Obelisk (was supposed to be the largest ever, bu
t cracked before transport). The Philae temple was spectacularly set on its own island and is quite important to the Egyptians.We returned understandably exhausted from the day trip. We rested, booked our boat trip for the following day, had a relaxing dinner and slept.
We awoke the next morning and set off to collect supplies for our afternoon boat trip. We weren't sure what to expect, but we collected a bag o beers and some snacks. The trip was on a small sailing vessel called a faluca. We would spend the afternoon sailing up the Nile and then park the boat after sunset and sleep on the deck.
We boarded the boat in the early afternoon and set sail around 2:30. It turned out to be the
3 of us and four French Canadians, an older couple, a mother and child, so it wouldn't be a party atmosphere. However, the trip was really relaxing; I sat on the bow in the sun and sipping cold beer as the banks of the Nile slipped by. The sunset was equally as peaceful. We ate aboard and chatted amongst each other. I was the only one brave enough to take a swim with the boat crew; 
apparently there is some risk of a crazy parasite that destroys your liver. I later did the research and it appears where I swam is relatively clean and unlikely to have ill effects, I simply felt like I should take a swim in the Nile. After dark, we made on a bonfire on the beach and visited a “traditional Nubian home” in the form of a slightly overpriced tourist coffee shop. We slept aboard with the blankets over our heads to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
The next morning we arose early to eat a hot breakfast aboard the boat before heading to a pre-arranged mini-bus that would shuttle us to a couple sites before dropping us off in Luxor. We visited first the Kom Ombo temple (dedicated to a bad ass crocodile god) and then the temple at Edfu. They were both excellent temples, but we had started to have a bit of temple fatigue, wh
ich is inevitable when visiting so many with limited Egyptology knowledge. It is, however, 
impossible not to continue to appreciate the massive ancient structures.We arrived in Luxor at a very cheap and chilled out hostel that would be a very pleasant home base for the coming days in Luxor. We briefly explored the city and found some cheap food before heading back for the night.
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