We wake to the bright sun of Aswan. During the night another ‘cruise ship’ has pulled up alongside us – so our lovely view is now directly into the window of someone else’s cabin.

We were warned that this would happen – and probably continue to happen as we move down the river. This is high Tourist Time, and high Tourist Region. Hassien tells us that there are 340 ‘cruise ships’ that naviagate the Nile River. Observation by me says – yup – and they all are the same height and width because there are bridges over the Nile that restrict both dimensions! So while the ships all look different on the outside – they aren’t really all that different.

All the ‘floating hotels’ as the Egyptian’s call them are 5 stories tall. In the basement (lowest level) for our ship – the Amwaj Livingstone – there is the restaurant, the kitchen, the ‘spa’, and I suspect – crew quarters!

Since the winidows of the restaurant are literally at water level – I can’t imagine that the crew quarters have much in the way of a view! But they do have a private staircase of sorts – it runs down the stern of the ship from the 5th deck. No one offered us a tour – so I couldn’t check it out – but I’m guessing from the lack of carpeting that this was the crew access.

The 2nd level – which lines up with the docks that run along the shore of the Nile – is the Lobby, a Lounge and towards the bow of the ship – Staterooms.

On the 3rd level – there are stateooms to both sides and two shops – one selling Jewery and the other selling Egyptian Clothing. Both are tiny – but have quite a bit of inventory!

On the 4th level – there are staterooms towards the stern of the ship, and ‘suites’ towards the bow. Our lovely stateroom is on this level – and I love it! Unless we pull up to other ships – we have a glorious view, and our bathroom looks extremely nautical with wooden floor, walls and ceiling. I’m one happy camper.

And on the 5th level – there is the wonderful sun deck and swiming pool. I love this level – it’s super comfortable – lots of tables in the shade, a bar should you suddenly need a drink, and a 2 large wooden boxes with Towels for the pool. These come in super handy when it gets cold on the upper deck! That wind off the Nile can be brisk.

That’s a lot of traffic on the Nile – and Hussien had in fact warned us. Not only are there 340 ‘floating hotels’ – there are Felucca’s (single sail boats that take tourists on traditional ‘rides’), small muti-passenger motor boats that cruise up and down this area of the river, and of course fishing boats. To suggest that this is a crowded river is to state the obvious!

Todd decides to get off the ship to visit a pharmacy that he and Ed spotted last night – the rest of us are comfortably hanging around on the Sundeck waiting for our planned 11:00 departure for a trip back up the Nile when suddenly I realize our ship is moving. Christie says – Leslie – don’t be silly – its the ship next to us that moving. Oh – Ok – but wait – that Granite Island is now a whole lot closer to us – I’m sure our ship is moving.

At that moment Ed says – OH NO – Todd got off to go to a Pharmacy! And races down the staircase!

He returns a few minutes later to announce – it’s ok. The ship is jockeying for a new position – and I let Todd know. Sure enough – our ship pulls out into the river, several other ships go either North or South while we make a 360 degree turn around the island! Disaster averted. We eventually tie up back to a different set of ships – and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

Back to the real plans for the day – Orginally today was a day off until the boat sailed for Komobo at 2:00 – but Hussien suggsts a ride up river (heading back to the Low Dam) to visit a Nubian Village. Apparently there is a Crocodile there. Victor get’s excited – and basically everyone signs on to the adventure.

So after breakfast (I know I mentioned this before – but the eggs are delicous) and the excited of the moving ship, we re-group and head out. This time our transport is one of the cute motor boats that are brightly covered and kareen up and down the river. Our boat is divided in two – with padded benches on both side and both parts of the boat. You can board on the bow – or from the side, depending on how much ‘dock’ space you can grab.

For this trip – the captain can only grab a small bit of dock – so we climb in by stepping off the dock onto the bow. Once loaded the captain blows his horn (Ok – everyone loves to honk – ships, boats, cars, trains! I’ve never been anywhere so noisy!). We pull out and head up stream.

Near Aswan, the Nile splits into several channels – the main one which the large ‘floating hotels’ use, and smaller streams that wind their way down stream (heading North to Cairo- just remember) . Our boat (with a draft of at most a foot) takes one of the side streams and the captain winds his way past fishing boats, birds basking in the sun or fishing, a beach devoted to Camel rides (lots of riders, lots of Camels!), and finally thru a bit of a cascade – the famed granite rock formations that make navigation on the Nile so tricky.

I love this journey. We are effectively at water level – so it feels – well – more like being in the times of the Pharaohs. I relax and enjoy the views of the water rushing by, the birds flying overhead, and the reeds brushing along the sides of the boat. Charming.

