Cruise started moving @ 6 am
After breakfast, while we were lazing on the deck enjoying the cool morning breeze, the shopkeeper, Ahmed came up to talk to us. He said that he can give us very, very good discount if we buy things from him. I told him that he don't have to worry. We have two girls and one man here who would definitely get some stuff off him. This, of course, got me into trouble with HZ and Kim because they said that I "put them on the table". Nevertheles, CY, Kim and HZ still fell for his charm. They spent quite a lot in his shop. HAHAHA.
1. Kom Ombo Temple
This temple is unique because it houses 2 Gods unlike other temple. A typical temple will have 3 shrines as it housed the God, his wife and his son. Kom Ombo on the other hand, is a temple dedicated to two God - Sobek and ?. Evil God was banished to take shape of any living thing which live inside the Nile (for example snakes, hippopotamus and crocodiles). In Kom Ombo, there was a lot of crocodiles - that is why Sobek was depicted as a God with crocodile head.
This picture shows two entrances to the Kom Ombo temple. The round disc with two accompanying cobra marks an entrance to the temple. Usually we will see one disc in all the temples we visited but in this temple, we see two discs. Cobra is a symbol of protection.
Here we get to see mummified crocodiles too.
Kom Ombo is also where we learned that the Ancient Egyptian has a calendar. Interestingly, they marked the last day of the calendar with a symbol called "Beh". Beh means last day, final. The influence of Beh can be seen in today's Egyptian language (Arabic?). Mido said that when he was a baby and when he asked for sweets, his mother will said "beh" meaning no more. So even though his mother used that term, she's not aware of its influence from Ancient Egypt.
Excellent angle from HZ to show that the relief is used to tell story. You have seen the picture of the King offering the temple to the God Horus (far right). The relief on the left shows that the King is offering an obelisk to the God Sobek and his wife.
In Kom Ombo, we were shown one relief showing the tools that was offerred to the Gods. This tools are actually tools to use for mummification process like the knife, the jar to store balm, etc.
Back to the boat. Ate Mamee (cup noodles) & beer (this time it is Stellar beer) in the "outside lounge" :) Well, we are not hungry actually, but we still need to get rid of those cup noodles we brought. The food in Egypt is delicious and suitable for Malaysians. I really like the rice. It's almost like our glutinous rice and yet it is not as sticky. All the myth about food being not suitable for us are not true. So, you don't really need to be "kiasi" and bring many Mamee cup noodles :P
2. Edfu Temple ~ 3pm
Horse-drawn carriage for our drive through the town of Edfu to the Temple of Horus. The 4 of us boarded a carriage (number 31). I guess it's HZ's dream come true as he has been bugging us to go for a horse drawn carriage ride. Anyway, in the middle of the journey, our business minded horse-man (I can't seem to think of a proper term at the moment) stopped the horse and helped us take photographs of the four of us in the carriage. Ok, no problem we think but we bet he wanted barkeesh (tip). Sure enough, after taking the photos, he asked for money. We gave him LE 5 but he refused and was getting angry. He kept on asking for more and we kept on refusing. Finally, he accepted the LE 5 and started smiling to us. I remember reading Lonely Planet that this is their culture - their way of doing business, so we should not be offended by it.
Temple of Horus at Edfu was the 2nd largest temple in Egypt after the Karnak Temple in Luxor. This picture is not able to show you the size of the pylons! You have to go there to feel it for yourself! It's HUGE! And to think this whole temple was buried under the sand thousands of years ago!
Here Mido drew on the sand and told us about the architecture of a temple. He told us how a temple is built. There's the pylons, then the "whole" (hall) for the people to "bray" to God. This "whole" is where the High Priest will bring out the statue of the God every morning for the people to bray. Next "whole" with all the "columus" is where the High Priests of other Gods came to bray. Then the next "whole" is where the High Priest of this God bray. Next will be the 3 shrines for the God, his wife and his son.
On our way back, our horse was just walking and not galloping. It's weird. A lot of the other carriages has started overtaking us. CY was worried.. wondering if he will bring us to an alley and mug us. I thought maybe the horse practise Ramadan too. Fortunately, we found out later that our friend had forgotten his whip which was why the horse was taking his time.
3. Sunset @ Cruise
First sunset in the cruise. This is also our first complementary Lipton tea supplied by the cruise (with cakes!) Imagine drinking tea while cruising Nile at sunset. Ahhh... Gaya, mutu, keunggulan... Blissful. We saw a few phases of the moon when we were in the cruise. To my surprise though, there weren't many stars in the sky.
4. Traditional Dressing
Post entered by Kim:
"There's a traditional dressing session tonight. It's called Egyptian Night. All guests were encourage to dress up and join the party. The restaurant served Egytian dinner. The cruise staff were all dressed in their traditional costumes. Some of them performed some dances. Like Club Med GMs, these guys are multi talented!!!
CY and I (and all the other ladies in the group) have been shopping the day before. I bought this beautiful red dress and CY had a striking blue. While we were walking up the stairs to the lounge, I noticed Mido standing at 3rd floor, outside of the lounge. He was dressed in white, wah – macam "white horse prince" -HAHAHA.... It was a fun night with all the ladies dressing up. And needless to say, when this scenario happen, you can count on many photography sessions… Poor HZ, being the Mr. Nice, he was asked to snap A LOT of photos using everybody's cameras - for 10 ladies. Later he said his hand really lemah ... Fong has conveniently made himself invisible.
I am not sure what happened but Mido got into this plot to perform a proposal outside the lounge. He took out his ring from his keychains, then put it on Kim’s finger and knelt down in proposal..……everyone was laughing enjoying the show. I was uneasy at first as I didn’t know what to do other being a sport and playing along. Not sure if that was too much for a married muslim man. Nevertheless, it was all in the name of fun ! "
