Today I booked a day tour to Abu Simbel located about 300km south of Aswan and only 20km from the Sudan border.

It’s a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples and is the most popular tourist attraction in this area.

Each day a caravan of tour buses and vans makes the 4 hour trek down to Abu Simbel at 4am.

Why 4am?

Good question!   I mean, I for one, don’t wanna wake up at 3:30 in the morning, that’s for sure.

Apparently because of the proximity to Sudan, the road down there is closed from 5pm to 5am and the tours try to sneak in that travel window in between.

Although, when I think about it, the math isn’t mathing as we returned at 2pm today so logically we could have left 3 hours later this morning.

In fact, there is a way to do it on your own by taking an 8am public bus down there and then figuring out how to grab a minivan or taxi back.

I had initially wanted to do that option but when I thought of the logistics of it all and the fact that if you miss the bus, you’re kinda screwed, I decided ultimately to go on the 4am tour instead.

I booked the tour through the hostel at a cost of 1000EGP ($28) which I felt like was a reasonable price for an all day tour.

A bunch of tired people

I stealthily climbed out of bed in my 6 person dorm at 3:20 this morning and grabbed my belongings for the day.

It wasn’t until later that I found out 3 of the other 4 people in the dorm were also going and the stealth wasn’t needed as much.

We all gathered in the main lobby area and waited for our ride.

Initially it was just me, the trio from my room and a German waiting.

I got to learn their names and then another joined, and then a couple more, and then, well, I gave up trying to learn everyone’s names at that point.

In the end there were 11 of us heading out in a little van on for our 4 hour morning journey.

Off we go…

Before we could leave the city, we had to stop at an ATM to grab cash for myself and 3 other people.

After trying to get money from 3 different ATMs, we finally found success at the fourth.

Wow, that was way harder than it should have been.

And then, at 4:30, we were heading out of town.

There were a handful of police checkpoints we traveled through along with a 10 minute rest stop at a little cafe halfway through.

As it was so early in the morning pretty much everyone was sleeping so our van was quiet the whole way down.

I popped in my earbuds and listened to music the whole way while dozing off a little bit.

Abu Simbel

At 8:30 we had finally arrived at Abu Simbel.

I counted 20 full size tour buses and 20 mini vans parked outside the entrance.

Oh my, I had that this place was overrun by tourists but, damn, that’s alot of people.

The van driver told us we had 2 hours here and to meet him back at the van at 10:20.

Well, I guess again this wasn’t so much of a tour as it was a drive there and back.

Whatever, we’ll just figure it all out on our own.

I did a quick pitstop in the bathroom and that was the last I saw of any of my tour group til we met up again to leave.

My dreams of meeting some cool people and have chats about travel and life had all been dashed.

Everyone was asleep or drowsy on the ride up and now I have lost my entire group within the first 5 minutes.

I paid my 765EGP ($22) to enter the grounds and I was soon in the mix with hundreds of others.
The temples themselves were amazing.

Despite the hundreds of tourists meandering everywhere taking selfies and videos, the sheer magnificence of this place shone through.

And yes, I say that the tourists were taking selfies and videos ironically cause obviously I was also doing the sme.

There are two temples, each carved into the rock faces with statues outside of them measuring over 100 feet tall each.

Inside, the walls all have hieroglyphics painted and carved into the stones.

It truly was a majestic site to see!

It only took me about an hour to walk around the temples so I had some time to grab some lunch in the restaurant on site.

Now, obviously, the prices at a restaurant at a major tourist location are going to be higher but I didn’t mind.

All I had eaten this morning had been a granola bar and I was starving.

For lunch, or was it breakfast cause it was still only 9:30 in the morning, I had shish chicken with rice.

I tried to also order a side of coleslaw but was met with the now common phrase of “is finished” telling me it wasn’t available.

The lunch turned out to be 750EGP ($21) which, like I said, was way over priced but I was okay with it.

Exiting the grounds was an adventure in it’s own right as you had to pass at least 30 souvenir stands all selling the same mass produced crap.

A shopkeep was standing in front of almost each one of them trying to get you to try on a scarf or go into their shop to buy something.

Imagine having to wave off 30 people with “no, thank you” over and over again.

And, again, the irony of it all is that I’m actually interested in buying something but it would need to be original and I don’t want to be hassled while I look over stuff.

We all met back up at the van at 10:30 and we were on our way back.

I was about to pop my earbuds back in when the German in our group, Johannes, started up a conversation.

The earbuds went back in the case and and drive back of great conversations began…

Johannes

Johannes is from Frankfurt and he’s currently traveling without a return ticket home.

My kind of traveler!

I remember my first trip was open-ended like that and there’s just something about not knowing exactly where you’re going next that is so enticing.

He was recently in Morocco for 3 weeks traveling all over the country and is now doing the same with Egypt.

His next stop?   Israel maybe?   Perhaps Jordan?

He doesn’t know and I think that’s awesome!