We arrive at the village – which unlike Aswan or Cairo or even Luxor – is brightly colored. The Nubians certainly know how to paint their houses! Our destination is a home/restaurant that – as per Hussien – is a typical Nubian dweling. Off the large main area that is divided into areas by low benches and tables that I suspect double up as sleeping quarters are ‘rooms’ that contain bedrooms, a bathroom, and storage. One very large family (with a very large crocodile) live here – offering refreshement if folks want – but mostly – it’s their home!

Interesting.

We re-board our boat, take the main channel back down – and get back on board just in time to enjoy lunch while the Amwaj Livingstone prepares to head down river. We are visiting the Komombo Temple before sailing on the Edfu – our destination for tonight.

The temple is dedicated to two different Gods – the Crocodile God and to Horus – the Falcon headed God who is the son of Isis and Osiris. Since it is dedicated to both, it has two entrances!

Most interesting thing we see is how the temples were held together. Each of the building stones was placed next to the next stone, and a Triangle was cut in each stone – with the tops meeting where the stones would join. Then the triangles were ‘carved out’ – and a piece of Cedar Wood carved to exactly fit in the space – holding the stones together. Here at Komombo – it’s obvious! Too bad the team trying to restore Karnak Templie in the 1900’s didn’t know about the Cedar inserts because they flooded a huge wall section of the Karnak Temple to try and remove salt deposits – only to find out that they managed to ruin the Cedar pieces and brought the wall tumbling down!

Sigh – those who don’t know history are bound to repeat it.

The Komombo Temple is filled with glorious carvings, many in High Relief – and the result is to add an incredible 3D effect to the carvings – the see thru dresses seem to float around the legs of the God and their servents – and the lifelike fingers and toes are clenched and torsioned. You can feel the strength of the foot and leg muscles. It really has to be seen to be believed.

Fingers grasp the Ankh – the strength of the God clearly visible. Insane. Pictures do not do this justice. I’m so glad I got to see it with my own eyes.

The sun is setting while we are in the temple admiring the carvings, which only makes the Temple seem even more exotic and inspiring.

One of the key reasons we came to Komombo was to see the famous surgical instrument Panel. Remember that most of this Temple dates from the 2nd Century BC – 2500 year ago – so seeing a carved panel showing Foceps for delivering babies, containers for various medicines, scales for weighing drugs, Scapels and Measuring spoons seems insane.

Hassien tells us that there was a huge difference in how science was treated by the Egyptians (3000 – 5000 years ago) and the Greeks (just 2000 years ago). The Egyptians treated science as the domain of the priests, and the priests to remain mysterious, hid the sciene behind magic. So only the priests knew what they were doing wasn’t ‘magic’ – it was chemistry and medicine. Meanwhile the Greeks took a completely different perspective – they wanted to explain science to everyone – to take away the Magic. So the Greeks are considered the Fathers of Science – not the Egyptians.

Komombo wasn’t just a temple – it was also a hospital. Which goes a long way towards explaining why the ‘surgical tool’ panel is here. There are brilliantly drawn and carved examples of women awaiting child birth, including one of a woman rather dramatically giving birth!

In another section there is even a purification pool for the prists – fed by running water from the Nile and there is a huge well that was connected to the Nile by a long tunnel in order to use the theory of Communicating Vessels. This is 2500 years ago – not in the 1800’s people. Yes Blaise Pascal explained why it works – but the Egyptians were using this method 2500 years ago to predict when the Nile would go into Flood! Wikapedia just mentions the Romans. Guess whoever updated Wikapedia has never visited Komombo!

Since it is now dark – Hassien uses his flashlight to highlight other carvings of interest – then it is time to return to the Amwaj Livingstone and head on downstream – North remember!

But wait – we haven’t seen the Crocodile Museum yet. It turns out that since Komombo was partly dedicated to the Crocodile, there was a Crocodile burial ground at the Temple. And since these Crocodiles represented the God – they were mummified. And now they lie on display in the Crocodile Museum. Can’t miss that!

Finally – it’s time to return to the ship. Our ship is no longer tied up to the shoreline – there are now 4 ships between us and the Amwaj Livingstone! Hassien warns us to count carefully – no trying to jump ship!

Everyone accounted for – We set sail at 6:30 PM for Edfu – where we are spending the night. But where exactly we sleep doesn’t worry us – it’s a floating hotel and we are having an Egyptian Buffet Dinner tonight. All the staff dresses in traditional Egyptian robes – and all the dishes (it’s still served buffet style) need explanation. I try everything – some I like – some I’m not such a fan – but I do really appreciate the effort they have put in to make this meal special.

And there’s a treat waiting for us in our room – they have made our clean towels into to huge swans and put them head to head in the shape of a heart. Sigh. That’s sweet.

After dinner – I’m heading to bed – there’s another busy busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

Signing off – The Soup Lady