You can see the colored paint on some areas.

As we moved up into the first part of the temple, 2 random tourists from our tour group had pushed their way into our midst and were standing right next to Mikel. Mikel turned to one of them and asked him his name. “Alex” he cheerfully replied. And then Mikel, our kind and smart guide, said nicely but firmly how Alex and his friend weren’t in Mike’s tour group, and wasn’t paying for his expertise, and to essentially take a hike. Alex continued to try to mooch off of us, each time Mikel would stop talking and stare Alex and his friend down. They tried to pretend they didn’t speak English and didn’t understand Mikel (then why the hell are you following an English tour around! Failure in logic dude.) but eventually got the message and left us alone.

Photo by George

We followed Mikel as he showed us the temple (and as we tried to snap as many photos of the sunset) and it seemed like the dusk faded away all to quickly and night set upon us. However, the temple was beautifully lit. Mikel showed us a calendar, and other interesting things like a Nilometer.

Nilometer

At one point he was trying to show us a scene depicting what is thought to be medial instruments but another guide in front of us freaked out and yelled at us for taking photos on “his time”. He asked for 15 minutes to speak there (when it should have just been 2, and then some photos.) We gave up and went our own way, plus it was pretty dark back there. After this Mikel gave us free time and we wandered all around on our own taking photos and exploring.

Towards the end we met up and went to the new Crocodile Museum (as the museum is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek). I knew from friends who had visited in the past they use to have the crocodile mummies in a small room out in the open, with locals offering tourists a chance to take photos with real (abet small) crocodiles. But that practice has been finished with when the new museum was created.

The museum is small but opens up to a big glass case with numerous huge crocodile mummies smiling at you. As you wander smaller objects about crocodiles or Sobek can be viewed.

Photo by Elizabeth

It doesn’t take long to view all of the museum, and then it was time to head back to the ship. I so wanted to go shopping, but heeded Mikel’s directions. We met in the lobby for a group meeting about the next day and then split off again. I noticed Jane had done some shopping and had bought a beautiful galabeya (traditional dress). We were told that the cruise ship entertainment for the night would be a galabeya party. The ship boasts two shops. A jewelry store and a galabeya store. It was Halloween and although I had brought a costume (cat ears/tail and a black dress) I decided to buy a galabeya and beaded headscarf as my costume both for the holiday and party.

I went back to the room and journaled some more before dinner. I felt a bit sick and so came back to the room and showered and read my book before getting dressed up for the party. Before entering a man took Elizabeth and I’s photo and offered us a chance to be featured in “the documentary”, which obviously was just a video of this trip’s cruise that would be for sell later. We were the first to arrive to the dance area first and so I ordered a cocktail from the bar. The bartender didn’t know how to make mixed drinks so he brought me rum and orange juice and I mixed them together.

When the others arrived about half were dressed up. We took photos and then danced together for a while. It was a lot of fun!

It seemed like everyone was tired and headed to bed earlier than I expected, so I continued to journal before going to bed. Before falling asleep I smiled. It was a fantastic day, and it was a great way to spend a Halloween night, wandering a crocodile’s temple and then dressing up and dancing.