Christian and Lupis

As I was chatting with Johannes who was sitting directly behind me, the couple next to me overheard me say I’ve been to 62 countries, and chimed in with a “wow, that’s impressive”.

Soon, we were chatting away about traveling and life.

Christian and Lupis are a couple from Mexico currently living in Paris on a one year visa.

Lupis is an aspiring fashion designer so going to Paris was a natural fit for her.

Christian is a DJ who specializes in psy trance which I first heard as “side trance” cause, ya know, noob over here.

Apparently there’s mostly a hard techno scene in Paris so he’s not doing much DJing there but he is working as a cook in a Thai restaurant.

Yup, a Mexican cook in a Thai restaurant in Paris.

A literal cultural melting pot.

They’re hoping that their application for a visa to New Zealand comes through soon and they can go there next year where there’s more of a DJ scene for Christian.

It was just really cool chatting with them both about their lives and different travels we’ve done.

After chatting for awhile, and then listening to some more music, we were back at the hostel at 2pm.

And there was something I was desperately craving…

Afternoon milkshakes with friends

Yup, another caramel milkshake!

I actually bought 4 of them and my new friends and I sat on the patio overlooking the Nile River slurping milkshakes.

Ah, vacation vibes, for sure.

We continued our chats and kind of wondered what the rest of the day had in store for us.

Emily

A short while later a girl came down the stairs.

When I said hi, I was hit back with a “hi, how you all going?”.

Now there’s only one country that talks like that and that’s Australia.

And, sure enough, Emily is from Melbourne.

She’s a whopping 9 months into a year plus journey.

Instead of going from place to place quickly, she’s taking her time in each place living a work-to-stay kind of lifestyle where she works for free room and board.

It’s a great way to see the world for cheap and really enrich yourself in the local cultures.

She mentioned that later in the week she’ll be going to Luxor for a couple of days before flying to Marrakesh, Morocco via London.

Hmm, a flight from Luxor to London in a few days…

I’m also flying out of Luxor to London in a few days.   I mean, what are the chances we’re on the same flight?

Well, turns out, we actually are on the exact same flight 5 days from now.

She’s a day a behind me on travel which means she’ll be making the trip up to Luxor a day after me but we’ll both be in Luxor at the same time to see the tombs in a few days.

Well, that’s kind of cool.

A bit of a travel buddy at the tail end of my trip.

Sunset felucca ride

Emily had just arrived today and was about to head out to explore when she got roped into our little group as we chatted away the afternoon.

She mentioned she was thinking of going on one of the felucca boats for a sunset ride.

I had been on the fence as to whether to go on one but, I must admit, seeing all the sailboats drift by yesterday as I sat on the patio kind of made me lean towards it.

Anyway, I chimed in that I would be up for it and soon the Johannes, Lupis, and Christian were also in.

At 4:30 the five of us walked towards the main street.

I remember Christian asking where we’d find a boat and thinking, man, just wait.

Every 10 feet someone’s going to be asking us if we want a boat ride.

Sure enough, someone approached us and we were able to finagle a deal of 500EGP for the boat for 1 1/2 hours which worked out to 100EGP ($3) each.

It was windy and cold on the river so I was glad I had brought my light jacket with me.

The sail on the river was so relaxing and watching the sunset with new friends was just a great way to bring the day to a close.

Dinner in the souk

We were back on the dock by 6:30 and Emily headed back to the hostel while the remaining 4 of us headed into a souk where Johannes had dinner last night.

Man, I was so ready for this!

An authentic Egyptian meal in a little restaurant which only the locals would go to.

Perfect!

I ordered the lamb and rice and, as with Egyptian meals, was also given a complimentary Arabic salad and pot of vegetables done in a stew.

I also tried a karkade drink which is a purple drink made with hibiscus and sugar.

I mean, they had me at purple drink…

It evoked strong memories of drinking countless chica moradas which are also purple during my time in Peru last year.

After dinner we stopped at a newly opened grocery store down the street from our hostel.

Lupis and Christian did some actual grocery shopping for their meals tomorrow while I snagged a trio of protein batrs that happily display the “gluten free” writing on them.

Soon we were back at the hostel and by 9:00 I was in bed.

Thoughts on the day

It’s funny because originally I was against doing this tour at 4am and really wanted to do it on my own using public transport later in the day.

Add to the fact that I didn’t really interact with anyone on the ride to the temples or at the temples, I had pretty much chalked this tour up to a convenient drive to the temples and that was it.

Of course everything changed on the ride back and, needless to say, the day turned out amazing and it was all because I made the decision to go on the tour.

If I hadn’t I would have never met the people I did.

Sure, they are also staying at the hostel but who’s to say I would have crossed paths with them let alone had long conversations with them.

For me, when people ask me what Abu Simbel was like, I’ll simply tell them that it was great and that I met some amazing people that day and spent the afternoon and evening with them.

And, for me, that’s what backpacking and staying in hostels is all about.