The Land Before Time: Papyrus XIII - Aswan, First Cataract of Nile

After leaving Luxor, we headed for Aswan, which is further south along Nile River. Yes...the weather is still as hot, hovering around the 40 degC mark during the day.

Though the land area of Egypt is so large, settlements mostly occupy the regions close to Nile River. The unmarked areas are just...pure barren desert.

A comfy 3-hour train ride from Luxor to Aswan. The train is almost empty. Looks like locals don't really take this kind of 'high class' train.

Along the train ride, observed quite a few settlements built atop these sandy hills.

How cute! Our hotel towels are folded skilfully into the shape of a snake!

A sumptuous half chicken meal! The chicken was heavenly, the curry was delicious and the rice was tasty! (don't really like that white sauce on the left side though...)

Streets of Aswan

Nice to see something white amongst all the yellowish brick-ish coloured buildings. Is this a mosque? Or a church? *confused*

This very Egyptian-looking structure seems like a judicial court. (judging from the scale symbols)

Woah...looks like the residence of some rich sultan haha...

Nubian Museum. Ideal place to take cover from the sweltering heat.

Not sure if photography is allowed but I took some pictures anyway. This museum exhibits artifacts relating to the Nubian Kingdom. Nubia is a region around southern Egypt and northern Sudan, with Nubian people forming a distinct ethnic group.

Precious stones on display.

Aswan Bazaar. This is definitely much less crowded than the one in Cairo, which hardly has space to maneuver.

You can find all kinds of rojak groceries and sundries here (literally 杂货). The souvenir stalls have the most aggressive shopkeepers. Understandable since the locals don't buy souvenirs right?

After several days in Egypt, we're getting tired of having to ask the price and then try to bargain, whenever we buy anything (be it bottled water or souvenirs). Why can't they just be transparent about the prices?! Anyway I think my bargaining skills leveled up tremendously after this trip lol.

TLBT Tip No.13: After drinking plain bottled water all the time, you may want to 'reward' yourself once in a while by buying carbonated drinks or juice instead, like Fanta orange juice. BUT these drinks are best drunk cold, and it's very easy for liquids to heat up under the scorching heat if you just store it inside your bag. Hence it's advisable to drink all of it right after buying it from the fridge...but then again small bottles are usually more expensive (per volume) and you need to store liquids just in case. Therefore good planning is required even when buying drinks and quenching your thirst. But when you're on the verge of dehydration, drinking sweetened drinks does make you slightly more refreshed and energetic, be it chilled or warm.

Yeah...thanks to the sun I often get to drink warm water, which soothes my throat and prevents me from getting sore throat lol.

Aswan Bazaar is famous for spices. I'm already sufficiently spiced up by the sun, so no thanks lol.

More strange looking spices. What's that azure blue powder over there? Copper sulphate??!!

This time we tried another stall, for the same half-chicken meal. Equally delicious! By the way, see the way the put the pita bread on the table. The appearance of the bread isn't that appetizing in the first place and yet they still treat it this way lol.

Walking along the Corniche and admiring the beauty of Nile.

The clear blue waters, the azure sky, and the smooth sandy hills creates a wonderful contrast of nature.

This part of Nile is known as the First Cataract of Nile. 'Cataract' refers to a shallow region of a river with rapid flow, so shallow that rocks often protrude out from the riverbed, making it difficult for ships/boats to navigate through.

Stumbled into Ferial Gardens while strolling along the Corniche (river bank). After days of seeing sand and rocks, it was really great to see such greenery. Of course this comes with a small entrance fee, probably due to the high maintenance of those vegetation that does not naturally grow in such arid desert climate.

I mentioned earlier that Nile River gets more beautiful as you travel south. Indeed...Nile at Cairo looks like a typical city river, Nile at Luxor looks plain and Nile at Aswan is....just amazing!

A once-in-lifetime shot with the prettiest part of the world's longest river.

The contrast with the dry sand/rocks at the background makes the water look really appealing.

The traditional Egyptian sailing boat - Felucca - the best way to tour Nile River.

This is an imperfect spot to sit down peacefully and watch the river and its bustling activities (all the feluccas/boats/cruise etc). It would be perfect if not for the hot weather haha.

Famous local Egyptian food - Kushari. It contains a rojak of ingredients, such as rice, lentils, chickpeas, macaroni and fried onion. Cheap and filling!

At least she had a good CNY before leaving.

The Land Before Time: Papyrus XII - Luxor Temple

After a good afternoon nap, we set off in the evening again for Luxor Temple, a 10-minute walk from our hotel.

