Abu Simbel, Egypt: The Pharaoh Who Loved Himself

After saying good-bye to Luxor, I headed further south to the city of Aswan.

What It's All About:
Aswan is a city in the super-south of Egypt, also along the Nile River. It's a pretty city, but is most-often visited by tourists as a jumping-off point to visit the temples of Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is a series of temples built by Rameses II (obvs) that are carved into stone and are amazing.

As a side note, another popular option with tourists is to sail on the Nile from Luxor to Aswan, or vice versa - it's apparently gorgeous and relaxing and life-changing. I didn't have enough time, so I took the train, but it's going on my list of to-dos when I return to Egypt. As if I don't have that list for every country I've visited. Can I just travel forever?

The crazy-huge main temple of Abu Simbel - see miniscule people for reference

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• One 3-hour train ride later, I was picked up in Aswan by a new guide, who immediately whisked me away on a quick tour of Aswan. On the way, he picked up another traveler, and off we went. I swear, I randomly booked a tour of just Luxor/Aswan through my hostel in Cairo, and there was no information at all. I had no idea what was happening half the time; random people would just show up and randomly take me places and tell me what time to be where.
• We visited the Aswan Dam and a temple on the water called the Philae Temple.

This is a very exciting picture of the Aswan Dam. And windy hair. Back in the day, the Nile River used to flood Egypt all the time, and this dam now prevents it from doing so. And it provides electricity. Wooooo 

And then we took a tiny boat out to see Philae Temple

That tiny rock jutting out of the ocean used to be Philae Island, where the temple was originally built. However, due to the flooding and the water from the dam, the entire island was flooded and Philae Temple was moved by UNESCO (brick by brick) onto a new island in 1960

And here is Philae Temple on its new island! Built around 380 B.C., the temple was thought to be the resting place for the god Osiris.

Philae Temple at sunset.

Fancy entrance rooms

And of course, at some point the Coptic people came in and tried to turn it into a Christian church. So there are Coptic crosses carved everywhere over the hieroglyphs.

Fancy outside hieroglyphs. The temple has Greek influences because the bodies are more shapely than typical Egyptian temples. I think that's what the guide said, anyway.

Sunset looking out from the island. SO PRETTY

• The next morning, a 2:45AM wakeup call meant I was herded into a van with a bunch of people; we headed further south to the temples of Abu Simbel (the journey from Aswan to Abu Simbel takes another 3 hours).  Fun fact, Abu Simbel is so south, that it is only about 75km from the border of Sudan.

AND HERE IS THE MAIN TEMPLE OF ABU SIMBEL! ARE WE AMAZED. IT WAS HUGE. 

This is the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, which was built by Rameses II and basically a structure he erected to show off how great he was and impress Egypt's neighbors to the south. You couldn't take photos inside so can't show you those, but can tell you there's basically HUGE scenes carved on the interior walls of him winning battles and being blessed by gods and basically just being super-great and amazing at everything.

Outside the main temple, he erected four giant seated figures of himself. This man seriously, seriously loved himself more than anyone I've ever heard of.  The temple's back wall features three seated statues of the gods sitting next to Rameses himself - it's perfectly positioned so that the statues in the back of the temple are perfectly illuminated on dates of special significance (with the light lingering longer on the Rameses statue, and not illuminating the statue of the God of the Underworld at all). It's crazy. Ancient Egyptian architects are the most baller people ever.

And next to the Great temple of Abu Simbel (on the left), Ramses II built a smaller temple (the Small Temple) for his favorite wife Nefertari (out of his 60 something wives)

Outside the temple dedicated to his wife, Rameses II still managed to erect huge statues of himself as well. There's a statue of her as well, but this man is relentless. And my new hero.

The temples were both moved by UNESCO in 1960 due to the flooding from construction of the Aswan Dam. It took only 4 years and $36 million dollars. THAT IS CRAZY. How did they move these entire temples?!?! So impressed, UNESCO. Points for you. 

• The temples of Abu Simbel were incredible - I can see why people make the (really 6-7 hour) journey south from Luxor just to catch a glimpse of these. One of the best parts was that I shared a van with the loveliest people - there was a father-son duo, Chad and Gilbert, from the States, as well as another solo traveler from the States, Roxanne, who's currently a student. The four of us stuck together at the temples of Abu Simbel, and they were hilarious and warm and great. And it was my first set of Americans I'd met!  After leaving the temples and making the 3-hour journey back to Aswan, Chad and Gilbert were dropped off at their hotel first - amidst our goodbyes, on the way off the van, Gilbert turns to Roxanne and I and goes "Today I gained two new daughters." Melt. I love everyone. Which brings me to my MVP of the Day.....

MVP of the Day:

To be totally honest, not a day has passed in Egypt that I haven't been truly heart-touched by a local here. I feel like a lot of them go out of their way to look out for me and make sure that I feel safe and have a great time, and I cannot count the number of locals that have been truly, truly amazing to me. That, and Egyptian men just seem to kind of be suckers for women in general. I would give everyone an MVP if I could; for serious.

