Photo by Elizabeth

Instead we bearly had time to register the gleaming shops and restaurant inside the gate area before we had to get on busses to be taken to our airplane. When I walked up the stairs I found the first class passengers already boarded, and Elizabeth playfully shooed me to the back. I found I indeed was at the very back of the plane. I ended up reading more of The Martian during the short flight. Since I was at the back and the flight was so short, I was skipped when it came time to do the drink service as they just ran out of time to give juice to the last few rows. I also noticed people were crowding the left side of the plane. I had an opportunity to move into an empty left-side row…but I’ve seen too many Air Disaster TV shows to know if everyone is on one side of the plane its dangerous so I stayed put. I was sad that I wouldn’t get a view of the temples from the air, but thankfully the people in the row next to me were fast asleep so I could sort of peer out their window to just bearly see one of the large statues of Ramses and the water.

We got off and onto a van to take us to the temples. Elizabeth was chattering away about here amazing luxury experience in first class. I was hot and angry, and knew I couldn’t say anything nice to her, so I didn’t say a word to her. Instead I just stared out the window. I think she started to realize I was upset and so she stopped talking to for a bit. When we exited I saw a stray dog and her puppies, I tried to get them to approach but the mother dog made sure to keep her pups away. So instead I followed the mass of people entering the site.

Like other sites in Egypt, we passed through security and then could see a shopping promenade. After using the restroom Mikel lead us into a room with a miniature of the site to give us the back history. However, some of us being ancient Egypt history buffs already knew and were to anxious to get going. I knew we had a time limit as we’d need to get back to the airport for our return flight, and we also wanted to get ahead of other tourist groups arriving to the site. Eventually Mikel set us free, and we all power-walked our way to the temples.

When you first approach, you are actually looking at the backside of the false cliffs. You then walk around where you can see the lake’s water. As you come around you’ll see a few other small monuments embedded in the false cliff, these also were moved here to be saved from the rising water. Then the first face of one of the four statues of Ramses the Great appears, then another, until the entire monument comes into view. It was so inspiring that people just stopped dead in their tracks. And the light off the water added to the view.

My anger from before had disappeared. Instead I was solely focused on the temple. Elizabeth had recommend I watch a BBC documentary on Egypt, and one of the episodes focused on the finding and excavation of this very temple. I tried to imagine what it was like when it was buried in sand up to the statue’s heads. I then tried to imagine what the Nubians had thought when this monumental temple had been erected. Ramses had put it here, the farthest southern reach of the Egyptian empire, as a testament and fierce reminder to the Nubians that this was Egypt. Their skilled warriors would come and protect this outpost or start war at any time. I took my time as I photographed the temple, first from afar, and then coming closer. I took in the details of the statues, from the children at the feet of the great king, to the carvings of captured Nubian warriors soon to be killed.

I also took note of the hundred year old graffiti that early visitors left. I then stepped inside. The first hall has numerous other statues of Ramses looking down upon you, while the walls show Ramses at war in his chariot, or killing captured warriors. In this hall, there are a few openings to side rooms, some are fully decorated, while others are not. Inside these rooms you can see Ramses and priests making offerings to the gods. In one room part of the wall is missing and you can see into another of the side rooms.

Photo by Elizabeth

Upon moving into the next hall, the scenes change to religious ones with the King and his wife meeting the gods. Then I moved into the next smaller vestibule which leads into the innermost sanctuary. Here 4 statues are seated at the very back of the temple. 3 are gods, and one is Ramses himself, put here as his own deified self. Twice a year light shines from the door on Ramses and two of the other gods, while keeping the god of darkness still darken. I knew about these statues, but what surprised me was how large they were. For some reason I thought they were smaller statues, but these were probably a little larger than life-sized.

Photo by Elizabeth

I knew I wanted to spend more time here, but decided to head to the Queen’s temple first and then return. I had heard the recommendation of doing the temples “backwards” as in the Queen’s temple first, and then Ramses as most tourists do it the opposite way. (Although, really there weren’t that many tourists in Egypt right now, so its not a mad dash like it use to be.)

As I headed to the other temple I continued to photograph the huge statues of Ramses. The outside facade of the Queen’s temple isn’t as impressive when compared with the other. A few statues of Ramses and other gods stand tall outside. Inside goddess Hathor heads peered into the main hall, but what struck me was the fine paintings of the Queen herself, with lotus in her hands. While the other temple was showing the chaos of war, and so all surfaces were decorated, this one seemed sparse in comparison, with one figure painting on each side of the columns. I actually enjoyed these depictions the most, as they were large and less frantic. It felt peaceful to me. This temple is smaller, but I took my time looking at each decoration, wishing we could take photography in here so I could remember all the details.

After a while I headed back to the main temple. I briefly sat in the viewing amphitheater (mostly use for the night light show) but it was quite hot so decided to head back inside the temple. While it was still humid, at least it would be shaded.

Photo by James

I waited a bit for people to get out of my shot to take more photos from the outside, and finally got some photos of myself outside the temple. I then headed back inside. Most people had since moved onto the other temple or back towards the shaded shopping area. But I and my fellow ancient history obsessed group members were all in various parts of the great temple.

At one point I went into one of the side storage rooms, and simply sat on the floor. I was completely alone, and the silence in the tomb was deafening. I sat and thought of all the amazing things I had already seen so far in Egypt, at the magnificence of this temple, and the knowledge there would be so much more to see in the coming days. I worried about someone else coming into the room and thinking it strange, me sitting upon the floor, but no one did. I knew I was lucky to be visiting Egypt, and knew just a few years before this room would have been packed, with people elbowing each other in a line in and out of the room, straining to see. And here I was, by myself. After a while I knew my time was coming to an end, so headed back outside. I saw Tara getting her photo done in the entrance (since you cannot take photos in the temple.) I asked her how much she tipped (as I was getting tired of haggling for everything) and when she said just 1 USD, I too asked to take a photo.

Afterwards I hightailed it back to the van. Being late wouldn’t be an option. As I rounded the shops, a man showed me a large full color book. Since we couldn’t take photos inside, I asked how much it was. Without a beat he told me the pluses, that this was the premium book as it also talked about Philae Temple, and so was $100. I scoffed and started walking away. He followed me. I claimed I didn’t have that much money. (All while thinking it’s probably cheap on Amazon.) He kept at me and I ended up relenting and bought it for 320 EGYP and 5 USD. He even threw in 2 postcards. I had forgotten the exchange rate, and kicked myself when I got back onto the bus, realizing I had paid more than $40 USD for the book. (This book isn’t for sale on Amazing, but it looks like you can get used copies for 10-20 USD online.)  As sellers saw I had money out I was hounded as I ran towards the bus. Of course all the sellers lied and said “Not much further, you have plenty of time!” LIES all lies. Knowing I had paid too much for the book due to my own fault, I fudged the numbers when people asked how much I paid. But in the end I really liked the book (except the fact that it still has dirt and dust that falls out, it must have been in that store a long time), and it was apparent that no one was buying anything so I chalked it up to helping the local economy.

Photo by Elizabeth

We hopped back in the van and quickly were whisked away to the airport. After a short wait we one again boarded the airport bus to the tarmac and then up the stairs. This time I didn’t mind that I was stuck in the back, as I had a window seat this time. (FYI, you cannot see the temples on the return trip, so it doesn’t matter where you sit.) I enjoyed reading The Martian while looking out over the red sandy desert of Egypt. Between a good book and the excitement from visiting Abu Simbel, I was content and happy. And by the time we boarded the van to head back to our hotel Elizabeth and I were once again chatting away to one another about how awesome Abu Simbel was.