I woke up to a dark morning with the ships still docked at Edfu. After a hearty breakfast, I realised that there’s still some 2 hours before the ships were to depart. Since the air was pretty cool, and the sun was rather warm that morning, so I decided to go up to the top deck with a copy of Readers’ Digest that my mom brought from home.

Before I realised it, I fell asleep on the chair lulled by the songs of river birds and lively sounds of the morning Edfu neighbourhood. It was a short nap and after rubbing my eyes a little bit, I walked around, snapped a couple more pictures and then it was time for the ship to start moving again.

Everyone on board seem to be enjoying themselves, since the crew has set up the top deck cafe again, and it was a merry scene with children in the swimming pool, and seniors playing ping-pong, and people just leaning back enjoying the breeze and beautiful scenery of the blue, blue Nile.

Throughout this leg of the cruise, I came to learn that the Nile is more than just a river, and more than just an ecosystem. It is the very manifestation of Life itself. It comes as no surprise that the Egyptians, ancient and modern, came to revere the Nile so much.

Even the Ankh - the cross with the oval-shaped head - that symbolises Life was made to represent the Nile. According to what my tourguide taught me, the vertical branch being the main body of the Nile, the horizontal branches represent the branches of the Nile, and the oval head represented the Nile delta.

There is life blooming at every nook and cranny of this great river. Not only that, the Egyptians have, for over 5000 years, been living off the Nile’s blessings and still continue to harvest its riches. However, unlike the rest of us, the Egyptians don’t treat the Nile as a natural resource site.

To them, the Nile is a living, breathing creature.

When entrusted with care of a Life, you do everything you can to ensure its longevity and continued prosperity - while still reaping benefits from it. The Nile provides the Egyptians with water, food and economic resources. The Egyptians devised irrigation systems and accurate measuring systems whenever the Nile floods and inundates the land. They have continued to raise livestock, grow farms, and fish from it since the beginning of their civilisation and yet, as you can see here, the Nile is still as blue as it was 5000 years ago.

If that fact alone is not un-fucking-believably amazing, I don’t know what is.

The Egyptians have been living together with the Nile, sailing ships, harvesting fish, rearing cattle and drawing water, and it’s purity is still there. It’s so clean to a point that one scene just left me stunned. We were passing this house by the riverbank when a shabby-looking dude came out with a metal cup.

He was walking rather groggily - probably just woke up - toward the river. I was thinking ‘Ah, so he’s brushing his teeth, or performing his ablution or something’, assuming from the cup in his hand. He kneeled by the pier behind his house, scooped a cup of water and drank it straight up.

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HE FREAKING SCOOPED A CUP OF WATER FROM THE NILE AND DRANK IT JUST LIKE THAT! You don’t get to see that shit here in Malaysia, man.

I was practically staring at him in disbelief with my jaws on the floor when he saw our ship, and waved at us before taking down another scoop of wholesome Nile goodness. The faith in which the Egpytians have in the Nile was clearly demonstrated before my very eyes that day. It will probably be one of the few images that will remain in my mind forever.

Cruising along the Nile really makes you think of the deplorable state of the rivers here in Malaysia. It’s sad to see how our rivers aren’t even blue, or at least half as clean as the Nile. I mean, if the rivers were at least of a colour other than brown or green, that’d be more than enough.

Of course, there also beautiful rivers like Sg. Chongkak and what not, but somehow, I think those don’t really cut it. From that day onwards I have been thinking of the Nile as the ultimate river, the Holy Grail of Rivers. At least, it will remain that way until I visit another river that has continued to support a civilisation and still remains pure to this day.

Later that evening, we reached our second stop and it will be a visit to the temple complex of Kom Ombo.

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The Egypt Travelogs Series:

1. Cairo (The Great Pyramids)
2. Road to Alexandria (Asfour Crystal Palace, Lion Park Animal Hospital)
3. Alexandria (Qaitbay Citadel, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Montaza Palace Gardens)
4. Return from Alexandria (Local fruits and produce)
5. West Luxor (Temple of Karnak)
6. East Luxor - Part One and Two (Colossi of Memnon, Ramesseum, Temple of Hatshepsut, Alabaster factory)
7. The Nile - Part One and Two (Edfu Bazaar, Life along the along the Nile)
8. Kom Ombo (The Twin Temples of Kom Ombo)
9. Road to Abu Simbel (Shooting star, desert skies)
10. Abu Simbel - (The Greater Temple of Abu Simbel)
11. Aswan - (Unfinished Obelisk, Felluca ride)

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