Our coaster escaped the desert and into the city of Aswan. It is a beautiful city enriched with blessings from Nile. Aswan, like many other Egyptian cities, also has its share of archaeological sites, and one of it was our next stop.

Throughout the travelogs, you may have seen a couple of obelisks in the pictures of the several temples that I visited. Obelisks, colossal pillars with sharp tips piercing the skies, are a significant item in the school of Egyptology. Ancient Egyptians have a strict rule when it comes to creating things out of stone blocks. Many of the carved stone statues are built upon a very important rule - that they must be carved out of ONE solid piece of rock, under the basis that it should retain the spiritual energy that is to be contained within them.

Obelisks are no exception to this rule. Especially so since obelisks are as important as an entire temple complex itself. Erecting an obelisk is a grand achievement for any pharaoh, and many pharaohs have erected several obelisks to signify their divinity. Obelisks are built with the purpose of channeling energies from the sun-god, Ra.

In order to allow the energies to pass through efficiently, obelisks must be carved out of stone, and must remain one single solid block of rock in order to let the energy flow through uninterrupted. To illustrate this fact, our tour guide happily took us to a site that was the quarry of the Ancient Egyptians. In this quarry lay an unfinished obelisk, an important evidence that the structures of the Ancients were indeed built not by aliens, but by the hands of highly skilled men.

This particular obelisk was left unfinished because there was a crack in the middle of its structure. If you look carefully, you can see a straight sloping surface that is one side of the obelisk. From where I stood, there was not much to be seen, so we went up the walkway to get a better angle.

As you can see, the entire length of an obelisk must be carved out of one solid bed of rock. The top is first smoothed out, followed by the sides. Unfortunately, this particular bed of rock had a running crack, which at first, caused the workers to shorten the obelisk by 1/3 of its original length. As the work progressed, another crack appeared right through the middle, rendering an entire bed of rock unusable.

It was quite a fascinating visit. Right after the exit of the site, there was yet another bazzar lining the exit walkway. This time, a spice vendor employed a very interesting method in displaying his goods.

The label in Japanese read ‘Sa-Fu-Ro-Nn’ for ‘Saffron’ :D

We then went for a very pleasant ride on a felucca, a small Egyptian yacht that can be frequently seen fishing on the Nile. Our boatmen [there were two; one manning the rudder, the other holding the sails] took us on a ride around the Elephantine island, a little piece of land in a big lake and it was quite a popular tourist destination.

One of our boatmen took the opportunity to sell his stash of handmade goods, which, of course, were instantly walloped by souvenir-hungry tourists on board. I bought one, too, a tiny bottle of sand-art which I have been trying so hard to find [you should be able to see it on the table].

After that, we had a hearty lunch and before we began our very, VERY long journey back home to Malaysia. We took another train ride through the night, and then flight after flight before eventually reaching back home.

Suffice to say, the 10-day tour of Egypt was one of the best trips I have ever been to in my whole life. At first, I was given the choice between travelling to Australia or Egypt. I was thinking, hey, every Tom, Dick and Harry has been to Australia and all that jack, I’d be better off seeing someplace else, I have indeed made the better choice. I have absolutely no regrets at all.

Egypt is every bit as amazing as I had ever imagined. The very first day, I was almost swept off my feet at the sight of the great Pyramids and the Sphinx. Alexandria was such a romantic city, Luxor was full of mysteries, the Nile was so elegant and brimming with life. The Egyptian desert gave me spectacular sights and the many temples and monuments I’ve visited were very moving. Pictures fail to do any justice to the feelings that overwhelmed my senses to each location that I visited.

Egyptian food, though a bit dry and bland for my Malaysian tongue, was delicious and very filling. Egyptians themselves, are a very kind-hearted people with a fierce loyalty to their religion and country. Egypt gets to experience the four seasons, something which I will always envy as long as I remain here in Malaysia.

Thank you, Al-Mesir, for giving me such beautiful sights to remember and wonderful memories to cherish forever!

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And so, The Egypt Travelogues have, at last, come to an end. This post concludes my very first full-length photography travelogue. I hope you have enjoyed following my stories and pictures as much as I had fun compiling and writing them all out here.

I have compiled a list of links to previous locations in Egypt all in chronological order of my travel.

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)

If I ever hit a jackpot and get to go on another long trip to somewhere beautiful, I’ll have another travelogue series after that. There’s still so many beautiful places that I have yet to visit.

Well, it’s back to regular blogging! :D

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