Beautiful sunset carves a silhouette of Luxor Temple.

Nostalgic kid rides! Do they still have these in our neighbourhood centres?

The hanging rubber toys really reminds me SG neighbourhood in the early 1990s.

Hahaha...a nice bridge of bottled water/drinks. After drinking various brands of mineral water, I would say Nestle still tastes the best. Yes...there is a difference in taste!

The moon is up! The prayer chant blares over the entire city via loudspeakers.

The magnificent entrance of Luxor Temple.

Love the statues and obelisk! ^_^

Avenue of Sphinx revisited.

Feeble attempt in taking artistic shots of the sphinx...

The enormous statues greet visitors at the entrance. I notice such statues are usually seated down. Why ah?? Too tired to stand up for so long is it? Lol.

Ancient carvings can be spotted on every inch of the temple walls.

I also notice that the statues don't stand exactly straight. They would usually stick one leg forward. Why ah?? Can't balance properly is it? Lol.

Walking further into the temple...the statue reminds me of the sitting security guards I see whenever I enter a compound...

Yay I've the whole courtyard to myself! =P

The gaps in the column architecture is very very popular with birds haha. Beware of dropping fluids lol.

Boss fight ahead! Where's the save point??

Boss (Guardian of the Temple) defeated, time to explore the inner shrines...so eerie... (no lah, nothing is going to pop up suddenly haha)

No treasure =( But let's decipher the codes, which will bring us to our next destination.

Exiting the temple, sky is turning dark!

Another neat display of stone pieces. I prefer to see larger ones though haha.

People say Luxor Temple is best visited at night...now I know why =)

The illumination is perfect!

This is not a panorama shot...I just joint two pictures side by side haha.

Which do you prefer? The day shot or night shot?

Luxor Temple at night...absolutely amazing!

This obelisk has a different coloured illumination. At least we can observe some contrast here.

Eeeks! 见鬼了!

A cool carving of a calvary archer!

Here's Avenue of Sphinx again. Not Avenue of Ghosts....

Ok I remember meeting a group of Egyptian youths here. They suddenly came up to ask if they could take a picture with us. I was like O_O?...Why us out of so many tourists in the area?? Apparently yellow-skinned Asians are quite a rarity there. This is the first time overseas that I felt like a 'celebrity' because of my race lol. They seemed interested in where we come from haha.

This brings me to another common thing I experience in Egypt. Every now and then Very very very often people ask us which country we're from. Even when we're just walking on the streets, curious locals will just spring up in front of us and ask "Which country?". More often, they don't even ask the question - they plunge straight into making guesses...like "China?? Korea?? Japan??" Yea, the guesses usually come in this order. 'China' is the most common first guess (naturally, by common sense). 'Korea' comes as the 2nd top guess, followed by 'Japan'. Considering the population size, it would seem counter-intuitive to guess 'Korea' first before 'Japan'. However this order reflects how Koreans are gradually extending their soft power globally...even to Africa. To Egyptians, Koreans probably leave a greater impression than Japanese.

Back to topic, of course we just shook our heads to all their guesses. But some didn't give up and continued to guess! Lol. Hence the '2nd-tier' countries begin to appear...like 'Hong Kong'. And I remember one who exclaimed excitedly "I know! I know!.....Taiwan right??!!". *facepalm* But very good guess though....haha.

On the other hand, some don't guess the country, but...

Tout: Ni Hao!
Us: *shakes head and walks off quickly*
Tout: Konnichiwa??
Us: *shakes head irritatedly*
Tout: Annyeonghaseyo??? (the least mentioned since it's probably harder to say)
Us: *ignores*

Despite so many guesses from so many people, NO ONE managed to get our nationality correct (well, it's not surprising actually. Imagine trying to guess correctly the nationality of a Caucasian...who comes from Luxembourg). I even had the idea of giving out cash prizes to people who guessed it right. Lol.

If I'm in the mood to tell them the truth, I would just say 'Singapore' and they would go "Ooohhh...Singapura...!", though I doubt they know where this tiny country is. It's like a Caucasian telling a Singaporean "I'm from Monaco", and the Singaporean will go "Ooohhh...Monaco...!" but deep inside "Where the hell is Monaco??!!"

TLBT Tip No.12: If asked for nationality by some random unimportant roadside locals, It might be much simpler if you just say you're from China. Save them the agony of rummaging their knowledge of Asian countries, and save yourself the agony of trying to explain where Singapore is. Being from China can be very 'useful' at times...lol.

Trying to get myself into this magnificent view...did I spoil the picture?

Bye bye to Luxor. Off to next destination!