A confession - when I bought my camera, I got 4GB of free memory, and I have used it to the utmost in Egypt. Over all our previous trips, my camera would either run out of memory or start displaying blots instead of the image and then poor Thomson would be asked to complete the photographic tasks. This time I tried for a role reversal - I say tried because my shaky hand has ensured that most of the pics taken by me are good only for the trash can and capable of making seulement me relive the holiday. Still, between the four of us, we have over 400 pictures, which makes selecting a very strenuous task.
Anyway, from Cairo, we headed to Aswan. Post a fabulously comfortable Egypt Air flight, a flat tyre and an absolutely non-communicative Egyptian driver, we landed at our hotel. Paradise on an island in the middle of the Nile - I could have spent the entire vacation there. But, of course, we had other things planned. 
A wake up call at 2 in the night/ morning and by 4am we were part of a desert convoy on its way to meet Ramses II who had been saved, thanks to modern-day geniuses, from a watery grave at Abu Simbel. Now we're talking 1950 BC but somehow, after a while, dates loose their significance in Egypt. Gigantic rock-cut statues, seated in all their royal splendour, watching over the Nile, their fallen mate subtley reminding you of the mortality of all men, even those great ones who have managed to leave behind reminders of their glory for over 400o thousand years now. And as you finish wth the five minute guide, after all this millenia, you still feel the need to ask for permission, before you head inside to gape awe-struck at the carvings and paintings of entire battle scenes, royal episodes, religious moments that fill the walls inside from roof to ceiling. There are two caves - one dedicated to Ramses II and the other to his queen Nefertari, a follower of Hathor, it would appear.
The rest of the day was in homage to us - sack in the pool, squash, eat, drink...fight a little;-)The first stop of our Nile cruise, the next day, was the Philae temple in Aswan itself. After all the multitudes of 2500/2000/1500 BC, this one at 300 BC seemed like it had been constructed yesterday. By this time, the Romans had made a preliminary entry into Egypt with the multitude of Ptolemys.
Carvings all over the walls, the faces of which had been defaced by the multitude of modern day religions which were to follow the Ancients, in ignorance of their culture and advancements. Nothing has changed even today - destroy what you dont understand. That will always be the motto of man. 
I have a picture of the altar and for some reason, it feels like all the power of the temple has been focused here - quite eerie. One of the interesting elements at Philae is the Kiosk of Trajan - a piece of architecture which didnt get completed. The beauty is that different parts of it are at different stages of completion, which helps us understand how these marvels were constructed.And on with the cruise.....what a lovely river....green fields on both sides and to think that 5 kms away it would be total desert.
The natural topography is just as amazing as the man-made creations all around. The evening stop was at the temple of Kom ombo - dedicated to the Sun god Amun-Ra and interestingly enough a crocodile god called Sobek. Dual temple, dual gate, dual altar, dual hypostyle hall - each a perfect mirror image of the other. By the time we got there, the evening lights had come on, which of course increased the beauty multi-fold. The carvings here were mind-boggling. There was one panel which explained the numering system used by the Egyptians, along with their calendaring system. 
Another panel explained all the medicinal tools used in ancient times - scalpels, anaesthesia, amazing stuff, half of which I have already forgotten - a must see because it is so unbelievable, we are still talking BC.And enfin, last and final stop - the temple of Edfu - Amun Ra. But by this time, all we wanted was to sack on the deck chairs on the cruiser :-)
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