I'm now coining a new term "traingels", which is basically short for "train angels," because IT IS A THING. Keep in mind that the trains here are crazy, usually packed, full of men shouting and locals hauling on giant boxes and men selling things, and it's kind of pure chaos. Top it off with the fact that it is not that common of an occurrence to see a tourist on a train, and I feel like people see me at the train station and just want to help.

On the train from Luxor to Aswan, I was seated next to a slick-looking businessman in his 40s. This man asked me where I was from, and not only did he look at my ticket and keep an eye out for my station for me, but he also made sure my stuff was secure, always shut the train door for me when men were smoking outside, and went to the tea cart and bought me a tea.  At one point, I was sitting there and he was on the phone, and he handed the phone to me and goes "my wife wants to talk to you." Sure. Over the phone this man's wife used her (incredibly sweet and broken) English to excitedly ask me questions about myself. After I handed the phone back to the man, he chatted for awhile, hung up, then turned to me and goes, "My wife loves you." He then spent the rest of the time showing me photos on his phone of his entire family - especially his three kids, whom he seemed to be especially proud of. As I disembarked from the train after a 3-hour ride, the man wrote down his info, told me to call him if I ever needed anything, and made me promise to friend him on Facebook.  MELT.

Crazily enough, the next day on the train from Aswan back to Luxor, the same thing happened. I'm 99% sure my guide didn't purchase me a seat on the train until it was too late (Star he was NOT), so there were no seats left. He didn't explain this to me, but shoved cash into my hand, asked a local man on the train to look after me, and then bolted.  This local man took it seriously. He seated me next to him (which turned out to be SOMEONE ELSE'S seat because I apparently didn't have a seat!), and he calmly negotiated with the other man until the other man left so that I could stay there (I swear I offered to get up and the man wouldn't let me).  He switched seats with me and gave me his window seat so that I wouldn't be bumped by all the passing vendors. Halfway through, he reached into a plastic bag and produced a roll of cookies to give to me. He had his own roll of cookies and we munched them together on the noisy train, and it was the CUTEST. He didn't speak much English, but he also pulled out his phone to show me a family album of all his kids and his wife. And then he also bought me a tea from the tea cart and refused to let me pay. MELT. 

To my two wonderful traingels, you both get MVP status. They both seriously made my day - small gestures like these touch me more than anything, and the unexpectedness of it was what I loved most. This is also part of why I am loving Egypt - it is gritty, chaotic, pushy, and overwhelming on the surface - but just beneath are the most beautiful people ever. I am now gushing. End gush.

Cairo, Egypt, Part 2: Egypt is Safe!

Ok maybe I shouldn't write that title, mainly because I feel like I'm inviting trouble that way. Knocking on the wooden back of my chair as we speak. But I wanted to start my blog post today about the safety of being a girl by myself traveling through Egypt, because I feel like that's the number one question I've gotten. 

It's been pretty well-publicized that the Middle East may not be the safest place to be right now.  I started out uncertain about how long I was going to stay in Egypt after Thai & Maria left. I was waiting to feel it out - if it didn't feel safe, I was planning on heading somewhere else.  

But having spent the last couple of days in Cairo wandering around alone, not only have I totally felt safe, but I've met a ton of locals/tourists/Westerners who have all said it's a media problem that paints Egypt in a bad light. Yes, some parts of Egypt are likely not safe to be tromping around (cough Northern Sinai Peninsula), but for the most part, the rest of the country has been completely wonderful. Not only have not felt threatened a single time, but I've found the Egyptian people to be totally lovely.  Yes, you will see metal detectors, checkpoints, and guards with guns everywhere - it's an adjustment, but you honestly just get used to it, and it seems like just a part of life after awhile. 

The thing that breaks my heart the most is how empty all the touristy things are, and how dying for tourists the locals seem. If you look around, you see remnants of old tour companies that have shut down, hotels that have closed, etc. It's so sad. COME TO EGYPT. Every day, I will hear at least one sad story from a local about the drop in tourism, with some imploring me to tell others it's fine.  In fact, as a sad aftereffect, it seems some of the vendors are even a little more harass-y because they really need the business. 

As a small caveat - I will say that you will absolutely get stared at by the men here (and given you're really the only person who looks different than others, it's not hard to be noticed), but not overly different from Sri Lanka or other parts of the world where being a single female is rarer.  To my surprise, however, I've encountered genuinely lovely and helpful locals for the most part.  And it's encouraged me to stay here and explore more (because trust me, no one is more concerned with my safety than me). As a side note, I've met a lot of other tourists - and surprisingly, many solo females! (just none from the States).  

You can't see with the size of the photo, but here's a tour group - for their group photo, they are all holding signs that say "EGYPT IS SAFE", distributed by the tour so they can post the photo on their website. Break. my. heart.

