The Egypt Series

The Felucca

In the afternoon we went on yet another boat, a traditional sailboat called a felucca, which is a type of boat used for thousands of years. We sailed over to an island on our own wind speed, but coming back the wind died and we had to use a tow from a motorboat that was on standby just in case. The sailboat was interesting, but a bit scary as I've heard that they turn over easily.

On the island we walked through a botanical garden with a lot of beautiful flowers and a lot of wild feral cats. Animals seem to roam in droves everywhere at will. We hope someone feeds the cats, but they didn't act like it. They were following the tourists around and begging, like everything else in Egypt.

On the way back from the island we were entertained with an impromptu performance by a Nubian man with a tambourine, who taught us to sing in the Nubian language before bringing out his beads to sell. I had already bought beads from the ever-present bead vendors at the botanical garden, five for a dollar, too cheap to pass up, but probably too cheap to last long either. They have a sandalwood smell that is so strong I had to put them in a zip-lock bag when I got back, but even so I can still smell them.

We began the first day of the river cruise on the Nile yesterday. I'm so tired that I had to skip the Nubian museum today and save energy to see other things. After the camel ride yesterday, I've seen about enough Nubian things for a while anyhow. My ankle still hurts pretty badly and is black and blue and swollen, but I don't think it is broken. I'm also black and blue in the places where the saddle rubbed me. This camel riding stuff is not for sissies.

Later in the day we went to Kom Ombo, which was a very nice temple and one of my favorites not only for the architecture but because there were no stairs to climb -- hooray! Of course, that is not counting the ones to get from the ship up the side of the riverbank. This temple was dedicated to two Gods -- the crocodile god Sobeth and the Ram god Hapi.

At the back of the temple was an interesting wall with pictures of surgical instruments from ancient times, which shows that the ancient Egyptians practiced medicine. Also, there was an interesting relief of women in childbirth. One long walkway was where people came that wanted to be cured and slept over night. I considered spending the night to see what it would do for my foot, but I suppose that is not allowed now.

The pharaohs recorded the deeds they had done to honor the gods in hyrographics on the walls of the temple, sort of like an ancient blogging. They hoped the record of their deed would help them in the afterlife. I don't know what blogging helps people with nowadays.

Later that night, we had a costume party on the boat and everyone dressed up like ancient Egyptians -- more or less. I got a costume at the boat's gift shop and tried to participate in the games, but I ended up sitting it out most of the time due to my aching knees and broken foot. At least I didn't have to get wrapped in toilet paper like a mummy, like those who agreed to participate.