Cliffnotes of the Past 3 Days:

• My first day alone, I laid low and organized a bunch of stuff in our fancy Marriott room (I was moving to a hostel that night, so I savored every last second of fancy life).  Later, I met a guy named Eric - he's from New Jersey but currently lives in Cairo working as a journalist. We sat on a terrace and had drinks - it was such a nice night out and I loved getting to hear about local Cairo life. I forgot to take a photo, but trust I don't need a certificate of authenticity.
• The next day, I went to go wander the Old City of Cairo, in an area called Coptic Cairo. This area has tons and tons of churches, and is where the original Egyptians (called the Copts, who were all Christian - before Egypt became Muslim) lived and still do today. It is a neighborhood packed full of history (it was thought that Jesus, Mary and Joseph came to this area when escaping from Herod) and is super historic and cute to walk. Get ready for a million church photos.

Getting to the Coptic Quarter also involved a fun little jaunt on the Cairo Metro. This is a terrible photo of what I discovered later is a ladies-only car of the train (INFO THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HELPFUL EARLIER). According to the Lonely Planet - if you're a solo female and you're getting harassed - as consolation, it apparently happens to local women too. Thanks, LP. Also, not only did I NOT get harassed (I did get stared down though), but two separate lovely locals made room for me on the totally packed train and gestured for me to take their spots, both on the way there and back. I have now deduced that I must constantly look very helpless.

A very old, very historic fortress from Roman times

And here are the cute narrow passageways of the Coptic quarter!

Church of St. George. I think this was a Greek Orthodox church. I fail at religious buildings.

And then I somehow got roped into the Coptic Museum. I didn't even know what it was but was suddenly ushered in. This museum was HUGE and housed tons of artifacts (buildings, reliefs, paintings, clothing, materials, etc.) from the Coptic people. It was actually really cool because since this stuff pre-dates all the Muslim stuff, it is REALLY old.

Artsy window

A view of St. George's church from the Coptic Museum

And this is the famous Hanging Church! It's one of the oldest churches in Egypt (3rd century AD)

And here is the Hanging Church's altar

And the pretty facade

A relief in the courtyard of the Hanging Church

• After being inundated with churches, I headed back to downtown Cairo - the sun was setting and it was gorgeous.  I went to dinner with some guys from the hostel at a local joint nearby, then met up with Eric (from the day before) to go to a Cairo jazz club. It was super cool (there were all these cover bands, the last of which seemed to have a Maroon 5 obsession) - and I loved getting to be somewhere "local." Small side note, it's super weird being somewhere where people are allowed to smoke indoors again. 

Cairo's Tahrir Square, site of the 2011 revolution

Streets of Cairo at sunset (which actually makes the city look really nice, if I do say so myself. Now imagine garbage and weird crumbling buildings down every other road you turn down).

• The next day, I spent making plans for the rest of my time in Egypt (I made the decision to stay for the entire two weeks before heading to Tanzania because there's SO MANY things I want to do in Egypt still + I feel totally safe being here). That night, one of my hostel roommates, Mauricio, invited me to dinner with some of his local friends. Mauricio is a lawyer from Brazil (but more currently living in London), and has a local Egyptian friend named Mohamed: they went to law school in London together and Mohamed is now a local judge in Cairo. Anyhow, we went to the world's most delicious seafood restaurant, called Sea Gull, which is located conveniently on the Nile River. 

And we got a baller spot on the patio right on the water. Mauricio (next to me) and I just let Mohamed (a Cairo local), order everything. Which meant Mohamed ordered like 15 courses of seafood. It was out of control. 

None of these photos are going to do the meal justice, but to the left is a squid medley, and to the right is a mussel medley

You get a crab! You get a crab! EVERYONE GETS A CRAB!

Some kind of delicious creamy lobster/shrimp/seafood soup

This really doesn't look that appetizing, but it was delicious. Mohamed went down to the kitchen and personally chose each of us a fish. At the top is a shrimp, of which there were two entire plates full of (seasoned differently). I almost died of overeating.

The sun sets on the restaurant

• It was one of those great, great nights - good food, good company, and totally random. I didn't know Mauricio that well, but ended up at a dinner with him and friends on a boat eating seafood (some friends of his law school friends showed up later, and they were the greatest, funniest girls). Nights like these are just another reason I love to travel.  The sweetest thing was that Mohamed secretly paid the bill without us knowing - I felt like a total freeloader given he was just probably trying to treat his friend (and not the hanger-on), but he rebuffed all my attempts to pay.

Fun Facts of the Day:

• Egyptian elevators = no doors. Unless you're at a fancy hotel. Otherwise, get used to seeing the floors zoom by maniacally while going up or down floors.
• On that note, most of the apartment/business buildings here look a little murder-alley-esque on the inside. Like my hostel is on the 4th floor of this very murder-y looking building - the inside is full of dusty staircases, cobwebbed windows, rando broken furniture sitting in the corner, trash, homeless people, (ELEVATORS WITHOUT DOORS) - but when you enter the actual hostel, it's like another world. I've found this is fairly standard for Cairo, and kind of the norm here. Which contributes to the fact that Cairo is just not a very pretty city from the outside. But it has definitely grown on me.